Every writer and every play are different, so there can be no set rules for writing a play.

However, we have put together a few tips that may help new writers to get started...

1. Drafting

Good writers rewrite. Think about what you want to write before you start. It’s important to have a clear framework for your play, and have a strong sense of who your characters are. The dialogue is often the last thing to be written in a play. When you have completed your first draft, it’s often a good idea to get someone else to read it and give you feedback that you can work into a second draft.

2. Character

Get to know your characters really thoroughly before you start writing. Each character in your play should have an individual voice. Ask yourselves what does each character want in the play, and what must they overcome to get it? Take your characters on a journey through your play that will in some way change or affect them by the end.

3. Dialogue

Dialogue should move the action forwards, and avoid being too expositional. The way that characters speak to each other can be very important, and don’t forget that you can use pauses, interruptions and silences to illustrate your characters’ interaction. Be careful about the use of monologue – ask yourself how it would further the action.

4. Story

Think about the potential drama of the story you are telling. Typically, an incident, event or piece of new information will occur quite early on in a play, that, however large or small, will create a conflict for its characters. The play then follows the path of that conflict, and after complications and reversals, will either resolve the conflict in some way or not. Ideally, all your characters must be bound up in, or affected by, your story.

5. Setting

Think about where your play is set. There is a strong relationship between the environment and what happens to the characters. People behave differently in public spaces than at home. Ask yourself, how does the location affect your story, and how does the audience know where the location is? Remember, while film can juxtapose many different locations easily, theatre works more metaphorically. Often a location can be evoked in the theatre through a simple use of a sound or lighting effect, or prop.

6. Physical life

Theatre is a visual medium, and all good plays have strong visual life as well as great dialogue. So much can be said about characters without them speaking; in the way they move, what they look like, what they might consume in the play, what objects they relate to, if and how they touch other characters. Remember, you should show us not tell us! Keep your stage directions simple and functional, in clear, uncluttered language.