Writing a play

I understand that Ernie Wise used to give advise on the play wot he wrote.

Bob

Here's one approach:

1. Switch off your critical facilities and write your play quickly. If you can't think of what to write, write any old nonsense.
2. Switch your critical facilities back on, read what you've written and identify what you like and dislike about it - and why.
3. Switch off your critical facilities and rewrite.
4. Repeat as necessary from 2.

Writing drama is, IMHO, more difficult than writing prose (ie a novel or short story). You have to abandon descriptive passages and carve character exclusively from dialogue - not an easy thing to do.
You also have to bear in mind that you will need third parties (actors, directors etc) to bring your writing to life. s a novelist, you can communicate directly with your readers.
If you are still enamoured of the idea of writing drama, I suggest you think about whether you want to write for radio or the stage (two different media requiring quite different kinds of writing).
Also, before you start, read some plays(or better still, see some at the theatre or listen to them on BBC Radio 4, which broadcasts quality drama every day). Read as much Shakespeare as you can (you need to do that anyway, as a human being), also the Greeks (comedy: Aristophanes; tragedy: Sophocles, Euripedes and Aeschylus). Of contemporary dramatists, you can't beat Stoppard, whose dramas are always beautifully structured and are like a masterclass in dramatic writing.
Whatever, you will need to immerse yourself in drama.
Good luck!

Kevin (BBC Radio 4)

Many thanks for sparing the time to give a old git a couple of pointers.It looks like it could take a while to do the essential background reading and thinking but I've been sat on the idea for 30 years so another couple is not too long for the world to wait.Cheers Tony

Reminds me of an old Peter Cook joke:

Man A: I'm writing a novel.

Man B: Neither am I.

-- Ian