You are hereMonthly archive / November 2008
November 2008
My Favourite Playwriting Books
On of my former professor's, playwright Julie Jensen, wrote this neat little book called, "Playwriting: Quick & Dirty." It's like that Strunk & White "Elements of Style" book but for playwriting.
I also like Jeffery Hatcher's "The Art & Craft of Playwriting". A great, very no non-sense playwriting text.
Lastly, Stuart Spencer's "The Playwright's Guidebook."
They are good to look at from time to time to remind you of things you probably already know.
Going with the Flow
Yay, I've hit the sweet spot, the part of the play where the characters are running away from me, and I'm just desperately trying to keep up! They are all behaving as planned, apart from an unexpected digression into the nature of secrets, a discussion they started all by themselves but which I will now have to research further, because I'm sure it will come back again to haunt me if I don't. I always knew it was a feature of the play, but I didn't think it would actually get discussed. But there it is.
Playwright/Moms
any playwright moms out there?
i suppose dads could chime in, but i think there are special demands and drains on moms that are felt differently for dads.
for me, the challenge of being a mom/playwright is partly time - liberated feminist though i may be, i am still the primary caregiver for our daughter, and i also do most of the cooking and cleaning around the house - not to say my husband doesn't helps TONS when he is home - but much of the day he is out making the bucks and having the health insurance.
One song over and over.
A Mistake by Fiona Apple. I do not know why. But I'm working a lot with repetition in the play and this simple, repetitive groove and Fiona's fairly monotone voice just seem to drive me to just push the repetitions past all the limits.
Day Seven
Anybody?
From "Jennifers" Act II Sc 5
I just couldn't resist.
(David is backstage trying to entertain Jennifer and Carlos before he goes on.)
On the plateau
I have hit ten pages and I am stuck there. I'm not stuck! I know what happens next I just...can't seem to write it. I've made the cardinal error of going back to the first couple of pages and tweaking. Tweaking! Crikey woman, you don't have time to tweak! This is not a tweaking moment!
Day Six.
I called out of work today. Daddy needed a mental health day, y'all. That said, i just watched The View and amde some coffee. I'm sitting down to write now.
Time will tell.
Okay, Bye.
The structure of my play doesn't make it as quotable as other things I've written, but I like these two unrelated sections for some reason:
This Is Where the Work Begins
It is 1: 02 am. And I can't sleep because I was writing. And it was good. And that adreneline always keeps me up. Right now my play is a big and messy thing.
That is fine.
It is Day 6.
Rhino Love
Naplwrimo runs on love, sweat and your generous help.
Thank you to our donors!
Machelle Allman, Holly Arsenault, Will Bond, Karen Chandler, Michael Lee, Leslie Liautaud, Jeff Mackey, Maggie McAleese, Marian McNamee, Marla Porter, and all our anonymous donors.
