Best playwriting books according to redditors
We found 85 Reddit comments discussing the best playwriting books. We ranked the 33 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 85 Reddit comments discussing the best playwriting books. We ranked the 33 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Reminder that the writer of American Dragon, Jeff Goode, also wrote a play called Poona the Fuckdog, which had its cover/poster drawn by Jay Naylor.
There are definitely guidelines. Some are strict, but many of them can be bent.
Your script says "awesome as fuck". I don't know what that means. I need you to explain it. What makes it awesome? That's how you have to spell things out in a script.
But great work on hammering out a screenplay! If you're interested, here are some good books on screenwriting:
The line you mention from Django is really good. We see that it is a stereotypical western town. We all know exactly what that looks like because we gave seen those millions of towns in westerns before. For your line, we all have different interpretations as to what "awesome as fuck" is.
Did you use Celtx? If not, try it. Great free screenwriting software.
I'm afraid that you're probably not really going to get a fully detailed response on here regarding where to start as a playwright as most writer's processes are different, especially on the format of scripts as that subject seems to be up for debate recently depending on the theatre. Also, I believe I can safely make the inference that most successful playwrights aren't redditors (or if they are, they're probably not subscribed to r/playwriting, else this subreddit would be a little more active). However, what I can do is point you toward some great resources that are utilized by most every aspiring/professional playwright that I know.
Backwords & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays by David Ball is a fantastic book for anyone interested in dramatic literature. This is a book that will guide you in analyzing plays (and any story really) with a concentration on the actions of characters, the consequences of those actions, and how they fit into the arc of the story. It does this by taking you through Shakespeare's Hamlet from the end of the play to the beginning, as opposed to Act I to Act V. This is an invaluable resource that is used by playwrights, dramaturgs, actors, directors, and most everybody working in the field of theatre. It is also a resource that is a staple in most theatre graduate schools.
Another resource that is generally agreed upon as a proper manual for the art of playwriting alone is Naked Playwriting: The Art, The Craft, And The Life Laid Bare by William Missiouri Downs. Downs takes you through the basics of crafting a play and exposes you to the various philosophies regarding processes with little personal bias. It's not a dry read at all and will guide you through the use of examples. It will teach you not only the standard formatting for dramatic writing, but also the pros and limitations of writing for the stage. This book has helped me significantly as a playwright.
A good supplementary text would be Audition by Michael Shurtleff. Michael Shurtleff was a very important Hollywood/Broadway casting director who discovered the likes of Barbara Steissand, Robert DeNiro, and Dustin Hoffman, as well as many others. This book is generally held up as the Bible for actors. Why an acting book, you ask? Most of the good playwrights that I know are also good actors, which points to the fact that the more you know about acting, the better playwright you will be. Not only will it familiarize you with the craft, but it will also allow you to provide opportunities for great acting within your work as a writer.
Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with any good resources about writing for musical theatre, however the main principles of writing straight plays holds true for all musicals. I'm sorry that I couldn't provide you with anything more extensive or personal, but if you are serious about writing for the stage, these are the best resources I can give you. But if you want to definitely get better, there is nothing more important than reading as many plays and seeing as much live theatre that you can get your hands on.
Hope this helps! And good luck.
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison Amazon Kindle Audiobook Torrent
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin Audiobook Torrent
A Darkness at Noon Arthur Koesteler Amazon Kindle Audiobook Torrent
So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy Eds. Nalo Hopkinson, Uppinder Mehan, and Samuel R. Delany Amazon Kindle
The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson Amazon Kindle
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf Ntozake Shange Amazon Kindle
The Human Stain Philip Roth Amazon Kindle
The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence
Three Day Road Joseph Boyden Amazon Kindle
The Sun Also Rises Hemingway (As a primer on shitlordlery) Amazon Kindle ebook Torrent Audiobook Torrent
Black Like Me John Howard Griffin
Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya Amazon Kindle
In the Time of the Butterflies Julia Alvarez Audiobook Torrent- Warning, no seeders
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets David Simon Amazon Kindle
The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood David Simon
Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor Sudhir Venkatesh Amazon Kindle
Gang Leader for a Day Sudhir Venkatesh Amazon Kindle
Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich Amazon Kindle
The Soviet Century Moshe Lewin
Griftopia Matt Taibbi Amazon Kindle Torrent
Where the Girls Are Susan J. Douglas
The Body Project Joan Jacobs Brumberg Amazon Kindle
Why School? Mike Rose Amazon Kindle
Killing Hope William Blum
Bad Samaritans, Kicking Away The Ladder and 23 Things They Don't Tell you about Capitalism Ha-Joong Chang
How Rich Countries got rich and why poor countries stay poor Erik Reinert Amazon Kindle
Whipping Girl Julia Serano Amazon Kindle
Republic.com 2.0 Cass Sunstein Amazon Kindle
Men in the Off Hours or Autobiography of Red Anne Carson
Ain't I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism bell hooks
Sister Outsider Audre Lorde Amazon Kindle
Getting Mother's Body Suzan Lori-Parks Amzon Kindle
The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir Amazon Kindle
Life Among the Savages Shirley Jackson
Bayou Jeremy Love
A Light in August Faulkner Amazon Kindle Audiobook Torrent
Authors, generally:
Margaret Atwood Amazon Kindle eBook Collection Torrent
Kate Chopin Collected Works Amazon Kindle
Oscar Wilde Amazon Kindle
Salman Rushdie Amazon Kindle eBook Torrent
Zadie Smith Amazon Kindle
Toni Morrison Amazon Kindle eBook and Audiobook Torrents
Chinua Achebe Amazon Kindle Things Fall Apart eBook Torrent
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (everything by him seems to be in Spanish) Amazon Kindle Torrents
Haruki Murakami [Amazon Kindle(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3AMurakami&keywords=Murakami&ie=UTF8) eBook and Audiobook Torrents
Sherman Alexie Amazon Kindle
Ha Jin Amazon Kindle
Please note that I do not endorse stealing from authors, and if you are financially able, I would encourage you to support authors that writ books that you read. That being said, I totally understand that not everyone is able to afford to buy books at will. What you do with these links is between you and your conscious.
Just reading your description of how you write,
"This happens, and now this happens, and now this happens..."
Write with more life, write with action.
Don't settle for, "Like a mad man he jumped into the car. Then he sped off. As he was driving he skidded across some black ice."
Change it up, we know that whatever you are writing comes after what you just said, you don't need to tell us that. Only most of us are morons, not all of us.
Just say what you want to say. Use action verbs and words. We can fill in the rest.
When I re-read what you wrote, I see that you also want to have some highs and lows alternating between sentences or groups of sentences. Like bobross1313 says, get the words on the page first, then after you've got your 50,000, re-read it and then add in the zest where you want it. I couldn't tell you who said it, probably a bunch of different people, but you are going to have to go through your writing at least once more after you've written it. NaNoWriMo is only about quantity, not quality.
Not only that, but after you've written 50,000 words, you're a little better of a writer so when you go back to re-read it won't seem nearly as good as when you first wrote it because you are a better writer. The same thing will happen the next time you go through it because you will get better each time. The only way to get better is to write more and read more and then write some more.
You can do it.
It's all about action.
You might want to check out this book too, "The Scene Book".
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0143038265/
It may help you to structure your scenes a little better and understand how a scene is set up.
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
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amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
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This Performing the Goat?
The book that got me through my first draft was [Naked Playwriting] (https://www.amazon.com/Naked-Playwriting-Craft-Life-Laid/dp/1879505762) by William Downs and Robin Russin, I would recommend it to anyone looking for advice!
This is a really good book. Intended for stage and screen plays, but the foundations work for any type of writing. A bunch of exercises to try
It isn't necessarily what you're after, but there are selections of releases that were published in hardcover - the links below are the first I could find, you may want to hunt on eBay or whatever options are available to you:
Audio Scripts Volume 1
Audio Scripts Volume 2
Audio Scripts Volume 3
Audio Scripts Volume 4
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MXXW7WS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I wouldn't have passed this. Your writing is incredibly flowery, your description is overwrought while managing to convey absolutely nothing, you adverb and adjective all over the place...
Sorry to be harsh, but you need to pick up some books on the absolute basics of fiction writing. I recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Scene-Book-Primer-Fiction-Writer/dp/0143038265/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291362532&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-Craft/dp/1439156816/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291362561&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-4th-William-Strunk/dp/0205313426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291362620&sr=8-1
Learn to invent an interesting character that wants something and you'll have so many ideas that you're excited about that the problem will be choosing one. Think of an interesting character....then add WANTS TO and get busy.
Lets play a game:
Guess the movies:
save a young prostitute from her pimp
My movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG8kFCH1V5E
Get this:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Dramatic-Writing-Creative-Interpretation/dp/0671213326/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510115359&sr=8-1&keywords=art+of+dramatic+writing
What's your genre?
Ill give you an idea or two (for free). Ideas are easy, pulling them off is the tricky part.
Cool. Glad to help.
Here's the two books that I was referring to. It's definitely a trap to start buying screenwriting books or writing books -- however, there are couple of key nuggets I've only recently uncovered.
Cheers.
https://www.amazon.com/21st-Century-Screenplay-Comprehensive-Tomorrows/dp/1935247034
https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473978726&sr=1-1&keywords=the+war+of+art
Uh... I feel like you're kind of burying the lead, here...
My top two favorites:
Moving Beyond Words: Essays on Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking the Boundaries of Gender by Gloria Steinem, one of the mothers of feminism. This has her famous essay on Freud (and what the world would be like if we lived in a matriarchy - for example, periods would be celebrations instead of shamed) and lots of other great essays.
The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, a modern script beloved by young feminists.
"Beneath the Silver Rose" by T.S. Adrian ($.99 promotion now)
A fast-paced heroic fantasy for Adults, Book #1 in the series. five reviews, all 5 stars.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZ1LJDC/
I will always recommend The Art of Dramatic Writing.
[Willem Dafoe (German Edition) ]
(http://www.amazon.com/Willem-Dafoe-German-Edition-Beckendorf/dp/3640593863/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331352279&sr=1-3&tag=bookforyoudm-20)
Buy a copy of this and submit to everything, literally everything. In ADDITION to contests you find online/etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Dramatists-Sourcebook-ebook/dp/B006IVGW3E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404721229&sr=8-1&keywords=dramatist%27s+sourcebook
Probably something you can use here:
https://www.amazon.com/Joshua-James-Project-ebook/dp/B00H0UU4PE
David Edgar's 'How Plays Work' is an absolute bible. It doesn't tell you how to specificity write a play, but it shows how other popular plays have been written. Very good read. That man has seen every play ever preformed!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1854593714/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
The Screenwriter's Bible
Writing Movies: The Practical Guide to Creating Stellar Screenplays
Naked Playwriting: The Art, the Craft, and the Life Laid Bare
And browse Simply Scripts.
Seriously, get Vogler's The Writer's Journey. It is much more practical, open-ended and inspiring than Save the Cat. It's based off of the ideas of Joseph Campbell, whose worke inspired Star Wars. It is a much more classic and legitimate structure than Save the Cat, and yet it is a series of guidelines, not hard-pressed rules. Blake Snyder in his book basically says if you deviate from my formula, you suck. The dude even hates Memento.
Or read Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing. It seems your problem is that you don't have a defined character with hopes, goals, worst nightmares and biggest weaknesses. That should be the starting point of any script: your character. This book opens you up to finding out what you value about your character and how to build them for dramatic conflict. Its a revelation for someone who hasn't thought of story as character arcs and dramatic progression.
Invisible Ink
https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Ink-Practical-Building-Resonate/dp/0984178627
This one only has one point but it separates the shallow from writing that resonates and tells you why.
These go a long way but I think experience helps you understand why this list is so good.
http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/
This books got a couple of important points particularly talking about "character vs plot" and the "unity of opposites"
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0671213326/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491923420&sr=8-1-fkmr0&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lejos+egri
Read this and this
I don't think this story happened, but then again Jeff goode made this
You might check out Marsha Norman's 5 questions. You answer the questions, you got yourself a plot, and it's helped me figure out serious plot problems.
1.) This is a play about a __. (protagonist, character)
2.) The wants but . (driving action of the plot)
3.) It all takes place in . (setting, mood)
4.) Along the way the learns . (turn, character arc, denoument)
5.) The audience knows it's all over when __. (the dramatic question)
Also! This was/is required reading for playwriting MFAs. (AND it's an easy read) https://www.amazon.com/Plays-Work-Nick-Hern-Books-ebook/dp/B009YMCJ2C
Good luck!