I love the experience of live theater. I love the way a good play can transport an audience—even transform an audience. This is something a good play shares with a good book. However, though they may both aspire to similar ends, it's clear that fiction and drama have different toolkits. A play has the advantage of actors and community and interaction, but a book has the advantage of prose. Every word that a playwright will communicate to her audience must be spoken. In terms of fiction writing, this would be comparable to writing a book using nothing but dialogue. Thinking of this limitation from a novelist’s perspective terrifies me, because even though I truly enjoy writing dialogue, I can’t imagine how I would tell my entire story without relying to some extent on exposition, description, and my characters’ inner thoughts.
Improve your Dialogue by Studying Plays
Improve your Dialogue by Studying Plays
Improve your Dialogue by Studying Plays
I love the experience of live theater. I love the way a good play can transport an audience—even transform an audience. This is something a good play shares with a good book. However, though they may both aspire to similar ends, it's clear that fiction and drama have different toolkits. A play has the advantage of actors and community and interaction, but a book has the advantage of prose. Every word that a playwright will communicate to her audience must be spoken. In terms of fiction writing, this would be comparable to writing a book using nothing but dialogue. Thinking of this limitation from a novelist’s perspective terrifies me, because even though I truly enjoy writing dialogue, I can’t imagine how I would tell my entire story without relying to some extent on exposition, description, and my characters’ inner thoughts.