I had the pleasure today of giving a talk on writing short plays to Year 12 students at Grace Christian School in Bunbury WA. The students have the option in the composing section of their upcoming English exam to write a short play on a given theme or issue.
We discussed strategies for coming up with ideas for short plays, how to differentiate and develop interesting characters, limiting the setting of the play, how to write stage directions and naturalistic dialogue, the importance of turning points and setbacks to build tension and push the main character to the climax, and how to format plays. The importance of preliminary planning followed by freestyle / flow / stream of consciousness writing that taps into a student’s inner voice were emphasised.
I’m sure the students have the skills and confidence to write their first short plays. Thank you Mrs Stone for inviting me to talk to your students. It was a very special stop on a 4 month camping trip that my husband and I are doing through SA, WA and central Australia.
