Writing Your First Play, 2nd Edition

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Introduction

The direct and primary goal of this book is to enable a person to write a play of at least one act in length. A one-act play is usually, though not always, a piece of continuous action in one setting about 30 to 40 minutes in playing time. That, however, is merely a guideline. Some one-act plays are as short as five or ten minutes. Others use two or more different scenes or units of actions, while still others use locations that shift from one place to another.

The purposes of this book are all relatively simple. If you are interested in writing a play, this book provides a series of exercises designed in sequence to help you do that. You should read the assignment, the explanation, the examples, and ...