Exercising Play

…and speaking of play, here’s a writing prompt for the afternoon:

Take a scene that you’ve been having trouble with.  It could be a scene you need to write or one you need to revise, but whatever you choose, it should involve more than one character.  Write out the scene in play format (including stage directions).  Force them to talk to each other for at least 3 or 4 pages (or more).  You’ll probably cut most of this dialogue out, but let your characters take the conversation somewhere you hadn’t anticipated.  The most important thing to remember is there should be action (people are watching them and, therefore, they’ll need to be doing something.)

Now transform the scene back into prose.

And you thought I meant the other kind of play…

2 thoughts on “Exercising Play

    • Oh, you dual-genre people! In my head, I think of you like those ambidextrous tennis pro brothers who always wear football jersies and who can serve with both hands. I, on the other hand, always do things to see how they’ll help my fiction. !

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