Story types · Tip 69 of 82 · 5 min read
Write a Play to Perform
Turn your story into a script with characters, lines and stage directions, ready for an audience.
A play is a story that's meant to be acted out. Instead of describing everything, you write what the characters say and do. Then your friends or family can bring it to life on a stage, in the living room or in the garden.
How a script looks
A script is set out differently from a story. The character's name goes on the left, then what they say. You don't need speech marks. Instructions for the actors go in brackets: these are called stage directions.
Scene 1. A kitchen. A huge cake sits on the table. GRAN: (proudly) Nobody touch it until the party. TOM: Of course not, Gran. (GRAN leaves. TOM stares at the cake. The cake wobbles.) TOM: (whispering) Did you just... move? CAKE: (in a deep voice) Eat me and find out.
Let the talking tell the story
In a play, the audience can't hear the narrator. Everything they learn comes from the lines and the action. So instead of telling us a character is nervous, let them stammer, fidget or say the wrong thing.
Okay 😐
(MAX is very scared of the dark.) MAX: Let's go in.
Wow! 🤩
MAX: Let's go in. (doesn't move) After you. No, really. I insist.
Think like a director
- Keep the cast small: two to five characters is plenty.
- Use few places: each new place means a new scene.
- Give everyone something to do: nobody wants to stand still for ten minutes.
- Think about props: a wooden spoon can be a sword, a blanket can be a cave.