Editing Structure

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > WORKING > EDITING > STRUCTURE >

'The first scene of the play is the first scene that I wrote . . .. I wish I could say that I planned it, but I didn't; people kind of showed up doing whatever they were doing in whatever time they were doing it. Then, once I had a first draft, I could look at it and say, What does this want to be about? and focus it.'

-- Lisa Loomer

When the Structure is all there, the Suspense Plot is integrated into the Subtext of your characters and leads directly to the play's Climax. You can't patch in a Suspense Plot in bits and pieces after the fact. Well, you can . . . but it hardly ever works. The solution: bite the cap of your pen. Hard. And write a second draft from scratch.

Here's what you can do if the Suspense Plot's there . . .

• Beginning of the Play
  • Look carefully at the first Scene or at least the first 5 pages. Do this whether you've structured your play in short formal Scenes or continuous Acts . . .

  • Is your Point of Attack one scene too early? Scene 1 may only have been your warm-up for the real play.

• Beginnings and Endings of Scenes & Acts
  • Have you started the act or scene too early?
    Look at the first half-dozen lines of dialogue -- following each secondary Point of Attack. See if you were just getting warmed up for the real beginning of the scene . . .

    Warm-Up Lines Example

  • Have you ended the act or scene too late?
    Look at the last two or three lines. See if you've let the dialogue resolve the conflict instead of pushing us into the next scene or act with a Curtain Line.

• Climax of the Play
  • Does the Climax fall within the last half-dozen pages of the play? If not, cut most of the pages following it. Or see if you've dropped it into the play too early. Be careful, if this last is the case. It probably means you've imposed an arbitrary Climax on your characters rather than letting it grow directly out of the conflict between them.

• Resolution of the Play
  • If the Resolution runs on for more than a half-dozen pages, you're just pushing the play when it's out of gas. Brief is better. And a short Resolution usually lets you leave us with something to think about when we've left the theatre.