how to write an essay on a play

Writing Center

Analyzing plays.

• Title and playwright
• Setting/time Period
• Main characters/supporting characters
• Main conflict
• Peter and Wendy  by J.M. Barrie
• London 1800s and Neverland, takes place over a week or so
• Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook / John, Michael, Tinkerbelle, Smee, Mrs. and Mr. Darling, the Lost Boys, Indians, pirates
• Wendy, John, and Michael Darling don’t want to grow up so they run away to Neverland. Captain Hook is after Peter.
• Fight on the pirate ship between Captain Hook and Peter
• Captain Hook defeated by Peter and chased by a crocodile; Darling children return home to their mother with all the Lost Boys. Peter returns to Neverland with Tinkerbell.

Types of Plays

Historical context, dramatic devices.

Plot, Setting, Organization

Also recommended for you:.

How to Review a Play

Preparing to write a play review.

Below are some tips to help you prepare to write a play review:

The Nature of the Assignment

Because the performance of any play is such an ephemeral experience, writing a play review can be an exciting, though difficult, task. You have to be both spectator taking in and enjoying the performance and critical analyst of the production itself. You have to be able to provide a very brief summary of the play, a close objective analysis of the performance you attend, and an interpretation and evaluation of the entire ensemble of staging, acting, directing, and so on.

The review assignment asks you to analyze in an objective manner the relative success or failure of a given production. Note that you are not asked simply to summarize the plot or give an opinion regarding the text of the play being mounted; your review must be grounded in the production itself. Your job is to describe the production accurately, and then to render a value judgment of it based upon what you have seen and what you expected. The assignment will test your skill as a reader of the play and as an observer and critic of the production.

In addition to grounding your review on the production you witness, you must be careful to limit your review to a few essential observations in support of your thesis (which will be discussed below). You must concentrate on a few important ideas and aspects of the production and focus your attention on only what you consider the most significant parts of the production itself. Unlike a newspaper review, which can be loosely structured and superficial, your assignment is quite definite. You are not asked to cover a wide variety of production elements (i.e. performance of every actor, every costume change, every set change, every directorial decision, and so on); instead, the assignment demands that you develop a few key ideas in thoughtful detail.

Remember, too, that your stance is to be objective and critical, not impressionistic and merely nasty. A critic is not someone who simply “criticizes,” but a person who studies, analyzes, and then renders a rational judgment of what he/she has seen. Your tone will be very important in making your review reliable and intelligent.

Before You Attend the Production

Read the play before going to the production. (It is important to be prepared for the production you plan to attend; otherwise, you run the risk of having to see it several times.)

• In your mind, have a good sense of how a “standard” production might look, complete with a sense of what the characters might look like, the type of costuming that might be used, a suitable set design, and an appropriate rendering of the theme and tone of the work.
• Pick out, as you read, several critical or problematic points within the play that may be of particular interest to watch for in the production you are about to attend. If your instructor has asked you to pay particular attention to certain elements, make sure that you are prepared to recognize them in performance.

Attending the Production

Attend the play with an open mind, a willingness to accept the play as the director has presented it in production.

• Note any deviations from your concept of a “standard” production and try to find a good explanation for that deviation. (Is the director trying to “say” something new or different? Was your sense of the play somehow inaccurate, or were you shown new insights by the director’s production?)
• Why the choice of costumes, and why the set design?
• How did the actors deliver their lines (seriously, comically, realistically, formally)? Were there any significant actions or gestures that contributed to the play’s meaning?
• Were any “special effects” utilized (consider lighting, sound, audience participation, machinery)?
• Were any significant cuts made in the script?

After the performance, jot down the details you recall and talk about the performance with friends. You’ll need these details for your paper in order to substantiate your argument.

Evaluate the performance.

• Did the director miss any important opportunities to convey something you were able to see in your reading of the play?
• Would you have liked to have seen more attention paid to what you perceived as critical passages, passages the director seemed less interested in?
• Why would you have preferred this attention, and why do you think the director avoided giving the passage such attention?

Consider the following practical aspects:

• What kind of stage does the director have at his disposal? What kinds of restrictions does the stage impose on the director concerning movement and set design?
• Are the actors professionals, amateurs, or students? What restrictions does this impose on the director? Are the actors capable of dealing with the script’s requirements? (Be fair to the actors in your assessment of their talents and the level of their “craftsmanship.”)

Writing the Review

Below are some tips for writing play reviews:

Writing the Introduction

The introduction should include the following:

• The title of the play, the name of the playwright, and any pertinent historical information regarding them (other similar works from this period? by this writer?).
• The name of the director, the place and date of the production you attended, and the name of the production company (again, do you know of any previous work by this company? this director?).
• (Note that even if the production did not exactly coincide with your own conception of the play, you should not feel obliged to condemn the performance outright. Be open-minded and willing to weigh pros and cons.)
• (Note that this thesis asserts that Papp captured the essence of what is in the text itself — the expectations set up by the thesis are that the reviewer will then analyze the methods by which the director achieved this effect.)
• (This thesis suggests that “sympathy” was the director’s intention. Note also that the reviewer gives a strong indication of what he/she expected to find in the production.)
• Example: In You Can’t Take It With You, the acting by the family members on the open, exposed stage displayed an innocent and vigorous freedom, as well as a proud independence in their confrontation with accepted norms of behavior.

Writing the Statement and Summary

Include a brief thematic summary (but not a plot summary) of the play, and support that summary with concrete evidence from the text.

You can include this summary in the introduction; or, if you wish to expand the summary, include it in a separate paragraph following the introduction.

Writing the Body of the Paper: The Review

Remember that in the body of the paper you are obliged to deal specifically with each element of the production that you mentioned in the introduction and thesis.

In order to give your review a tight internal logic and cohesiveness, you should also discuss these elements in the order that you outlined in the introduction. Such points of discussion might include the non-technical (acting, directing) and/or the technical (lighting, scenery, costumes) aspects of the production.

For each element that you discuss:

• (Note the vivid description of what was seen, and the use of detail to convey that vividness. The passage will work nicely as evidence for an overall, positive evaluation of the production.)
• Interpret, Analyze, Evaluate : This part of the paper requires the most thought and organization and consequently receives the most attention from your reader. After you have finished describing important elements of the production, proceed to evaluate them.

For example, you would need to answer the following questions regarding the last description of Lear :

• Why were the lights dimmed at the beginning of the scene? (shock effect? slow unfolding of horror?)
• Why was the backdrop painted black? (contrast? mood?)
• Why was there no order to the skulls? Why seven? (emblem of disorder or chaos? significance in number?)

In other words, assume that everything used in production has significance, but don’t panic if you cannot find “answers” for all the questions raised by what you see in the production.

In the evaluation, you are given the opportunity to attack as well as commend the performance; if the production fails to answer questions that you feel need answers, then say so. If the question or problems are relatively minor, ignore them. Don’t quibble at the expense of missing the more important concerns.

Writing the Summary and Conclusion

Your conclusion should not merely recapitulate your thesis in a mechanical way.

Rather, you should try to show why your response to the play is valid and significant, based on what you have described in the body of the paper.

Do not add any significant new material, but don’t be afraid to leave your reader with something to think about.

Academic and Professional Writing

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Analysis Papers

Reading Poetry

A Short Guide to Close Reading for Literary Analysis

Using Literary Quotations

Play Reviews

Writing a Rhetorical Précis to Analyze Nonfiction Texts

Incorporating Interview Data

Grant Proposals

Planning and Writing a Grant Proposal: The Basics

Additional Resources for Grants and Proposal Writing

Job Materials and Application Essays

Writing Personal Statements for Ph.D. Programs

• Before you begin: useful tips for writing your essay
• Guided brainstorming exercises
• Get more help with your essay
• Frequently Asked Questions

Resume Writing Tips

CV Writing Tips

Cover Letters

Business Letters

Proposals and Dissertations

Resources for Proposal Writers

Resources for Dissertators

Research Papers

Planning and Writing Research Papers

Quoting and Paraphrasing

Writing Annotated Bibliographies

Creating Poster Presentations

Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper

Thank-You Notes

Advice for Students Writing Thank-You Notes to Donors

Reading for a Review

Critical Reviews

Writing a Review of Literature

Scientific Reports

Scientific Report Format

Sample Lab Assignment

Writing for the Web

Writing an Effective Blog Post

Writing for Social Media: A Guide for Academics

• Plays Plays for High Schools Plays for Middle Schools Classroom Study Guides View All Plays Script Bundles Play Concierge

Standalone Resources

Resource Collections

Free Resources

• Curriculum Resources
• Professional Development
• Resource Library
• Professional Community of Support
• Support Frequently Asked Questions Purchasing Questions Script Distribution License Royalty Exemptions Performance Types

How to Write a Play Review

The House Beautiful is The Play Lousy. – Dorothy Parker

We’ve all seen those reviews. The ones that rip the theatre production up one side and down the other. They criticize the scenery and the script. They suggest that the leads take up basket weaving since acting isn’t their thing. It’s enjoyable because we’re not the one being criticized. But it can also make you feel queasy like too much fried food. It’s not that nice to read about the total destruction of others.

And when it comes to writing a theatrical review, that kind of lambasting isn’t necessary. There is a difference between being a critic and being cruel. The analysis of a production does not have to be cruel.

His first (and, I suspect, last) work for the stage, All New People, opened last night at Second Stage. It’s pretty bad, no way around it.” – Scott Brown, Vulture

I’ve been on the receiving end of some lovely reviews for my writing, some pretty nasty reviews, and some pretty bizarre ones. I wrote a play about Galileo in which one reviewer said there’s no way Galileo would act the way I portrayed him (because we know how a man who lived hundreds of years ago would act…?). Another reviewer was very complimentary, but totally misunderstood the show – he mistook the word “parabola” (which Galileo did invent) with “parable” (which Galileo did not). It lead to some pretty odd paragraphs. Another reviewer gave our show a five star review, which made us feel great! But then we went to see another play he also gave a five star review to and we hated it. So was the reviewer right about our show, or the other one?

What is a review?

A review is a subjective but educated response to a piece of theatre. The reviewer should have a strong background in theatre so that their opinion is informed and credible.

What is the purpose of a review?

A review gives a potential audience member context for a production. Most people want to know if they should spend their hard-earned money on a ticket. Is this show any good? If it is, what makes it good? If it’s not, what makes the show falter?

What should we learn from a review?

A review should describe the situation of a play without giving too much information about the plot. It should address the production elements individually and how they work together as a whole. It should express an opinion supported by thoughtful analysis.

I can’t categorically confirm that Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark belongs in the dankest subbasement of the American musical theater. But its application certainly seems to be in order. – The Washington Post

What’s the difference between a well-written and a poorly-written review?

• Is the reviewer able to discern the vision of the production and the execution of that vision?
• Is the reviewer able to analyze the production in terms other than like/dislike?
• Is the reviewer able to see the production’s value and/or appeal despite their subjective response?
• Does the reviewer support their views with examples? For example, if they don’t like an actress’ performance do they explain why? Do they offer evidence to support their opinions?
• Does the reviewer let their personal opinion of a play colour their review?
• Does the reviewer acknowledge the audience reaction particularly if it differs from their own reaction?

How do I write a good review?

Like all things, it takes practice. Go see a show, and write down your thoughts. What is your experience? Get in the habit of explaining why you like something and why you don’t. Your ability to explain why you feel the way you do about a performance will add to your review’s clout.

Read other reviews of shows you’ve seen and reflect on how those reviewers used (or didn’t use) their expertise to share their experience of the play. The more you read the works of others, the more you’ll be able to define your own style of writing.

Journal Reflection Exercise

Read the following three reviews of the same production of Little Shop of Horrors .

• How do the reviews compare and contrast?
• Reflect on what the reviewer has to say about the production. What is the style of the review?
• One of the reviews gives the production one star and calls it a “massacre.” Do you agree or disagree with the style of the review? Do you like when reviews are overly critical? Does it come across as fair?
• What does each review tell you about the reviewer?

The Reviews

• What’s on Stage

What are the parts of a review?

Consider this formula when setting up your review. You can also download this Review Worksheet . The next time you have to write a review, use this worksheet as a guide.

Introduction: Sets up the play. Who is the playwright? What company is putting on this play? What is the context of the production (school show, community theatre, touring show, Broadway)?

Execution: How is the play executed? What is the director’s vision? What is unique about the interpretation? What’s the style? How do the individual parts fit together to make a whole?

Specifics: Is there anything unique about this production? Who is the director? What else have they done? Who are the leads? Is this a premiere or a remount?

Opinion: Is the production successful in its execution? Why or why not? Is there something out of place within the individual parts (lights, sound, set, costuming, vision, acting)? What stands out? Does the acting bring the play to life? Does the vision suit the intention of the play?

Recommendation: Is this play worth seeing? Why or why not?

Before the Show

You don’t want to do too much research beforehand, as it may influence your experience. But you can certainly define the context of the production – who’s putting it up? What have they done in the past? When you get to the theatre, flip through the program Is there a director’s note? Are there cast biographies? What does the production want you to know before you see the show?

During the Show

Take as many notes as you can. What are you seeing? Highlight the names of actors that catch your eye. If a line of dialogue hits you, write it down. What do the colours of the set remind you of? Does the lighting complement the action or get in the way? Try not to bury your head in your notebook the whole show, though. You may miss something. Use the intermission to write notes.

After the Show

Write a rough draft of your review as quickly after the curtain comes down as possible. The longer you wait, the less you’ll remember of the experience. Check, check and double check anything you claim as fact in your review – names you quote, backgrounds of individuals, plot points. Make sure you know the difference between a parabola and a parable.

What happens if someone doesn’t like my review?

If you write your review from a place of experience, if you’re able to back up your opinion with an explanation of why, then you’ll be able to stand behind what you’ve written no matter what. There’s always going to be someone who hates getting a bad review, but it happens. You can’t write a nice review just because you don’t want to get backlash!

Related Articles

Enjoy a Front Row Seat to Our Newsletter!

Subscribe for our exciting updates, insights, teaching resources, and new script releases. Plus, sign up now and get 4 plays and 2 lesson plans for FREE!

Check all that apply

How to write the perfect GCSE essay on a play or book

When approaching an essay it is important firstly to have a clear structure and a firm understanding of the essay question. The next thing to do is to make a brief plan and outline of what you are going to argue or discuss, as well as knowing what your own opinion is before you attempt to construct arguments for or against. For example, if you were studying a play such as a 'A Streetcar named Desire' by Tennessee Williams, and the question was "To what extent should we as the reader feel sympathy for Blanche". It is important that you first consider what your own opinion is, before you include the opinions of other critics or writers. Once you have developed and constructed your own argument, you can then start to compare other opinions or critics' viewpoints and weigh them up against you own opinion. Upon comparing viewpoints it is especially important to have contextual background or quotations in order to back up your line of argument. Overall, a good essay is clear, interesting and easy to follow. In order to achieve this flow and clarity, include a brief, clear and concise introduction which outlines what the essay will be about and what you will be discussing. Then he bulk of the essay should have three to four paragraphs which argue for and against the question, tackling the question from all sides. The technique usually taught by teachers is PQA- point, quote and analysis. It is also useful to include critics quotes and comparisons to other texts which will help to make your essay stand out. To end with, the conclusion should be a brief summary and clearly show your own opinion and answer to the question. Make sure to not include any new points in the conclusion, you should have already included these points in your main paragraphs. If you follow these tips then this should dramatically help to improve your essays.

Related English A Level answers

In birdsong by sebastian faulks, what is the significance of the "birds" as a trope throughout the novel, how do i plan a good english essay, 'he brings tragedy down on himself, not by opposing the lie, but by living it' by comparing arthur miller's 'death of a salesman' and james joyce's 'a portrait of the artist as a young man', discuss., explore the theme of femininity through the character of maggie in 'cat on a hot tin roof', we're here to help, company information, popular requests, © mytutorweb ltd 2013– 2024.

Internet Safety

Payment Security

StageMilk / Plays / How to Write a Play

How to Write a Play

Writing a play takes time and effort. It requires patience, perseverance and a thick skin when feedback/criticism starts knocking. It’s seldom rewarding until the hundredth hour—and even if the piece you finish is incredible, there’s no guarantee that anybody will see it. So why do it? Because it’s a uniquely rewarding experience, one that challenges you to think big thoughts and betters you as an actor, an artist a human being. If we haven’t scared you off already, let’s talk about how to write a play.

If you want to learn how to write a play, start writing and keep writing. All the elements you require—resonant themes, a compelling story world, distinct characters and a good plot—are secondary to the importance of pushing through your first draft from beginning to end. And no matter how terrible the play might read, once it’s written down you can begin the process of editing, fixing and refining. It only gets better from there.

In this article, we’ll take you through the steps of how to write a play. We’re going to skip over some of the basics you might find elsewhere—such as how to structure the perfect three-act plot—and focus on the inch-by-bloody-inch battle that is putting words on a page. Every time you spill some ink, you’re improving the  skill of writing. And no matter how difficult, all skills can be learned and improved.

Updated 12th Feb, 2024.

Before You Begin Writing

Before you begin writing, think about the following questions. These are the kinds of ideas that will help ground you and grant you momentum when you first begin. Sometimes, your answer to these questions will be “I don’t know yet.” That’s okay: as long as you discover them at some point during the process. At this point, with a blank page in front of you and a Herculean task ahead, take whatever you can grab.

“What’s your play about?”

An awful question. Why on earth did we start here? Because one day you’ll be pitching it to a theatre company , or a producer , or applying for a grant and you’ll need to know . What’s more, you’ll need to sum it up in a sentence or two.

Sometimes you’ll have a vague idea: “Well, it’s sort of about my father…” “It’s based on a fairy tale but it’s kinda modern…” “Um, politics?” Again, that’s okay for now. But as you go through this process, try to find and refine an answer to this question. It’ll ensure that your final product speaks confidently and completely about something .

And remember: the more things a play is about, the less it tends to say about them.

“Who is your audience?”

Who is going to respond to your play? What demographic will be interested in the themes you’re going to explore? And what kind of experience will they have: will they be entertained, amused, shocked, confronted? While you don’t want to pigeon-hole yourself into writing for one group, it’s a good idea to think about who you want your play to resonate with, and what their experience might be.

If you’re unsure, you can never go wrong writing something for yourself: something you’d like to see and you’d hold to the highest possible standards. What’s lacking in the industry? Where might you find a gap in which your work can ‘sit’?

“Where are you hoping this play will go?”

Do you want it to be programmed by a major theatre company? Do you want to submit it to a writing award? Do you want it to be adapted into a feature film, or published and put in libraries? If you want to produce it yourself in the indie space , it’s good to think about that pathway early on—just so you don’t come up with a plot that requires 20 gold-plated elephants.

For first-time writers, approaching independent theatre companies is a great way to get your work noticed. Are there companies in your city that respond to this kind of play you’re writing? (See? Already we need to know what the play is about.) Pay attention to your local theatre scene.

How to Write a Play: The Bare Essentials

For all the planning and scheming, there comes a point where it’s time to write. Here’s the bare essentials on how to write a play:

• Think up a character . They can be simple or complex, good or evil, happy or sad, tall or short. At this point, who/what they are is a lower priority than what you’re about to give them: an objective that involves another person.
• Take that other person and turn them into a second character in the scene. Give them their own objective, something that clashes with the wants and needs of the first character.
• Start writing dialogue (and stage directions) with this as your golden rule: everything a character says or does has to push them towards them achieving their objective. If there’s no conflict, there’s no drama. If they achieve what they want, they have to want  more  or  something else .

That’s it. That is, in its purest form, all drama written in the last few thousand years. Story world, subplots, setting, characterisation: these all work to support the primary drive of the play which is  a person wants something and sets out to achieve it. And this is not to say that your work can’t be complex and contain multiple characters and timelines and worlds … but it all has to be driven by want .

Keep Your Characters Active

The desire of a character is what makes them interesting to an audience. Without a drive t0 fulfil this desire, without actively seeking out that which they want, audiences tend to have a hard time connecting with a character. No matter how impressive their backstory or clever their dialogue might be.

So at all times, keep your character ‘active’: keep them pursuing rather than responding (‘passive’). When things happen to them by external influence, or the actions of another character, don’t dwell on their emotions—think about what they plan to do about the way they feel. The great David Mamet said the three most important words for a playwright are: “What happens next?”

Find Distinct Character Voices

Once you have your characters fighting for what they want, pursuing their goals and bringing your world to life, find the differences in how  they pursue their objectives. This will distinguish one character’s way of communicating from another. As they don’t operate in the same way, they won’t all end up sounding identical.

As an exercise, print out a page of your script with multiple characters and cover the names up. Can you still tell who says what? Or do they all sound the same? Remember that your character will pursue their wants differently based on factors such as personality, background and social standing. The more work you can do to build your character , the more nuanced your understanding will be.

Tell a Story, and Plot will Emerge

You might have noticed that we’ve said very little about plot. That’s because a lot of first-time playwrights get hung up on it. They’ll sketch out a character arc for weeks or months, plastering corkboards with post-its to determine exactly what goes on. But plot comes best when it unfolds due to the actions and efforts of characters. If your characters are fighting for objectives, the plot will be there.

If you’re working a more ambitious piece, or something non-linear/abstract, you may find it helpful to do more plotting. Indeed, we’re not here to tell you not to spend time on the narrative arc if that will make you feel more confident. But all plot can be related back to action/reaction of characters: who does what, how that impacts others and how they, in turn plan their next move.

Know Your First Few Seconds

Make you first scene an absolute banger. Get your reader, director, audience—whoever—involved and hooked from the get-go. Screenwriter/playwright Aaron Sorkin has a great knack for this: he likes to drop his audiences into the middle of a conversation , forcing them to sit up and take notice. You want to know what’s going on? Catch up!

One of the most over-used words by first-time playwrights is “Hello.” Don’t start scenes with characters being pleasant and talking about the weather. Take us straight into the action! And then never let us go.

The Drafting Process

Everything we’ve included so far is designed to get you to fulfil one goal: finishing draft number one.  This is the most important part of the process, the thing that makes all the following steps easier and the whole damn experience worth it. After you finish the first draft of your play, your priority can switch to making what’s already there even better: by reading, refining, adding or cutting. Let’s break down the purpose of each draft you’ll make:

The First Draft

It’ll be messy. It’ll be too long. It won’t always make sense and it should  never  be seen by anyone else than you. But it exists: your play exists! And you’ll love it. The first draft should put everything you’ve thought of on the page. This will be your template for revisions, and the version you can always return to if you worry you’re losing your way.

The best piece of advice I was ever given about writing was also the hardest to follow: don’t revise your play until you finish the first draft. Ideally, you shouldn’t even read it back until you complete it! If you do, you’ll notice the things that don’t work, the things you’ve soured on our sobered up about. Resist the temptation to revise until the next iteration. Write until it’s done.

The Second Draft

Here’s where you start fixing things. Start by cutting anything unnecessary—superfluous scenes, overly flowery descriptions, ‘clever’ lines by the character that add nothing. Most problems will be solved by either removing things or swapping scenes/lines/plots around. Try not to add too much to what is already there: this usually leads to further complications rather than greater clarity.

Stephen King once claimed that all second drafts should be 10 percent shorter. It’s terrific advice when your goal is to refine the good ideas you’ve planted in your original writing efforts. Trust in the ideas that put you to work in the first place.

The Third Draft

Your third draft is the one you show other people: the version of your story with the plot holes plugged and the bad stuff (mostly) removed. Start with a trusted friend who gives useful feedback. Then, industry folk, or your acting peers. You could even organise a development or reading with people you know—it can be invaluable to actually hear the thing out loud.

Be ready for criticism, and for people to catch the problems with the play you’re yet to solve, or even notice. As you hear about what a terrible job you’ve done and how you should just give up, remember that whatever form criticism takes … the people telling you want you to succeed, and believe in the work enough to say so. There’s nothing more telling than sending a person your latest play, only to hear a half-assed “Good job!”

The Fourth Draft (And so on…)

The drafting process lasts as long as you want it to, for as many versions as required. After your first few plays, you’ll find that Draft Four or Five is usually all you’ll need. If you identify something to change or add in your third draft, try to fix it with minimal disruption to the rest of the text. Be surgical in your precision.

Know Your Voice

It’s incredible how much a playwright’s voice is able to carry over to stage, even with multiple actors portraying the story. This is because a playwright not only speaks through characters, but through the themes they explore, the stories they craft, the worlds they build. Your ‘voice’ as a writer is always there—as long as you are the one typing it all out. And the more practice you have, the more you will learn to trust that voice, and the instinct that comes from developing a skill through practice and focus.

For that reason, we’re leaving you with this: keep writing. Write great plays, write terrible ones. Write what you know, and write something so far away from your everyday existence you feel like an interloper. Just keep it up, and you’re bound to find something truly special.

About the Author

Alexander Lee-Rekers is a Sydney-based writer, director and educator. He graduated from NIDA in 2017 with a Masters in Writing for Performance, and his career across theatre and television has seen him tackling projects as diverse as musical theatre, Shakespeare and Disney. He is the co-founder of theatre company Ratcatch (The Van De Maar Papers, The Linden Solution) and co-director of Bondi Kids Drama, a boutique drama school offering classes to young people in the Eastern Suburbs. Alexander is drawn to themes of family, ambition, failure and legacy: how human nature can flit with ease between compassion and cruelty. He also likes Celtic fiddle, mac & cheese and cats.

You might also enjoy

The Importance of Being Earnest

Doctor Faustus (Marlowe)

The 7 Best Irish Plays

Read 8 Plays a Week | Why Actors Have to Read Plays

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Please enter an answer in digits: 14 − five =

How to Write Play Titles in a Paper

1. determine the length of the play, 2. use quotation marks, 3. italicize the title.

It is common in literature classes to write papers about plays, such as the works of famous playwrights like Shakespeare, Ibsen and Sophocles, to name just a few. When writing about plays, as well as all works of literature, it is important to know the guidelines of how to properly write the titles when referring to them in your paper and listing them in the works cited page. Knowing how to write a play is one thing, but knowing how to mention plays in a paper is another. Since papers about literature are typically written in MLA format, ​ you should know the MLA rules ​ for writing play titles.

​ Determine the length of the play. ​ The rules for titles of literature depend on the length of the work, and a plays can vary greatly in length. A play that consists of only one act is considered a short play, while a play that has more than one act is considered a long play.

​ Place the titles of one-act plays in quotation marks. ​ MLA calls for titles of short works, such as articles and short poems, to be put in quotation marks. One-act plays fall in this category.

​ Italicize the title of longer plays. ​ MLA calls for the title of longer works, such as books and films, to be italicized. Plays longer than one act are considered long works and should be italicized.

Don't underline the title of longer plays. Underlining used to be an acceptable form of writing titles for longer works, but MLA recently changed this and now allows on italicizing.

Related Articles

How to Write a Motif Paper

What Are the Characteristics of the Ancient Greek Theatre?

How to cite the 4th amendment.

Differences of Literature & Writing Courses

How to Address a Letter to a Rabbi

How to Punctuate Song Titles

What Does Sentence Structure Mean?

How to Start a Good Book Report

• Purdue OWL: MLA Formatting and Style

David Boyles is a graduate student, teacher and professional writer. He has been teaching writing since 2005, while his own work has been featured in various publications and websites, including "Vegas Seven," "ArtsVegas," "AZ on the Scene Magazine" and the "Las Vegas Review of Books." Boyles holds a master's degree in English literature.

• Craft and Criticism
• Fiction and Poetry
• News and Culture
• Lit Hub Radio
• Reading Lists

• Literary Criticism
• Craft and Advice
• In Conversation
• On Translation
• Short Story
• From the Novel
• Bookstores and Libraries
• Film and TV
• Art and Photography
• Freeman’s
• The Virtual Book Channel
• Behind the Mic
• Beyond the Page
• The Cosmic Library
• The Critic and Her Publics
• Emergence Magazine
• Fiction/Non/Fiction
• First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
• The History of Literature
• I’m a Writer But
• Lit Century
• Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre
• Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
• Write-minded
• The Best of the Decade
• Best Reviewed Books
• BookMarks Daily Giveaway
• The Daily Thrill
• CrimeReads Daily Giveaway

The Importance of Play: On Finding Joy in your Writing Practice

How to approach your work with open hands, not closed fists.

This article originally appeared in Issue #62, Winter 2017 issue of  Creative Nonfiction .

On the last morning of a writers’ retreat I went to a year ago, there was a tiny bell lying on the seat of every chair in the spacious conference center. The weekend was unlike any gathering of writers I’d ever been to: for two days, we attendees had listened, enthralled, to one heresy after another. “Find a hobby that isn’t writing,” one speaker said. “Take walks. Do yoga. Don’t be literary. Be a human being.” Another went further. “It doesn’t take that much time to get writing done,” she said, and a gasp rippled through the audience. Here were writers who took their art seriously, but not themselves—at least, not all the time.

I was charmed to find the little trinket on my seat. What was it for? While the auditorium began to fill, people traded them, pocketed them, bounced them from hand to hand.

One of the workshop leaders took the microphone. He asked us to take our bells, hold them as tightly as we could, and give them a shake. Nothing happened, although several faces turned red with exertion.

“Now take your bell,” he said, “hold it loosely in your hand, and shake it.”

Lovely tinkling music filled the giant room up to its vaulted ceiling.

“That’s how you need to approach writing,” he told us—not with clenched fists, but with open hands.

Relaxed. Playful. Open to possibility.

I returned home from the weekend, set the bell on my desk, and told myself the next hour or two was just for fun. Then I started to write—with results that surprised me. I began to wonder if other writers knew something I didn’t. Could writing be as enjoyable at the outset as at the conclusion? Could it be—dare I say it?—something close to play?

I interviewed four of my favorite writers to find out, and, although they didn’t all use (or even like) the word play , some clear themes began to emerge. Themes like surprise, laughter, and a willingness to let go of self-consciousness and convention. These writers have discovered ways to bring joy into their work, so perhaps it’s no surprise that their writing is a delight to read.

Brenda Miller

One of the workshop leaders at the retreat was Brenda Miller. As she walked us through the steps of writing short, powerful pieces, like her much-anthologized apologia “Swerve” and the sensory-rich “What I Could Eat,” she couldn’t stop smiling. On the last day of the conference, I asked her about her generative writing group, which meets every week to do a series of unusual exercises: first, five minutes of subject-verb-object sentences; then, ten minutes of linking sentences; and finally, one long, continuous run-on sentence for twenty minutes. I was puzzled by so much prescription.

“It’s an interesting paradox,” she said.

Sometimes, the more constraints we give ourselves, the more fun we can have. Think about the rules of a sport or a game: while a free-for-all may sound like fun, we often prefer to have rules and guidelines, and to see how much creativity and mastery we can accomplish within those guidelines. For these particular exercises (which were taught to me by the artist and writer Nancy Canyon), the rules give your intellectual mind something to concentrate on, and then your subconscious mind can come out to play. The time limit quiets the inner censor and forces you to keep writing whatever comes out.

Miller said she also plays in her writing practice by trying pieces as “hermit crab” essays:

In a hermit crab piece, you are adopting already existing forms to tell your story, such as a recipe, a how-to article, etc. I’ve written pieces in the forms of rejection notes, field guides, a table of figures, and how-to pieces. I end up having so much fun developing and playing with the voices of these forms that the writing barely seems like work. In the rejection note piece, titled, “We Regret to Inform You,” I begin by cataloging all the rejections one receives from grade school on, so it starts on a lighthearted note and gets progressively more serious as the chronology goes along, including my experiences with two miscarriages in my early twenties.

Miller has talked about seasons in her writing life—writing in solitude, writing in community, and, most recently, writing in collaboration:

I’ve been doing two different collaborations over the last year: one with my colleague and friend Lee Gulyas and one with my friend Julie Marie Wade. With Lee, we’ve been trading photographs and writing to the images, sometimes together and sometimes individually. You never know what the image will trigger, how our two perspectives will either mesh or diverge.

With Julie, we’ve written many different kinds of essays, usually with one of us starting on a specific topic and lobbing the essay back to the other. In this way, the essay builds bit by bit, shifting directions, always surprising us. Sometimes, it feels like a conversation with each section referring directly to something that came before (such as the essay “Toys” in CNF #60); sometimes, it feels more like parallel play.

I asked if she had always approached writing with this attitude of play.

I can say that after writing for more than thirty years, and teaching for almost twenty, I had to find some new ways to approach the writing process, or I would have stopped writing altogether. As a creative nonfiction writer, it can be easy to feel like you’ve used up your material, so the emphasis becomes finding new perspectives and forms. And yes, this approach makes me very happy to write. I get that thrill of writing something new and unexpected almost every time I come out to play.

Brian Doyle

I first met Brian Doyle at a writers’ workshop fifteen years ago and have been a fan ever since. He had a handout that suggested writers think sideways: What does grass mean? How does winter smell? In “Playfulnessness: A Note,” Doyle argues that the essay is “the most playful of forms, liable to hilarity and free association and startlement.” I recently asked him if he thinks he brings those qualities to his own writing.

Hmm—I do think it’s true, and immediately think of my sister saying I am congenitally wonder-addled because I got spectacles at age seven and have never recovered from that wash of wonder. I suppose I am also sort of addicted to the salt and swing and song of the American language, which is a bruised dusty lewd brave vibrant language, and trammeling it carefully seems disrespectful to me, as long as I am clear. I set out with an idea and try to hammer sentences that have loose ends; does that make sense? I never know where a story or an essay or a proem is going to end up, or even go, quite. . . . I just start, and I have in mind that I want to write like people talk and think, in loose-limbed, free, piercing, entertaining ways, and things go from there—sometimes utterly to the dogs.

I had to ask: what does it mean to hammer sentences that have loose ends?

I am trying to stay open to surprise, to spin, to swerve, to deepen—I want to start and then see what happens. I suspect that if you know exactly what you want to say, or exactly how a piece should end, then you have put yourself in a polite jail cell. I have the utmost respect for op-eds and editorials and reports and journalism, but I also love and am much more deeply moved by pieces that are open to surprise. An example for me is a long essay called “The Meteorites,” which started out simply as a list of all the weird summer jobs I’d had, and morphed into a piece about being a counselor at a summer day camp, and finally into a piece very much about the spangle and spatter of light and love.

Language isn’t the only thing Doyle doesn’t “trammel carefully.” He also plays with form, and I asked him about his proems —the word he uses to describe his box-shaped pieces that are part poem, part prose, part prayer.

With the proems, I want to get to some place between prose and poems, because while poems at their best are the form closest to music and swing and rhythm and cadence, at their worst, they are artsy-fartsy selfish elusive self-absorbed muddles; can you make a thing that’s alert to music but also clear as a bell, in unadorned conversational lines? And as regarding forms, there are so many: the story that’s all one voice; a paragraph in which two stories are being told alternately, as happens in my novel Mink River; the essay that is clearly wildly hyperbolic but also totally true because you waved the hyperbole flag, somehow. . .

Doyle has advised new writers to “type fast and tell a story with your fingers.”

Newer writers very often sit down with expectations and plans and programs and outlines and assumptions as to form, and I think all those things are little jail cells. You shut off so much possible when you insist on what must be. And so much poor writing is just news and memory and explanation and persuasion and report and data and airy opinion; whereas stories are bigger deeper wilder unforgettabler. For me, I think it was years as a journalist on magazines and papers in Boston and Chicago that made me yearn for what was under mere reporting and accounting. Could I catch and share moments, images, the deeper story? Could you use one tiny story to carry a thousand bigger stories on its shoulders?

David Quammen

I met David Quammen a year ago when I interviewed him about his book Ebola in the wake of the 2014 outbreak. A literary journalist who specializes in ecology and evolutionary biology, Quammen told me, then, that his purposes “are divided about halfway between education and vaudeville” as he tries to make science writing accessible to a broad audience. When I recently asked him about approaching writing with an attitude of playfulness, he made it clear he didn’t like that word:

First thing I want to say is that I distrust programmatic approaches to writing. It can’t be taught. A person is funny or playful if he or she has that capacity. Or not. It’s not a recipe. I love humor. I love surprise. I tend to be a smart aleck. “Playfulness”? Meh.

I pressed him. While playfulness may not be the right word in every case, how writers escape “programmatic” approaches to writing to keep returning and delighting in their work was exactly what I was interested in. How, for instance, does he find moments of relief while writing about infectious disease? He acknowledged the challenge:

The world right now is grim. Problems are dire. It’s rotten, catastrophic. But also filled with wonders, joys, amazing places and things, heroic behaviors. Pratfalls and ridiculosity. It’s always important to be able to laugh in the face of gloom, and in the face of time. I’ve learned that from some of the masters—Samuel Beckett; Faulkner; Ed Abbey; Dorothy Parker; my Irish mother, Mary Egan Quammen.

Quammen noted his humor can be dry and oblique. In Spillover , about the growing incidence of zoonotic diseases (infections that spread from animals to humans), he recounts an instance in which a Texas lab euthanized forty-nine monkeys as a precaution because they shared the same room as one that died and tested positive for Reston virus. Most of the monkeys, later screened posthumously for the virus, tested negative. Without missing a beat, Quammen writes, “Ten employees who had helped unload and handle the monkeys were also screened for infection, and they also tested negative, but none of them were euthanized.”

Gallows humor is helpful, too, if you’re writing about something like Ebola or HIV or herpes B. There’s always room, if it’s done with irony about the brutality of life and with sympathy for the victims’ side. Why not laugh darkly? We need laughter as much as we need pharmaceuticals.

Surprise is something Quammen said he relishes in his work. For him, it comes not from plumbing the depths of memory, but from the people he interviews.

I get interested, immediately, in their whole lives, their whole stories. I wait and hope for them to surprise me. I never ever ever say to a source, “Give me a quote on yadda yadda.” I ask genuine questions. I wait and hope for them to tell me a story because they suddenly feel they can trust me with something they have never told any other person—or, at least, any other writer. Jack Horner did that with me, 35 years ago: dyslexia led him to dinosaur bones. Kelly Warfield did it more recently: working in a 7-Eleven at Fort Detrick led her to Ebola research.

Abigail Thomas

At the writing retreat, Brenda Miller introduced me to Thomas’s first memoir, Safekeeping . She presented it as an example of memoir that—with its tiny micro-chapters, third-person accounts, and soliloquies from Thomas’s sister who comes in now and again to explain the action (a move Miller likened to a Greek chorus)—doesn’t follow convention. It’s a memoir about loss, and yet there are moments when it’s impossible not to laugh. I asked Thomas about the book’s playful tone.

Well, lots of my memories were hilarious, as were the conversations with my sister. Life is full of loss but also a lot of laughs, thank god. And yeah, probably because I had no set plan, no outline, no nothing, anything and everything came marching in. Or slithering. Life is so very funny, right in the middle of everything awful. That’s how we survive, I think.

The way I wrote Safekeeping was determined by the way my memory works (or doesn’t). My memory is terrible, but what I do remember, I remember well. There usually isn’t any interstitial material. After [my second husband] Quin died, these hundreds of little pieces came more or less flying out of me. It wasn’t a plan. I really didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing, didn’t for a long time think it would be a book. I was writing down moments, mostly—moments and feelings I remembered well.

I do think that if you have a memory, and you get it right, you leave it alone. You don’t need to put in the weather report or whatever else is lying around on the grass. Hit it, hit it as best as you can, and move on. And I couldn’t have done it without my sister. Wonderful, the Greek chorus description. Perfect.

Thomas is known for assigning her students “two pages” exercises as a way into a story “they may be staring too directly in the face,” she writes in her book Thinking about Memoir . She recalled a workshop in which she asked students to write two pages about a time they were dressed inappropriately for the occasion:

One woman described what had happened to her first husband. He had been helping load a truck for a neighbor, someone he barely knew, but that was the kind of generous man he was. The truck moved unexpectedly, and her husband was thrown to the ground. By the time they got him to the hospital, he was declared brain-dead. She remembered walking back and forth on the roof of the hospital with her husband’s brother, trying to decide whether or not to take him off life support, and thinking she was wearing the wrong clothes to be making such a decision: cutoffs, a T-shirt, sandals. It was the first time she’d ever written about this, and it was the assignment that gave her a side door. Extremely moving.

Two pages makes it less intimidating. If it goes longer, fine. But it doesn’t have to. We’re not on guard.

There’s a line in Thinking about Memoir that reminds me of the object lesson at the writers’ retreat with the bell: “We do better when we’re not trying too hard,” Thomas writes. “There is nothing more deadening to creativity than the grim determination to write.” How does she avoid the writerly tendency toward grim determination?

Doing absolutely nothing helps. Keep quiet. Take note of what you notice. See what happens. Get out of the way. Stop thinking. Wait for the unlikely pair to couple. Take naps. Especially take naps. If something strikes you while you’re beginning to drift off (and it will), get up immediately and write it down. For me, painting is a wonderful way of using a different part of what’s left of my brain. I just wait for the accident, wait for the thing to reveal itself to me. I’m NOT in charge.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had writing?

Brenda Miller:

The most fun I’ve ever had writing was when I wrote my first hermit crab piece, “How to Meditate.” I loved poking fun at both myself and the earnestness of the meditation community while still getting at the heart of some essential experiences. It was the first time I felt so immersed in a voice not my own, and I wrote the entire piece in one twelve-hour writing day on retreat at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming.

Brian Doyle:

Oh man, a nonfiction book about a year in a vineyard: The Grail . That was fun for all sorts of reasons, not just the wine. To write loose and free about a real place and people and science, to write a fun book about wine in a world filled with so many somber, lugubrious books about wine. . . .

David Quammen:

In Spillover, I used the techniques of fiction (which I had once used in writing novels) to give the reader an imagined (truth in advertising) version of how the fateful passage of HIV from a forest-dwelling chimpanzee to the big cities of Central Africa may have happened. It was risky, this movement in a nonfiction book from carefully reported scientific fact into a mythic mode—and it was liberating, and maybe a bit provocative. I can still remember the thrill as my hypothetical story of that event, featuring a character I called the Voyager, unfolded for me each day on the page. It was great fun, in roughly the same way that running a Class V stretch of whitewater in a kayak is fun—dangerous, exhilarating, worth-the-risk fun.

Abigail Thomas:

Well, I had a lot of fun with “Sixteen Again,” the account of a date where I feel madly in love with the guy who did not return the compliment, and got over it very quickly. The essay changed in the course of the writing from a lament to a sort of triumph, and I wound up laughing.

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Susan Bruns Rowe

Previous article, next article, support lit hub..

Join our community of readers.

to the Lithub Daily

Popular posts.

Reclaiming Of Mice and Men from Parody

• RSS - Posts

Literary Hub

Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

How to Pitch Lit Hub

Advertisers: Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Support Lit Hub - Become A Member

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member : Because Books Matter

For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience , exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag . Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

Become a member for as low as $5/month

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Happiness Hub Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• Happiness Hub
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Arts and Entertainment
• Performing Arts

How to Write a Stage Play

Last Updated: May 14, 2024 Fact Checked

Developing the Story

Outlining the play, writing & formatting a script, sample scripts, expert q&a.

This article was co-authored by Melessa Sargent and by wikiHow staff writer, Sophie Burkholder, BA . Melessa Sargent is the President of Scriptwriters Network, a non-profit organization that brings in entertainment professionals to teach the art and business of script writing for TV, features and new media. The Network serves its members by providing educational programming, developing access and opportunity through alliances with industry professionals, and furthering the cause and quality of writing in the entertainment industry. Under Melessa's leadership, SWN has won numbers awards including the Los Angeles Award from 2014 through 2021, and the Innovation & Excellence award in 2020. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 559,967 times.

Do you want to join the ranks of Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Arthur Miller? You'll need to write a play with bold characters, a dynamic plot, and that special touch that makes it fit for center stage. With a good vision, a strong format, and a little luck, you'll get to experience the thrill of seeing your finished play performed. Whether you're writing a play for theatre or just for fun, use this guide to start writing your script and bringing it to life.

Things You Should Know

• Decide the genre, theme, and setting of your story. Craft your characters and what challenges and conflicts they will overcome throughout the story.
• Outline the beginning, middle, and end of your story. Roughly organize the plot points of your story into scenes and acts.
• Write your first draft and then another, following the playwriting format. Keep revising and asking for outside opinions before settling on a final version.

• For example, common themes in Shakespeare's plays include love, power, identity, madness vs. sanity, and fate vs. free will. [2] X Research source
• Consider the key takeaways you want your audience to walk away with or the question you want to plant in their mind.
• Choose themes that are relevant to present-day society and people, since that’s who will be watching and reading your plays.

• Understand your character’s motivations and what drives their behaviors: what does your character want? What will they do to get it?
• Make sure your character demonstrates growth throughout the story and has changed in some way by the play’s conclusion.
• Avoid using stereotypes or common character tropes when developing your characters .
• Your antagonist doesn’t have to be a person. Instead, it could be a struggle within the character’s own self (e.g., a soldier dealing with post-traumatic stress) or a conflict between the character and society (e.g., a woman fighting for her right to vote in 1918). [4] X Research source

• In playwriting, these stages of a story are better known as the exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, and resolution.
• The exposition should establish your play's setting, characters, and basic conflict.
• The rising action should present a deepening conflict or challenge until you reach the climax of the play, which is the tensest moment in which conflicts are fully addressed.
• The conflict of the play should underscore the theme and relate to the protagonist and antagonist: e.g., two brothers battling over their parents' will may highlight a theme of how grief may obscure what’s truly important.
• The play’s resolution should release the tension after the climax and show characters overcoming or learning to live with their conflicts.

Trust your unique voice and be creative. "Don't try to guess what it is people want and give it to them. Try your best to write what you like, what you think your friends would like and what you think your father would like and then cross your fingers... The most valuable thing you have is your own voice."

• Alternatively, break from traditional theatre and write a play with impossible-to-stage scenes as a way of exploring the writing itself.
• If you have no plans to actually stage the play, treat it as a different form of writing a poem .
• Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, and Antonin Artaud were all innovators of experimental avant-garde plays who incorporated audience participation and other absurdist or surreal elements into their drama.

• In addition to your main plot, add plot points for subplots that help develop the characters or keep the audience engaged.

• Acts are like mini-plays within themselves, each made up of several scenes.
• The three-act play is most common, but one-act and five-act plays are also widely used. [9] X Research source
• As you develop your scenes, give time for scene or costume changes and for actors to get to their places.

• Get into the habit of writing every day, even if only for 5-10 minutes.
• For the exploratory draft, don't worry about formatting the play or writing it "correctly." Just let out everything that needs to get out.

• Go back through your drafts with a pencil. Circle any moments that pause the drama, and underline moments that move the drama forward. Cut out everything that's circled.
• If you end up cutting out 90% of what you've written, so be it. Fill it back in with things that move the story forward.
• Write as many drafts as it takes. There's no right number of drafts. Keep going until the play feels finished and satisfies your expectations.

• Center act and scene headings.
• Center and capitalize character names .
• Italicize stage directions and indent them by one tab.
• Write small actions and minor stage directions in parentheses.

• Reread your play from a different perspective. As an actor, would you understand your character’s motivations? As an audience member, would you be able to follow the plot of the play if you had no background knowledge?
• Get a fresh pair of eyes on your script. Ask a friend, family member, or fellow artist to read the script and give you constructive notes.
• Use these pieces of feedback to revise your script and move toward your final draft.

What is playwriting?

• As opposed to writing scripts for movies or television shows, writing stage plays allows playwrights to connect with and interact with the audience immediately.

• Read and watch plays as you develop your own. This research will give you a better understanding of the format for playwriting and how plays typically progress. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• You can write moments when characters come into the audience to make viewers feel more involved. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you feel like you’re having writer’s block, just free write. Open up a text document and start typing whatever comes into your head—don’t worry about it being completely perfect or sensical. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• Consider how your setting will impact your plot and character voice. If your characters live in a forest, they shouldn't be using urban slang or have easy access to shops and restaurants.
• Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. If you have a story to share and a drive to create, then follow that!
• Writing a play should be fun. If it isn't a huge success, learn from this experience and try again.
• For the plot and premise of the play, start off with topics or settings that interest you.

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-theme
• ↑ https://studymind.co.uk/questions/what-are-the-typical-recurring-themes-in-shakespeare-s-plays/
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2008/nov/25/theatre-writing-plays-playwright-royal-court
• ↑ https://www.servicescape.com/blog/120-story-conflict-ideas-and-examples#
• ↑ https://thewritepractice.com/story-arcs/
• ↑ https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-write-a-play-script-format/
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/outline-play-8541400.html
• ↑ https://www.writopialab.org/programs/specialty-programs/worldwide-plays-festival/the-competition/standard-playwriting-format
• ↑ https://dramatics.org/how-to-run-a-productive-table-read/
• ↑ https://writingcommons.org/article/overview-of-playwriting/

About This Article

To write a play, start each scene with a location and time of day, like INT. RESTAURANT — NIGHT. Below that, write stage directions that describe what, and who, is onstage. When writing dialogue, indent the character’s name at least 4 inches, write it in all caps, then write what they’re saying below their name. Once you’re comfortable with formatting, start your first draft by putting characters together somewhere significant to them, and giving them a minor challenge to confront. Keep writing until you find an external plot that allows them to confront their internal conflicts. To learn how to come up with interesting, realistic characters, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Janice Shepherd

Nov 23, 2019

Did this article help you?

Jun 6, 2016

R. W. Rawson

Jan 31, 2017

Nov 10, 2016

Jay Thompson

Apr 17, 2018

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Level up your tech skills and stay ahead of the curve

15 Tips for Writing Your First Play

by Kate Sullivan | 36 comments

First, let’s get one thing clear: there is no one right way to write a play.

Every writer has their own method, and we all learn and grow as we progress in our playwriting careers.

What I’m going to share is how I write plays, and my tips can be modified to fit your writing style.

How to Write a Play

Before I began writing plays, I thought it made sense to create a main character and then simply tell a story through his or her point of view .

After writing many plays, my process has changed, and each play has followed a different trajectory.

These 15 tips gleaned from my play writing experiences can serve as a general blueprint to follow for any aspiring or experienced playwright.

1. Start with a Broad Idea and an Open Mind

So, how do you start writing a play? At the beginning of the process, I usually have a general idea of what my play will be “about.”

For example, I know that I’m going to present Emma “Grandma” Gatewood’s life story, or that I’m going to reveal the family dynamics among a mother and her three daughters during the 1930s and 1940s—or show  Frances Ellen Watkins Harper late in life as she reminisces about being a black woman who fought to overturn slavery.

2. Orient Yourself in Time and Place

Before I go much further in my play writing, I determine the setting of the play: when the main character(s) lived and where. Skipping this step means you risk writing in anachronisms, perhaps having a character save the day by using a cell phone…10 years before they were invented.

If the play isn’t taking place in contemporary times in the location where you live, you’ll need to consider additional factors. How much freedom would a woman, say, have in the era in question? What role would weather play in that locale? What traditions would these characters observe?

When you’re writing about historical characters, as I often do, you’ll want to recreate their world as best you can, even when also introducing elements of fiction into the play. When creating purely fictional characters, you’ll have more freedom but still must create a believable time and place.

3. Research the Main Character’s World

Now that you’ve got a general idea of the time and place of your play, focus on your character’s surroundings. Picture Step Two as being like when a movie camera pans the scene from the distance, and Step Three as being like when the movie camera focuses on the main character’s more immediate surroundings.

Here’s an example. When I started writing my first play, Freedom’s Light: A Stop Along the Underground Railroad , I knew that Robbins and Eliza Burrell, two historical people who served as conductors on the Underground Railroad in Northeast Ohio, were important characters.

So I read what I could about the risks faced by people who broke the law to transport escaping fugitives, the demographics known about people who participated in this dangerous activity, what happened when they got caught, and more.

I also read about what was happening specifically in Northeast Ohio and, whenever possible, about what was recorded about the actual activities of Robbins and Eliza. Your mind’s “camera,” you see, is focusing in more closely now.

4. Fill Up Your Subconscious Brain

Have fun during the discovery process! Let everything filter in and don’t be too targeted. Enjoy the process.

At this point, it’s hard to know what will ultimately be important. When I was researching Emma Gatewood—the first woman to solo through-hike the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail—I read a story about how people known as “trail angels” would leave jugs of water and other practical items to help hikers who came after them. It was interesting when I read it, sure, but this fact ultimately became a central point of the play…and I had no idea at the time it would be so important.

For Freedom’s Light , I read about the Quakers’ role in the Underground Railroad, especially the women’s. I later decided to create a Quaker character in Freedom’s Light whose life circumstances profoundly affected the runaways’ fate.

5. Write With Your Subconscious

If a certain piece of information or symbol or phrase keeps coming to mind, slow down and focus your attention on what keeps surfacing.

In Freedom’s Light , for example, I kept imagining how a certain character would sing a certain song at a certain point in the play, but I wasn’t sure why. I later realized that the phrases about a freedom train in that song were bitterly ironic, as some of the fugitives were going to be put in chains at that time in the plot.

When the play was actually performed, multiple people told me that was the play’s most captivating moment—and my conscious mind didn’t conjure that up. It came from a deeper part of my brain. Trust yourself!

6. Identify Your Burning Question

By this point, you should understand enough about your characters’ world to have a question you know you want to answer. Identifying that burning question helps you to stay on track as you write your play, serving as your guiding light.

When writing Emma Gatewood: Are You Out of Your Bloomin’ Mind?! , I wanted to know why a woman in her late sixties would want to take on such an immense challenge, as well as how she was physically and emotionally capable of hiking the Appalachian Trail. With Freedom’s Light , I wanted to know what the final straw would be to impel an enslaved person to try to escape. Why now?

7. Free-Write Your Characters

With all this groundwork in place, it’s time to trust my instincts and begin freewriting .

With Bound Together , I just started writing in the persona of black abolitionist Frances Harper as she remembered how two slaves she knew tried to learn how to read. I’d read some of Harper’s poetry where she addressed this subject and then I simply started writing about those memories in a conversational style.

With Sisters Forever: The Burrell Family Letters , I started writing about the 1949 funeral of Tempe Burrell and how each of her three daughters—Doris, Eleanor, and Virginia—responded to this event. I then returned to 1929, when Doris was leaving her rural Ohio home to head to her new home in New York City. In both cases, my early intuitions ended up being the structure of the finished play, but that isn’t always the case.

8. Welcome Surprise Characters

When I started to write Sisters Forever , I thought that the only historical Burrells who would be included in this play were women. But as I continued to write, one of Tempe’s sons, Ken, began to play an increasingly significant role in providing commentary, which included humorous asides. In fact, he ultimately played a pivotal role in the play, something I definitely didn’t expect!

In Bound Together , the character of a fictional nurse started out as a secondary character, but as I wrote, her evolving backstory made her a more crucial part of the play than I’d expected.

9. Plot Arises from Character

As you create your plot , it’s crucial that you have your characters do what’s in their natures to do. In other words, don’t think: Oh, I need someone to punch the bad character in the nose right now and, since Susan is in the scene, let’s have Susan do it.

Instead, I encourage you to create character-driven plays because they tend to be more believable.

When I say to keep characters in their own natures, I don’t mean to make them predictable because, yes, characters can change just like people do. In fact, it’s important that a key character changes in some measurable way from the start of the play until the end.

Yes, the actions of your characters can and should surprise people watching the play to keep them engaged. But these changes must be believable and serve a greater purpose than simply moving the plot along.

Everything has to make sense within the context of that character at that time—the character and his or her actions have to be consistent and understandable. Otherwise, your audience won’t identify with them.

10. How to Fix Plot Holes and Mistakes

When you find you’ve backed yourself into a corner plot-wise, it can be a wonderful opportunity to add more depth to your play. So avoid giving your characters an easy way to get out of their entanglements.

In Freedom’s Light , I’d surrounded Nellie with slave-catching federal marshals, and it seemed impossible for her to escape. It wouldn’t make sense to suddenly give her incredible powers, nor did I want to back off the tension.

Instead, I thought about how the historical Robbins Burrell was never caught in his Underground Railroad activities, which greatly frustrated federal marshals. In the play, the marshals knew where Nellie was hiding, but decided to let her continue her journey to trap Robbins Burrell. When Robbins then outwitted the marshals, it was more believable because that’s exactly what he did, historically speaking.

Yet I didn’t allow Nellie to be a passive participant in her own fate. Key events in the play taught her to trust her own instincts, and how to do so, so she made the right decision in whom to trust.

11. Writing Great Dialogue and Speech

Your characters need to sound like real people —and especially like real people who came from their era and circumstances.

When I needed to write dialogue for enslaved characters, I read text written by journalists during the Great Depression when they interviewed former slaves—and when they recorded their words as they were spoken, not how they were supposed to be spelled.

This allowed me to get a glimpse of how formerly enslaved people spoke in various parts of the country, and I tried to incorporate that dialect into my dialogue. This also helped me to understand how former slaves spoke about their former masters.

To write dialogue for Emma Gatewood, I first read snippets of her diaries to get a sense of how she expressed herself. I read 20 years’ worth of letters exchanged among Tempe Burrell and her daughters, and did my best to fairly portray how they would have spoken.

12. No Talking Heads

When Sisters Forever was being read by actors for the first time, it became apparent that I wasn’t really having them do anything.

Yes, it was an intimate family play, but they should still be moving around and doing something with their hands!

So I made sure that Tempe, the consummate volunteer, was wrapping bandages for the Red Cross while Virginia, the neat sister, would dust, straighten doilies, and so forth. Eleanor was a true hostess, so she served tea while Doris would smoke, type, and drink bourbon as she was wont to do.

13. Use Soliloquy Strategically

In Freedom’s Light , pregnant runaway Nellie would look to the sky and question why her lover, Big John, was caught when he tried to escape. She was not aware of the audience.

In contrast, in Sister’s Forever , Ken Burrell was fully aware of the audience when he made his comments, and would even engage with them, asking, for example, what they’d bought at the concession stand.

In Emma Gatewood , she believed that the audience had come to her house to hear stories of her hike, as many people historically did.

In each case, I was using the technique of soliloquy, when an actor shares his or her thoughts out loud—but the techniques I used with each were different. Every character and every play has a method that it “wants” to use—something that just feels right. Carefully examine your writing and your characters to determine which technique will fit best in this exact case.

14. Add Music to Your Play

Music adds so much to any play (although it’s important to use songs in the public domain or obtain permission to use the music). We’ve very sense-oriented creature, we humans, and music can enhance the drama, romance, humor, or tension of just about any scene, taking it to new levels.

Think about the “soundtrack” to your play when you’re writing—does this part have thundering bass? A soft string section? Club music?

When I wrote a play about the history of the Cleveland Metroparks System, set up like the finals of a game show, a songwriter wrote original music for the play. When the Emma Gatewood play was used as a foundation of a PBS documentary , the director got permission to use a variety of songs. Freedom’s Light used Negro spirituals and hymns in the public domain—and I listened to that music while I wrote the play, as well.

15. Enjoy the Process!

It can be so easy to think about getting the play “done” that you rush through the journey.

Yes, opening nights are magical in a way that’s hard to describe. But I encourage you to enjoy the entire process, starting with the moment you come up with the idea that gets under your skin, making your wrists tingle and causing characters to appear to you in dreams.

Revel in the in-between moments and marvel when you see your creation come to life under bright lights.

Using these 15 steps for how to write a play and adapting them for your specific needs and process, you can enhance your playwriting skills, create more gripping characters and plots, and most importantly, love the experience.

About the Author

For more on writing for stage or screen, read on:

• How to Write Your Screenplay in 24 Hours – Advice from a Hollywood Screenwriter and Producer
• How to Write an Audiobook Script Like a Pro
• How to Write a Great Script, Build Relationships, and Succeed in Hollywood

Kate Sullivan is an editor with experience in every aspect of the publishing industry, from editorial to marketing to cover and interior design.

In her career, Kate has edited millions of words and helped dozens of bestselling, award-winning authors grow their careers and do what they love!

36 Comments

I’ve just written a play about a boy and his battle with reality, a body snatcher and cancer. It’s supposed tpo be a black, surreal comerdy. I need advice.

hey im trying to write 2 plays to get int theatre school and i need tips to really captivate my audience

Hi Alysia, I think it’s really important to have your target audience in mind. Based on the genre you’re writing in, you should know what your audience wants and expects to feel from the story. I hope the other tips in this post help too:)

Please I’m writing on a play and its an auto biography. Should I publish and sell it myself or look for marketers seeing that its my first time and don’t want to get defrauded and all that

Hi Olaissac, you could try doing it yourself. we have a post on publishing a play here , or you can check out one of these reputable play publishers .

What is the best software for Playwrites?

Hi Americo, thanks for your question! I’ve heard Scrivener is great for playwriting and screenwriting, but I’ll work on doing some more research and maybe a post on the best options :)

is it better to come up with a title before you start writing? which would guide your ideas. or once you finish? then you can pick out the main points and string a title from those. I always approach it with the idea of “Name first, write second.”

Hi Phil, thanks for your comment! If you have a title in mind before you start writing, then that’s great, and you can definitely use it to guide and inspire your writing. However, for a lot of writers coming up with a title isn’t easy, so I wouldn’t recommend waiting for the perfect title to start writing. So if you’ve got one, great, but otherwise there’s plenty of time to think of one later. And as you write, your story might change or take new directions, so you might want to change the title anyway.

Am also a playwrights, I need More of your advice

Hi Patrick! I hope you found the post helpful. Did you have any specific questions?

I’m currently working on a play, its based on Malcolm X… I’ve done quite a terrific research, i think I’ll get this over.

Ps: I’m a Nigerian Student

Thanks for sharing about your play, Chukwuma! Best of luck! :)

i got a lot to know.about how.to write a play

I hope you find this post helpful! :)

So glad it was helpful i have been inspired by those tips. Thank You.

You’re very welcome, John! :)

Ma, I am writing a village play, and I need your help on how to write it because I am a first timer

Hi Emmanuel, thanks for your comment! As far as writing, the tips in this post should guide you. But we’re also working on a series of posts on publishing a play, as well as playwriting contests you can enter, so stay tuned for those!

Thanks a million! Im trying to write my first play with my friends and this gave me and actual idea were to start.

You’re very welcome Sofia! I’m glad you found it helpful:) Best of luck with your play!

Uh, i’m writing a school play, and i need help figuring out how the music can affect the play

Hi Ali, thanks for your comment! Music can definitely affect the mood and emotion of your play, so you’ll want to find music that matches or complements the themes in your play

Thank you for that motivating article! I am just about to start writing a theater play. I have the main plot but your article made me feel more enthusiastic about getting into the progress! thanks a lot :-*

So glad you found it helpful! Best of luck with your play! :)

What about tips for History Theatre? Can or should whimsy be added even if it’s not true? I’m in the middle of writing a play where I think it is necessary. I have one real life character who is hurt by the death of my main character and says she’s “invaded” by my writing so far. Thank you much for your article.

Hi Dennis, thanks for your question! As the article explains, you can certainly add elements of fiction even if you’re writing about historical characters. However, you might want to disclose that to the audience somehow. As far as the real life character who feels “invaded,” you may want to just talk to her and discuss possible changes/adjustments you can both agree on.

Thank you so much. Your article has really eased a little tension from me, I’m about writing my first fiction play, I have the plot already but putting it down as a play was the scary part. After reading this, I feel confident to write my play.

Great but what about kids how will they understand this type of writing?

Hi Zeebah, thanks for your comment! Do you mean this article, or are you asking how a children’s play should be written?

Since kids love visuals, I think plays are perhaps even easier for them to understand than books. Of course, the writing and plot should be simpler for very young audiences. You might find some of the tips from this post helpful when applied to children’s plays also: https://www.tckpublishing.com/how-to-write-for-kids/

I’m impressed, I must say. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s both equally educative and amusing, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The problem is something that not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy that I stumbled across this during my hunt for something regarding this.

Hi Lanny, thank you for your comment! I’m glad you found the post helpful :)

This is so great Kate. I need you to help me publish my work.

Hi Gerald, thanks for your comment! What kind of writing do you do?

Learn More About

• Fiction (223)
• Nonfiction (71)
• Blogging (47)
• Book Promotion (29)
• How to Get Reviews (9)
• Audiobooks (17)
• Book Design (11)
• Ebook Publishing (13)
• Hybrid Publishing (8)
• Print Publishing (9)
• Self Publishing (70)
• Traditional Publishing (54)
• How to Find an Editor (12)
• Fitness (4)
• Mindfulness and Meditation (7)
• Miscellaneous (119)
• New Releases (17)
• Career Development (75)
• Online Courses (46)
• Productivity (45)
• Personal Finance (21)
• Podcast (179)
• Poetry Awards Contest (3)
• Publishing News (8)
• Readers Choice Awards (5)
• Reading Tips (145)
• Software (18)
• Technology (18)
• Contests (4)
• Grammar (64)
• Word Choice (68)
• Writing a Book (70)
• Writing Fiction (195)
• Writing Nonfiction (83)

What this handout is about

This handout identifies common questions about drama, describes the elements of drama that are most often discussed in theater classes, provides a few strategies for planning and writing an effective drama paper, and identifies various resources for research in theater history and dramatic criticism. We’ll give special attention to writing about productions and performances of plays.

What is drama? And how do you write about it?

When we describe a situation or a person’s behavior as “dramatic,” we usually mean that it is intense, exciting (or excited), striking, or vivid. The works of drama that we study in a classroom share those elements. For example, if you are watching a play in a theatre, feelings of tension and anticipation often arise because you are wondering what will happen between the characters on stage. Will they shoot each other? Will they finally confess their undying love for one another? When you are reading a play, you may have similar questions. Will Oedipus figure out that he was the one who caused the plague by killing his father and sleeping with his mother? Will Hamlet successfully avenge his father’s murder?

For instructors in academic departments—whether their classes are about theatrical literature, theater history, performance studies, acting, or the technical aspects of a production—writing about drama often means explaining what makes the plays we watch or read so exciting. Of course, one particular production of a play may not be as exciting as it’s supposed to be. In fact, it may not be exciting at all. Writing about drama can also involve figuring out why and how a production went wrong.

What’s the difference between plays, productions, and performances?

Talking about plays, productions, and performances can be difficult, especially since there’s so much overlap in the uses of these terms. Although there are some exceptions, usually plays are what’s on the written page. A production of a play is a series of performances, each of which may have its own idiosyncratic features. For example, one production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night might set the play in 1940’s Manhattan, and another might set the play on an Alpaca farm in New Zealand. Furthermore, in a particular performance (say, Tuesday night) of that production, the actor playing Malvolio might get fed up with playing the role as an Alpaca herder, shout about the indignity of the whole thing, curse Shakespeare for ever writing the play, and stomp off the stage. See how that works?

Be aware that the above terms are sometimes used interchangeably—but the overlapping elements of each are often the most exciting things to talk about. For example, a series of particularly bad performances might distract from excellent production values: If the actor playing Falstaff repeatedly trips over a lance and falls off the stage, the audience may not notice the spectacular set design behind him. In the same way, a particularly dynamic and inventive script (play) may so bedazzle an audience that they never notice the inept lighting scheme.

A few analyzable elements of plays

Plays have many different elements or aspects, which means that you should have lots of different options for focusing your analysis. Playwrights—writers of plays—are called “wrights” because this word means “builder.” Just as shipwrights build ships, playwrights build plays. A playwright’s raw materials are words, but to create a successful play, they must also think about the performance—about what will be happening on stage with sets, sounds, actors, etc. To put it another way: the words of a play have their meanings within a larger context—the context of the production. When you watch or read a play, think about how all of the parts work (or could work) together.

For the play itself, some important contexts to consider are:

• The time period in which the play was written
• The playwright’s biography and their other writing
• Contemporaneous works of theater (plays written or produced by other artists at roughly the same time)
• The language of the play

Depending on your assignment, you may want to focus on one of these elements exclusively or compare and contrast two or more of them. Keep in mind that any one of these elements may be more than enough for a dissertation, let alone a short reaction paper. Also remember that in most cases, your assignment will ask you to provide some kind of analysis, not simply a plot summary—so don’t think that you can write a paper about A Doll’s House that simply describes the events leading up to Nora’s fateful decision.

Since a number of academic assignments ask you to pay attention to the language of the play and since it might be the most complicated thing to work with, it’s worth looking at a few of the ways you might be asked to deal with it in more detail.

There are countless ways that you can talk about how language works in a play, a production, or a particular performance. Given a choice, you should probably focus on words, phrases, lines, or scenes that really struck you, things that you still remember weeks after reading the play or seeing the performance. You’ll have a much easier time writing about a bit of language that you feel strongly about (love it or hate it).

That said, here are two common ways to talk about how language works in a play:

How characters are constructed by their language

If you have a strong impression of a character, especially if you haven’t seen that character depicted on stage, you probably remember one line or bit of dialogue that really captures who that character is. Playwrights often distinguish their characters with idiosyncratic or at least individualized manners of speaking. Take this example from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest :

ALGERNON: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane? LANE: I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir. ALGERNON: I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—anyone can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life. LANE: Yes, sir. ALGERNON: And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

This early moment in the play contributes enormously to what the audience thinks about the aristocratic Algernon and his servant, Lane. If you were to talk about language in this scene, you could discuss Lane’s reserved replies: Are they funny? Do they indicate familiarity or sarcasm? How do you react to a servant who replies in that way? Or you could focus on Algernon’s witty responses. Does Algernon really care what Lane thinks? Is he talking more to hear himself? What does that say about how the audience is supposed to see Algernon? Algernon’s manner of speech is part of who his character is. If you are analyzing a particular performance, you might want to comment on the actor’s delivery of these lines: Was his vocal inflection appropriate? Did it show something about the character?

How language contributes to scene and mood

Ancient, medieval, and Renaissance plays often use verbal tricks and nuances to convey the setting and time of the play because performers during these periods didn’t have elaborate special-effects technology to create theatrical illusions. For example, most scenes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth take place at night. The play was originally performed in an open-air theatre in the bright and sunny afternoon. How did Shakespeare communicate the fact that it was night-time in the play? Mainly by starting scenes like this:

BANQUO: How goes the night, boy? FLEANCE: The moon is down; I have not heard the clock. BANQUO: And she goes down at twelve. FLEANCE: I take’t, ’tis later, sir. BANQUO: Hold, take my sword. There’s husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out. Take thee that too. A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers, Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose!

Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch

Give me my sword. Who’s there?

Characters entering with torches is a pretty big clue, as is having a character say, “It’s night.” Later in the play, the question, “Who’s there?” recurs a number of times, establishing the illusion that the characters can’t see each other. The sense of encroaching darkness and the general mysteriousness of night contributes to a number of other themes and motifs in the play.

Productions and performances

Productions.

For productions as a whole, some important elements to consider are:

• Venue: How big is the theatre? Is this a professional or amateur acting company? What kind of resources do they have? How does this affect the show?
• Costumes: What is everyone wearing? Is it appropriate to the historical period? Modern? Trendy? Old-fashioned? Does it fit the character? What does their costume make you think about each character? How does this affect the show?
• Set design: What does the set look like? Does it try to create a sense of “realism”? Does it set the play in a particular historical period? What impressions does the set create? Does the set change, and if so, when and why? How does this affect the show?
• Lighting design: Are characters ever in the dark? Are there spotlights? Does light come through windows? From above? From below? Is any tinted or colored light projected? How does this affect the show?
• “Idea” or “concept”: Do the set and lighting designs seem to work together to produce a certain interpretation? Do costumes and other elements seem coordinated? How does this affect the show?

You’ve probably noticed that each of these ends with the question, “How does this affect the show?” That’s because you should be connecting every detail that you analyze back to this question. If a particularly weird costume (like King Henry in scuba gear) suggests something about the character (King Henry has gone off the deep end, literally and figuratively), then you can ask yourself, “Does this add or detract from the show?” (King Henry having an interest in aquatic mammals may not have been what Shakespeare had in mind.)

Performances

For individual performances, you can analyze all the items considered above in light of how they might have been different the night before. For example, some important elements to consider are:

• Individual acting performances: What did the actor playing the part bring to the performance? Was there anything particularly moving about the performance that night that surprised you, that you didn’t imagine from reading the play beforehand (if you did so)?
• Mishaps, flubs, and fire alarms: Did the actors mess up? Did the performance grind to a halt or did it continue?
• Audience reactions: Was there applause? At inappropriate points? Did someone fall asleep and snore loudly in the second act? Did anyone cry? Did anyone walk out in utter outrage?

Response papers

Instructors in drama classes often want to know what you really think. Sometimes they’ll give you very open-ended assignments, allowing you to choose your own topic; this freedom can have its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, you may find it easier to express yourself without the pressure of specific guidelines or restrictions. On the other hand, it can be challenging to decide what to write about. The elements and topics listed above may provide you with a jumping-off point for more open-ended assignments. Once you’ve identified a possible area of interest, you can ask yourself questions to further develop your ideas about it and decide whether it might make for a good paper topic. For example, if you were especially interested in the lighting, how did the lighting make you feel? Nervous? Bored? Distracted? It’s usually a good idea to be as specific as possible. You’ll have a much more difficult time if you start out writing about “imagery” or “language” in a play than if you start by writing about that ridiculous face Helena made when she found out Lysander didn’t love her anymore.

If you’re really having trouble getting started, here’s a three point plan for responding to a piece of theater—say, a performance you recently observed:

• Make a list of five or six specific words, images, or moments that caught your attention while you were sitting in your seat.
• Answer one of the following questions: Did any of the words, images, or moments you listed contribute to your enjoyment or loathing of the play? Did any of them seem to add to or detract from any overall theme that the play may have had? Did any of them make you think of something completely different and wholly irrelevant to the play? If so, what connection might there be?
• Write a few sentences about how each of the items you picked out for the second question affected you and/or the play.

This list of ideas can help you begin to develop an analysis of the performance and your own reactions to it.

If you need to do research in the specialized field of performance studies (a branch of communication studies) or want to focus especially closely on poetic or powerful language in a play, see our handout on communication studies and handout on poetry explications . For additional tips on writing about plays as a form of literature, see our handout on writing about fiction .

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Carter, Paul. 1994. The Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information , 3rd ed. Shelter Island, NY: Broadway Press.

Vandermeer, Philip. 2021. “A to Z Databases: Dramatic Art.” Subject Research Guides, University of North Carolina. Last updated March 3, 2021. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/az.php?a=d&s=1113 .

Worthen, William B. 2010. The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama , 6th ed. Boston: Cengage.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Make a Gift

• Ask LitCharts AI
• Discussion Question Generator
• Essay Prompt Generator
• Quiz Question Generator

• Literature Guides
• Poetry Guides
• Shakespeare Translations
• Literary Terms

How to Write an Essay

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Essay Writing Fundamentals

How to prepare to write an essay, how to edit an essay, how to share and publish your essays, how to get essay writing help, how to find essay writing inspiration, resources for teaching essay writing.

Essays, short prose compositions on a particular theme or topic, are the bread and butter of academic life. You write them in class, for homework, and on standardized tests to show what you know. Unlike other kinds of academic writing (like the research paper) and creative writing (like short stories and poems), essays allow you to develop your original thoughts on a prompt or question. Essays come in many varieties: they can be expository (fleshing out an idea or claim), descriptive, (explaining a person, place, or thing), narrative (relating a personal experience), or persuasive (attempting to win over a reader). This guide is a collection of dozens of links about academic essay writing that we have researched, categorized, and annotated in order to help you improve your essay writing. 

Essays are different from other forms of writing; in turn, there are different kinds of essays. This section contains general resources for getting to know the essay and its variants. These resources introduce and define the essay as a genre, and will teach you what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab

One of the most trusted academic writing sites, Purdue OWL provides a concise introduction to the four most common types of academic essays.

"The Essay: History and Definition" (ThoughtCo)

This snappy article from ThoughtCo talks about the origins of the essay and different kinds of essays you might be asked to write. 

"What Is An Essay?" Video Lecture (Coursera)

The University of California at Irvine's free video lecture, available on Coursera, tells  you everything you need to know about the essay.

Wikipedia Article on the "Essay"

Wikipedia's article on the essay is comprehensive, providing both English-language and global perspectives on the essay form. Learn about the essay's history, forms, and styles.

"Understanding College and Academic Writing" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This list of common academic writing assignments (including types of essay prompts) will help you know what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Before you start writing your essay, you need to figure out who you're writing for (audience), what you're writing about (topic/theme), and what you're going to say (argument and thesis). This section contains links to handouts, chapters, videos and more to help you prepare to write an essay.

How to Identify Your Audience

"Audience" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This handout provides questions you can ask yourself to determine the audience for an academic writing assignment. It also suggests strategies for fitting your paper to your intended audience.

"Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

This extensive book chapter from Writing for Success , available online through Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is followed by exercises to try out your new pre-writing skills.

"Determining Audience" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This guide from a community college's writing center shows you how to know your audience, and how to incorporate that knowledge in your thesis statement.

"Know Your Audience" ( Paper Rater Blog)

This short blog post uses examples to show how implied audiences for essays differ. It reminds you to think of your instructor as an observer, who will know only the information you pass along.

How to Choose a Theme or Topic

"Research Tutorial: Developing Your Topic" (YouTube)

Take a look at this short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to understand the basics of developing a writing topic.

"How to Choose a Paper Topic" (WikiHow)

This simple, step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through choosing a paper topic. It starts with a detailed description of brainstorming and ends with strategies to refine your broad topic.

"How to Read an Assignment: Moving From Assignment to Topic" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Did your teacher give you a prompt or other instructions? This guide helps you understand the relationship between an essay assignment and your essay's topic.

"Guidelines for Choosing a Topic" (CliffsNotes)

This study guide from CliffsNotes both discusses how to choose a topic and makes a useful distinction between "topic" and "thesis."

How to Come Up with an Argument

"Argument" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

Not sure what "argument" means in the context of academic writing? This page from the University of North Carolina is a good place to start.

"The Essay Guide: Finding an Argument" (Study Hub)

This handout explains why it's important to have an argument when beginning your essay, and provides tools to help you choose a viable argument.

"Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument" (University of Iowa)

This page from the University of Iowa's Writing Center contains exercises through which you can develop and refine your argument and thesis statement.

"Developing a Thesis" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page from Harvard's Writing Center collates some helpful dos and don'ts of argumentative writing, from steps in constructing a thesis to avoiding vague and confrontational thesis statements.

"Suggestions for Developing Argumentative Essays" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

This page offers concrete suggestions for each stage of the essay writing process, from topic selection to drafting and editing. 

How to Outline your Essay

"Outlines" (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill via YouTube)

This short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows how to group your ideas into paragraphs or sections to begin the outlining process.

"Essay Outline" (Univ. of Washington Tacoma)

This two-page handout by a university professor simply defines the parts of an essay and then organizes them into an example outline.

"Types of Outlines and Samples" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL gives examples of diverse outline strategies on this page, including the alphanumeric, full sentence, and decimal styles. 

"Outlining" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Once you have an argument, according to this handout, there are only three steps in the outline process: generalizing, ordering, and putting it all together. Then you're ready to write!

"Writing Essays" (Plymouth Univ.)

This packet, part of Plymouth University's Learning Development series, contains descriptions and diagrams relating to the outlining process.

"How to Write A Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure" (Criticalthinkingtutorials.com via YouTube)

This longer video tutorial gives an overview of how to structure your essay in order to support your argument or thesis. It is part of a longer course on academic writing hosted on Udemy.

Now that you've chosen and refined your topic and created an outline, use these resources to complete the writing process. Most essays contain introductions (which articulate your thesis statement), body paragraphs, and conclusions. Transitions facilitate the flow from one paragraph to the next so that support for your thesis builds throughout the essay. Sources and citations show where you got the evidence to support your thesis, which ensures that you avoid plagiarism. 

How to Write an Introduction

"Introductions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page identifies the role of the introduction in any successful paper, suggests strategies for writing introductions, and warns against less effective introductions.

"How to Write A Good Introduction" (Michigan State Writing Center)

Beginning with the most common missteps in writing introductions, this guide condenses the essentials of introduction composition into seven points.

"The Introductory Paragraph" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming focuses on ways to grab your reader's attention at the beginning of your essay.

"Introductions and Conclusions" (Univ. of Toronto)

This guide from the University of Toronto gives advice that applies to writing both introductions and conclusions, including dos and don'ts.

"How to Write Better Essays: No One Does Introductions Properly" ( The Guardian )

This news article interviews UK professors on student essay writing; they point to introductions as the area that needs the most improvement.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

"Writing an Effective Thesis Statement" (YouTube)

This short, simple video tutorial from a college composition instructor at Tulsa Community College explains what a thesis statement is and what it does. 

"Thesis Statement: Four Steps to a Great Essay" (YouTube)

This fantastic tutorial walks you through drafting a thesis, using an essay prompt on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as an example.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through coming up with, writing, and editing a thesis statement. It invites you think of your statement as a "working thesis" that can change.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (Univ. of Indiana Bloomington)

Ask yourself the questions on this page, part of Indiana Bloomington's Writing Tutorial Services, when you're writing and refining your thesis statement.

"Writing Tips: Thesis Statements" (Univ. of Illinois Center for Writing Studies)

This page gives plentiful examples of good to great thesis statements, and offers questions to ask yourself when formulating a thesis statement.

How to Write Body Paragraphs

"Body Paragraph" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course introduces you to the components of a body paragraph. These include the topic sentence, information, evidence, and analysis.

"Strong Body Paragraphs" (Washington Univ.)

This handout from Washington's Writing and Research Center offers in-depth descriptions of the parts of a successful body paragraph.

"Guide to Paragraph Structure" (Deakin Univ.)

This handout is notable for color-coding example body paragraphs to help you identify the functions various sentences perform.

"Writing Body Paragraphs" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

The exercises in this section of Writing for Success  will help you practice writing good body paragraphs. It includes guidance on selecting primary support for your thesis.

"The Writing Process—Body Paragraphs" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

The information and exercises on this page will familiarize you with outlining and writing body paragraphs, and includes links to more information on topic sentences and transitions.

"The Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post discusses body paragraphs in the context of one of the most common academic essay types in secondary schools.

How to Use Transitions

"Transitions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explains what a transition is, and how to know if you need to improve your transitions.

"Using Transitions Effectively" (Washington Univ.)

This handout defines transitions, offers tips for using them, and contains a useful list of common transitional words and phrases grouped by function.

"Transitions" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This page compares paragraphs without transitions to paragraphs with transitions, and in doing so shows how important these connective words and phrases are.

"Transitions in Academic Essays" (Scribbr)

This page lists four techniques that will help you make sure your reader follows your train of thought, including grouping similar information and using transition words.

"Transitions" (El Paso Community College)

This handout shows example transitions within paragraphs for context, and explains how transitions improve your essay's flow and voice.

"Make Your Paragraphs Flow to Improve Writing" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post, another from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming, talks about transitions and other strategies to improve your essay's overall flow.

"Transition Words" (smartwords.org)

This handy word bank will help you find transition words when you're feeling stuck. It's grouped by the transition's function, whether that is to show agreement, opposition, condition, or consequence.

How to Write a Conclusion

"Parts of An Essay: Conclusions" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course explains how to conclude an academic essay. It suggests thinking about the "3Rs": return to hook, restate your thesis, and relate to the reader.

"Essay Conclusions" (Univ. of Maryland University College)

This overview of the academic essay conclusion contains helpful examples and links to further resources for writing good conclusions.

"How to End An Essay" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) by an English Ph.D. walks you through writing a conclusion, from brainstorming to ending with a flourish.

"Ending the Essay: Conclusions" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page collates useful strategies for writing an effective conclusion, and reminds you to "close the discussion without closing it off" to further conversation.

How to Include Sources and Citations

"Research and Citation Resources" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL streamlines information about the three most common referencing styles (MLA, Chicago, and APA) and provides examples of how to cite different resources in each system.

EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator

This online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. Be sure to select your resource type before clicking the "cite it" button.

CitationMachine

Like EasyBib, this online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. 

Modern Language Association Handbook (MLA)

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of MLA referencing rules. Order through the link above, or check to see if your library has a copy.

Chicago Manual of Style

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of Chicago referencing rules. You can take a look at the table of contents, then choose to subscribe or start a free trial.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

"What is Plagiarism?" (plagiarism.org)

This nonprofit website contains numerous resources for identifying and avoiding plagiarism, and reminds you that even common activities like copying images from another website to your own site may constitute plagiarism.

"Plagiarism" (University of Oxford)

This interactive page from the University of Oxford helps you check for plagiarism in your work, making it clear how to avoid citing another person's work without full acknowledgement.

"Avoiding Plagiarism" (MIT Comparative Media Studies)

This quick guide explains what plagiarism is, what its consequences are, and how to avoid it. It starts by defining three words—quotation, paraphrase, and summary—that all constitute citation.

"Harvard Guide to Using Sources" (Harvard Extension School)

This comprehensive website from Harvard brings together articles, videos, and handouts about referencing, citation, and plagiarism. 

Grammarly contains tons of helpful grammar and writing resources, including a free tool to automatically scan your essay to check for close affinities to published work. 

Noplag is another popular online tool that automatically scans your essay to check for signs of plagiarism. Simply copy and paste your essay into the box and click "start checking."

Once you've written your essay, you'll want to edit (improve content), proofread (check for spelling and grammar mistakes), and finalize your work until you're ready to hand it in. This section brings together tips and resources for navigating the editing process. 

"Writing a First Draft" (Academic Help)

This is an introduction to the drafting process from the site Academic Help, with tips for getting your ideas on paper before editing begins.

"Editing and Proofreading" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page provides general strategies for revising your writing. They've intentionally left seven errors in the handout, to give you practice in spotting them.

"How to Proofread Effectively" (ThoughtCo)

This article from ThoughtCo, along with those linked at the bottom, help describe common mistakes to check for when proofreading.

"7 Simple Edits That Make Your Writing 100% More Powerful" (SmartBlogger)

This blog post emphasizes the importance of powerful, concise language, and reminds you that even your personal writing heroes create clunky first drafts.

"Editing Tips for Effective Writing" (Univ. of Pennsylvania)

On this page from Penn's International Relations department, you'll find tips for effective prose, errors to watch out for, and reminders about formatting.

"Editing the Essay" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This article, the first of two parts, gives you applicable strategies for the editing process. It suggests reading your essay aloud, removing any jargon, and being unafraid to remove even "dazzling" sentences that don't belong.

"Guide to Editing and Proofreading" (Oxford Learning Institute)

This handout from Oxford covers the basics of editing and proofreading, and reminds you that neither task should be rushed. 

In addition to plagiarism-checkers, Grammarly has a plug-in for your web browser that checks your writing for common mistakes.

After you've prepared, written, and edited your essay, you might want to share it outside the classroom. This section alerts you to print and web opportunities to share your essays with the wider world, from online writing communities and blogs to published journals geared toward young writers.

Sharing Your Essays Online

Go Teen Writers

Go Teen Writers is an online community for writers aged 13 - 19. It was founded by Stephanie Morrill, an author of contemporary young adult novels. 

Tumblr is a blogging website where you can share your writing and interact with other writers online. It's easy to add photos, links, audio, and video components.

Writersky provides an online platform for publishing and reading other youth writers' work. Its current content is mostly devoted to fiction.

Publishing Your Essays Online

This teen literary journal publishes in print, on the web, and (more frequently), on a blog. It is committed to ensuring that "teens see their authentic experience reflected on its pages."

The Matador Review

This youth writing platform celebrates "alternative," unconventional writing. The link above will take you directly to the site's "submissions" page.

Teen Ink has a website, monthly newsprint magazine, and quarterly poetry magazine promoting the work of young writers.

The largest online reading platform, Wattpad enables you to publish your work and read others' work. Its inline commenting feature allows you to share thoughts as you read along.

Publishing Your Essays in Print

Canvas Teen Literary Journal

This quarterly literary magazine is published for young writers by young writers. They accept many kinds of writing, including essays.

The Claremont Review

This biannual international magazine, first published in 1992, publishes poetry, essays, and short stories from writers aged 13 - 19.

Skipping Stones

This young writers magazine, founded in 1988, celebrates themes relating to ecological and cultural diversity. It publishes poems, photos, articles, and stories.

The Telling Room

This nonprofit writing center based in Maine publishes children's work on their website and in book form. The link above directs you to the site's submissions page.

Essay Contests

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards

This prestigious international writing contest for students in grades 7 - 12 has been committed to "supporting the future of creativity since 1923."

Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest

An annual essay contest on the theme of journalism and media, the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest awards scholarships up to $1,000.

National YoungArts Foundation

Here, you'll find information on a government-sponsored writing competition for writers aged 15 - 18. The foundation welcomes submissions of creative nonfiction, novels, scripts, poetry, short story and spoken word.

Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest

With prompts on a different literary work each year, this competition from Signet Classics awards college scholarships up to $1,000.

"The Ultimate Guide to High School Essay Contests" (CollegeVine)

See this handy guide from CollegeVine for a list of more competitions you can enter with your academic essay, from the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards to the National High School Essay Contest by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Whether you're struggling to write academic essays or you think you're a pro, there are workshops and online tools that can help you become an even better writer. Even the most seasoned writers encounter writer's block, so be proactive and look through our curated list of resources to combat this common frustration.

Online Essay-writing Classes and Workshops

"Getting Started with Essay Writing" (Coursera)

Coursera offers lots of free, high-quality online classes taught by college professors. Here's one example, taught by instructors from the University of California Irvine.

"Writing and English" (Brightstorm)

Brightstorm's free video lectures are easy to navigate by topic. This unit on the parts of an essay features content on the essay hook, thesis, supporting evidence, and more.

"How to Write an Essay" (EdX)

EdX is another open online university course website with several two- to five-week courses on the essay. This one is geared toward English language learners.

Writer's Digest University

This renowned writers' website offers online workshops and interactive tutorials. The courses offered cover everything from how to get started through how to get published.

Writing.com

Signing up for this online writer's community gives you access to helpful resources as well as an international community of writers.

How to Overcome Writer's Block

"Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue OWL offers a list of signs you might have writer's block, along with ways to overcome it. Consider trying out some "invention strategies" or ways to curb writing anxiety.

"Overcoming Writer's Block: Three Tips" ( The Guardian )

These tips, geared toward academic writing specifically, are practical and effective. The authors advocate setting realistic goals, creating dedicated writing time, and participating in social writing.

"Writing Tips: Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block" (Univ. of Illinois)

This page from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Center for Writing Studies acquaints you with strategies that do and do not work to overcome writer's block.

"Writer's Block" (Univ. of Toronto)

Ask yourself the questions on this page; if the answer is "yes," try out some of the article's strategies. Each question is accompanied by at least two possible solutions.

If you have essays to write but are short on ideas, this section's links to prompts, example student essays, and celebrated essays by professional writers might help. You'll find writing prompts from a variety of sources, student essays to inspire you, and a number of essay writing collections.

Essay Writing Prompts

"50 Argumentative Essay Topics" (ThoughtCo)

Take a look at this list and the others ThoughtCo has curated for different kinds of essays. As the author notes, "a number of these topics are controversial and that's the point."

"401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" ( New York Times )

This list (and the linked lists to persuasive and narrative writing prompts), besides being impressive in length, is put together by actual high school English teachers.

"SAT Sample Essay Prompts" (College Board)

If you're a student in the U.S., your classroom essay prompts are likely modeled on the prompts in U.S. college entrance exams. Take a look at these official examples from the SAT.

"Popular College Application Essay Topics" (Princeton Review)

This page from the Princeton Review dissects recent Common Application essay topics and discusses strategies for answering them.

Example Student Essays

"501 Writing Prompts" (DePaul Univ.)

This nearly 200-page packet, compiled by the LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team, is stuffed with writing prompts, example essays, and commentary.

"Topics in English" (Kibin)

Kibin is a for-pay essay help website, but its example essays (organized by topic) are available for free. You'll find essays on everything from  A Christmas Carol  to perseverance.

"Student Writing Models" (Thoughtful Learning)

Thoughtful Learning, a website that offers a variety of teaching materials, provides sample student essays on various topics and organizes them by grade level.

"Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

In this blog post by a former professor of English and rhetoric, ThoughtCo brings together examples of five-paragraph essays and commentary on the form.

The Best Essay Writing Collections

The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates (Amazon)

This collection of American essays spanning the twentieth century was compiled by award winning author and Princeton professor Joyce Carol Oates.

The Best American Essays 2017 by Leslie Jamison (Amazon)

Leslie Jamison, the celebrated author of essay collection  The Empathy Exams , collects recent, high-profile essays into a single volume.

The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (Amazon)

Documentary writer Phillip Lopate curates this historical overview of the personal essay's development, from the classical era to the present.

The White Album by Joan Didion (Amazon)

This seminal essay collection was authored by one of the most acclaimed personal essayists of all time, American journalist Joan Didion.

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (Amazon)

Read this famous essay collection by David Foster Wallace, who is known for his experimentation with the essay form. He pushed the boundaries of personal essay, reportage, and political polemic.

"50 Successful Harvard Application Essays" (Staff of the The Harvard Crimson )

If you're looking for examples of exceptional college application essays, this volume from Harvard's daily student newspaper is one of the best collections on the market.

Are you an instructor looking for the best resources for teaching essay writing? This section contains resources for developing in-class activities and student homework assignments. You'll find content from both well-known university writing centers and online writing labs.

Essay Writing Classroom Activities for Students

"In-class Writing Exercises" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page lists exercises related to brainstorming, organizing, drafting, and revising. It also contains suggestions for how to implement the suggested exercises.

"Teaching with Writing" (Univ. of Minnesota Center for Writing)

Instructions and encouragement for using "freewriting," one-minute papers, logbooks, and other write-to-learn activities in the classroom can be found here.

"Writing Worksheets" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

Berkeley offers this bank of writing worksheets to use in class. They are nested under headings for "Prewriting," "Revision," "Research Papers" and more.

"Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" (DePaul University)

Use these activities and worksheets from DePaul's Teaching Commons when instructing students on proper academic citation practices.

Essay Writing Homework Activities for Students

"Grammar and Punctuation Exercises" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

These five interactive online activities allow students to practice editing and proofreading. They'll hone their skills in correcting comma splices and run-ons, identifying fragments, using correct pronoun agreement, and comma usage.

"Student Interactives" (Read Write Think)

Read Write Think hosts interactive tools, games, and videos for developing writing skills. They can practice organizing and summarizing, writing poetry, and developing lines of inquiry and analysis.

This free website offers writing and grammar activities for all grade levels. The lessons are designed to be used both for large classes and smaller groups.

"Writing Activities and Lessons for Every Grade" (Education World)

Education World's page on writing activities and lessons links you to more free, online resources for learning how to "W.R.I.T.E.": write, revise, inform, think, and edit.

• PDFs for all 136 Lit Terms we cover
• Downloads of 1987 LitCharts Lit Guides
• Teacher Editions for every Lit Guide
• Explanations and citation info for 41,943 quotes across 1987 books
• Downloadable (PDF) line-by-line translations of every Shakespeare play

Need something? Request a new guide .

How can we improve? Share feedback .

LitCharts is hiring!

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

Kindlepreneur

Book Marketing for Self-Publishing Authors

Home / Book Writing / How to Write a Play: Definition, Tips, and How to Publish

How to Write a Play: Definition, Tips, and How to Publish

If you've ever been to a play (or helped put one on), you know how exciting it can be as the lights go down and the curtains come open on a story performed in real time. 

Stage plays are a special kind of magic, but they also have a lot in common with novels and even movies. Still, if you've never written a play before, there are some significant differences that you'll need to be aware of. I'll cover those differences and everything else you need to know in this article on how to write a play. 

• What to do before you write your play. 
• How to format your manuscript. 
• Tips for writing the best play possible. 

Table of contents

• What Makes a Play Different From a Novel or Movie?
• The Benefits of Writing a Stage Play
• Play Script Examples to Read
• Movies based on Plays
• Different Types of Plays
• Plays with Different Structures
• The Title Page
• The Dramatis Personae (Cast of Characters)
• Start Simple and See Where It Takes You
• Focus on Character and Conflict
• Let the Dialogue Drive
• Make Each Scene Important
• Don't Go Overboard on Stage Directions
• Edit and Rewrite Ruthlessly
• How to Write a Play: Curtains

When you're writing a novel or even a short story, you're limited only by your imagination. You can get as fantastical as you like. You can have buildings explode, helicopter chases, giant creatures whose heads touch the clouds, and pretty much anything else you can think of. There is no limit. 

When writing a movie, you can also put all these things in. But unless you have the backing of a studio with hundreds of millions of dollars to spend, you may not be able to translate everything from your mind to the silver screen. 

Format Beautiful Professional Books

Easy to use, and and full of amazing features, you can quickly turn your book into a professional book.

If you want to write a play, there are even more limitations than writing a movie. Since a play takes place on a stage with live actors, there's only so much you can do. While there are some elements or settings that can be accomplished on a stage, every fantastic element that goes into your play means a bigger budget for the production . 

This is the reason why most plays are character-driven stories . You generally won't see a play that takes place in more than two or three locations, and usually, these locations are fairly common, such as offices or homes.  

So as you think about the idea for your play, keep this in mind. 

Any creative writing endeavor has certain benefits. Creating something out of nothing can be very fulfilling, and writing a play is no different. It can also be a cathartic process, helping you to work through strong emotions. 

But since the main drivers of a stage play are character and dialogue, writing a play can really help you strengthen your skills in both those areas . So no matter what kind of creative writing you do, taking the time to learn how to write a play can strengthen your ability to write novels, short stories, or movie scripts. 

If you don't ever foresee having your play produced with actors and a director, feel free to get as creative as you want. If it's purely a creative writing exercise, you need not worry about production limitations. 

Immerse Yourself in Stage Plays

Before you begin writing a play, it's important to become intimately familiar with the storytelling medium. This means going to see plays in your local community theater, as well as reading play scripts. 

While it's best to go see plays in person, this isn't possible for everyone. If you're limited in your ability to see a live play, you can watch some on YouTube. Or, you can watch movies that are based on plays and think about how they would look on stage. This is actually a good exercise to help you get in the playwright's frame of mind. 

• Hamlet by William Shakespeare (A list of plays wouldn't be complete without one from the GOAT.)
• The Theory of Everything by Prince Gomolvilas
• Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar
• Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
• The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
• A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
• Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
• Ruined by Lynn Nottage
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
• Death of a Salesman
• Glengarry Glen Ross
• 12 Angry Men

Before we dive into writing tips (and then play script formatting details), it's important that we take a look at the different types of plays. First of all, there are genres to be aware of:

• Tragedy – In which the main character spirals out of control thanks to a fatal flaw (and almost always dies at the end). 
• Comedy – In which the tone is light and the goal is to get the audience laughing. 
• Farce – The stage play's version of a “late night” or “slapstick” comedy, often nonsensical and irreverent. 
• Tragi-Comedy – These skirt the line between tragedy and comedy, tackling tough subjects and following a flawed protagonist in a more lighthearted manner than your average tragedy. Often, the protagonist doesn't die at the end. 
• Melodrama – A melodrama will often have clearly defined heroes and heroines with character flaws that are overcome by the resolution. These will often feature larger-than-life storylines. 
• Historical – A play based on an event in history. 

There are three primary types of stage plays: one-act, two-act, and three-act. Let's discuss their differences briefly so you can decide which type you want to tackle. 

• One-Act Plays – One-act plays are commonly limited to a single location (so there are no set changes) and feature only a handful of characters. They're on the shorter side than two- or three-act plays, ranging from ten to sixty minutes on average. As a result, they're necessarily less complex than longer plays. 
• Two-Act Plays – Two-act plays are more common these days. They're longer than their one-act counterparts, anywhere from an hour to two hours. Because of this, they may feature an intermission. You'll often see multiple set pieces or (locations), a larger cast of characters, and more nuanced character development. 
• Three-Act Plays – Three-act plays are the longest type, sometimes ranging up to three hours or more. While in days past, these plays may have had two or more intermissions, this isn't usually the case these days. Most three-act plays (unless they're really long) will only have one intermission. Given their length, they'll often have large casts, multiple storylines, and many set changes. 

It's important to note that these “acts” aren't really the same thing as the acts in plot structure diagrams like the Three Act Structure . 

Every story, no matter its length, should have a beginning, middle, and end. It should have exposition , a clear conflict, rising action, and a climax that facilitates a conclusion. 

Really, talking about plays in terms of their acts is a way to differentiate longer and more complex plays from shorter, simpler ones. This is also a way to think about how much it will cost to put on a given play. 

How to Format Your Play Script

Play script format is similar in many ways to screenplay format, but there are some key differences to be aware of. So whether you know screenplay format or not, this section will help you with your play format. 

When writing your first draft, don’t worry too much about the format . Just get the story and the dialogue down without stopping to format everything correctly. You can always format it later as or after you edit.

The title of your play should be in the middle of your title page, underlined and in all caps. Below, write your name. Like this:

THE PLAY TITLE

Playwright Name

In the bottom left corner, print your address, phone number, and email address. If you have an agent, print their name and contact info in the bottom right corner. 

On this page, list each of your characters along with a very brief description of them. This can include age, sex, and notable physical attributes. 

Next, set the stage (literally) with the time and setting. It should look something like this: 

Briefly describe your setting. It could be an office building, a home, a hotel, etc. 

Briefly describe the time. This includes whether it's day or night and whether it takes place in the present day, the past, or the future. 

Next, you'll want to start with Act I and Scene 1. All act and scene settings should be centered. 

All character names should be in all caps . And those above dialogue should be centered. Character names in stage directions won't be centered. But the stage directions themselves should be indented once and italicized. 

Like screenplays, play scripts are written in the present tense .  

Here's what a scene will look like in action:

Living room, early afternoon. 

JIMMY, a slovenly criminal dressed in black clothes and a ski mask, works on getting the large TV off the wall. LEROY suddenly comes through the front door.  

What are you doing?

What's it look like? I'm stealing your TV. 

JIMMY 

What do you care? You don't even watch it.

Do too. 

And so on. 

It’s important to note that there is no one right play script format. As you’re reading plays, you’ll probably see several different formats used across different plays. Really, you can choose one. Just remember to be consistent with your play format throughout the entire play. 

Tips for Writing a Great Play

Writing an entire play—even a short play—is no small feat. While every writer is different in their approach to storytelling, I've tried to make the following tips broad enough yet specific enough that you can incorporate them into your own writing process, even if you're still discovering what it is!

If this is your first time writing a play, I suggest starting with a simple one-act play structure. Once you have something down with a beginning, middle, and end, you can expand on it from there. So shoot for a fifteen-page script, which will be about a fifteen-minute play (it's roughly one page per minute when all is said and done). 

Keep this fairly short play as your goal, but don't let it limit you when the creative juices start to flow. See where the story takes you. If the story needs a third or fourth character to show up unexpectedly, go with it and see what happens. 

Whether you end up with a 60-page stage play or a 10-page one isn't important. The important thing is making that play as good as it possibly can be. And that's what the following tips will help you do. 

Character and conflict are what drive the plot of any play. Focusing on these two factors together can really help you flesh out your story. After all, the conflict needs to be directly related to your characters. 

An interesting main character battling an inner demon won't do you much good until something happens to make that inner conflict clear to the audience. In a play, this is usually some form of external conflict brought about by another character—even if the other character doesn't at first realize what he or she is doing. 

In Hamlet , the protagonist is struck with indecision throughout the whole play. He wants to avenge his father's murder, but he continues to put this off, philosophizing and ruminating on death and suicide. Eventually, he drives himself insane. Things spiral out of control and many innocent people die directly or indirectly due to his inaction—including himself.

As with any other story, characters need to be somewhat believable and the audience needs a reason to empathize with them . Interesting characters are great, but it won't matter how interesting they are if the audience doesn't really care what happens to them. So in the beginning, give the audience a reason to empathize with your protagonist. 

The dialogue in a play is incredibly important. While you can technically have a narrator to tell the audience things, you'll need to be careful to not use this as a crutch. Really, the dialogue between characters should tell the bulk of your story through subtext. 

Not only does this mean writing realistic dialogue, but it also means ensuring that the dialogue isn't too on the nose. For example, you wouldn't want your main character to say out loud to someone, “I'm angry right now because my love life is a mess!” 

Instead, you'd want that anger to come with a little more nuance and subtext. Maybe she makes a snarky remark to a friend who is talking to her about the great relationship she's in. And if your character delivers a monologue, it should be true to her voice and give the audience a deeper insight into her character . 

As is the case with novel and screenplay writing, each scene in the play needs to have a purpose. However, when writing your first draft, you may end up with a few scenes that don't seem to have a clear purpose. That's okay. Sometimes you need to write through meandering or unclear scenes to get to the ones that your story needs.  

So when you're going through and editing your play, make sure each scene serves to drive the story forward. If there's no point to the scene, it doesn't need to be in the play. 

Stage directions in a play entail everything from setting and lighting to the movements of the actors and their body language. But since plays are a group effort and each actor will bring their own unique touches to their characters, you don't need to go overboard with stage directions. 

If you were writing a novel or a short story, you would want to describe important things in fairly vivid detail. But when writing a play, you need not worry about going into great detail. Instead, a few words here and there will do for stage direction. Of course, if something is really important to the story (like a prop or a location) and you want to emphasize it, it's completely fine to go into more detail. 

Best Book Marketing Software

Over 47,000+ authors, NYT bestsellers, and publishing companies use Publisher Rocket to gain key insight to the market.  Help your book now

It's also a good idea to consider the type of stage your play will be performed on. You may be writing for a theater with a traditional stage, but you may not. There are “theater in the round” stages – a round stage surrounded by seats. Then there are thrust stages, where certain parts of the stage are surrounded on three sides with seats. 

If you're not sure which kind of stage your play will be performed on, that's okay. You can always add pertinent stage directions later. 

Editing and rewriting are vital parts of any creative writing endeavor. Many professionals suggest getting your first draft down and then putting it aside for a week or a month before you pick it up again with fresh eyes. 

Whether you wait a week or a day before editing, try to see the play from the audience's perspective. Think about your ideal audience member and what you want them to get out of it. Then use this to rewrite and edit ruthlessly until you have a play that is as good as you can possibly make it.

Writing an original play is not only a rewarding experience, but it can help you become a better fiction writer in general. And if your play is performed in a theater, you'll be able to watch it come alive as few people ever do. The more you write, the better your chances of success. And you may even want to turn your play into a novel eventually. 

No matter your specific writing process, a play can help you strengthen your character development and dialogue writing skills. And it can also help you learn how to write a screenplay, as well!

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

Related Posts

Best book writing software 2024 [writing, editing & focus], author vs writer: what’s the difference, how to write an adventure story, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

Join the community

Join 111,585 other authors who receive weekly emails from us to help them make more money selling books.

Generate accurate MLA citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• How to cite a play in MLA

How to Cite a Play in MLA Style | Format & Examples

Published on March 6, 2019 by Courtney Gahan . Revised on March 5, 2024.

When citing a play with numbered lines, the MLA parenthetical citation should include the author name and the act, scene and line number(s). If the lines are not numbered, include the page number instead.

When quoting dialogue, include the character names in all capitals followed by a period, and pay attention to indentation.

You can also try our free MLA Citation Generator to help create citations for plays.

Table of contents

Citing plays in mla, how to quote dialogue from a play, plays in an mla works cited list.

An MLA in-text citation contains the author’s last name and a page number:

If the text of the play includes act, scene, and line numbers, replace the page number with the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods:

If the text uses lines only, clarify what the numbers mean by writing “line(s)” beforehand in the first citation of that play, separated from the author name or title with a comma. Subsequent citations of the same play can omit “line(s).”

Citing multiple plays by one playwright

In papers focusing on multiple works by one playwright (for example, the works of Shakespeare), use the italicized play name instead of the author name in each citation:

To avoid repeating play names throughout your dissertation, the MLA style guide recommends writing the full name in the first citation, then using abbreviations for subsequent mentions.

If your research is focused on Shakespeare , there are universally accepted play name abbreviations you can use. Do not devise your own, as your supervisor will be expecting these standard abbreviations:

When quoting multiple lines of dialogue from a play or screenplay:

• Set the quote on a new line, indented half an inch from the left margin.
• Start the dialogue with the character’s name in capital letters, followed by a period.
• If a character’s dialogue runs over one line, indent subsequent lines a further half inch.
• Add the citation at the end, after the punctuation mark.

Throughout the play, memory is connected with both religion and fantasy:

The Works Cited section is where you list the full references for sources cited in the text. The reference for a play looks different depending on whether it was published as a whole book , collected in an anthology , or performed live.

If the play is published as a stand-alone book, it looks the same as a standard MLA book citation .

Collection or anthology

If the play is published in an anthology or collection, place a period after the play’s title, followed by full details of the book in which it appears.

If there is no named editor, simply omit this part and proceed straight from the anthology name to the publisher information.

Live performance

MLA  citation generator

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Gahan, C. (2024, March 05). How to Cite a Play in MLA Style | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 21, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/how-to-cite-a-play/

Is this article helpful?

Courtney Gahan

Other students also liked, block quoting in mla style, mla format for academic papers and essays, how to cite a book in mla, what is your plagiarism score.

Academic Editing and Proofreading

• Tips to Self-Edit Your Dissertation
• Guide to Essay Editing: Methods, Tips, & Examples
• Journal Article Proofreading: Process, Cost, & Checklist
• The A–Z of Dissertation Editing: Standard Rates & Involved Steps
• Research Paper Editing | Guide to a Perfect Research Paper
• Dissertation Proofreading | Definition & Standard Rates
• Thesis Proofreading | Definition, Importance & Standard Pricing
• Research Paper Proofreading | Definition, Significance & Standard Rates
• Essay Proofreading | Options, Cost & Checklist
• Top 10 Paper Editing Services of 2024 (Costs & Features)
• Top 10 Essay Checkers in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• Top 10 AI Proofreaders to Perfect Your Writing in 2024
• Top 10 English Correctors to Perfect Your Text in 2024
• Top 10 Essay Editing Services of 2024
• 10 Advanced AI Text Editors to Transform Writing in 2024

Academic Research

• Research Paper Outline: Templates & Examples
• How to Write a Research Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Write a Lab Report: Examples from Academic Editors
• Research Methodology Guide: Writing Tips, Types, & Examples
• The 10 Best Essential Resources for Academic Research
• 100+ Useful ChatGPT Prompts for Thesis Writing in 2024
• Best ChatGPT Prompts for Academic Writing (100+ Prompts!)
• Sampling Methods Guide: Types, Strategies, and Examples
• Independent vs. Dependent Variables | Meaning & Examples

Academic Writing & Publishing

• Difference Between Paper Editing and Peer Review
• What are the different types of peer review?
• How to deal with rejection from a journal?
• Editing and Proofreading Academic Papers: A Short Guide
• How to Carry Out Secondary Research
• The Results Section of a Dissertation
• Checklist: Is my Article Ready for Submitting to Journals?
• Types of Research Articles to Boost Your Research Profile
• 8 Types of Peer Review Processes You Should Know
• The Ethics of Academic Research
• How does LaTeX based proofreading work?
• How to Improve Your Scientific Writing: A Short Guide
• Chicago Title, Cover Page & Body | Paper Format Guidelines
• How to Write a Thesis Statement: Examples & Tips
• Chicago Style Citation: Quick Guide & Examples
• The A-Z Of Publishing Your Article in A Journal
• What is Journal Article Editing? 3 Reasons You Need It
• 5 Powerful Personal Statement Examples (Template Included)
• Complete Guide to MLA Format (9th Edition)
• How to Cite a Book in APA Style | Format & Examples
• How to Start a Research Paper | Step-by-step Guide
• APA Citations Made Easy with Our Concise Guide for 2024
• A Step-by-Step Guide to APA Formatting Style (7th Edition)
• Top 10 Online Dissertation Editing Services of 2024
• Academic Writing in 2024: 5 Key Dos & Don’ts + Examples
• What Are the Standard Book Sizes for Publishing Your Book?
• MLA Works Cited Page: Quick Tips & Examples
• 2024’s Top 10 Thesis Statement Generators (Free Included!)
• Top 10 Title Page Generators for Students in 2024
• What Is an Open Access Journal? 10 Myths Busted!
• Primary vs. Secondary Sources: Definition, Types & Examples
• How To Write a College Admissions Essay That Stands Out
• How to Write a Dissertation & Thesis Conclusion (+ Examples)
• APA Journal Citation: 7 Types, In-Text Rules, & Examples
• What Is Predatory Publishing and How to Avoid It!
• What Is Plagiarism? Meaning, Types & Examples
• How to Write a Strong Dissertation & Thesis Introduction
• How to Cite a Book in MLA Format (9th Edition)
• How to Cite a Website in MLA Format | 9th Edition Rules
• 10 Best AI Conclusion Generators (Features & Pricing)
• Top 10 Academic Editing Services of 2024 [with Pricing]
• Additional Resources
• Plagiarism: How to avoid it in your thesis?
• Final Submission Checklist | Dissertation & Thesis
• 7 Useful MS Word Formatting Tips for Dissertation Writing
• How to Write a MEAL Paragraph: Writing Plan Explained in Detail
• Em Dash vs. En Dash vs. Hyphen: When to Use Which
• The 10 Best Citation Generators in 2024 | Free & Paid Plans!
• 2024’s Top 10 Self-Help Books for Better Living
• The 10 Best Free Character and Word Counters of 2024
• Citation and Referencing
• Citing References: APA, MLA, and Chicago
• How to Cite Sources in the MLA Format
• MLA Citation Examples: Cite Essays, Websites, Movies & More
• Citations and References: What Are They and Why They Matter
• APA Headings & Subheadings | Formatting Guidelines & Examples
• Formatting an APA Reference Page | Template & Examples
• Research Paper Format: APA, MLA, & Chicago Style
• How to Create an MLA Title Page | Format, Steps, & Examples
• How to Create an MLA Header | Format Guidelines & Examples
• MLA Annotated Bibliography | Guidelines and Examples
• APA Website Citation (7th Edition) Guide | Format & Examples
• APA Citation Examples: The Bible, TED Talk, PPT & More
• APA Header Format: 5 Steps & Running Head Examples
• APA Title Page Format Simplified | Examples + Free Template
• How to Write an Abstract in MLA Format: Tips & Examples
• 10 Best Free Plagiarism Checkers of 2024 [100% Free Tools]
• 5 Reasons to Cite Your Sources Properly | Avoid Plagiarism!
• Dissertation Writing Guide
• Writing a Dissertation Proposal
• The Acknowledgments Section of a Dissertation
• The Table of Contents Page of a Dissertation
• The Introduction Chapter of a Dissertation
• The Literature Review of a Dissertation
• The Only Dissertation Toolkit You’ll Ever Need!
• 5 Thesis Writing Tips for Master Procrastinators
• How to Write a Dissertation | 5 Tips from Academic Editors
• The 5 Things to Look for in a Dissertation Editing Service
• Top 10 Dissertation Editing & Proofreading Services
• Why is it important to add references to your thesis?
• Thesis Editing | Definition, Scope & Standard Rates
• Expert Formatting Tips on MS Word for Dissertations
• A 7-Step Guide on How to Choose a Dissertation Topic
• 350 Best Dissertation Topic Ideas for All Streams in 2024
• A Guide on How to Write an Abstract for a Research Paper
• Dissertation Defense: What to Expect and How to Prepare
• Creating a Dissertation Title Page (Examples & Templates)
• Essay Writing Guide
• Essential Research Tips for Essay Writing
• What Is a Mind Map? Free Mind Map Templates & Examples
• How to Write an Essay Outline: 5 Examples & Free Template
• How to Write an Essay Header: MLA and APA Essay Headers
• What Is an Essay? Structure, Parts, and Types

How to Write an Essay in 8 Simple Steps (Examples Included)

• 8 Types of Essays | Quick Summary with Examples
• Expository Essays | Step-by-Step Manual with Examples
• Narrative Essay | Step-by-Step Guide with Examples
• How to Write an Argumentative Essay (Examples Included)
• Guide to a Perfect Descriptive Essay [Examples & Outline Included]
• How to Start an Essay: 4 Introduction Paragraph Examples
• How to Write a Conclusion for an Essay (Examples Included!)
• How to Write an Impactful Personal Statement (Examples Included)
• Literary Analysis Essay: 5 Steps to a Perfect Assignment
• Compare and Contrast Essay | Quick Guide with Examples
• Top 10 Essay Writing Tools in 2024 | Plan, Write, Get Feedback
• Top AI Essay Writers in 2024: 10 Must-Haves
• 100 Best College Essay Topics & How to Pick the Perfect One!
• College Essay Format: Tips, Examples, and Free Template
• Structure of an Essay: 5 Tips to Write an Outstanding Essay

Still have questions? Leave a comment

Add Comment

Checklist: Dissertation Proposal

Enter your email id to get the downloadable right in your inbox!

Examples: Edited Papers

Need editing and proofreading services.

• Tags: Academic Writing , Essay , Essay Writing

Knowing how to write an essay can help you out significantly in both, your academic and professional life. An essay is a highly versatile nonfiction piece of writing that not only tests your knowledge of a topic but also your literary and argumentative skills.     

Each essay requires the same basic process of planning, writing, and editing. Naturally, we’ve used these stages to group our steps on how to write an essay. So w ithout further ado, let’s get into it! Here are the eight steps to write an essay:

Stage 1: Planning

1. Pick an appropriate research topic

In certain cases, your teacher or professor may assign you a topic. However, in many cases, students have the freedom to select a topic of their choice. Make sure you choose a topic that you’re well versed in and have significant knowledge of. 

Having prior knowledge of the topic will help you determine the subsequent steps to write an essay. It will also make your research process considerably easier.

2. Form an appropriate thesis statement

A thesis statement is the central idea or premise your essay is based on. It is usually a sentence or two long and is included in the introduction of the essay. The scope of your thesis statement depends on the type of your essay and its length.

For instance, the scope of the thesis statement for a 500–1000 word school essay will be narrower than a 1000–5000 word college essay. A rule of thumb is that your essay topic should be broad enough to gather enough information, but narrow enough to address specific points and not be vague. Here’s an example: 

The invention of the airplane by the Wright Brothers in 1903 revolutionized transportation and paved the way for modern aviation. It represents a monumental achievement in human history that forever changed the course of human civilization.

3. Create an essay outline

Creating a well-organized essay outline not only gives structure and flow to your essay but also makes it more impactful and easy to understand. The idea is to collect the main points of information that support or elaborate on your thesis statement. You can also include references or examples under these main points. 

For example, if your thesis statement revolves around the invention of the airplane, your main points will include travel before the invention of the airplane, how it was invented, and its effects on modern-day travel. Take a look:

The Wright Brothers’ invention had a massive impact on modern-day travel. The subsequent growth of the aviation industry led to increased accessibility of air travel to the general public.

Stage 2: Writing

4. Write a comprehensive introduction

After creating the basic outline, it is important to know how to write an essay. Begin your essay by introducing your voice and point of view to the reader. An introduction is usually a paragraph or two long and consists of three main parts:

• Background information
• Thesis statement

Let’s better understand this with the help of an example:

The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane in 1903 revolutionized the way humans travel and explore the world. Prior to this invention, transportation relied on trains, boats, and cars, which limited the distance and speed of travel. However, the airplane made air travel a reality, allowing people to reach far-off destinations in mere hours. This breakthrough paved the way for modern-day air travel, transforming the world into a smaller, more connected place. In this essay, we will explore the impact of the Wright Brothers’ invention on modern-day travel, including the growth of the aviation industry, increased accessibility of air travel to the general public, and the economic and cultural benefits of air travel.

Let’s understand how to construct each of these sections in more detail.

A. Construct an attractive hook

The opening sentence of an essay, also known as the hook, should include a powerful or startling statement that captures the reader’s attention. Depending on the type of your essay, it can be an interesting fact, a surprising statistic, or an engaging anecdote. 

B. Provide relevant background information

While writing the introduction, it’s important to provide context or background information before including the thesis statement. The background information may include the time before a groundbreaking invention, the pros and cons of a significant discovery, or the short- and long-term effects of an event.

C. Edit the thesis statement

If you’ve constructed your thesis statement during the outlining stage, it’s time to edit it based on the background information you’ve provided. Observe the slight changes we’ve made to the scope of the thesis statement in the example above. This accommodates the bits of information we’ve provided in the background history.

5. Form relevant body paragraphs

Body paragraphs play a crucial role in supporting and expanding the central argument presented in the thesis statement. The number of body paragraphs depends on the type of essay as well as the scope of the thesis statement.

Most school-level essays contain three body paragraphs while college-level essays can vary in length depending on the assignment.

A well-crafted body paragraph consists of the following parts:

• A topic sentence
• Supporting information
• An analysis of the information
• A smooth transition to the next paragraph

Let’s understand this with the help of an example. 

The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane revolutionized air travel. They achieved the first-ever successful powered flight with the Wright Flyer in 1903, after years of conducting experiments and studying flight principles. Despite their first flight lasting only 12 seconds, it was a significant milestone that paved the way for modern aviation. The Wright Brothers’ success can be attributed to their systematic approach to problem-solving, which included numerous experiments with gliders, the development of a wind tunnel to test their designs, and meticulous analysis and recording of their results. Their dedication and ingenuity forever changed the way we travel, making modern aviation possible.

Here’s a detailed overview of how to construct each of these sections.

A. Construct appropriate topic sentences

A topic sentence is the title of the body paragraph that elaborates on the thesis statement. It is the main idea on which the body paragraph is developed. Ensure that each topic sentence is relevant to the thesis statement and makes the essay flow seamlessly. 

The order of topic sentences is key in creating an impactful essay. This order varies depending on the type of essay you choose to write. These sentences may be arranged chronologically, in the order of importance, or in a cause-and-effect format.

B. Provide supporting information

It is necessary to provide relevant supporting information and evidence to validate your topic statement. This may include examples, relevant statistics, history, or even personal anecdotes.

You should also remember to cite your sources wherever you use them to substantiate your arguments. Always give researchers and authors credit for their work!

C. Analyze the supporting information

After presenting the appropriate evidence, the next step is to conduct an in-depth analysis. Establish connections and provide additional details to strengthen the link between your topic sentence and the supporting information. 

Depending on the type of essay, this step may also involve sharing your subjective opinions and key takeaways.

D. Create a smooth transition

In case you plan to create multiple body paragraphs, it is crucial to create a seamless transition between them. Transitional statements not only make the essay less jarring to read but also guide the reader in the right direction.

However, these statements need not be too lengthy and complicated. Use words such as “however”, “in addition to”, and “therefore” to convey transitions.

6. Construct an impactful conclusion

An impactful conclusion creates a lasting impression on the mind of the reader. Although it varies in length depending on the specific essay, the conclusion is typically a paragraph long.

It consists of

• A restated thesis statement
• Summary of the main points
• The broader implications of the thesis statement

Here’s an example of a well-structured conclusion:

The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane forever changed history by paving the way for modern aviation and countless aerospace advancements. Their persistence, innovation, and dedication to problem-solving led to the first successful powered flight in 1903, sparking a revolution in transportation that transformed the world. Today, air travel remains an integral part of our globalized society, highlighting the undeniable impact of the Wright Brothers’ contribution to human civilization.  

Let’s take a closer look at how to construct each of these sections.

A. Restate the thesis statement

Your conclusion should call back to your original argument or thesis statement.

However, this does not mean repeating the thesis statement as is. The essence of your argument should remain the same, but it should also be modified and evolved as per the information presented in your essay.

B. Summarize important points

A powerful conclusion not only lingers in the reader’s mind but also provokes thought. You can create a strong impression on the reader by highlighting the most impactful points of your essay.

C. State the greater implications

End your essay with the most powerful and impactful part: the larger perspective. This can‌ include a question you’d like to leave the reader with, the broader implications and impact of your thesis statement, or the long-term, lingering effects of your experience. 

Make sure to include no new evidence or arguments, or to undermine your findings in any way. 

Stage 3: Editing

7. Review your essay

Knowing how to write an essay is just one part of essay writing. Properly reviewing and editing your essay is just as important. Make sure to spend enough time going over your essay and adding any bits of information that you’ve missed. 

This is also a good time to make minor structural changes in your essay.

8. Thoroughly proofread your essay

After making the necessary structural changes, recheck your essay word by word. It is important to not only correct major grammatical and spelling errors but also minor errors regarding the phrasing or tone of voice.

You can either choose to do this by yourself, ask a friend for assistance, or hire an essay proofreading service to go over your writing. To construct a fool-proof, error-free essay, it is helpful to have a trained pair of eyes go over it. Professional proofreaders can spot errors that are not visible to most people and set the right tone for your essay. 

Now that you know the basics of how to write an essay, it’s time to learn about the specifics. Feel free to dig into the articles below and keep reading!

• How to Write an Essay Header in 4 Steps
• How to Write an Essay Outline
• What is an Expository Essay?
• How to Start an Essay

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the steps to write an essay, what is the best essay writing style, how do i start an essay introduction, what are the tips for effective essay writing, what makes a good essay.

Found this article helpful?

One comment on “ How to Write an Essay in 8 Simple Steps (Examples Included) ”

This is really help ful

Leave a Comment: Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Your vs. You’re: When to Use Your and You’re

Your organization needs a technical editor: here’s why, your guide to the best ebook readers in 2024, writing for the web: 7 expert tips for web content writing.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get carefully curated resources about writing, editing, and publishing in the comfort of your inbox.

How to Copyright Your Book?

If you’ve thought about copyrighting your book, you’re on the right path.

© 2024 All rights reserved

• Terms of service
• Privacy policy
• Self Publishing Guide
• Pre-Publishing Steps
• Fiction Writing Tips
• Traditional Publishing
• Academic Writing and Publishing
• Partner with us
• Annual report
• Website content
• Marketing material
• Job Applicant
• Cover letter
• Resource Center
• Case studies

A Guide to Writing Dialogue, With Examples

“Guess what?” Tanika asked her mother. 

“What?” her mother replied.

“I’m writing a short story,” Tanika said. 

“Make sure you practice writing dialogue!” her mother instructed. “Because dialogue is one of the most effective tools a writer has to bring characters to life.” Give your writing extra polish Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly

What is dialogue, and what is its purpose?

Dialogue is what the characters in your short story , poem , novel, play, screenplay, personal essay —any kind of creative writing where characters speak—say out loud. 

For a lot of writers, writing dialogue is the most fun part of writing. It’s your opportunity to let your characters’ motivations, flaws, knowledge, fears, and personality quirks come to life. By writing dialogue, you’re giving your characters their own voices, fleshing them out from concepts into three-dimensional characters. And it’s your opportunity to break grammatical rules and express things more creatively. Read these lines of dialogue: 

• “NoOoOoOoO!” Maddie yodeled as her older sister tried to pry her hands from the merry-go-round’s bars.
• “So I says, ‘You wanna play rough? C’mere, I’ll show you playin’ rough!’”
• “Get out!” she shouted, playfully swatting at his arm. “You’re kidding me, right? We couldn’t have won . . . ” 

Dialogue has multiple purposes. One of them is to characterize your characters. Read the examples above again, and think about who each of those characters are. You learn a lot about somebody’s mindset, background, comfort in their current situation, emotional state, and level of expertise from how they speak. 

Another purpose dialogue has is exposition, or background information. You can’t give readers all the exposition they need to understand a story’s plot up-front. One effective way to give readers information about the plot and context is to supplement narrative exposition with dialogue. For example, the protagonist might learn about an upcoming music contest by overhearing their coworkers’ conversation about it, or an intrepid adventurer might be told of her destiny during an important meeting with the town mystic. Later on in the story, your music-loving protagonist might express his fears of looking foolish onstage to his girlfriend, and your intrepid adventurer might have a heart-to-heart with the dragon she was sent to slay and find out the truth about her society’s cultural norms. 

Dialogue also makes your writing feel more immersive. It breaks up long prose passages and gives your reader something to “hear” other than your narrator’s voice. Often, writers use dialogue to also show how characters relate to each other, their setting, and the plot they’re moving through. 

It can communicate subtext, like showing class differences between characters through the vocabulary they use or hinting at a shared history between them. Sometimes, a narrator’s description just can’t deliver information the same way that a well-timed quip or a profound observation by a character can. 

In contrast to dialogue, a monologue is a single, usually lengthy passage spoken by one character. Monologues are often part of plays. 

The character may be speaking directly to the reader or viewer, or they could be speaking to one or more other characters. The defining characteristic of a monologue is that it’s one character’s moment in the spotlight to express their thoughts, ideas, and/or perspective. 

Often, a character’s private thoughts are delivered via monologue. If you’re familiar with the term internal monologue , it’s referring to this. An internal monologue is the voice an individual ( though not all individuals ) “hears” in their head as they talk themselves through their daily activities. Your story might include one or more characters’ inner monologues in addition to their dialogue. Just like “hearing” a character’s words through dialogue, hearing their thoughts through a monologue can make a character more relatable, increasing a reader’s emotional investment in their story arc. 

Types of dialogue

There are two broad types of dialogue writers employ in their work: inner and outer dialogue.  

Inner dialogue is the dialogue a character has inside their head. This inner dialogue can be a monologue. In most cases, inner dialogue is not marked by quotation marks . Some authors mark inner dialogue by italicizing it.

Outer dialogue is dialogue that happens externally, often between two or more characters. This is the dialogue that goes inside quotation marks. 

How to structure dialogue

Dialogue is a break from a story’s prose narrative. Formatting it properly makes this clear. When you’re writing dialogue, follow these formatting guidelines: 

• All punctuation in a piece of dialogue goes inside the quotation marks.
• Quoted dialogue within a line of dialogue goes inside single quotation marks (“I told my brother, ‘Don’t do my homework for me.’ But he did it anyway!”). In UK English, quoted dialogue within a line of dialogue goes inside double quotation marks.
• Every time a new character speaks, start a new paragraph. This is true even when a character says only one word. Indent every new paragraph. 
• When a character’s dialogue extends beyond a paragraph, use quotation marks at the beginning of the second and/or subsequent paragraph. However, there is no need for closing quotation marks at the end of the first paragraph—or any paragraph other than the final one. 
• Example: “Thank you for—”                                                                                                                        “Is that a giant spider?!”
• “Every night,” he began, “I heard a rustling in the trees.”
• “Every day,” he stated. “Every day, I get to work right on time.”

Things to avoid when writing dialogue

When you’re writing dialogue, avoid these common pitfalls: 

• Using a tag for every piece of dialogue: Dialogue tags are words like said and asked . Once you’ve established that two characters are having a conversation, you don’t need to tag every piece of dialogue. Doing so is redundant and breaks the reader’s flow. Once readers know each character’s voice, many lines of dialogue can stand alone. 
• Not using enough tags: On the flip side, some writers use too few dialogue tags, which can confuse readers. Readers should always know who’s speaking. When a character’s mannerisms and knowledge don’t make that abundantly obvious, tag the dialogue and use their name. 
• Dense, unrealistic speech: As we mentioned above, dialogue doesn’t need to be grammatically correct. In fact, when it’s too grammatically correct, it can make characters seem stiff and unrealistic. 
• Anachronisms: A pirate in 1700s Barbados wouldn’t greet his captain with “what’s up?” Depending on how dedicated you (and your readers) are to historical accuracy, this doesn’t need to be perfect. But it should be believable. 
• Eye dialect: This is an important one to keep in mind. Eye dialect is the practice of writing out characters’ mispronunciations phonetically, like writing “wuz” for “was.” Eye dialect can be (and has been) used to create offensive caricatures, and even when it’s not used in this manner, it can make dialogue difficult for readers to understand. Certain well-known instances of eye dialect, like “fella” for “fellow” and “‘em” for “them,” are generally deemed acceptable, but beyond these, it’s often best to avoid it. 

How to write dialogue

Write how people actually speak (with some editing).

You want your characters to sound like real people. Real people don’t always speak in complete sentences or use proper grammar. So when you’re writing dialogue, break grammatical rules as you need to. 

That said, your dialogue needs to still be readable. If the grammar is so bad that readers don’t understand what your characters are saying, they’ll probably just stop reading your story. Even if your characters speak in poor grammar, using punctuation marks correctly, even when they’re in the wrong places, will help readers understand the characters.

Here’s a quick example: 

“I. Do. Not. WANT. to go back to boarding school!” Caleb shouted. 

See how the period after each word forces your brain to stop and read each word as if it were its own sentence? The periods are doing what they’re supposed to do; they just aren’t being used to end sentences like periods typically do. Here’s another example of a character using bad grammar but the author using proper punctuation to make the dialogue understandable: 

“Because no,” she said into the phone. “I need a bigger shed to store all my stuff in . . . yeah, no, that’s not gonna work for me, I told you what I need and now you gotta make it happen.”

Less is more

When you’re editing your characters’ dialogue, cut back all the parts that add nothing to the story. Real-life conversations are full of small talk and filler. Next time you read a story, take note of how little small talk and filler is in the dialogue. There’s a reason why TV characters never say “good-bye” when they hang up the phone: the “good-bye” adds nothing to the storyline. Dialogue should characterize people and their relationships, and it should also advance the plot. 

Vary up your tags, but don’t go wild with them

“We love basketball!” he screamed.

“Why are you screaming?” the coach asked.

“Because I’m just so passionate about basketball!” he replied.

Dialogue tags show us a character’s tone. It’s good to have a variety of dialogue tags in your work, but there’s also nothing wrong with using a basic tag like “said” when it’s the most accurate way to describe how a character delivered a line. Generally, it’s best to keep your tags to words that describe actual speech, like:

You’ve probably come across more unconventional tags like “laughed” and “dropped.” If you use these at all, use them sparingly. They can be distracting to readers, and some particularly pedantic readers might be bothered because people don’t actually laugh or drop their words. 

Give each character a unique voice (and keep them consistent)

If there is more than one character with a speaking role in your work, give each a unique voice. You can do this by varying their vocabulary, their speech’s pace and rhythm, and the way they tend to react to dialogue.

Keep each character’s voice consistent throughout the story by continuing to write them in the style you established. When you go back and proofread your work, check to make sure each character’s voice remains consistent—or, if it changed because of a perspective-shifting event in the story, make sure that this change fits into the narrative and makes sense. One way to do this is to read your dialogue aloud and listen to it. If something sounds off, revise it. 

Dialogue examples

Inner dialogue.

As I stepped onto the bus, I had to ask myself: why was I going to the amusement park today, and not my graduation ceremony? 

He thought to himself, this must be what paradise looks like. 

Outer dialogue

“Mom, can I have a quarter so I can buy a gumball?”

Without skipping a beat, she responded, “I’ve dreamed of working here my whole life.”

“Ren, are you planning on stopping by the barbecue?” 

“No, I’m not,” Ren answered. “I’ll catch you next time.”

Here’s a tip: Grammarly’s  Citation Generator  ensures your essays have flawless citations and no plagiarism. Try it for citing dialogue in Chicago , MLA , and APA styles.

Dialogue FAQs

What is dialogue.

Dialogue is the text that represents the spoken word. 

How does dialogue work?

Dialogue expresses exactly what a character is saying. In contrast, a narrator might paraphrase or describe a character’s thoughts or speech. 

What are different kinds of dialogue?

Inner dialogue is the dialogue a character has inside their own head. Often, it’s referred to as an inner monologue. 

Outer dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters. 

How is dialogue formatted?

Inner dialogue simply fits into the narrative prose. 

Outer dialogue is marked by quotation marks and a few other formatting guidelines. These include:

• A new, indented paragraph every time a new character speaks
• Punctuation inside the quotation marks
• Em dashes to communicate interruption

Essay Papers Writing Online

A comprehensive guide to essay writing.

Essay writing is a crucial skill that students need to master in order to succeed academically. Whether you’re a high school student working on a history paper or a college student tackling a critical analysis essay, having a solid understanding of the essay writing process is essential.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the essential tips and tricks that will help you improve your essay writing skills. From generating ideas and organizing your thoughts to crafting a strong thesis statement and polishing your final draft, we’ve got you covered.

Not only that, but we’ll also provide you with useful templates that you can use as a framework for your essays. These templates will help you structure your writing, stay focused on your main argument, and ensure that your essay flows smoothly from one point to the next.

The Ultimate Essay Writing Guides

Essay writing can be a challenging task for many students, but with the right guidance and tips, you can improve your writing skills and produce high-quality essays. In this ultimate guide, we will provide you with valuable advice, tricks, and templates to help you excel in your essay writing endeavors.

1. Understand the Prompt: Before you start writing your essay, make sure you fully understand the prompt or question. Analyze the requirements and key points that need to be addressed in your essay.

2. Create an Outline: Organize your ideas and thoughts by creating a detailed outline for your essay. This will help you structure your arguments and ensure a logical flow of information.

3. Research Thoroughly: Conduct extensive research on your topic to gather relevant information and evidence to support your arguments. Use credible sources and cite them properly in your essay.

4. Write Clearly and Concisely: Avoid using jargon or complex language in your essay. Write in a clear and concise manner to convey your ideas effectively to the reader.

5. Proofread and Edit: Before submitting your essay, make sure to proofread and edit it carefully. Check for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and ensure that your essay flows cohesively.

By following these ultimate essay writing guides, you can enhance your writing skills and produce outstanding essays that will impress your instructors and peers. Practice regularly and seek feedback to continuously improve your writing abilities.

Tips for Crafting an A+ Essay

1. Understand the Assignment: Before you start writing, make sure you fully understand the assignment guidelines and requirements. If you have any doubts, clarify them with your instructor.

2. Conduct Thorough Research: Gather relevant sources and information to support your arguments. Make sure to cite your sources properly and use credible sources.

3. Create a Strong Thesis Statement: Your thesis statement should clearly outline the main point of your essay and guide your readers on what to expect.

4. Organize Your Ideas: Create an outline to organize your thoughts and ensure a logical flow of ideas in your essay.

5. Write Clearly and Concisely: Use clear, concise language and avoid unnecessary jargon or complex sentences. Be direct and to the point.

6. Revise and Edit: Always proofread your essay for grammar and spelling errors. Revise your work to ensure coherence and clarity.

7. Seek Feedback: Ask a peer or instructor to review your essay and provide constructive feedback for improvement.

8. Use Proper Formatting: Follow the formatting guidelines provided by your instructor, such as font size, margins, and citation style.

9. Stay Focused: Keep your essay focused on the main topic and avoid going off on tangents. Stick to your thesis statement.

10. Practice, Practice, Practice: The more you practice writing essays, the better you will get at it. Keep practicing and refining your writing skills.

Tricks to Improve Your Writing Skills

Improving your writing skills can be a challenging but rewarding process. Here are some tricks to help you become a better writer:

1. Read widely: Reading a variety of genres and styles can help you develop your own voice and writing style.

2. Practice regularly: The more you write, the better you will become. Set aside time each day to practice writing.

3. Get feedback: Share your writing with others and ask for constructive criticism. Feedback can help you identify areas for improvement.

4. Study grammar and punctuation: Good writing requires a solid understanding of grammar and punctuation rules. Take the time to study and practice these essential skills.

5. Edit and revise: Writing is a process, and editing is an important part of that process. Take the time to edit and revise your work to improve clarity and coherence.

6. Experiment with different writing techniques: Try experimenting with different writing techniques, such as using metaphors, similes, or descriptive language, to enhance your writing.

7. Stay inspired: Find inspiration in the world around you. Whether it’s nature, art, or literature, draw inspiration from your surroundings to fuel your writing.

By following these tricks and practicing regularly, you can improve your writing skills and become a more confident and effective writer.

Step-by-Step Essay Writing Templates

When it comes to writing an essay, having a clear and structured template can be incredibly helpful. Here are some step-by-step essay writing templates that you can use to guide you through the process:

• Introduction: Start your essay with a hook to grab the reader’s attention. Provide some background information on the topic and end with a thesis statement that outlines the main argument of your essay.
• Body Paragraphs: Each body paragraph should focus on a single point that supports your thesis. Start with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph, provide evidence to support your point, and then analyze the evidence to show how it relates back to your thesis.
• Conclusion: Summarize the main points of your essay and restate your thesis in a new way. Avoid introducing new information in the conclusion and instead focus on tying together all the points you have made throughout the essay.

Expert Advice for Writing Top-Notch Essays

When it comes to writing a top-notch essay, it’s essential to follow expert advice to ensure your work stands out. Here are some key tips to help you elevate your writing:

1. Start with a strong thesis statement that clearly outlines your main argument.

2. Conduct thorough research to support your points with credible sources.

3. Organize your thoughts logically and ensure your essay flows smoothly from one point to the next.

4. Use a variety of sentence structures and vocabulary to keep your writing engaging.

5. Proofread and edit your essay carefully to eliminate errors and refine your arguments.

By following these expert tips, you can take your essay writing skills to the next level and produce work that is both informative and compelling.

Resources to Enhance Your Essay Writing Process

When it comes to improving your essay writing skills, there are a variety of resources available to help you enhance your process. Here are some valuable resources that can aid you in becoming a more effective and efficient writer:

• Writing Guides: There are countless writing guides and books that offer tips, tricks, and strategies for improving your writing skills. Whether you’re looking to enhance your grammar, structure, or argumentation, these guides can provide valuable insights.
• Online Writing Communities: Joining online writing communities can be a great way to connect with other writers, receive feedback on your work, and engage in writing challenges and prompts. Websites like Writing.com and Wattpad are popular platforms for writers to share their work and receive critiques.
• Writing Workshops and Courses: Participating in writing workshops and courses can help you hone your craft and develop your writing skills. Whether you prefer in-person workshops or online courses, there are many options available to suit your needs and schedule.
• Writing Apps and Tools: Utilizing writing apps and tools can streamline your writing process and help you stay organized. Tools like Grammarly can assist with grammar and spelling checks, while apps like Scrivener can help you organize your research and ideas.
• Libraries and Writing Centers: Visiting your local library or university writing center can provide access to valuable resources, such as writing guides, research materials, and writing tutors who can offer personalized feedback and support.

By taking advantage of these resources, you can enhance your essay writing process and become a more skilled and confident writer.

Related Post

How to master the art of writing expository essays and captivate your audience, convenient and reliable source to purchase college essays online, step-by-step guide to crafting a powerful literary analysis essay, unlock success with a comprehensive business research paper example guide, unlock your writing potential with writers college – transform your passion into profession, “unlocking the secrets of academic success – navigating the world of research papers in college”, master the art of sociological expression – elevate your writing skills in sociology.

• Homework Help
• Essay Examples
• Citation Generator
• Writing Guides
• Essay Title Generator
• Essay Topic Generator
• Essay Outline Generator
• Flashcard Generator
• Plagiarism Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Conclusion Generator
• Thesis Statement Generator
• Introduction Generator
• Literature Review Generator
• Hypothesis Generator
• Human Editing Service
• Essay Hook Generator
• Play Essays

Play Essays Examples

Filter by keywords:(add comma between each), example essays.

Play and Literacy Play and

However, according to Johnson, Christie, and Yawkey, (1999), "play is an extremely difficult concept to define -- there are 116 distinct definitions listed in the Oxford English Dictionary!" Some adults think play is trivial while others believe play makes vital contributions to all aspects of child development. While we cannot define play, there are telltale signs of play that are recognizable. Some examples of play involved students freely choosing to play in the kitchen rather than with blocks demonstrated intrinsic motivation because it was their choice. When children moved from writing activities to reading indicated flexibility because students had the ability to move quickly from one activity to another. The writers emphasized that students talking and laughing was a positive affect signifying positive emotions. The authors described two different groups of theories of play. One of the theoretical groups, classical theories, which originated before World War I, focused on explaining why…...

mla References Anderson, a., & Stolks, S. (1984). Social and institutional influences on the development and practice of literacy. In H. Goelman, a. Oberg, & F. Smith (Eds). Awakening to Literacy. 24-37. Brunner, J.S., Jolly, a., & Sylva, K. (1976). Play -- Its role in development and evolution. New York: Basic Books. Hanline, M.F. (2001). Supporting emergent literacy in play-based activities. Young Exceptional Children. 4, 10. doi: 10.1177/109625060100400402. Isenberg, J. & Jacob. E. (1983). Playful literacy activities and learning: preliminary observations. Paper presented at the International Conferences on Play and Play

Play Aspects the Use of

The freakish nature of the modern world seems to have infected even the way the young woman sees herself -- she calls herself 'dead' because the old woman refers to her as 'dead' even though she is clearly alive. She passively submits to the idea that she will be eaten, unflinchingly asking how she will be cooked, and what will be served with her 'feast.' In the context of the play, it is uncertain if the young woman is really dead or simply does not care if she is eaten or not, even though she has been preserved for many years. The old woman, who calls her dead, seemingly tries to convince herself of the young woman's demise, even though she is having a conversation with her future dinner. In the new, destroyed earth, the barrier between what is dead and alive has become uncertain and permeable. What is clear is…...

Play That Changed My Life

It awakened her imagination and excited her about the theater, and it also instructed her, forming the basis for her future art. Another contributor, Beth Henley, has a very different memory: of being greatly disappointed at the ordinariness of a princess in a production, and her dissatisfaction with the actress' performance. Casting is everything. Henley learned at an early age. Many of the authors detail unconventional encounters with theater that give rise to future inspiration. David Auburn says that he saw his first, truly life-changing production on PBS, a surrealist production of the House of Blue Leaves. This example suggests that theater does not even have to be 'live' to be life-changing; it merely needs to challenge the assumptions of the audience of what is possible. Auburn grew up in a 'theater town' with a local repertory company and an English professor for a father. However, being exposed to a…...

Play on One Hand Shaw's

Warren's business partner and has in fact invested 40,000 pounds in the venture. In his own words, "The fact is, it's not what would be considered exactly a high-class business in my set -- the county set, you know.... Not that there is any mystery about it: don't think that. Of course you know by your mother's being in it that it's perfectly straight and honest. I've known her for many years; and I can say of her that she'd cut off her hands sooner than touch anything that was not what it ought to be.... But you see you can't mention such things in society. Once let out the word hotel and everybody says you keep a public-house." So, the problem is much less with what an woman does in order to ensure her living, but more on how that is hidden so that to be able to fit…...

Play Review Carrie Fisher Brings

The last part of the show, s. Fisher, now at age 54, has her old and well-known Princess Leia "Cinnamon Bun Hairstyle" telling her audience how much she hated her character's hairdo since she felt it made her face look even rounder while taking two hours every day to style. s. Fisher shows a somnambulistic safety of using words like play-dough manipulating them cleverly and utmost witty. On the subject of her substance abuse she twists Karl arx's famous quote "Religion is the opiate of the masses" to report she took "masses of opiates religiously." Further mocking-up the whole endeavor she involves audience members into the play -- even to the extent of handing out drink vouchers. s. Fisher was joined on stage by an unexpected guest during last Sunday evening's opening performance of Wishful Drinking -- the star's mother, s. Debbie Reynolds. The legend movie actress and "Singing in…...

mla Ms. Fisher is the life in this party in this sobering description of her Hollywood celebrity hangover. Wishful Drinking premiered in 2006, in Los Angeles and has since completed sell-out runs across the country, winning the prestigious 2010 Outer Critics' Circle Award. Ms. Fisher received a 2010 Grammy Nomination in the Best Spoken Word Album category for her bestselling memoir Wishful Drinking. The play opened on officially on Sunday, October 2, 2011. The limited engagement has been extended through October 30, 2011. Tickets are available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) [HIDDEN] and online at www.roundabouttheatre.org. A number of premium tickets will also be available. Ticket prices are $45 to $125. Wishful Drinking plays Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday and Saturday matinee at 2:00 PM. Prices range from $36.50-$126.50

Play-Within-The-Play Developing a Cultural Understanding of the

Play-within-the-Play Developing a cultural understanding of the relative power of theater upon culture creates a sense of the traditional and the dramatic. ithin many works of antiquity is a demonstration of analogy, in much the same manner as the analogous representations of doctrine. Creating a thematic web of understanding about the nature of humanity, through the play-within-the-play technique many play writes of today and yesterday demonstrate the power of drama upon culture. ithin the work The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd and the Shakespeare's The Tempest can be found a demonstration of the use of the play-within-the-play device as a representation of human theme and cultural messages. The works discussed reflect a genuine contextual interest in transition, as the works themselves and the plays they envelope represent thematic transition changes within the world where they were popular. The theme of revenge, a constant source of fascination for the Elizabethan and the theme…...

mla Works Cited Coursen, H.R. The Tempest A Guide to the Play. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. Frankardolino. Apocalypse & Armada in Kyd's Spanish Tragedy. Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 1995. Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy: A Play. Ed. J. Schick. London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1898. Orgel, Stephen, ed. The Tempest. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Play Station Move Playstation Move Is a

Play Station Move PlayStation Move is a motion sensor game controller platform developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. It was first introduced for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) video game console. PlayStation Move comes with a PlayStation Move System, a handheld motion controller wand, PlayStation webcam (called as 'PlayStation Camera' for the PlayStation 4 and 'PlayStation Eye' for the PlayStation 3), PlayStation Move Navigation Controller, PlayStation Move Charging Station, and optional accessories like shooting game attachments, PlayStation Move racing wheel, and game bundles (Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, 2013). Launch and Target Market: PlayStation Move was officially launched internationally during September and October, 2010. It was available in Europe, UK, North America, Australasia, and most of the Asian markets from 15th September, 2010 and in Japan from 21 stOctober, 2010 (Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, 2013).PlayStation Move also won the Popular Science Award for the most immersive game controller in 2010 (Popular Science, 2010).…...

mla References Bolton, M. (2010, 09, 05).PlayStation Move review: Sony takes motion control to the next level. Retrieved on November 18th, 2013, from Hammerbacher, J. (2011, 11, 01).Is the PlayStation Move Sony's Biggest Failure-Retrieved on November 18th, 2013, from Harradence, M. (2012, 05, 23).Is there any hope left for PlayStation Move-Retrieved on November 18th, 2013, from Lowe, S. (2010, 09, 17). PlayStation Move Review: Has Sony perfected the concept of motion control-Retrieved on November 18th, 2013, from

Play Intimate Apparel by Lynn

To a certain extent, this might be true only because of the fact that white individuals had unlimited access to information while blacks were limited by their masters and by their condition in general. Even in the twentieth century, when slavery was but a thing of the past, there were seemingly more white intellectuals than black intellectuals (Kramer, 2006). Is thus explainable why Esther believed that she would find better support in Van Buren. In addition to the fact that she was white, Van Buren also seemed to be the best person to help Esther because she belonged to the upper class, whereas Mayme had a substandard social statute. The racial factor is frequently referred to during the play, in spite of the fact that slavery was long gone from New York, which was recognized as one of the states in which anti-abolitionists resided in great numbers (Kramer, 2006). Furthermore, Esther's…...

mla Works cited: 1. Dickerson, G. (2008). "African-American theater: a cultural companion." Polity. 2. Kramer, S. (2006). "Uplifting Our "Downtrodden Sisterhood": Victoria Earle Matthews and New York City's White Rose Mission, 1897-1907," The Journal of African-American History 91.3 3. Nottage L. "Intimate Apparel." 4. (1940). New York State Writers' Program. "A Guide to the Empire State." New York: Oxford University Press.

Play of Moliere and One of His

play of Moliere and one of his famous work "A school for wives." This paper will highlight the roles of different characters and what important aspect and part was played by each individual in making the lay a major success and a worth watching comedy play. Moliere Moliere is considered as one of the best French comedy writers, his plays are a classic and make the crowd laugh for hours. "A school for wives" is one of his most classic comedies in which he has highlighted the issues of women from various aspects and point-of-view. The audience goes through fits of laughter's during the whole play, especially during the excellent performance of the actors, who portray the women and wives and the problems each of them undergo and the solution they come up with. The school of wives is one of classic comedies that portray the role of women in the lives…...

mla References Alfred Bates, The School for Wives: A history & analysis of the play, last viewed: 11th May'04   http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/schoolforwives001.html  Connie Dziagwa, The school for Wives, last viewed: 11th May'04   http://www.wvup.edu/Releases_2004/school_for_wives.htm

Play 'Macbeth' and Film 'Luther'

He even murdered his beloved friend Banquo. But although Luther initially lacked such a support structure, Luther eventually won supporters because people believed in his sincerity. They also realized that they too supported his objections to Catholic doctrine and the corruption of some of the officers of the church. Luther acted as a model, an example of Christian honor and fortitude that resonated with past examples of men who suffered for God in the Bible. Macbeth began his play more supported by friends and institutional authorities than Luther, but by the fourth and fifth acts of the tragedy, he was virtually alone, because the fact that he had acted only in his self-interest, not out of philosophical conviction or to advance the good of society. Soon, this self-interest became manifestly clear to everyone in Scotland. Despite the purity of his convictions, Luther's actions spawned many bloody disputes. Although Luther believed…...

Play the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the theme of escape helps drive the play forward. Amanda Wingfield, the mother, escapes the reality of her hard and narrow life by remembering better times, possibly without great accuracy. Laura, Amanda's daughter, escapes by playing with her collection of glass animals (the "menagerie"). Tom, Amanda's son, is the only one in the family who has a chance of truly escaping the life they have lead, but if he chooses this path, he will be leaving Amanda and Laura behind just as his father did many years before. Tom and Laura's father is an important character in the play, even though he never appears. Tom describes him as "... A telephone man who fell in love with long distances." ("The Glass Menagerie," scene 1) The father's picture in his World War I uniform is placed prominently in the family's living room. In…...

mla Bibliography Cardullo, Bert. March, 1997.l "The Glass Menagerie." The Explicator, Vol. 55:161-164. Williams, Tennessee. "The Glass Menagerie." Dramatists Play Service, Inc. 1948.

Play We're Heading Down to

The strangeness of the judicial system whereby confession lead to freedom and truth lead to death was accurate in spirit in the Miller play, as were some aspects of the accusations, such as favoring older women to accuse and pressing one man to death for a refusal to enter a plea beneath heavy stones. According to the PBS documentary "Secrets of the Dead," the real origin of the hysteria in Salem was likely biological, and not purely due to the psychology of religious fanaticism or even a craven desire to use the judicial process to wage personal vendettas. According to researchers: "LSD is a derivative of ergot, a fungus that affects rye grain. Ergotism -- ergot poisoning... eating ergot-contaminated food can lead to a convulsive disorder characterized by violent muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions, hallucinations, crawling sensations on the skin, and a host of other symptoms...Ergot thrives in warm, damp, rainy…...

Play Antigone by Sophocles Creon Brings Disaster

play Antigone by Sophocles, Creon brings disaster upon his family because he lacks experience and does not yet know how to rule wisely. Creon becomes King of hebes at the beginning of the play because Oedipus' two sons, who were supposed to share the throne by ruling alternate years, had a falling out. Eteocles refused to turn the throne over to his brother Polyneices. Polyneices attacked the city attempting to right this wrong. During the ensuing war, both brothers were killed by each other in battle. Creon, as their uncle and Oedipus' brother, took the throne. But such a situation with two co-kings who ended up warring with each other left Creon with a dilemma. he people of hebes were still uneasy, and he suspected that not everyone was ready to accept him as king. his made Creon very suspicious. He concluded that he must demonstrate his strength of will no…...

mla The chorus finally reasons with Creon, and he sets off to right the wrongs he has committed. First he sees to Polyneices' burial, and then leaves for the cave Antigone has been sealed into, to free her. It is too late. She has hung herself, setting off a chain of tragic events. While Creon pays a terrible price for his inexperience and his choice to be domineering and rigid as compensation for that flaw, in the end, he realizes his fault. This puts him ahead of Antigone, who never doubts for a moment that she possesses the sole truth of what should have been done, no matter what the cost. Lines, Patricia M. 1999. "Antigone's Flaw." Humanitas, Volume XII, No. 1.

Play From Our Text Functions

Instead, he wants to be with the girls, eating herring snacks with their parents at the fantasy party he envisions, where men in ice-cream white coats serve olives and real cocktails poolside. It is easy to sympathize with Sammy, given that the repressive nature of society he perceives around him seems very real. The entire store is transfixed by the sight of the girls: "She kept her eyes moving across the racks, and stopped, and turned so slow it made my stomach rub the inside of my apron, and buzzed to the other two, who kind of huddled against her for relief, and they all three of them went up the cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft drinks- crackers-and- cookies aisle" (Updike 468). It is absurd how much the other patrons care about what the girls are wearing, but also absurd how much moral weight Sammy gives to these ordinary girls' ambling march through the…...

mla Work Cited Updike, John. "A&P." From the Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2008.

Play Written by William Shakespeare

This group of interest presents a powerful vision to the person that wants to become leader of the company. They make him believe that it is possible, and necessary. They put into action a series of strategies. The person becomes the leader of the company, but soon notices that its ruling cannot be a peaceful one. This is because the group that helped him get the power wants to be rewarded for this. Therefore, they ask the leader to do things that he does not agree with. The leader thinks that it is necessary to eliminate this group that helped him first, but that now does not let him rule in accordance with his intentions. But the group is more powerful in comparison with the leader, and decides that this leader does not satisfy their needs. Therefore, they must find another Macbeth that they help become the leader of the…...

mla Reference list: 1. King, W. (2011). Macbeth Plot Summary. Retrieved March 17, 2013 from   http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/play-summary/macbeth/ . 2. Macbeth Background (2012). BBC. Retrieved March 17, 2013 from   http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/english/macbeth/background/revision/1/ .

What role does business communication play in your day-to-day activities?

Business communication plays a significant role in day to day activities, because nearly every transaction a person engages in is a form of business. At work, business communication is more than just talking with the boss about important matters. It's also small interactions between colleagues, how you talk to customers and vendors, and non-verbal communication concerns like posture and facial expression. In an increasingly global society, proper business communication is becoming more significant. You can find information on this issue in business journals. The website ACBJ.com provides you with access to a large number of business journals from a wide variety....

Does divorce cause juvenile delinquency?

According to some authors, divorce is a problem when it comes to delinquency. Others do not see a strong correlation. For example, "The variables that predict male delinquency were found to be different from those that predict female delinquency. Characteristics of the parents' marriage play an important role for boys, while misbehavior of girls is more strongly predicted by variables measuring parent-child interaction and parental control." comes from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1982.tb01014.x/abstract and appears to say that only boys are affected by factors in their parents' marriage when it comes to delinquency. However, this article: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J087v39n01_07#.UnhDkOLufLY states that divorce is a cause of....

style of writing and use of langauge in a streetcar named desire?

There are two main levels of language used in A Streetcar Named Desire. These are the text of the stage directions and the words the actors actually say to one another. The biggest contrast is between Stanley's course, slang language and Blanche's classy, flowery statements. While Blanche's language sounds much more proper, it also sounds very fake and false in comparison with Stanley's speech. This is how Williams wanted it to sound when he wrote the play. By using two styles of writing and language, Williams was able to distinguish the two main characters from one another very easily, which....

Research Topic on Tempest?

Sign up for unlimited study help.

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.