Playwriting: The Structure of Action, Revised and Expanded Edition

337 Pages·2005·0.81 MB·English

by  Prof. Sam Smiley

Playwriting

Playwriting
THE STRUCTURE OF ACTION
Revised and Expanded Edition
Sam Smiley
with Norman A. Bert
Yale University Press 6New Haven and London
First published in 1971 by Prentice Hall.
This revised and expanded paperback edition
published in the United States by
Yale University Press in 2005.
Copyright © 2005 by Sam Smiley. All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part,
including illustrations, in any form (beyond that
copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.
Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public
press), without written permission from the publishers.
Designed by Nancy Ovedovitz and set in Linotype
Sabon by Duke & Company, Devon, Pennsylvania.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smiley, Sam, 1931–
Playwriting : the structure of action / Sam Smiley with
Norman A. Bert—Rev. and expanded ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN0-300-10724-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Playwriting. I. Bert, Norman A. II. Title.
PN1661.S65 2005
808.2—dc22
2005013230
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the memory of Hubert C. Heffner

Contents
Preface ix
PART I THE PLAYWRIGHT’S SOLITARY WORK
1 Vision 3
2 Finding and Developing Ideas 20
3 Drafting and Revision 41
PART II PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA
4 Plot 73
5 Story 101
6 Character 123
7 Thought 151
8 Diction 183
9 Melody 226
10 Spectacle 252
11 A Way of Life 285
Appendix 1 Manuscript Format 295
Appendix 2 Copyright Protection 308
Bibliography 311
Credits 317
Index 319
vii

Preface
The purpose of this book is to identify and explain principles essen-
tial to creating dramas. The book differs from playwriting manuals,
collections of playwright interviews, or volumes of criticism. It doesn’t
focus on how-to-do-it or how-someone-did-it. The central question
here is: What dramatic principles affect the structural connections
between material and form? The discussions explore intellectual tools
that writers of plays, movies, or fiction can use in the process of writ-
ing drama. This book explains practical and theoretical principles
but never prescribes their use or argues for a particular approach,
genre, or style.
The concept of quality and a writer’s pursuit of excellence pervade
this book. Every work of art falls on a scale of inept to skilled. Any
piece that one writer throws together or that another labors over for
years may be terrible or wonderful. Every play necessarily falls some-
where on the scale of quality. It may be admirable or not, perceptive
or not, beautiful or not. Fashion doesn’t matter. What’s produced in
New York, London, or Paris doesn’t matter. Economic success doesn’t
matter. Unity of construction, depth of thought, breadth of empathy,
wisdom of ideas, skill with words, and acuity of perception are every-
thing. No book by itself can provide a writer with intelligence or tal-
ent, wisdom or sensitivity. But this one attempts to suggest to writers
intellectual tools that help increase their awareness of materials, struc-
ture, style, and theatrical function.
ix