Ben Marcus's books The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women were considered "experimental" fiction because of his unconventional use of...
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In writing a stage play, I usually use a "how to write it" formula book--a different one for every play (for fun and to keep my interest). The formula is just a place to hang my hat while I'm scrounging for the STRUCTURE of the new play; many times it is left far, far behind in the actual writing.
I have used many play and film script "formula" books but Scare the Cat! has been the best to get me started, a structure device that may be cast aside once the play gets going in the writing.
Please don't tell anybody I use a "formula" how-to-write-a -script bookand a film "formula" book at that. But Scare the Cat! is getting me up and running on my current play. I may discard my training wheels entirely in the actual writing, but filling in Blake Snyder's template made me realize early on, before I started writing, that my protagonist was the one who was a minor character in my original thinking---but she presented the most qualities of change, etc. necessary to being the main character. I'm glad I didn't discover that half-way into writing the play.
Ginny Foster
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Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
gingame, December 6, 2006
In writing a stage play, I usually use a "how to write it" formula book--a different one for every play (for fun and to keep my interest). The formula is just a place to hang my hat while I'm scrounging for the STRUCTURE of the new play; many times it is left far, far behind in the actual writing.I have used many play and film script "formula" books but Scare the Cat! has been the best to get me started, a structure device that may be cast aside once the play gets going in the writing.
Please don't tell anybody I use a "formula" how-to-write-a -script bookand a film "formula" book at that. But Scare the Cat! is getting me up and running on my current play. I may discard my training wheels entirely in the actual writing, but filling in Blake Snyder's template made me realize early on, before I started writing, that my protagonist was the one who was a minor character in my original thinking---but she presented the most qualities of change, etc. necessary to being the main character. I'm glad I didn't discover that half-way into writing the play.
Ginny Foster
(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)