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Archetypes for Writers: using the power of your subconscious Jennifer Van Bergen Michael Wiese, 2007 $35.00pb
Archetypes for Writers provides a step-by-step method, using specific exercises and coupled with detailed, in-depth explanations of the meaning of each step to enable writers to find the characters they already contain within themselves but do not know exist or know how to access or develop. Drawing on her years of training in theatre and decades of teaching, Van Bergen unveils the secret of using your own archetypes to find and develop already-existing characters. This approach has little to do with how to “create” characters or plot stories. Rather, is it more about how to find your character and story archetypes or even how to have them find you – using specific skills taught in the book. 241 pages
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Company / Ill Seen Ill Said / Worstward Ho / Stirrings Still Samuel Beckett Faber, 2009 $27.99pb
‘These four last prose fictions by Samuel Beckett were originally published individually, and their composition spanned the final decade of his life. In Company a solitary hearer lying in blackness calls up images from the far-off past. Ill Seen Ill Said meditates upon an old woman living out her last days alone in an isolated snow-bound cottage, watched over by twelve mysterious sentinels. In Worstward Ho, a breathless speaker unravels the sense of things, acting out the unending injunction to 'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' And Stirrings Still, published in the Guardian a few months before Beckett's death in 1989, is the last prose work and testament of 'this great soothsayer of the age, and of the aged' (Christopher Ricks). 128 pages |
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The Art of Writing Drama: theory & practice Michelene Wandor Methuen, 2008 $39.95pb
The Art of Writing Drama is an indispensable textbook for wherever writing for the stage is taught but also serves as a foundational book for any student taking courses in performance media - radio, television and film. Coupling theory with practice, the book opens with a survey of the current methodologies of teaching playwriting and of textual analysis. The theories of Bakhtin, Foucault and Derrida are examined as are the agendas of play reviewers from the national press. In the second section of the book, a wealth of guidance with practical exercises on the skills of writing for the stage is provided. Throughout the text, Wandor draws on her extensive experience as both playwright and teacher of creative writing to provide a guide that is both a scholarly and an immensely practical guide to writing for the theatre. 192 pages |
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The Cheeky Monkey: writing narrative comedy Tim Ferguson Currency Press, 2010 $32.95pb
The Cheeky Monkey is written by one of Australia’s most accomplished performers and writers of comedy. The book is an analytical study and practitioner’s guide to the art and provides useful exercises to aid developing writers’ comedy-writing skills. It explores the seven distinct principles that have evolved for sitcom and takes the reader through each stage and how to apply it to their own writing. 256 pages |
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The Crafty Art of Playmaking Alan Ayckbourn Faber, 2005 $26.95pb
From helpful hints on writing to tips on directing (working with actors and technicians, when to listen to the experts, how to cope with rehearsals), this book provides a complete primer to the art of play-writing. Written in an accessible and highly entertaining style, it's worth the cover price for the jokes alone! 192 pages |
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How Plays Work: a practical guide to playwriting David Edgar Nick Hern Books, 2009 $35.95pb
How Plays Work has grown out of Edgar’s teaching the University of Birmingham’s MA course in Playwriting Studies. The book analyses the basic elements of dramatic structure – action, plot, character, dialogue, genre – through historical and modern examples. By looking at existing plays and drawing lessons from them, it builds a unique toolkit of theatrical devices for use by other playwrights – as well as by other theatre practitioners and students of drama. 144 pages |
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Playwriting in Process: thinking and working theatrically Michael Wright Focus Publishing, 2nd ed., 2009 $29.95pb
Michael Wright is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Creative Writing at The University of Tulsa, where he teaches playwriting, screenwriting, and narrative film production. He founded and moderates the Fictional Characters writers collective, heads the "New Works for Young Women" playwriting project, and is the U.S. representative to World Interplay. He has written two other books on playwriting for Heinemann, Playwriting Master Class and Playwriting in Process, and has co-edited, with Gary Garrison, Monologues for Men by Men Volumes 1 and 2. 217 pages |
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A Short Guide to Writing About Theatre Marcia L. Ferguson Longman, 2007 $44.95pb
A Short Guide to Writing about Theatre is a succinct introduction to the skills required to write knowledgeably and critically about the theatre. Intended to illuminate the importance of theatre and performance in daily life, A Short Guide to Writing about Theatre engages students with dramatic material as they learn the practical elements of review, analysis, criticism, and research. The text allows students to understand how to effectively write about the theatre in a wide range of settings and incorporates a blend of professional and student essays as models of successful writing. 192 pages |
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The Writer’s Journey: mythic structure for writers Christopher Vogler Michael Wiese, 3rd ed., 2007 $45.00pb
See why this book has become an international best seller and a true classic. The Writer’s Journey explores the powerful relationship between mythology and storytelling in a clear, concise style that’s made it required reading for movie executives, screenwriters, playwrights, scholars, and fans of pop culture all over the world. 300 pages |
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Writing a Play Steve Gooch A & C Black, 3rd ed., 2005 $27.95pb
This practical book is a guide to all stages of play-writing, from the original inspiration through plotting, structuring, characterisation, dialogue and rewriting to the successful realisation of the idea. Everything is covered from how to present and market your play, the pros and cons of working with theatre groups to your rights as an author when the play is in production. 160 pages |
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Writing Dialogue for Scripts Rib Davis A&C Black, 2008 $35.00pb
Writing
Dialogue for Scripts provides expert insight into how dialogue works. It shows what
to look out for in everyday speech, and how to apply dialogue in scripts for
dramatic effect. Writers learn, on the whole by trial, error and practice,
and this book will help guide them on their journey. 192 pages |
