some FAQS
…hard to believe as it may be, writers have quirks. Here are some I will fess up to:
The title comes first. If I have the title, I can write the play..
Characters emerge after the title, and usually cross the back of my eyes already named..
I’ve written over 30 plays and have never used a title, subject, or character name twice –though I have gone back to revisit a character once..
Every scene, has a tempo; I have headphones on, listening to music as I write; what music I’m listening to depends on the energy I need for the scene… and the selections can change innumerable times in a single page, moving from Shostakovich, to Ellington, to Britten, to Beyonce, to Schreker, to Kander & Ebb, to Verdi, to Eartha Kitt, to Strauss..
I write from beginning to end, and never start in the middle..
Once I have the title, I know the arc of the piece…
Even though I know the arc of the piece, the characters may take me somewhere else along the way.. at which point, there is an inevitable moment of panic and exhilaration..
I trust my characters.. even when they challenge me.. though I don’t know that I especially like them then..
I am a very disciplined writer.
If I am just starting a piece, writing occurs in the morning; if I’m in the ‘chute’, I write as and when the current dictates..
I know I’ve connected to something when I feel the pull, tightening behind my belly button.. and adrenalin at the hinge of my jaw..
I stay away from coffee at this point..
I edit as I go along, having learned that first lesson: keeping a line, or scene, because it’s clever, is not about the story, but the ego..
I seem to always feel the next thing I write will be the best thing I’ve written.. a habit that tends to diminish achievement..
Being called to the stage after a performance, for a ‘talk back’ session, is an uncomfortable spotlight..
In all honesty…talent is not enough. And platform is not the entire answer. Finding a subject to write that dips into the zeitgeist is a great assist, but is still no guarantee of presentation -no matter how often your characters curse, naked. In truth.. it’s having a discipline to work, luck, perseverance and always denying the word “no”.