Recently American playwright and blogger Adam Szymkowicz decided to devote his blog to the interviewing of playwrights, which he has been doing at a rather relentless rate. They’re wonderful and chock full o’ inspiration, if you’re into wonderful and inspiring things. Check them out when you’ve got the time.
A lot of the young series is resonant, but one particular response from California resident Malachy Walsh really slapped me upside the head today, and I kind of want to turn it into a poster. Here it is, exploded into list view:
What advice do you have for other playwrights?
- Find people you like, then work with them and hold on to them for dear life.
- If you give up, everyone else will too.
- Never confuse a budget for a play.
- Be good to your actors – always.
- Don’t worry about what the institutions are doing – ever.
- Listen to your characters before anyone else.
- Write every day for as long as you can.
- Write longhand whenever possible.
- Writing isn’t a competitive sport, despite what the competitions and memberships and production credits suggest.
- Other writers are your friends, not people you’re trying to demolish.
- Coffee is good, liquor is not.
- Ask for help.
- Get a day job (I don’t care what David Mamet says) and keep it until it’s impossible not to.
- And, my favorite, from Anne Bogart: Don’t wait.
It’s stuff like this that I use to explain the use of blogging and the internet to inquisitive folk. Each one of these is the title of a blog post waiting to happen. Thanks guys.
Simon Ogden 
That’s also why I like having a blog. It keeps me writing.
Thanks! Malachy is great!
I adore writing in longhand. It totally makes me feel like a writer. Every play starts with pen and a notebook, it just doesn’t feel the same, for me, to create on the computer. Don’t get me wrong, I adore computers but when I’m in that idea stage it’s long hand all the way: there’s an electric river, (yes I know this sounds kooky) a lightening rod of words that travels from my brain, down my left arm, out my pen and on to the page. I love it.
Hmmmm, definitely kooky. Ah well…
I second the longhand advice! I write all my first drafts out in long hand, and than wait a few months than type up the second draft. Than wait a few months and edit it. It takes me about 7 months to go from the first draft to the final (usually 4th or 5th) draft, but I find I end up with a better story that way.
By writing it long hand (with a non erasable pen) first, I don’t have to worry about my inner editor and I can just write the story with out any care about spelling or grammar. This is a good thing because it lets the story flow without interruption.
Than when I go back and type it up, I let me word processor worry about automatically correcting the basic spelling and grammar errors. I use this period to add any missing scenes, fill in plot holes, and take out stuff that doesn’t fit.
And than finally, when I do the final edit, I am free to just tear the thing apart without worrying about the creative flow. Getting rid of passive voice, spelling mistakes, and grammar errors.
In the end, I have a nicely polished script that I can be proud of.