Category Archives: Dramatists Guild Conference 2013

Reading one character’s lines — it works!!!

Do you remember that I posted, a while back, some great tips for working on dialogue that I learned at the Dramatists Guild conference in August? Here’s the link, if you want to refresh your memory: Problems with dialogue in … Continue reading

Posted in Dramatists Guild Conference 2013, How to work on Dialog, My play "How to Kill a Cactus" | Tagged | 1 Comment

Dream Logic — exercises

At that “Dream Logic” talk at the Dramatists Guild conference in August, the presenters passed out a booklet with an essay about dream logic, and two exercises.  Kato McNickle gave me permission to post them here. The exercises were developed … Continue reading

Posted in 1. Get Inspiration, Dramatists Guild Conference 2013, How to Create Plots | Tagged | 2 Comments

Dream Logic – how it can help your plays, part 2

So, in a previous post, I talked about what I learned at the “Dream Logic” session at the Dramatists Guild conference in August. In this post, I’m going to talk about some examples I came up with on how you … Continue reading

Posted in 1. Get Inspiration, Dramatists Guild Conference 2013, How to 'Show, Don't Tell', How to Create Plots, How to Find/Create Characters | Tagged | 2 Comments

Dream Logic – how it can help your plays, part 1

Think about a dream you had last night. Or recently. Did you try to describe it to somebody? If so, how did you explain it?

You probably used the phrase “dream logic” when you were trying to describe how one scene effortlessly transformed into another, how the place looked different but you knew it was the same, the way that this one person is really somebody else even without the slightest bit of resemblance.

It’s all hard to explain in the light of day, but it makes complete sense when you’re dreaming. That’s dream logic. Continue reading

Posted in 1. Get Inspiration, Dramatists Guild Conference 2013, How to 'Show, Don't Tell', How to Find/Create Characters | Tagged | 2 Comments

Problems with dialogue in your plays, and how to fix them, part 2

Here are some more of the great things I learned about how to fix problems with dialogue in your plays at the “Dialog Isn’t Talking” session at the Dramatists Guild conference. There’s no subtext, or the characters spend too much time … Continue reading

Posted in Dramatists Guild Conference 2013, How to Find/Create Characters, How to work on Dialog | 1 Comment

Problems with dialogue in your plays, and how to fix them, part 1

I went to the Dramatists Guild conference in August, and I went to some truly amazing sessions. One of them was “Dialog Isn’t Talking.” I’m going to post some of the great things I learned about how to fix problems … Continue reading

Posted in Dramatists Guild Conference 2013, How to Find/Create Characters, How to work on Dialog | 2 Comments