Once you have completed your first draft of a play, the real work begins: revision. But where should you start? The following steps will help you expand your script, to make it more focused, complete, and powerful.
Take a Break
First things first – once you are done a draft, give yourself at least couple of days off. Ideally, you’d give yourself a couple of months off, but that’s not always possible. It’s important to be able to approach your script with fresh eyes, and you can’t do that if you have been reading it continuously for days on end. Print it off, set it aside, and clear your mind!
Scene-By-Scene Examination
Now that you’ve had a break from your work, go through your script carefully, looking at your scenes together, and then separately. While reading, make sure that your transitions are smooth and logical; you want your audience to flow through the play as smoothly as possible, since the more involved they get with the work, the higher their level of emotional investment will be.
At this point, it’s also very important that you examine each scene by itself. Consider whether the scene itself has an impact – does it further the plot? This is probably one of the most difficult aspects of revision, since scene-by-scene work is often the point at which a writer has to part with some of their favourite dialogue exchanges. What you need to keep in mind, though, is that the tighter and more concise you can make your script, the better. So paste those favourite quotes of yours into a new document and save them for another time!
Character Examination
Another effective way of tightening up your script is to go through it again, this time looking at each and every one of your characters. Chances are you have written your script with one or two main characters in mind, but on the journey from beginning to end, other characters often appear and disappear for varying reasons. Now is the time to gauge whether all of these secondary characters are necessary to your play.
Consider the impact that each of your characters has on the overall play. Do they further the plot, or contribute something meaningful to the message or tone that you are trying to convey? Avoid including characters in your script that are present solely to get a specific reaction out of one of your main characters (to spark an argument or extract a single piece of information, for example), only to disappear into a metaphorical poof of smoke. Characters like this will strike the audience as two dimensional, and will have a negative impact on their view of the whole play.
If you do find that you have a few characters who are somewhat superfluous, think about developing a single, recurring character who has the traits of the characters you have decided you need to cut. This way, they will seem more well rounded and believable, and will have a much more significant impact on the plot of your script.
Conflict Examination
It may seem obvious, but conflict is easy to overlook during revision. As the playwright, you may be so familiar with your conflict that you think it’s perfectly clear, but it may not be as clear as you think. Go through your script and examine whether your conflict is clear to the audience. As a tip, you may find it very useful to have a fellow writer read your script for you and tell you what they think the conflict is. This is an excellent way to find out if you have succeeded.
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