What's the difference between writing a play and writing a novel?

DokiDokiTsuna 2024-11-04 18:10:54 UTC #1

So a couple weeks ago I decided to read Shakespeare's Macbeth again, for the first time probably since I left school (highly recommend; it's still my favorite Shakespeare play, and it is now a minor dream of mine to one day read for MacDuff or Macbeth himself~).

Anyway, I was reading it as research to try and convert one of my fantasy story ideas into a play...only to find that it wouldn't be quite as easy as I thought. ^^;
Oddly enough, I started out as a writer with scripts...comic scripts, specifically. But a script for a stage play is something else entirely; I'm already noticing that it requires totally different conventions and structure:

1] Locations-- they really can't change too often. ^^; Like, in comics/novels, montages are a big thing for exposition; you can get used to having characters drift in and out of different places, using the visual interest of changing settings to prop up your narration.
But in a play that makes zero sense...you can't have the characters waltzing into a new place mid-sentence; you can't even really have them on their way somewhere (unless any of you know some sneaky playwright tricks I can use for that?): scene changes need to be built into the structure of your story, written around breaks for the curtain to close and for the new scene to be set up.
Because of this, I get the feeling that a play is written as a series of discrete conversations and conflicts; bringing each one to a conclusion before moving to the next...which is something I could definitely learn to do, but it feels really weird and limiting to me right now...

2] Soliloquy...I now understand why there is a specific word for that; it really is a unique device that I have never used before. ^^;;; The idea of having to craft your character's thoughts in a way that makes them sound like 'thoughts' while being delivered exactly the same as regular dialogue...that is a challenge.
Based on Shakespeare's work, I feel like making them particularly poetic and stylized helps; increasing the amount of imagery in the dialogue marks it as 'non-diegetic' (I assume they should be...although it could be fun to break the 4th wall and have other characters listen in and intrude on them ^^).

3] On that note, there seems to be a greater emphasis on emotional openness...I guess I should have expected that in the 'dramatic arts', but I'm not ready. ⚆_⚆ I'm used to writing main characters who are kind of closed off about their personal feelings...am I just gonna have to go ham with soliloquies? Or strengthen the other characters' expressiveness to bring more attention to that disparity...? Another challenge...

4] Last but not least, I think working with extras is more important than it may seem...in scenes that take place in public, the background people can be an easy way to add interest to what's going on, and set the mood. Like, in musicals, you actually depend on them a lot, and then in Greek tragedy you have a whole chorus around to emphasize things...feels like something I should remember to play around with.

Anyway, anyone else have any thoughts on this; tips or tricks? Have you ever considered writing a play, just for the heck of it? I know that kind of thing isn't going to be popular, but I just want to explore more ways of expressing myself through writing, the same way I've been exploring visual storytelling outside of comics in recent years.

cherrystark 2024-11-04 23:06:45 UTC #2

Theatre major here! What a great topic!

Here are a few big differences that come to mind.

Formatting - With a novel, a writer can have a "loose" idea of story structure and let their imaginations go wild. A play has to follow the structure that fits with their story type. For example, a musical has a different plot structure than a one-act play, or a memory play.
Worldbuilding - In a novel, a writer has the freedom to explore background and create new worlds. A play only has the freedom to explore what's vitally important to the plot. There's a play where the entire play takes place in an old boathouse. We have to rely on dialogue from the actors' to give us all the world building. If there is a magical element, all we know about the magic is what's vital to the plot.
Characterization - In a novel, it's the writer's job to make sure the characters feel like real people. In a stage production, that job falls to the cast, crew, and production staff. The writer puts on paper "Character A walks into Place C and talks to Character D." The actor performs the lines and inputs human emotion into the scene. Other actors react to them. The design team coordinates together to do the visual elements of the production.
I kind of talked about it before with my other points but a play is succent. As a writer, you worry about the bare minimum to tell the story. For example, you wouldn't have to know the exact layout of your character's apartment, but you'd have to know the key features of the apartment that play into the plot. Like in Barefoot in the Park, you have to know they live on an upper-floor walk-up, it's barely furnished and their bedroom is a closet. Those are key plot points. A lot of the stage instructions come from the first productions of the play. If you don't know how to write them, you can skip it. Focus on the dialogue. Focus on the plot. The rest more or less works itself out

NickRowler 2024-11-05 00:09:53 UTC #3

Other ones to add

Budget. In a comic or novel, there is no limit to what you can do. But with a play, you might not be able to just have someone floating there the whole time or a realistic talking dog. Plays find ways to work around these limitation or in some cases they get super abstract about it. You also have to take into account if the play is designed for larger productions like Broadway or smaller ones for local theaters.
Stage directions. Novels don't really have people walking on and off a stage. Plays are also more action focus in their description vs what is in a novel. It has to be written in a way that an actor can understand and preform it for an audience. In a novel you can just state things like "being in love" or "heartbroken" but how would you show that in a performance?

DokiDokiTsuna 2024-11-07 02:13:19 UTC #4

Hm...I had no idea about that. Could you explain what those structures are (if it's not too complicated)...?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. ^^ I'm really looking forward to playing around with stage directions again; I actually love that in a play you can just explicitly state how the characters move and emote, without it feeling unnatural. I guess since the focus of a script is dialogue, the mere presence of exposition automatically carries weight that it usually doesn't have...

cherrystark 2024-11-07 04:44:55 UTC #5

It's not complicated at all. Every type of fiction writing has a different format "style" that it needs to follow for the story to make sense. Think "Save the Cat", "Romancing the Stone", or "The Heroic Journey". Plays have the same type of terminology: vaudeville, review, straight play, etc. It's just a term used to describe the format of the production. A one act play is really similar to a one shot or a short story. A memory play is just a play told through flashbacks.

The structure/format of a play is probably the biggest difference between the two storytelling types. A published play that you can buy online is around half a centimeter thick, even the big Broadway shows' scripts or super famous plays like MacBeth. The book is very thin. Whereas a novel, when published, could be as thick as you want.

megumibex 2024-11-07 08:04:17 UTC #6

The first thing that came to mind for me is:
When you write a novel, you're writing for your readers.
When you write a play, you're writing for your actors/production team.

People do sometimes read plays for pleasure, but the goal of a script is to give actors something to perform, not necessarily be fun to read in its own right (although many plays are)