They Didn't Start the Fire

I stopped reading the play writing book as it was starting to make me feel guilty that I wasn't trying to write a play. Since I'm still doing the "Cs" I thought I'd start instead on Is Paris Burning? by Larry Collins. Published in 1965, it's a classic about WWII and Hitler's command that Paris be burned if it were going to fall into the hands of the enemy and how his orders were ignored.

So far it's very good and well written, suspenseful, in fact, though the outcome is known at the beginning.

Play Writing in Depth

Writing for the Stage, by Leroy Clark, is a how-to book, but it also gives readers the tools to more effectively analyze drama. I'm having fun thinking about how to write a play and also how to measure the success of plays I've read. It's a well written book and I'm learning quite a few things about play writing I didn't know before, as well as new ways to think about storytelling. More later.