The Art of Dramatic Writing

Discover basic techniques every successful playwright knows. Among the many how-to playwriting books that have appeared over the years, there have been few that attempt to analyze the mysteries of play construction. Lajos Egris classic, The Art of Dramatic Writing, does just that, with instruction that can be applied equally well to a short story, novel, or screenplay. Examining a play from your perspective. All good dramatic writing hinges on people and their relationships, which serve to move the story forward and give it life. Using examples from everything from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Egri shows how it is essential for the author to have a basic premise -- a thesis -- and to develop the dramatic conflict on the basis of that behavior.