2nd Edition
A Masterclass in Dramatic Writing Theater, Film, and Television
Preface: The Moral Responsibility of the Artist
Introduction: The Writer’s Life
- Week 1: Beginnings
- Week 2: Creating Complex Characters
- Week 3: Dialogue
- Week 4: Escalating Conflicts
- Week 5: Sixty Questions When Writing a Dramatic Piece
- Week 6: Putting it all Together
- Week 7: Endings
- Week 8: Checkpoints
- Week 9: Rewriting
- Week 10: Adaptation
- Week 11: Comedy
- Week 12: The Fifteen Habits of Successful Dramatic Writers
- Week 13: Lessons from Master Teachers and Students
- Week 14: To Be a Writer
Biography
Janet Neipris
"An award-winning playwright, Neipris adds five new chapters to the earlier edition along with concrete examples from classic works and from her own writing. The book’s organization parallels a one-semester, 14-week course, providing exercises and assignments that leave readers with a first draft or rewrite. Neipris demonstrates her vulnerability, sharing the experience she has gained writing and teaching. In contrast to other playwriting texts—for example, Noël Greig's Playwriting: A Practical Guide (2005), which is less personal, and Playwriting Master Class: The Personality of Process and the Art of Rewriting, ed. by Michael Wright (2000), which collects essays from various playwrights—Neipris’s Masterclass brings readers right into her writing room."
- C. Cox, University of Northern Iowa in CHOICE
