Tim Fountain

3 I want you to boil the incident down to two very specific things: your goal (what you wanted to do) and the obstacle (what stopped you from doing it that was nobody’s fault except your own).

Character is decision under pressure, and it cannot emerge without both pressure and decision (even if the decision is to avoid decision, as in the case of Hamlet).

Inner conflict is a phrase I shall return to, time and time again throughout this book. I believe it’s what creates great characters and, hence, parts great actors want to play, and also I believe it is what will generate the narrative for you and help you get to the end.

David Mamet famously said, ‘People may or may not say what they mean . . . but they always say something designed to get what they want.

Characters – and plays – are like icebergs; only a small amount shows above the surface. You have to become an expert at knowing the whole shape of your creation, and knowing what to reveal and what to withhold.

The story has gone from a negative situation at the beginning (trapped with brute at home) to a positive one (risks going on holiday with friend) to a negative one (left alone on holiday) to a positive one (has fling with fisherman) to a further positive (deciding to stay in Greece and wait for her husband to visit her on her terms).

Begin your story not with an earthquake but with a small decision and follow its consequences through logically.

There are numerous types of plays, and I think it’s a mistake to begin your journey by predetermining the genre you are going to write in. It limits the scope of your imagination and the range of your characters. You put yourself in a straitjacket, and ignore the fact that the greatest tragedies contain moments of high comedy; the best romances can also be tragic.

There are numerous types of plays, and I think it’s a mistake to begin your journey by predetermining the genre you are going to write in. It limits the scope of your imagination and the range of your characters. You put yourself in a straitjacket, and ignore the fact that the greatest tragedies contain moments of high comedy; the best romances can also be tragic.

Nothing beats life itself’