The Blunt Playwright by Clem Martini

From the publisher:

One of the best resources for playwrights is back in a new edition that examines all the steps and stages involved in writing a play, provides classic and contemporary scenes to study, outlines clever exercises to strengthen writing skills, and so much more.

The Blunt Playwright won’t tell you everything there is to know about playwriting. It won’t even try. What it will do is examine process, structure, dialogue, and character; provide classic and contemporary scenes to study; outline clever exercises to strengthen writing skills; and so much more. Highly regarded and used in schools everywhere, this updated edition cements its place as one of the best resources for playwrights.

From organizing the structure of a script to developing characters’ voices, from employing visual effects on stage to writing comedy, or from self-promotion to getting produced and published, this guide has something for everyone, no matter the stage of their career.

 
Praise for The Blunt Playwright:

“I use The Blunt Playwright for all of my playwriting classes and for myself because it’s a system of writing that works, is easily understood, and clearly makes sense about process and structure.” — Aaron Bushkowsky, Creative Writing Instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and award-winning author of After Jerusalem and My Chernobyl

“The Blunt Playwright is a great resource for both emerging and established playwrights. I have kept a copy on my desk for the last ten years where it can easily be found when I need it … which is often.” — Meg Braem, Co-director of the Alberta Theatre Projects Playwrights Unit and award-winning author of Blood: A Scientific Romance and The Josephine Knot

“As I embarked on my first playwriting commission, I felt lost, underqualified, and afraid. The Blunt Playwright became a companion to me during my playwriting journey, and filled in the gaps in my knowledge and training. It was simple but significant, easily digestible, and gave me the tools I needed to put my fear aside and start writing!” — Emily Dallas, author of Brave Girl

“Clem Martini is blunt, all right — and passionate, challenging, deadly serious, and wryly witty. He covers all the techniques that a playwright might need at any stage while ardently championing this muchmisunderstood art form, and from a welcome Canadian perspective.” — John Lazarus, Associate Professor at Queen’s University and award-winning playwright of Babel Rap and The Grandkid

 
About the author:

Clem Martini

is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and screenwriter with over thirty plays and twelve books of fiction and nonfiction to his credit, including the W.O. Mitchell Book Priz-winning Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness, the recently launched The Unravelling, and The Comedian. His texts on playwriting, The Blunt Playwright, The Greek Playwright, and The Ancient Comedians are employed widely at universities and colleges across the continent. He currently teaches in the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary.

Excerpt:

Welcome

Welcome to the second edition of the The Blunt Playwright

I initially wrote this book over a decade ago when I realized how thoroughly colonized Canadian theatre remained, even after decades of notable, homegrown, work. In Canadian classrooms, libraries, and bookstores you could find any number of texts on the topic of playwriting, but not one that employed regular exemplars written by Canadians. It was as though Canadian playwrights and playwriting had never existed.

I embarked on a search, found—of course—that there was no shortage of terrific Canadian plays to draw from, and so set out to create a text that used examples from many countries, including Canada.

Since the book was first launched, however, many things have changed. The technology employed in the profession is probably the most noticeable aspect. It was, for example, standard at one time for a playwright to slip their brand new script into a brown envelope and mail it to a potential producing theatre. Now, although some theatres continue to require a hard copy, the majority request electronic submissions. At the same time, adaptations and improvisational approaches to playwriting have gained greater currency. This second edition attempts to reflect these changes.

As might be expected, new and exciting plays have been written since The Blunt Playwright first hit the bookshelves. I’ve included scenes from several recent works in this edition.

As well, I received feedback from readers that found the writing exercises included in the book enormously useful, and consequently have added a couple more to the roster.

Over a decade after having written The Blunt Playwright, I remain convinced that there is no livelier, more genuinely human form of writing than playwriting, and this book continues to offer the same message about the writing process that it did when it was first released. There are no easy routes to success; no secrets, no rules, no shortcuts. There continues to be only one way to find your way to the audience and that is to write your way there.

So enjoy the process, set your fears aside, and get busy.

 
(Credits: Book cover image and publisher’s description have been retrieved from BiblioShare.)

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