Category: Uncategorized
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10 Playwriting Exercises to Sharpen Craft and Spark Imagination
You wouldn’t run a marathon without warming up; likewise, it can be difficult to sit at your desk expecting yourself to be ready to commit ideas to the page without mentally preparing yourself. And this is where playwriting exercises come in, helping us test our language, structure, and tone in the privacy of the draft.…
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Writing my Debut Novel: Autumn Leaf – a thriller
I’ve been writing stage plays for over twenty years and, over the years, I’ve published a range of collections, including Plays: One, The Two Handers, The Three Handers, and a list of individual plays. But I’d never written a novel. Until now. In this blog, I’ll tell you about my first thriller, Autumn Leaf and…
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WriteForTheStage Prize for New Writing: Leeches, by Kieran Scott
We’re very excited to announce the publication of Leeches by Kieran Scott: the winner of the WriteForTheStage Prize for New Writing 2025 at the Greater Manchester Fringe. The first prize is a publication with WriteForTheStage Books, and we proudly announce that the play text is now available on Amazon. This marks a major milestone for…
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How to Write a Play That Gets Read: Your First 10 Pages
If you’re learning how to write a play—or refining one for submission—you’ve probably heard of the dreaded 10-page sift. It’s the moment your script either earns a full read—or gets quietly shelved. Brutal? Yes. But it’s also an opportunity. Because if you know how to make those first ten pages explode off the page, you’re…
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What is a Digital Writing Retreat? (And 5 Focus Tips for Writers)
Do you get easily distracted while writing? Do you have a piece you’re desperate to write but can’t find the time? Are you struggling to get to the heart of the matter? These are all common problems for writers of all experience, which is why writing retreats are so popular. But, they’re super-expensive, setting you…
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The story of Born in the USA – the play, not the album!
It started with watching the telly. Many things do. My friend Martin Jameson frequently begins our conversations with ‘Have you seen………?’ and, invariably, the answer is no. So when he asked me if I’d seen the HBO series The Vietnam War, written by Ken Burns, the answer was a typical ‘no’. So I watched it. It was not an easy watch. The…
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Plotting the Kill: Thriller Structure for the Stage
How to Build Suspense, Surprise, and Emotional Stakes in Live Performance Thrillers thrive on tension, misdirection, and the slow drip of dread. But unlike film or fiction, theatre demands a different kind of suspense—one that unfolds in real time, with limited space, live actors, and no edits. The audience is right there, breathing with the…
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How to Write a Thriller for the Stage: Craft, Suspense, and the Art of Unease
As the nights draw in, October offers the perfect climate for theatrical thrillers—stories that thrive on tension, concealment, and the slow drip of dread. But if you’re wondering how to write a thriller for the stage, it’s a good idea to take a look at what has gone before us. For playwrights, the thriller is…
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Digital Writing Retreat: Thriller Writing for Theatre
This Halloween weekend, while the rest of the world slips into costume and chaos, WriteForTheStage invites you to something a little different. Escape from the chaos and the costumes with our first-ever digital playwriting retreat, dedicated to the art of thriller writing. If you joined one of our Summer Schools, you’ll know the rhythm—morning workshops, evening readings,…
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Writing the Duet: How to Craft a Compelling Two-Hander Play
There’s a unique magic in writing a two-hander. Two characters, one space, and no distractions — just dialogue, subtext, and the emotional tightrope that binds them. It’s the most intimate of theatrical forms, and also, in many ways, the most exposing. There’s nowhere to hide — for the writer or the characters. I’ve always been…