A Brief Guide To Writing Your Own Puppet Plays
Through the course of our puppet experience, we've written several scripts.
We wrote a couple as a team and I've written several on my own.
This article gives some guidelines that helped make script writing easier for us.
When writing a script, the basic thing to keep in mind is that you are telling, or acting out, a story.
To write a story well, you need to understand the four essential parts that make a good story.
Those parts are; a captivating introduction, the sequence of events, the climax, and the conclusion.
In many stories, a problem of some kind is introduced early and the events move along a line to where the problem is solved.
The introduction: This is the place you should seek to captivate the attention of the audience so they want to watch the rest of the skit.
It should also set the scene for the play, so the audience has a clear idea of what is going on.
This is especially true if you won't have any backgrounds or props when doing the play.
The sequence of events: List the events that will take place in the play one after another in a numbered outline.
Determine early where you'll introduce your problem and list events that progress along the line of solving it.
The climax: This is the high point of the story where the problem is solved.
All the previous events build up to this point.
The more obvious it is the better.
For instance in the story of David and Goliath the climax is when Goliath is struck by the stone from David's sling.
It's an obvious climax because the problem is neutralized and it's done in an unexpected way.
It's important that you don't reveal the climax too soon because once the outcome is shown, you'll begin to lose the audience's interest.
The conclusion: These are the 2 or 3 events that wrap up the story and lead to the application.
Make sure you keep this part brief so the audience doesn't begin to check out on you.
When writing the play, take each of the events you have listed and turn them into a question.
For instance, if one of your events is a statement such as: Bernie enters with a band-aide on his forehead, change it to a question: Why does Bernie have that band-aide on his forehead? Once you have the list of questions, answer them one at a time and your story will unfold.
Then revise and edit it as needed and you've got a new script to use.
By following this outline for writing your story, you'll be using a proven system of story preparation and will be well on your way to another great story that your audience will want to hear and watch.
We wrote a couple as a team and I've written several on my own.
This article gives some guidelines that helped make script writing easier for us.
When writing a script, the basic thing to keep in mind is that you are telling, or acting out, a story.
To write a story well, you need to understand the four essential parts that make a good story.
Those parts are; a captivating introduction, the sequence of events, the climax, and the conclusion.
In many stories, a problem of some kind is introduced early and the events move along a line to where the problem is solved.
The introduction: This is the place you should seek to captivate the attention of the audience so they want to watch the rest of the skit.
It should also set the scene for the play, so the audience has a clear idea of what is going on.
This is especially true if you won't have any backgrounds or props when doing the play.
The sequence of events: List the events that will take place in the play one after another in a numbered outline.
Determine early where you'll introduce your problem and list events that progress along the line of solving it.
The climax: This is the high point of the story where the problem is solved.
All the previous events build up to this point.
The more obvious it is the better.
For instance in the story of David and Goliath the climax is when Goliath is struck by the stone from David's sling.
It's an obvious climax because the problem is neutralized and it's done in an unexpected way.
It's important that you don't reveal the climax too soon because once the outcome is shown, you'll begin to lose the audience's interest.
The conclusion: These are the 2 or 3 events that wrap up the story and lead to the application.
Make sure you keep this part brief so the audience doesn't begin to check out on you.
When writing the play, take each of the events you have listed and turn them into a question.
For instance, if one of your events is a statement such as: Bernie enters with a band-aide on his forehead, change it to a question: Why does Bernie have that band-aide on his forehead? Once you have the list of questions, answer them one at a time and your story will unfold.
Then revise and edit it as needed and you've got a new script to use.
By following this outline for writing your story, you'll be using a proven system of story preparation and will be well on your way to another great story that your audience will want to hear and watch.
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