ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses the qualities that separated the more and less successful playwrights and identified the factors that ruled out many plays, starting with the most common mistakes. The process of reviewing playwriting applicants on various panels and over many years brings the author to the conclusions about the dos and don’ts of playwriting. There is always the odd play that pays no attention to any rules and flies off the page and stage, and that’s important to keep in mind. The author's first full-length play was called Flying Horses. The play was about a doctor who was a perfectionist and found something wrong with every item in his household. It was an absurdist comedy with a serious ending. When the play was next done, the director/dramaturg told that the second act did not make any sense. And being a young playwright, the author rewrote the second act and made it a tidy, realistic play.
