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Hello! Welcome to my weekly newsletter!
Enjoy a dose of my playwriting process,
writing confessions, and all the mess in between.
Have you ever looked at your scene and went:
Lord, that’s too long. It needs to be trimmed.
But you didn’t know where to start?
Believe me, I have that struggle too.
So these are some of the things I do and/or think about when I’m editing. But also remember. Don’t edit on the first draft. That’s for you to just write mercilessly.
Every word must have a purpose
This sounds obvious. But it’s easy to forget.
I’ve heard of dramaturgs who go line by line and ask:
Why this word?
Why now?
What does this reveal?
What does this mean for the story?
That’s what words on a page are supposed to do:
Advance the plot. Build the world. Reveal the character. Create tension.
So ask yourself:
Is this line relevant now or relevant later?
Does it push the story forward, or is it just fluff that makes the character quirky?
Will this colour or confuse the audience?
Take this for example:
If a character rambles about their 10th birthday party
but the mother, the cake, the trauma, the costume, the feeling
never comes back into the story,
then why is it there?
Be hypercritical. Be ruthless.
You’re not deleting your soul, you’re shaping it.
Think like a songwriter
Songs can make us cry in under 3 minutes.
And musical theatre? Even better! Songs that reveal a character’s wants, needs, turning points within a single number.
Some songs are one-line wonders.
Others deliver entire emotional arcs.
Apply the same logic to your scene:
What’s being said here that must be said?
And what’s just noise?
For example (musical theatre):
or, from pop music:
(this is one of my favourite songs from my teenage days btw)
Or… who cares?
Maybe you don’t want to cut anything. Maybe it’s a mess, and that’s the point.
Maybe you want the scene to linger, spiral, derail.
That’s totally fair.
But! You have to be ready for this:
If you hand it off to a director, a dramaturg, and a cast… things will get cut.
Not everything will survive the process.
So if you’re giving your team full creative freedom, keep all your words if you must.
But be ready. Be chill. Be open to killing your darlings.
<insert killing your darlines>
It’s part of the process.
So here’s what you can do
Edit.
And if you don’t know what to edit,
gather some friends, have a reading.
Ask for feedback. Notice where everyone gets bored,
where time slows down, and where you cringe.
If it doesn’t serve, slice it!
Cutting is just part of the process.
It’s not a punishment.
Do you have any more tips for cutting and editing?
I’d love to learn more!