A Novelist Swapping Hats

ZachJPayne

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(I labored over where to put this thread: mods, if it belongs elsewhere, just yell at me.)

I've been working on fleshing out an idea for a novel that just wasn't working as a novel. I had a bit of an epiphany today: that it would make an excellent stage play.

I'm a lover of theatre; my first ever college class was writing for the stage. My problem is, as someone who's trying to build a career as a novelist, it seems like working on a stage play would be a waste of time (that phrasing is a bit harsh, but is the gist of what I'm feeling) that could be spent working on a novel to add to my back-list.

I'm already working my way in to a community of novelists: I have resources to send my novels out for feedback and publication into the wider world.

On the other hand, I don't really have the resources to workshop a play, stage a production -- no matter how much I LOVE the premise brewing in my head, if I wrote it as a stage play, it would probably end up moldering on my hard drive. I can't really sell a script the same way I sell a novel.
 

KTC

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I have 10 short plays under my belt, now. If I did not have the opportunity to see them all produced and performed, I still would have benefited from having written them. They make me a better novelist. They fine-tune my dialogue writing skills. There are plenty of markets for plays...an abundance of markets. It's your decision to make...I for one would say go for it. It sounds like you want to. Nothing in writing is a waste of time. It's all grist for the mill...all practice, all beneficial. I love playwriting. It's one of my favourite things...any time I devote to it is candy on top of my novel writing.