Below are details on a playwriting course run by Phil Setren, who shared a brilliant piece of work in progress.
And below are the prompts we used for this session. (Or, in fact, mostly didn't use, because everyone who came already had brilliant ideas of their own.) Nevertheless, we scatter them to the internet, like seeds in the park, in the hope that they may yet bear fruit for others.
/Your character has just let themselves into a new room/flat/house for the first time. They are alone, with a single suitcase….
/Describe a chance first meeting between two characters which will lead to something profound for one of them. Don’t worry if you don’t know what happens next. Concentrate on developing the two characters…
/Your character is about to give away or destroy something of great personal significance. What and why?
/Your character HAS JUST ABOUT HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! Write about the moment something snaps and they walk away from a toxic situation...
/Your character meets an old friend. It’s the first time they have seen each other in several years. It soon becomes apparent that the friend has had some kind of transformative experience and is now a very different person from the one the other remembers.
/Imagine a movie trailer in which your character is walking casually away from a burning building holding the object of your choice. (An umbrella? A teddy bear? A tennis racket?) What’s the story? Bonus points if you can actually find a role for the object. Further bonus points for the most over-the-top Hollywood blockbuster movie title.
/A group of characters (two or more) witness something which they all know will change their relationship - and maybe their lives - forever…
/Your character is a teenager who finds themselves living as part of a new family unit with a radically different set of social or cultural expectations from those they are used to…
/Your character decides to adopt a totally new and possibly outrageous style of dress. Why are they doing this now? How do people respond?
/Describe the moments leading up to an incident that will change the course of your character’s life. Fill your piece with clues and foreshadowing, but stop before you get to the incident itself, and leave the reader guessing…
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