Art Of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives by Lajos Egri

Lajos Egri’s book “The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives” is a classic of its genre and remains a valuable resource for dramatic writers to this day. Written in 1946, it provides timeless advice on the form and craft of playwriting, both for the amateur and the professional. Egri’s aim was to provide guidance on how to create meaningful drama, rather than just to provide the technical aspects of how to write.

Lajos Egri argues that all drama needs to be rooted in believable human motivations and emotions. He begins by espousing the need to create believable characters and the importance of understanding their motivations and desires in their fullest possible degree. This is done by analyzing characters' behavior and understanding the fundamentals of their psychology.

Egri also addresses the structure of a play and outlines 30 story points that are necessary for a play to be convincing and meaningful. These include such elements as the inciting incident, the climax, the nature of the characters and the resolution. He highlights how it is important to ensure that causality governs everything that is said and done by the characters. By doing so, the audience will be more likely to get involved in the story and to understand the motivations of the characters

In addition, Egri also emphasizes the importance of a solid and clear outline before attempting to write out a script. This will help to avoid many of the pitfalls experienced by playwrights of all levels. To provide guidance on this he outlines a 6-step process for creating an outline for a play. Along with his insights about structure, he also provides advice about working with dialogue, action and scene changes.

There are also sections which offer advice about the production of scripts and about marketability. Egri advises writers to create a marketable script, ready for production, and gives tips on marketing it and finding an agent.

In summary, Lajos Egri’s “The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives” is a timeless guide to the craft and form of playwriting. It provides invaluable advice on how to create believable characters, how to structure a play, in addition to giving insight into how to work with dialogue and how to market a script. It is an essential read for all dramatic writers and should be a regular reference in the writer’s handbook.