Author Ian Burns thinks writers should take a leaf out of the playwright's book. It's one of the tips he plans to include in a new book for budding school-age writers.

Don't get me wrong, you don't actually have to write a play.

Think for a moment about a play you've seen, on the stage or television — even your favourite movie...
It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, just like us!  So when (if) you are planning your work, have in mind that it should have these three bits.

The thing to remember is that each of these IS NOT one third of the whole — they need to be different lengths.
'Act I' is shorter than 'Act II' and 'Act III' hardly hangs around at all.

A rule of thumb is:

• Act I, around 20% of the total.  So, in a ten-page story this means about two pages. 
• Act II, around 75% of the total, which is around seven pages in a ten-page story.
  
• Act III, around 5% of the total.  The less the better!  As long as the ending is an okay one, meaning that it doesn't leave the reader annoyed or frustrated (unless that is your intention).

This means, of course, that you have to have some idea of the overall length of the story right at the beginning! Am I writing 500 words, 5,000, or 50,000?

And the same idea applies to individual chapters — each should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, although with these (except for the final one) the Act III sets up Act I of the next chapter.

My best personal example of all this is The Day and Night Machine; a story about a girl who receives a birthday present from her father, who was killed about a year before (Act I).  Then follows the development and climax of the story (after some twists and turns), Act II, and the surprise ending, Act III, which is only a page or so.

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‘Write like a Play’ is one topic to be included in a new book I am constructing on the process of writing, which is for secondary school-aged children.  It might end up like Mao’s Little Red Book ... or something a bit different!

I am seeking collaborators for this book.

As well as Write Like a Play, other topics on my list include: Write for yourself; Gain attention early; Interesting subject; Draw on things that have happened to you, or that you know about; Who’s your audience?; Keep it moving; What style should you adopt?; Setting the scene; Will your reader understand it…?; Draw them to next page, and the next...; Metaphors; Similes; Analogies; Long words, short words, a mixture…?; Finish when finished; Changing tack; Lightening up?; Does it look good?  Aesthetics; Beginning the sentence; How much talking?  Dialogue; Ways of emphasising; Is that a comma, or a semi-colon?  Punctuation; Does your computer know better than you?  Be very careful of spell and grammar checks; Write, re-write…right?

Any thoughts or contributions from WritersWorld ezine subscribers, such as additional topics, or examples that nicely illustrate a subject (ideally from the writer’s own work), would be very much appreciated. All contributions will be acknowledged within the body of the work, and there will be a section at the end of the book for additional contributor information – for example, list of published titles, Web page, blog, email address.

To express interest, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ,

Ian Burns’s first book for kids, Scratcher has sold 5,000 copies. First published by William Heinemann Australia, its second edition, and all Ian’s subsequent 28 books, have been published at Lulu.com.
Formerly a teacher of English, and a senior administrator with the Victorian Education Department, Ian has written numerous books for adults, and for children, including Beethoven the musical play.  He’s also penned stage sketches and songs, training videos, and produced television commercials.

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