S31E8 - The Art of Writing Monologues for Actors

If you're not looking for much notoriety, but enjoy writing flash and short fiction, consider getting into the world of actor monologues. These timed pieces are designed to help actors express a range of emotions in order to get hired into roles. They range from comedic to dramatic to everything in between. The important part is writing so the piece can be performed.

Monologues have been performed since ancient times. They can be part of larger productions (Shakespeare is known for monologues within his plays), or a individual pieces. It's an opportunity for you to focus on character development within just a few hundred words. You can even use monologues to help find the voice for characters within your other works. But as mentioned earlier, there's not a lot of notoriety. And when you're writing for a single actor, it means writing a single character. There's no conversation with anyone but the performer.

Listen to this episode for more about how and why to write monologues.

First aired April 28, 2022.