William Archer: Drama Means a Thing Done

I am reading the 1912 edition of Play-Making by William Archer. It is a nuts and bolts guide to writing plays by a premier critic. It is very readable, even though I have read only a few of the plays discussed, and I would recommend it to all writers, not just playwrights.

The best quote from the book so far is in a discussion of the Obligatory Scene or scène á faire. This is a scene promised to the audience by events or situations in the acts leading up to it. It is different than the climax in that it can occur more than once, but it is a pivot point of a play. Archer argues that it is not something that just happens to the characters. It must be something that the characters do. It is the essence of drama.

Archer: Drama means a thing done, not merely a thing that happens; and the playwright who lets accident effect what might naturally and probably be a result of volition, or in other words, of character, sins against the fundamental laws of his craft.

This is an extremely important principle in all fiction writing. This principle cannot be broken without harming a story.