Big Books of 2026
The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives

Questions About The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives

by Lajos Egri

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Art of Dramatic Writing, please sign up.

Answered Questions (1)

Has anybody read Maupassant's story about the necklace that Egri discusses? (La Parure). I didn't agree with him on what the premise was, and I can find at least two others implicit in the story. I suspect that Egri would say that it was what the author thought the premise was that would matter, but I do wonder - if a work is thoughtful - whether there might actually be two or three buried in it. What do you think?
Darkemeralds Hi Pippa. If I've read La Parure it was ages ago in French class, but I agree with you that a well-constructed story could present different premises …moreHi Pippa. If I've read La Parure it was ages ago in French class, but I agree with you that a well-constructed story could present different premises to different people.

Often in reading these relative prescriptive writing books (I'm giving myself a homemade MFA in creative writing right now by immersing myself in Shawn Coyne, Larry Brooks, Robert McKee, Christopher Vogler, Libbie Hawker...) I feel like the author is forcing their system onto a work, making it fit. Egri is no different.

However, the exercise of finding in my own work what Egri calls the Premise (which is kinda-sorta what Coyne calls the Controlling Idea and Brooks calls the Concept, and OMG *pulls hair*) -- that is, what *I* think the Premise is -- has helped me tighten the story up, nail it down, eliminate excess, etc.

Someone else might read my story (wouldn't that be great?) and take a different core meaning from it. But if I've done my job, the reader will take "my" meaning from it too.

PS Hi, total stranger on Goodreads. :D(less)
flag

Unanswered Questions (1)

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more