About the Book:

A highly readable book, The Blunt Playwright is currently used in colleges and universities across the country.

The Blunt Playwright is how-to book and guide to drama by Clem Martini that takes experienced and beginning playwrights alike through the intricacies of playwriting in a direct, informative, and entertaining fashion. It examines dramatic structure, discusses the creative process, explores the nature of character in dramatic work, provides classic and contemporary scenes to study; outlines clever exercises to strengthen writing skills; and so much more. Highly regarded and used in schools everywhere, this revised and updated edition, featuring more scenes and new writing exercises, cements its place as one of the best resources for playwrights.

From organizing the structure of a script to developing characters' voices, from employing visual effects on stage to writing comedy, or from self-promotion to getting produced and published, The Blunt Playwright has something for everyone, no matter the stage of your career.

What people say:

"The Blunt Playwright is a great resource! I have kept a copy on my desk for the last ten years where it can easily be found when I need it... which is often." — Emily Dallas, author of Brave Girl

"I use The Blunt Playwright for all of my playwriting classes and for myself because it's a system of writing that works, is easily understood, and clearly makes sense about process and structure." — Aaron Bushkowsky, Creative Writing Instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and award-winning author of After Jerusalem and My Chernobyl

"The Blunt Playwright is a great resource for both emerging and established playwrights. I have kept a copy on my desk for the last ten years where it can easily be found when I need it ... which is often." — Meg Braem, Co-director of the Alberta Theatre Projects Playwrights Unit and award-winning author of Blood: A Scientific Romance and The Josephine Knot

"Clem Martini is blunt, all right – and passionate, challenging, deadly serious, and wryly witty. He covers all the techniques that a playwright might need at any stage while ardently championing this much misunderstood art form, and from a welcome Canadian perspective." — John Lazarus, Associate Professor at Queen's University and award-winning playwright of Babel Rap and The Grandkid

About the Author:

Clem Martini is an award-winning Canadian playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He has over thirty plays, and ten books of fiction and nonfiction to his credit, including A Three Martini Lunch, which was a nominee for the Governor General's Literary Award in Drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). His texts on playwriting, The Blunt Playwright, The Greek Playwright, and The Ancient Comedians are employed in universities and colleges across the country. In addition to writing, he is the Chair of Drama in the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary.