Hints and Tips: Stage and Radio Plays

• Before doing anything else, switch to Stage/Radio Play Mode.
• The AutoWords in the Ins. tab of the Side Panel can be put to good use for character names, which appear far more frequently in plays than in short stories or novels.
• The "Search > Find Current" menu item (F4) can be used while the cursor is over a character name to find the next occurrence of that name, and therefore that character's next line of dialogue.
• The Count Occurrences function can be used with capitalised character names to see how often they appear in the play, and therefore also how many lines of dialogue they have.
• If you are writing a play in several acts, use a separate file for each one. Not only does this make it easier to find your way around the play, but it also ensures your work will be correctly printed when you come to use the Print Multiple Files option.