Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

It’s that time of year again!  The daily temperatures are falling, the leaves are turning various shades of orange and various chintzy costumes are for sale at Wal-Mart.

No, I’m not describing Halloween.  I’m describing the time of year that I usually teach Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, that time honored play about the Salem witch trials loosely veiled as a commentary on McCarthyism.

I love this play.  Yes, it’s depressing and sad, and we all choke up at the end when John Proctor won’t sign the confession which would blacken his name in the village…”Because it is my na-a-a-a-ame!” But I love it because it is a masterful piece of storytelling and characterization.

I have selected five things that Miller does in the play that we could all learn to use in our own writing, whether that be long form novel writing or play writing or screenplay writing.

Here…