Sofia Dadkhah is one of the few students selected to join the Young Playwrights’ Roundtable at the Coterie. Now, recently after having her first meeting, she discusses her experiences from the event.  

CB: What are your feelings on being selected to join the Coterie?
SD: I was super excited when I got picked for the Coterie because I’d never been chosen to participate in something out of a group. I’d never been in anything where they had to select a couple people out of a bunch of writers. So yeah, it was cool to be selected, it was a little bit nerve racking though.

CB: How do you feel about your first meeting at the Coterie?
SD: Well, it was really good. I was not ready for what it was going to be like. I thought it was gonna be a peer-pressure type thing, like everyone would have to share and was going to be intense. It wasn’t, it was very relaxed and welcoming. The people who did read were very good and talented, but their works were so long that we didn’t get a whole lot of people in.

CB: Do you think you made a good impression on the other writers?
SD: Honestly, I think I didn’t make a bad impression, I don’t think I even made an impression. I didn’t read anything, the only thing I did that they would see anything about me was I asked a couple questions. They were decent questions, one of them was kind of pointless but I just wanted to have something to say. I think I was just neutral. I didn’t read so they didn’t know me.

CB: What do you think of the other writers?
SD: They were really good, really, really good. There was a wide range from freshman to seniors and they all had a really good sense of dialogue. Like I struggle writing for people older than me so I usually only write for people my age. That was definitely something that I noticed, they can write for anyone and have a very strong sense of dialogue. Also, a lot of their ideas were very deep.

CB: What inspires you the most when writing?
SD: I probably would say my environment. I always get inspiration when I’m hanging out with my friends and when I’m with my family. I found that I gained a lot of inspiration for stuff when I was in Mexico.

CB: What do you hope to accomplish with your writing?
SD: I don’t really want to be some famous writer or make writing my number one job, but I definitely want to be a better writer than I am now. I feel like writing is an important art and is kind of going downhill, so I feel like writing is definitely a craft that needs to stay alive. I love reading so I love to write too.

CB: Which do you prefer better: play writing or “traditional” writing?
SD: I think traditional writing. Playwriting is really fun, but most of it is up to the actor. You can’t just have a show be mostly stage directions and telling the actor how to feel. I’m usually a very particular person and I like things to come across how I like things to come across. Sometimes I like it, but most times I can’t get my version out of my head. So I would say traditional writing because when you’re writing a book, you’re in control of everything.

CB: Do you ever plan on writing professionally?
SD: No, it’s a really tough field. I mean, unless you’re like Lin Manuel Miranda and can write something that can obliterate everything else you’re probably not make going to make a whole lot off of writing. I love writing, but it’s not my biggest passion. I love it and it’s something important to me, but no. I would not, not just because of the money but because I would get tired of it and I get writer’s block a lot.

CB: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
SD: I wrote this poem when I was in eighth grade. It was one of the things I wrote for an assignment to mimic Edgar Allan Poe, one of my favorite writers of all time. The one I turned in. I was very proud of it but there was another one that I also wrote to turn in but I didn’t finish it on time. So I ended up just taking it and finishing it on my free time. It was about a man dealing with the death of his wife and I was very proud of it.

CB: Favorite character you’ve written?
SD: Austin, he’s my favorite and I love him. I love because he’s kind of like a mashup between everyone I love in the world. I’ve written him at all ages, and I just adore him, he is like my favorite thing ever. My favorite creation.

CB: Do you have any techniques for improving your work?
SD: It’s kind of cliche, but write a lot, keep a journal. Some people say write every day, but I think that ruins it for some people. Just try to keep a somewhat regular journal and then write it down, write notes or maybe a small scene. Just write something, something is better than nothing. Another thing would be read a lot. Read or watch, like I write plays a lot so I have watched a lot of play lately. I went on Youtube and watched and read a lot of plays. So I would say read and write.

CB: Tips or suggestions for overcoming writer’s block?
SD: Going on the internet for prompts works well, I personally go on Tumblr and look on prompts. Or, you could just look up random words and write down whatever comes to mind. Just take randoms words and write them down and try to make a story out of them.

CB: What writer inspires you the most, or basically who is your favorite author?
SD: I don’t really have one for books. I like Edgar Allan Poe, JK Rowling. I like a lot of different authors and for books I just take random ones. For theater, it’s definitely Jonathan Larson or Stephen Sondheim. Everything they do is amazing and I love them.