Voltaire on Writing

A lot of Candide content coming up. For a Saturday, some writing (and playwriting) tips assembled from the Paris chapter of Voltaire's masterpiece:

"How a play can be of some interest but of almost not merit:"

1. It is not enough to contrive one or two situations found in any novel that always captivate audiences.

2. One needs to be original without being far-fetched.

3. Be sublime, but always natural.

4. Write like a poet without letting the characters speak like poets.

5. Never sacrifice sense to rhyme.

There are few good tragedies out there. These are the most common failures:

1. Mere idylls in dialogue form.

2. Political tracts in dialogue form.

3. Addresses to gods by writers who cannot reach humans.

Voltaire intended a few shots at Corneille and Racine. Fun stuff.