‘I’m not writing drama, I’m writing fiction.’ Actually, dear creative writing student who told me this a year or two ago, if you are writing fiction you really ought to be writing drama. But I’ll let you off because I know you meant you were writing a story in prose to be read, rather than a play to be performed. What else is drama, then, if it’s not a play?
It’s a term that is sometimes debased nowadays. Expressions such as drama queen, meaning a woman (or even a man) who is an attention-seeking over-reactor, don’t do it any favours.