Notes from Annie Caulfield's 'Writing for Radio'

Over the weekend I have been reading Writing for Radio by Annie Caulfield who is a radio dramatist. Here is what I have learnt:

• Radio has intimacy. It is good for 'below-stairs' conversations - perhaps an idea I could use?
• Questions are very important. Encourage the listener to ask themselves questions throughout.
• The beginning is very important and should begin the story, not just set the scene. Questions should still be left unanswered in the 1st line.
• It is important that the listener must know whose side they're on from the start, although it can turn out to be that they were on the side of the wrong person.
• If your idea for a play slightly predictable, start far away from that story line (e.g. the story of an unhappy marriage starting when the couple are newly married).
• Be sure the beginning doesn't give away the end.
• Try giving characters extra problems. So, in my play, the Prime Minister could have other problems aside from his falling popularity.
• Words must be used sparingly. It might be tempting to use lots of flowery adjectives in dialogue but people do not speak that way.
• Let actors surprise you by keeping stage directions to a minimum.
• Make dialogue natural - people don't always complete their sentences and frequently interrupt each other.
• To create variation between scenes, make sure scenes that are following each other are not too similar.
• A good comedy is based on the characters, not the situation.
• Character names go on the left of the script and are in capital and bold. Speeches in each scene should be numbered. Directions should be underlined and in capital letters, except for when they are in the middle of dialogue and here they should be in brackets, bold and capitalised.