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How to Write Radio Play
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 You are in: > Sitemap > How to write
How to Write a Radio Play Back to Index
  First Thoughts
  Structure
  Characters
Developing the Dialogue
  Thinking In Sound
  Adjusting to Fit
  Setting Out Your Script
  Further links


Developing dialogue
 
Good dialogue is not simply a matter of stringing together different conversations - every bit of speech must help the plot move in some direction, increasingly involving the listener as it does. If you have a problem with a scene, ask yourself what is happening at this point? If nothing is happening, that's the problem.

In addition to speech, the writer needs to think about sound effects, music, and, something rarely appreciated by the inexperienced writer, silence. Silence can convey a variety of things: suspense, anxiety, tranquillity. Pauses also help listeners take in what they have heard and help prepare for what happens next.

Remember that while the audience can't see the characters they don't want to be told what they are doing in clunky dialogue.

"Your dialogue shouldn't be - what's called - too much on the nose. Your characters shouldn't be saying exactly what they're thinking or you give the actors nothing to play."
Marcy Kahan

"Try to remember that as far as possible, characters shouldn't actually answer each other's lines, they should jump off from each other's lines onto something else, or turn corners or surprise people. This will also create movement."
Mike Walker



 
 
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