Children's books, Television plays and Journalism writing tips

Is this the special art, distinct from writing for the theatre or cinema, that the BBC suggests? I would say no. The best plays on television are from the theatre-Ibsen, Chekhov, etc. The best films on television are from the cinema. This is not to say that good plays are not written for television, merely that those that are, are good precisely for those qualities you will find in a good ‘theatre’ play. 

      It is true, of course, that television does not-or should not -simply produce a representation of a theatre set. Almost always pieces of film are inserted, and there are close-ups of faces, eyes, expressions that are impossible -in the theatre. Consequently, you might say they have achieved something here that you could never get on a theatre stage. But patently all they have done is to include some of the techniques of the cinema.

You can leap from the largest of conceivable things to the smallest-from a battle panorama to the inside of a snail’s head. You can indulge in any kind of fantasy or metamorphosis instantaneously and incontrovertibly, provided that you use your skill at audio suggestion and always remember to understate rather than overdo. In effect, radio retains the closest kinship with the oldest of literary arts-the epic told round the fire in the great hall. And as a consequence of this, radio drama, far from being the poor crippled relative of the newer forms of visual drama, can be, if properly used, the most powerful of all, the most overwhelming.

Exactly as the epic bard did, it can get in closer to its audience than any other dramatic device. It goes right into their ears, approaches them through sound alone, and sound is touch, the most primitive of the senses. Watch an eerie play on television, for instance. Then listen to the same play on radio-with the lights out. Your pulse will register which has the most telling’ effect. More than with any other medium, what goes on is there -all around you-in your own room.

The scope of radio drama is the biggest of all. You can do more on radio than on television, the stage or even the cinema screen, for the simple reason that you do not, in one sense, have to do anything. And money, which is always an important factor, will not have to be used to a fraction of the extent that other media require to produce “the same effects. This is one reason why a beginner may find access for his work easier here than elsewhere. With the use of a word, or a sound, you can set your scene in Heaven, Hell, Saskatchewan, fish guard, Alpha Centauri, Tel Aviv, Antarctica.

What are the special techniques of radio drama? By aural means alone you must let the listener know what is going on, give the background, age, shape of your characters, but in a subtle, natural fashion without sticking on crude labels. You will probably be surprised how much of this you can leave to your listener’s imagination. Obviously you do not need to emphasise a man’s age if he has a reedy voice and everybody calls him granddad. Nor a child’s, though it is sometimes necessary here to give a closer approximation to its age. Sound effects can produce your rain, wind, traffic. But where identification depends so much on voice, the fewer main characters you have the better, though, of course, it is the casting director’s job to produce actors with clearly contrasting voices.

The short story:

At least two short stories are read on the radio every day, and here the usual advice applies: listen to what they have in mind, determine the formula, then write to a similar one, only not quite; add a little plus quality of your own, giving it, we hope-though not too obviously-an explosive potential the original formula lacks. Read it out. Tape it if possible. Play it back. Cut. Time it. Cut. Send it. 

Plays for radio 

Now here we do come into combat with television. I don’t think many would deny that it is easier to watch a play on the television-at least initially-than to hear it on the radio. But we may also be conscious that much can be missed this way, particularly where dialogue plays a significant part.