Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama
Drama for the dinner table
Using Anticipation to Increase Drama Remember when you were a kid and you knew you were going to visit the local fair or carnival or circus and you just couldn’t wait and you’d speculate on all the things you’d do there and what kind of day you’d have and what the weather was going to […]
Character Arcs Made Easy A SIMPLE WAY TO UNDERSTAND CHARACTER ARCS It’s been fun using this forum to think out loud about the craft of story-telling and story-telling structures. I’ve recently been thinking about character arcs as they apply in audio drama and I thought I’d share the results… Whereas the plot contains a series […]
How to Increase Engagement in Audio Drama by Writing Less CONTINUITY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND THE AUDIO WRITER The brain is an amazing thing, and it is easy to immerse our brains in a story. Try this little thought experiment. Here is the word TREE. The word is a signifier and it signifies an idea. That idea, […]
Foreshadowing Four Basic Foreshadowing Techniques There are several ways we can foreshadow plot points. Here are four simple techniques that range from the implied through to the explicit. Firstly, we can use suggest future events through hints, symbols and omens. Eg. The weather was unseasonably cold that day. There was a dead bird lying on […]
Immediacy SO, THIS GUY WALKS INTO A BAR… Have you ever wondered why comedians choose the active voice for their routines? Or why someone telling a story at a party is so enthralling when they use the present tense? Have you even noticed that this is what they do? There’s a reason for it; and […]
THE THREE ACT PLOT Today I’m being a bit controversial. Lots of people really hate three act structure (like the guy who wrote this, for instance… https://filmcrithulk.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/hulk-presents-the-myth-of-3-act-structure/). Some even go so far as to say it doesn’t exist (because all stories have a beginning, middle, and end). That’s fine. But I’ve always found this structure […]
This article was prompted by an excellent blog post by Jack Ward, on how an audio drama can lose an audience. I’ve expanded on those thoughts here to help us look at the slightly different topic of why some audio dramas are so easily forgotten and how this can be avoided by carefully employing Audio […]
Scene and Sequel Structure (the structure of scenes) The Scene and Sequel structure is a useful writing structure from the world of narrative fiction. While just one tool among many, this structure is used to add and heighten dramatic interest in a scene. Basically, it is a six-part structure (two sets of three elements) made […]
The problem of Ageing You know how a random thought occasionally strikes you, and then grows over a few weeks until you find yourself giving it quite a bit of attention? Well, that’s happened to me just recently on the topic of ageing. These are just some things I’ve been thinking about that others may […]
Four Narrative Techniques that Increase Immersion (and a Fifth Tip that Matters Just for Audio Drama) Are you looking for some suggestions on how to increase the immersion created by the stories you tell? Some simple ways to bring your scripts to life in the minds of your audience? The following are some ideas/techniques, borrowed […]
Final Techniques Hi folks, I’m taking a final look this week at the advice offered by Erik Barnouw in his Handbook of Radio Writing (1947). This time the attention is focused on “simulating movement, manageing the climax, and closing” a radio drama. These techniques are common sense but nonetheless easy to overlook. Dialogue on the […]
Scene Shifting (part 5) Hi folks, I’m taking another look this week at the advice offered by Erik Barnouw in his Handbook of Radio Writing (1947). This time the attention is focused on “shifting the scene” of a radio drama by combining the techniques discussed so far (or combination transition). These techniques are common sense […]
