Priciples of writing radio drama

  Here are some horrible truths:

Most radio drama is very badly written. Radio drama is an endangered species. It has never taken a hold of mainstream programming on commercial radio in the UK. It used to be the mainstream in the States and Australia but lost out to TV in the middle to late fifties.

It is under threat within public radio services including the BBC because of the pressure of monetarist ideology and the fact that authors and radio drama directors have been too complacent. IRDP is a significant oasis and continues to support the principle of the original play.




Ground rules




The Beginning




The beginning is everything. If this part of it does not work you are 'up shit creek without a paddle'. Your listeners will desert you. You have failed. You do not exist as a dramatist. Booo!




The Moment of Arrival




This is how you drop your listeners into the story. Don't give them a warm bed with comfortable pillows and a hot water bottle. The background and sub-text of previous histories is better explored through revelation in dramatic action. So parachute your listener into a top dramatic moment. Not the climax. That would be premature. Find the MOMENT to join the story. Avoid the slow snail's explicatory route. Kick 'em into a high energy trip and whoosh them through the rapids.




Structure




Set up...struggle...resolution. You can reverse this if the set-up is more dramatic and explosive than the resolution. Regard your play as a series of phases




The Plot




This is the story with lots of twists and turns. The more the merrier. Most listeners like good exciting plots. Without a good plot you're eating a souffle that has gone flat. You need plot, more plot and more plot. Run at least two story lines. Two sub plots would be interesting. Keep the plots linked logically within the same play. The best system is a major and a minor storyline linked to one another. Get them to come together at the end.




Surprise




People are hungry for entertainment. If they wanted boredom they would be filling out their tax returns instead of listening to your radio play. Make people afraid, but also excited.




Character




Your main character must have the sympathy of the audience. Your audience has to identify with your main character. If this does not happen you have created a failure. Booo!




Conflict




Drama = conflict = audience. There has to be an emotional, financial, human, moral, physical struggle so your listeners can laugh or cry. Yes, you want your listeners to laugh or cry or laugh and cry. If you don't, give up.




Polarities or Extremes



The art of story telling is exploring the extreme limits of our psychological or physical existence. To pitch one polarity against another.




The Climax




I apologize for the sexual metaphor. But there is something in this. The better sex has foreplay, development, sustained excitement, surprise and affection, nay love followed by an explosion of ecstasy. Good radio drama is not all that different. If you don't use it, you lose it.




Dialogue




This is how we engage dramatically with the world. Characters inform, argue, amuse, outrage, argue through the ebb and flow of dialogue. When we do we talk and that is how great radio plays are made.....by talking in dramatic dialogue.




Atmosphere / Ambience




This sets the emotional spirit of the play. It determines whether your listeners believe in the world that you have created. Worlds are not created by dramatic dialogue alone. There is attitude and atmosphere. This is determined by detail and relevant detail. It could be in a sound effect. It could be in the writing. It could be in the music. It could be in everything. But the result is that the fifth dimension of radio writing - the imagination of the listener - is stimulated to become a picture palace of the mind.




Emotion




Got to be there. You have to generate an emotional response from the audience....preferably to the main character....also not so strongly in relation to the other characters. Emotion = love, hate, admiration. Never mind about the type of emotion.....concentrate on whether it is there or not. Emotional connection between the writing and the listener = good radio drama.




Balance Character and Plot




You have to have both. You cannot trade. One can predominate over the other. Where they are balanced equally....it can only work if characterisation relates to plot development. If your main plot is character intensive, make sure that your minor plot is plot intensive.




Purpose




Crook's golden rule is that every word, every line, every scene must serve a dramatic purpose in terms of characterisation and plot development. Drop anything that does not have a dramatic purpose.




Tension and Humour




To stop the listener dropping off or switching off, maintain the tension always and throw in the humour. Tension, humour, tension, humour, tension humour...like the foxtrot..Make the emotional rhythm of the play dance on the listener's heart and mind. Charm and alarm, charm and alarm. But they've got to be linked. Your character uses humour to react to the tension in the scene or play. Keep one character who uses humour to deal with difficult situations. Make sure the humour is verbal. Slapstick belongs to a different type of play or entertainment. Make sure you do not have characters taking it in turns to be funny. This is not stand up comedy or sitcom. Make sure that the character who uses humour has a consistent sense of humour.




Get your listener inside the world of your play. How?




a. Sympathy or empathy with the main character.

b. A bloody good set up.

c. A big, nasty antagonist or villain.

d. Great Plot...Great Story....twists and turns.

e. Crisis at the beginning is dramatic and a great start.

f. Emotional intensity. Hit some high points.

g. Escalating conflict so the structure climbs with tension and humour.

h. Strike the colours with detail so there's an atmosphere, mood...ambience.

I. Modulate charm with alarm...humour with tension...tension with humour...funny policeman nasty policeman.

j. Surprise, surprise...that's what you do to the listener, through the plot.




The principle of developing scenes




Introduction.
Character one...goal and objective.
Character two...goal and objective.
Purpose of scene in overall plot.
One of the characters achieves a goal.
Link to the next scene by introducing or pointing to location of next scene or presence of character in next scene.



Question marks in the mind of the listener. Always keep one, better two or three




The Principle of Character




Believable and recognisable.
Purpose within the plot.
Characters have to have function. Character has to be consistent with function.
Characters have to be intentional.
Start with a stereotype to ensure rapid recognition, then twist the stereotype. Challenge the homily that there is nothing new under the sun by making it new under the moon.
Give each character a dominant physical or behavioural characteristic. Make the dominant characteristic purposeful. Make it extreme.
Your main character must be active.
Active character / urgent plot. The character's energy has to fight the urgency of the plot and the urgency of the plot makes the character more energetic.



The principle of Hero / Heroine




Listeners look up to main characters, want to admire them because we all want heroes and heroines in our lives. Life's eternal fantasy that transcendent people and transcendent moments conquer adversity.
If you are very clever you can transfer the hero from the obvious to the humble and make great the inferior or character who has greater potential for human dignity.
Charisma. Characters need intensity and conviction. They may not be perfect but they are attractive. You cannot identify with people who are unlike ourselves...too perfect, no beliefs...take themselves too seriously...lack a sense of humour..
Give your characters private moments when they drop their guards and allow us into their minds and hearts. Make the listener privileged. Use this moment for revelation.
The main character has to change and has to be changed by the plot.
You must have a main character and secondary characters. Your main character changes. Your secondary characters are probably more singular in their characteristics. Your secondary characters are already committed. Your main character is still weighing up the options.
You must have characters who are extreme in relation to each other...characters that are different make drama.



Where are we now?




Well, we should be here....

a. The main character is in the middle of the story.

b. You've used dominant characteristics.

c. The listener likes the main character.

d. The listener cares what happens to the main character.

e. The listener hates the antagonist.

f. The main character is developing.




Principles of Dialogue




a. Dialogue must be a response to a situation, plot or action.

b. Dialogue must be a response to each character in the scene.

c. Dialogue must be comic relief.

d. Dialogue must connect to the next scene.

e. Avoid reflective, passive and neutral. Go for active, and direct and emotional.

f. Dialogue must be believable by being specific...by being specific to the character's background and emotional state.

g. If dialogue is reacting to action or situation then it must be dramatic and poised on polarities. The goals of the characters in each scene should be different.

h. Dialogue should be continuous. Tip...characters often take a tag by repeating the last word spoken by the first character.

i. Dialogue must relate to function.

j. You can mix direct with indirect between two characters because they have different goals.

k. Humorous dialogue is not a character telling a joke but a line or lines responding to the dramatic situation.

l. Heightened dialogue vs naturalistic dialogue. Heightened language is the language of the theatre...high octane communication...poetic, philosophical...charged..the expression of the playwright...It serves not only the development of the plot and character, but it also presents the view of the writer. Works well in radio. But there is now a tendency for more naturalism. Radio producers like to go out on location and explore realism. In these situations you must stick to natural dialogue.




Principles peculiar to Radio




The inner existence.
The tension and conflict between the interior and exterior.
More psychological.
Easier to explore the real and the surreal and to delineate the line between the two.
Have to work in the fifth dimension...the energy of the listener's imaginative participation.
The interior existence offers exploration of personal thoughts, fantasies, emotions and conflicts.
All levels of external conflict can be explored.
The precipitating event through plot has to threaten the inner life of the main character. This is the kick-off in radio drama.
The end or resolution in radio drama is more deeply rooted in the emotional equilibrium and insight of the main character. Changes are internal as well as external.
Time transposition and translocation are faster and more rapid and more complicated. Flashbacks...flashforwards... different ages.
Radio requires less rather than more characters. Characterisation needs to be strong and fascinating.
Maintain the focus of the main character and plot.
Economy of words underlines subtextual surprise and engagement with the listener's imagination.
Wit is vital because language is so important...cleverness with words...energy with words..humour with words...Wit is advanced by surprising the listener...being aggressive with the listener..being fast, short and clever with the listener.
Irony is pathos and bathos. It's conflict between the inner life and outer action.



Other radio drama producers in the world




Norway: NRK kulturkanalen, P2 RODD- 0340, Oslo, Norway.

Swedish Radio, SR S-105 10 Stockholm, Sweden.

YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company Radio, PO Box 79 FIN-00024 Yleisrdio, Finland.

HR, Hessischer Rundfunk Bertramstrasse 8, 60320 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

DR Danmarks Radio, Radio Drama Department, Ewaldsgade 3-9, DK 2200, Copenhagen N Denmark.

ABC Australia, ABC Ultimo Centre, Level 5, 700 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007.

CBC-SRC, Radio Drama Department, Box 500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, Canada MSW 1E6

SDR Suddeutscher Rundfunk, Neckarstrasse 230, 70190, Stuttgart, Germany.

Radio Television Hong Kong, Broadcasting House, m 30 Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.

Other radio drama producers, SABC, South Africa, Los Angeles Theatre Works, LA, California, Public Radio, New Zealand.



TIM CROOK'S BOOK RADIO DRAMA IS PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE

Thanks a lot.

吐血中，后一半没时间弄了（改天），前一半请楼主使劲给改改吧（谢谢），我都晕了，中英文都不会了

Principles of writing radio drama
撰写广播剧的原则

Here are some horrible truths:
下面是一些可怕的现实：

Most radio drama is very badly written. Radio drama is an endangered species. It has never taken a hold of mainstream programming on commercial radio in the UK. It used to be the mainstream in the States and Australia but lost out to TV in the middle to late fifties.
许多广播剧写得很次，广播剧是一个濒临灭绝的物种，它从未在英国的广播中成为主流。它曾经是美国及澳洲国家的主流，但是它还是在最近50年中输给了电视。

It is under threat within public radio services including the BBC because of the pressure of monetarist ideology and the fact that authors and radio drama directors have been too complacent. IRDP is a significant oasis and continues to support the principle of the original play.
因为金钱观念的压力以及广播剧作者及导演的自满情绪，公共广播服务商包括BBC（英国广播公司）都处在危机之中。


Ground rules
基本原则


The Beginning
开头

The beginning is everything. If this part of it does not work you are 'up shit creek without a paddle'. Your listeners will desert you. You have failed. You do not exist as a dramatist. Booo!
开头最为重要。如果这部分没成功的话，你就没救了。你的听众也要跑掉了，那你就失败了，也就不能作为一个剧作家而存在了。够可怕的


The Moment of Arrival
故事的高潮

This is how you drop your listeners into the story. Don't give them a warm bed with comfortable pillows and a hot water bottle. The background and sub-text of previous histories is better explored through revelation in dramatic action. So parachute your listener into a top dramatic moment. Not the climax. That would be premature. Find the MOMENT to join the story. Avoid the slow snail's explicatory route. Kick 'em into a high energy trip and whoosh them through the rapids.
你如何给你的听众写剧本？不要将事情的来龙去脉交代得异常清晰。有关的历史背景及潜台词最好通过戏剧表演来揭示。所以，使你的听众融入戏中，要是没有高潮，就不够成熟。找出那个“瞬间”，加入到故事当中，同时避免冗赘。把“瞬间”强有力地释放，并让其飞速展开。


Structure
结构

Set up...struggle...resolution. You can reverse this if the set-up is more dramatic and explosive than the resolution. Regard your play as a series of phases
起、承、转、合。当然，如果开头比结尾生动、有激情，那你也可以颠倒顺序。把你的剧本作为一连串相关的事物来对待。


The Plot
情节

This is the story with lots of twists and turns. The more the merrier. Most listeners like good exciting plots. Without a good plot you're eating a souffle that has gone flat. You need plot, more plot and more plot. Run at least two story lines. Two sub plots would be interesting. Keep the plots linked logically within the same play. The best system is a major and a minor storyline linked to one another. Get them to come together at the end.
这就是迂回曲折的故事。The more the merrier.许多听众喜爱令人兴奋的情节。没有好情节，就像你吃一块没味的蛋奶酥。你需要情节，很多很多情节，至少2个故事情节。2个副情节将被感兴趣。在同一剧本中，要保持情节的逻辑联系。最好的体系是一条主线和一条辅线情节彼此关联。


Surprise
意外事件

People are hungry for entertainment. If they wanted boredom they would be filling out their tax returns instead of listening to your radio play. Make people afraid, but also excited.
人们渴望娱乐。如果他们感到厌倦，他们将以其它节目代替广播剧来充实自己。这让人害怕也让人兴奋。


Character
角色

Your main character must have the sympathy of the audience. Your audience has to identify with your main character. If this does not happen you have created a failure. Booo!
你的主角必须抓住听众的心，使他们不得不认同你的主角。如果不是这样，那你就失败了。


Conflict
矛盾

Drama = conflict = audience. There has to be an emotional, financial, human, moral, physical struggle so your listeners can laugh or cry. Yes, you want your listeners to laugh or cry or laugh and cry. If you don't, give up.
戏剧艺术＝矛盾＝观众。这不得不是一个情感上的、经济上的、人性上的、道德上的、身体上的斗争，所以你的听众可以笑，也可以哭。当然，是由你来控制你的听众是笑、是哭、还是又笑又哭。如果你无法控制，那就放弃吧。


Polarities or Extremes
反向或极端

The art of story telling is exploring the extreme limits of our psychological or physical existence. To pitch one polarity against another.
故事艺术是对我们的心理极限或是自然存在的探索。抛出一个观点来对抗其它的。


The Climax
高潮

I apologize for the sexual metaphor. But there is something in this. The better sex has foreplay, development, sustained excitement, surprise and affection, nay love followed by an explosion of ecstasy. Good radio drama is not all that different. If you don't use it, you lose it.
首先，请原谅我用性来做比喻。但是，剧本和它有相似之处。一段美妙的性行为要有挑逗、爱抚、持续兴奋、惊喜以及情感的交流，爱情也随着兴奋极点的爆发而来了。好的广播剧和它没什么不同。如果你不能运用这些，你就失败了。


Dialogue
对话

This is how we engage dramatically with the world. Characters inform, argue, amuse, outrage, argue through the ebb and flow of dialogue. When we do we talk and that is how great radio plays are made.....by talking in dramatic dialogue.
我们如何运用对话来生动地吸引世界？人物的喜怒哀乐都要通过对话的变化来展现。当我们做事、说话，那就是用生动的对话制作出来的广播剧本。


Atmosphere / Ambience
气氛

This sets the emotional spirit of the play. It determines whether your listeners believe in the world that you have created. Worlds are not created by dramatic dialogue alone. There is attitude and atmosphere. This is determined by detail and relevant detail. It could be in a sound effect. It could be in the writing. It could be in the music. It could be in everything. But the result is that the fifth dimension of radio writing - the imagination of the listener - is stimulated to become a picture palace of the mind.
这是剧本的情感灵魂。它决定了你的听众是否相信你所建立的社会。这个社会的建立不仅仅靠对话，还需要姿态和气氛。这由细节及相关细节决定。它可以由音效表现，写入剧本中。它也可以由乐曲表现。它可以通过任何形式来表现。但其结果是广播写作的五度空间－听众的想象力－刺激其脑海中出现一个电影院。


Emotion
情感

Got to be there. You have to generate an emotional response from the audience....preferably to the main character....also not so strongly in relation to the other characters. Emotion = love, hate, admiration. Never mind about the type of emotion.....concentrate on whether it is there or not. Emotional connection between the writing and the listener = good radio drama.
故事发展到一定的段落，你必须得到听众的回应，以主角更为主，对其所关联的其他角色不必过于强烈。情感＝爱、恨、羡慕。从不介意感情的形式，而是全神贯注于它的存在与否。情感能够连接作品与听众＝成功的广播剧


Balance Character and Plot
其他角色及情节

You have to have both. You cannot trade. One can predominate over the other. Where they are balanced equally....it can only work if characterisation relates to plot development. If your main plot is character intensive, make sure that your minor plot is plot intensive.
你不得不关注这两点。你不能做交易，不能一个占主导地位而略过另一个。它们被平等地保留了下来，如果事物要发展下去，就要靠它们来联系。如果你的主要情节是人物鲜明，那么你的辅助情节就要情节鲜明。


Purpose
意图
 
Crook's golden rule is that every word, every line, every scene must serve a dramatic purpose in terms of characterisation and plot development. Drop anything that does not have a dramatic purpose.
Crook的准则就是，每一个字、每一个词、每一句话必须为了一个事物及情节的发展的戏剧目的服务。扔掉和戏剧目的没无关的东西。


Tension and Humour
严肃与幽默

To stop the listener dropping off or switching off, maintain the tension always and throw in the humour. Tension, humour, tension, humour, tension humour...like the foxtrot. Make the emotional rhythm of the play dance on the listener's heart and mind. Charm and alarm, charm and alarm. But they've got to be linked. Your character uses humour to react to the tension in the scene or play. Keep one character who uses humour to deal with difficult situations. Make sure the humour is verbal. Slapstick belongs to a different type of play or entertainment. Make sure you do not have characters taking it in turns to be funny. This is not stand up comedy or sitcom. Make sure that the character who uses humour has a consistent sense of humour.
寓庄于谐，这可以不让你的听众离开，或者关上收音机。严肃、幽默，严肃、幽默，严肃、幽默……就像跳狐步舞一样。让广播剧的感情节奏在听众的心里、脑海中跳动。诱惑、警示，诱惑、警示。但是它们之间有联系。你的角色们在广播剧中运用幽默来对抗严肃。保留一个角色运用幽默来对付困境。确定幽默是用言语来表达的。闹剧属于不同的戏剧或娱乐表演，确定你没有让角色们轮流成为滑稽人物，闹剧不是站得住脚的喜剧或连续剧。确定角色使用了与幽默和谐一致的情感。



Get your listener inside the world of your play. How?




a. Sympathy or empathy with the main character.

b. A bloody good set up.

c. A big, nasty antagonist or villain.

d. Great Plot...Great Story....twists and turns.

e. Crisis at the beginning is dramatic and a great start.

f. Emotional intensity. Hit some high points.

g. Escalating conflict so the structure climbs with tension and humour.

h. Strike the colours with detail so there's an atmosphere, mood...ambience.

I. Modulate charm with alarm...humour with tension...tension with humour...funny policeman nasty policeman.

j. Surprise, surprise...that's what you do to the listener, through the plot.




The principle of developing scenes




Introduction.
Character one...goal and objective.
Character two...goal and objective.
Purpose of scene in overall plot.
One of the characters achieves a goal.
Link to the next scene by introducing or pointing to location of next scene or presence of character in next scene.



Question marks in the mind of the listener. Always keep one, better two or three




The Principle of Character




Believable and recognisable.
Purpose within the plot.
Characters have to have function. Character has to be consistent with function.
Characters have to be intentional.
Start with a stereotype to ensure rapid recognition, then twist the stereotype. Challenge the homily that there is nothing new under the sun by making it new under the moon.
Give each character a dominant physical or behavioural characteristic. Make the dominant characteristic purposeful. Make it extreme.
Your main character must be active.
Active character / urgent plot. The character's energy has to fight the urgency of the plot and the urgency of the plot makes the character more energetic.



The principle of Hero / Heroine




Listeners look up to main characters, want to admire them because we all want heroes and heroines in our lives. Life's eternal fantasy that transcendent people and transcendent moments conquer adversity.
If you are very clever you can transfer the hero from the obvious to the humble and make great the inferior or character who has greater potential for human dignity.
Charisma. Characters need intensity and conviction. They may not be perfect but they are attractive. You cannot identify with people who are unlike ourselves...too perfect, no beliefs...take themselves too seriously...lack a sense of humour..
Give your characters private moments when they drop their guards and allow us into their minds and hearts. Make the listener privileged. Use this moment for revelation.
The main character has to change and has to be changed by the plot.
You must have a main character and secondary characters. Your main character changes. Your secondary characters are probably more singular in their characteristics. Your secondary characters are already committed. Your main character is still weighing up the options.
You must have characters who are extreme in relation to each other...characters that are different make drama.



Where are we now?




Well, we should be here....

a. The main character is in the middle of the story.

b. You've used dominant characteristics.

c. The listener likes the main character.

d. The listener cares what happens to the main character.

e. The listener hates the antagonist.

f. The main character is developing.




Principles of Dialogue




a. Dialogue must be a response to a situation, plot or action.

b. Dialogue must be a response to each character in the scene.

c. Dialogue must be comic relief.

d. Dialogue must connect to the next scene.

e. Avoid reflective, passive and neutral. Go for active, and direct and emotional.

f. Dialogue must be believable by being specific...by being specific to the character's background and emotional state.

g. If dialogue is reacting to action or situation then it must be dramatic and poised on polarities. The goals of the characters in each scene should be different.

h. Dialogue should be continuous. Tip...characters often take a tag by repeating the last word spoken by the first character.

i. Dialogue must relate to function.

j. You can mix direct with indirect between two characters because they have different goals.

k. Humorous dialogue is not a character telling a joke but a line or lines responding to the dramatic situation.

l. Heightened dialogue vs naturalistic dialogue. Heightened language is the language of the theatre...high octane communication...poetic, philosophical...charged..the expression of the playwright...It serves not only the development of the plot and character, but it also presents the view of the writer. Works well in radio. But there is now a tendency for more naturalism. Radio producers like to go out on location and explore realism. In these situations you must stick to natural dialogue.




Principles peculiar to Radio




The inner existence.
The tension and conflict between the interior and exterior.
More psychological.
Easier to explore the real and the surreal and to delineate the line between the two.
Have to work in the fifth dimension...the energy of the listener's imaginative participation.
The interior existence offers exploration of personal thoughts, fantasies, emotions and conflicts.
All levels of external conflict can be explored.
The precipitating event through plot has to threaten the inner life of the main character. This is the kick-off in radio drama.
The end or resolution in radio drama is more deeply rooted in the emotional equilibrium and insight of the main character. Changes are internal as well as external.
Time transposition and translocation are faster and more rapid and more complicated. Flashbacks...flashforwards... different ages.
Radio requires less rather than more characters. Characterisation needs to be strong and fascinating.
Maintain the focus of the main character and plot.
Economy of words underlines subtextual surprise and engagement with the listener's imagination.
Wit is vital because language is so important...cleverness with words...energy with words..humour with words...Wit is advanced by surprising the listener...being aggressive with the listener..being fast, short and clever with the listener.
Irony is pathos and bathos. It's conflict between the inner life and outer action.



Other radio drama producers in the world




Norway: NRK kulturkanalen, P2 RODD- 0340, Oslo, Norway.

Swedish Radio, SR S-105 10 Stockholm, Sweden.

YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company Radio, PO Box 79 FIN-00024 Yleisrdio, Finland.

HR, Hessischer Rundfunk Bertramstrasse 8, 60320 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

DR Danmarks Radio, Radio Drama Department, Ewaldsgade 3-9, DK 2200, Copenhagen N Denmark.

ABC Australia, ABC Ultimo Centre, Level 5, 700 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007.

CBC-SRC, Radio Drama Department, Box 500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, Canada MSW 1E6

SDR Suddeutscher Rundfunk, Neckarstrasse 230, 70190, Stuttgart, Germany.

Radio Television Hong Kong, Broadcasting House, m 30 Broadcast Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.

Other radio drama producers, SABC, South Africa, Los Angeles Theatre Works, LA, California, Public Radio, New Zealand.



TIM CROOK'S BOOK RADIO DRAMA IS PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE

我倒,看不懂哦