A General Writers Guide [Primarily for Doctor Who Audio Dramas]
by Owen Spratley (Rev 0.2o August 12th 2006)
What's New in 0.2o?
Section 3.5 has been added. Some incorrect links were fixed
What's New in 0.2n?
Section 11.2 has been added. Some information about the structure of Audio Dramas
What's New in 0.2m?
So what's new in 0.2m? Added details pertaining to "Infodumps" to section 12.2. Also added a new vanity section:"About the Author".
Using This Guide
In order to make this guide easy to use, each group of topics has been ordered in two ways:
1) High level writing concepts and ideas are discussed at the front of the guide.
2) It is divided into a number of sections, each with sibling subsections, which are named in the index.
In addition to this anchors have been placed within the index for each major section e.g. click on the text for section 10.0 and your browser will move you to it.
These organisational arrangements allow for easy reading of the guide, which means you can read it in a linear or non linear manner.
Index
0.1 Some things before we start [For Doctor Who Fans[
0.2 Bad Story Ideas
0.3 More Realistic But...
0.4 Taking the Mickey
1.0 The Basic Mechanics of Writing Who
1.1 What we shouldn't put in
1.2 Audio: The Medium
1.3 Listing
1.4 Lame Companions
3.0 What Does not Work Properly in Audio
3.1 The 'something' crashed into someone
3.2 The ICBM Demolished Grandaddy's Shed and Half of Botany Bay
3.3 The Urn rolled off the table and exploded all over Abbey
3.4 Kissing and Romance
3.5 Darren grabbed the blue jumper
4.0 Repetition and More Repetition
5.0 FaNature(Fanatical Problems!)
5.1 Fanwank
5.2 Icons
6.0 Sound vs Books/Short Stories
8.1 Actability
8.2 What's that word?
8.3 The English way of Long Words
8.4 Inappropriate or difficult dramatical expressions
8.5 Consistent characters or Multiple Personality Disorders?
9.0 When the Pen is Mightier than the Acting Elite
10.0 Cast of a Thousand Faces (Voices!)
10.1 Making the Most of Acting Resources
11.0 Writing Processes & Procedures
11.1 Proof Reading
11.2 Story Structure
12.0 Pitching your script to a Production Group
12.1 Expectations
12.2 Plan your Drama from the start [Duration, Infodumpsand Other Related Issues]
13.0 Plays of Demonstrative Appeal
What you do with this Information
0.1 Some things before we start
The most important thing is, most audio production groups (and writing groups) are not interested in stories like e.g.
"The Valeyard has been reborn in the matrix and he has taken over the 6th Regeneration of Romana who is in fact the Doctors cousins niece, and is on his way from Gallifrey to destroy a future Doctor, to prevent Romana from entering ESpace, before consuming half the universe, closing the CVE's and reversing the polarity of the plughole of Rassilon".
They just wont do. Maybe down at the pub you might get away with them.
Neither do stories that include previous foes, on the premise that:
"I couldn't think of anything else and I knew how powerful Michael Jayston was as the Valeyard....so I wrote him in, isn't it brilliant?"
"This character is so colourful and has such contrast, I ran out of brilliant ideas, couldn't make the lines fit so I thought this might explain everything and people just love this character."
Then there are other considerations.....
0.2 Bad Story Ideas. (If your story has this kind of pattern in it in a vague sort of manner, read on)
"The Fourth Doctor regenerated into Mulder from the X-Files and is on Earth busting Aliens, just like that story in the Second season with the CIA. Did I mention the CIA is a cover for the Real Celestial Intervention Agency on Gallifrey? I thought I might. I must add he wears a cloak just like me."
"You see, it's all set in a strip joint. Something funny happens when the Daleks invade the changing room and reality is distorted as the remote uses the vcr and screens to reflect realities and the Daleks are wearing singlets and singing with stubbies."
"I'd like a story that has 26 characters. Yes I do. It's all set on this huge place I call Earth, that nobodies heard of. The Doctor finds he's got to bust a groove on the dance floor while Tegan and Turlough checkout the underground passage. Did I mention that there were traps down there? Did I mention they were grooving with the venga boys? Did I mention that they run into every character from season 22? I might add I found this brilliant line from Mission to Magnus. I'm going to use it. More than once. More than 24 times to be precise in the first episode."
"It's like DS9 man, except it's set in Space, and I kinda think it'd be cool to have a holodeck on the Tardis. Yeah man. One of those things with gradientized silver clad walls that shine when you put a flashlight on. I think the Doctor should be called Kirk or is that um what's her name? Anyway. This is cool. Can we have Klingons? I reckon Doctor Who needs some Klingons. I want a starship to. The Tardis can change shape can't it? Well maybe it could be like the Enterprise. I just love that huge disk shape, just like a fly swat when you look at it upside down. Much cooler than a box."
0.3 More Realistic But........
"I'm thinking of a giant spaceship. We can have Conan Doyle characters. about the place. Loads of cafe's and junk shops. Something goes missing and the Doctor searches through the entire structure. I reckon we could have loads of goons and overlords and of course street pushers, drug dealers, sex workers and of course underground terrorist units that want to wipe out everything. Did I mention they shoot the Doctor three times?"
0.4 How to tell if your taking the mickey out of something (the realm of the fan)
"Can we go to Mars? I reckon we could remake War of the Worlds in 50 minutes with Cool walking structures as well as Ice Warriors taking on Terran Forces that threaten to overtake Jacksonville. The Doctor defects to the Ice Warriors only to find they want to kill him (because they found a firework in his pocket and a terran map), then the Doctor defects to the Terran Forces(after escaping by taking a journey down the canals on Mars, that are in fact run by a group of fuzzy animals called Fuzballz who speak in pure monotone) and finds himself with a stasor bolt in his back. His companions are left to save the day. The Doctor completes a full mineralogical survey and leaves with a stick of rock from......"
"It's all set in an alternative reality in which Adric wasn't destroyed by a giant space freighter but was in fact captured by aliens, saved by the Doctor and squashed to death by a baked bean display at Sainsbury's."
If your thinking any of the above, I suggest writing for another type of fan outlet and definitively don't think of submitting to a Fan Production Company or even BBV or Big Finish Productions, not that this article looks at submitting for those specifically if at all anyway. Those sorts of submits tend to be the sorts the Producer will pull his/her hair out about. Try to be understanding if your manuscript or idea is passed by. If they are bothered to tell you what's wrong, take it as a god send, don't take it as saying "your really crap and we hate you" it just means that you haven't given them something they'd like to see (and if they hate you, don't blame this advice!).
1.0 The Basic Mechanics of Writing Who
This is SciFi, this is partially fantasy and in some cases more or less than you'd like it to be. It is not Voyager, Startrek, Babylon 5 or Red Dwarf or half the tripe we see cooked up on TV these days and sold as Sci-fi either. This is Doctor Who, known for his wit, his power of thought, his mannerisms, his ways of doing things and most of all the SciFi tie in. If you submit a story in the form of Voyager or Startrek, be prepared for the shock of a lifetime if somebody gives a breakdown of what's wrong. Doctor Who is not written by computer structure and is most of all not a soap opera.
1.1 What we shouldn't put in
Gore. Doctor Who doesn't do extreme gore. We don't have plots full of extreme sex and violence either. Violence should only be used when necessary. The Doctor should not be actively involved in directly violent acts. He is not anybodies assassin.
Though 'he' may become involved with violent people and sometimes the only way to deal with violence is by direct action. Resourcefulness is what counts. For a more recent resourceful moment of the Doctor, be sure to check out "The Dying Days" the last Virgin Novel, in which the Doctor uses a set of bin bags and some shower rings to magnificent effect.
1.2 Audio: The Medium
Yes, since this is an audio site, somewhere I was going to mention this. Audio is an 'environment' where the listener is involved in active listening.
To make people listen there are things that you must not do.
1.3 Listing
List things off, e.g:
Act I, Scene IV: Doctor Who & The Attack of the Blobs
Scene description: Rodney, the Doctor and Prue have just entered the Burial Chamber of The Whispering Knights of Oxfordshire.
Rodney: Oh Doctor, it's a green and purple pinkish blob flying towards us at great speed and it's gonna eat us!
This scene should be shortened slightly and allow the fx designer to do his/her work, have a flying sound with munching jaw type sounds and less wordy dialogue.
Additional Hints: To further help with the design, you may like to mention if it's metallic or more organic, bone crunching or something that identifies with something in reality, not saying that it has to be a real life sound, just the 'feel' of what it should relate back upon.
Something more along these lines would probably suffice (below) as well as not bore people by trying to hard to describe the setting, the action, and the emotions/urgency of the current situation.
Act III, Scene IV: Doctor Who And the Curse of the Dreaded Green Things
Scene description: Joeum and the Doctor have just entered an underground passageway in search of an ancient artefact.
Joeum: "Oh Doctor, it's a a a ...... Doctor!"
[Sound fx Jaws munching, with fast flying sound as it approaches Doctor and Companion.]
Try to give appropriate sound fx cues. That way the scenes construction is more likely to come out as it was envisioned (some sound designers/mixers have an imagination, so either be precise or trust in them!).
1.4 Lame Companions
Having characters. that do nothing but moan. They are boring (that's generally if they pointlessly moan, it is possible to have good characters. that moan for slightly intelligent reasons, but, they tend to be of a very rare breed and best avoided).
Sure the Doctor might work best when he has somebody to explain to, but, constantly moaning and whinging and over the top stereotypical companions aren't very popular or interesting. Remember, they have to provide interest to.
Sometimes it is more effective for a cliffhanger to end with the hidden enemy not saying anything at all (in a tv story, this could also be achieved by multiple clever low level camera angles, but as this isn't a a/v document, I wont twaddle on).
e.g.
Act IV, Scene II: Doctor Who And the Deadly Silos of Immenient Doom
Scene Description: The Doctor has taken up Mathers previous invitation to talk to him about what he saw earlier that day, away from prying eyes.
Doctor: There is nothing to worry about. We're here on our own. Relax. You can tell me all about it now.
Mathers: I'm not sure if I can Doctor, you see, it's not safe.
Doctor: Not safe? We are locked inside an empty disused silo 12 kilometers from civilization. What could be safer than that?
[Crunch of Boots on steel floor]
Mathers: Doctor, I don't think we're on our own anymore.
[Rifle click]
[Discharge in proximity to Doctor]
[Explosion]
Theme in and Out.
This scene leaves the listener thinking, just who on earth has boots like those and fired that shot(s).
3.0 What Does not Work Properly in Audio
I could go on for ages about what kinds of situations and directions within a script may not work. However here are some relatively simple and not necessarily obvious examples:
3.1 The 'something' crashed into someone
In real life someone could be hit by a car or something very loud and we could visually pick out what had happened. In order for similar events to work in audio you are definitiely going to have to have a scream or some kind of dialogue concerning the collision before, at and after the event.
3.2 The ICBM Demolished Grandaddy's Shed and Half of Botany Bay
There's absolutely no way that the sound of an InterContinental Balistic Missile (ICBM) exploding is going to communicate to the listener what was destroyed all on its own. Some people might be able to guess what's happening. However there must be more; dialogue, witness accounts, narrators input etc.
3.3 The Urn rolled off the table and exploded all over Abbey
This might well be fine if you are Steven Speilberg and you have a special effects department, four hundred cameras and the ability to communicate this information visually. In an audio drama you cannot write this down and expect it to work. The situation needs to be visualised through words as well as the desintegration of an urn, sounds of human distress etc. If this event were to result in the death of the character known as 'Abbey' then we need definitiely need to know what's happening, where it's happening and who's there.
3.4 Kissing and Romance
The sound of a kiss in itself is usually not enough to convey what is going on. The sound effect cue is brief, and normal kisses really don't sound like much on audio [see or listen to Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera if you're not convinced]. If you're going to do romance and kissing etc then you're going to have to play up other elements of the scene and get some dialogue going, and possibly some further sound effects cues.
3.4 Darren grabbed the blue jumper
It is not possible for a listener to determine the colour of an item or be able to picture things that they cannot visualise within their minds. In this case there is certainly no difference in the sound of grabbing a blue or red or green or yellow jumper. In fact 99% of listeners would not know what "grabbing a jumper" sounded like. In many respects, it can easily be said that the proposition of using a sound effect to communicating "the grab" alone would be far too weak. In this case the only path is to "animate the scene" for the listener by having one of the characters complain about the "theft" of the jumper or for there to be some sort of dialogue about the item. In general though, unless this jumper was of great importance to the plot it would be pretty useless or indulgent to even describe it via a vocal cue delivered by a character.
4.0 Repetition and More Repetition:
Use of repetition is not good. Reusing scenic backdrops is a good idea, as it helps the sound designer. But actually repeating lines is not good. People should not have to wade through sentences that you've borrowed from other peoples Doctor Who or other works. Complete procedures are out to. Some common and obvious examples:
"It's the end and the moment has been prepared for"
"One day I shall come back, yes I shall come back, until then......"
Original lines tend to sound more refreshing.
Remember you are not generally going to be writing for Tom Baker or Peter Davison or Colin Baker or any other commercial Doctor ("Doctor Who") generally, so do not use their mannerisms.
5.0 FaNature(Fanatical Problems!)
Some people (especially fans of the original television series of Doctor Who) seem to feel a natural warming to doing things like using references to past adventures, books etc all over the place. Creating new original works is not about directly rehashing things, although the whole show concept may be rehashed in parts. It is not acceptable to run references all the time. References do not make the story. Who really wants a twenty five minute episode consisting of the Doctor talking to his companion about his time on Ravalox, Ragnarok, Zeta Major, Zeta Minor, Mars and the Moon?
If you answer yes to this question I'd be wondering how you managed to reach this part of this document (other than I moved the mouse and I was already there).
It is simply not entertaining to go on about things in this kind of fashion that is you should not use continuity to pad out and be a story. In my experience with the original TimeCrisis [an audio drama the author of this article wrote and performed years ago], I found that people may want one thing, namely stories with certain recurring themes whacked together in a very fan could only do and think of this manner; but the rest of us with some sort of intelligence may find this idea to be extremely distasteful, although for some inexplicable reason some people still love this stuff.
When writing something, don't think of the preferences of the audience, use YOUR PREFERENCES. If you like using characters from the future that sound like Adric or Mel or whoever for that matter, use them. But use them effectively. Do not mistake this for an open door for crossover mania though(e.g. Doctor Who meets Indiana Jones and the Temple of Loons, Doctor Who meets Neighbours/EastEnders, Doctor Who and the Sticks and Stones of the Blair Witch Project, Doctor Who and it's Armageddon with even more lame characters.). This does not mean that you cannot parody characters. from other stories/tales/myths or do something like "All Consuming Fire" by Andy Lane, in which we see the rise of two familiar Conan Doyle characters. to quite good effect . Other books including some of the NA Series that split off from DW after Virgin lost the license also follow that kind of pattern.
Do not try to run stories with multiple past monsters either, unless they are paired off, e.g. Silurians and SeaDevils. This tends to lead to a clutter of continuity, a crazy (if any) plot and a situation like at the beginning of this article (0.1).
Make characters that you like, then there's a fair chance other people will to (in the case of fan prods, you may find that the producers are not always interested in making droves of people happy, but in running the sort of vehicle for their impression of the series and it's aims and ultimately the outcomes of their endeavors, do not mistake this for laziness or short sightedness on their part either, that would be wrong. If they didn't care, they wouldn't be a part of FanMadedom to start with. Trying to see the big picture is not really an aim). Remember that diversity is important to and some sort of character characteristic balance must be reached. You can't have a story full of gun totting goons and expect there to be a deep plot, that is if they exhibit the exact same or similar characterizations.
5.1 Fanwank
It's about time I mentioned this little "gem". The term so far as I see it in the context of a fan audio is such that:
Any scripted dialogue or plot device taken and used in such a way so as to:
a) Demean the value of the original production that they were taken from.
b) Fall short of parody and comedy relief so far as in jokes/jokes go and enter the realm of the tragically sad.
Obviously these things are somewhat relative to a persons opinion (there is no universal gauge for humour for instance), but things like assembling hordes of Daleks to attack squad after squad of cybermen while including and integrating various elements of other stories may be construed as being part of the genre that is "fanwank". Particularly if there is no real reason for these things to occur (other than to fulfill some fan's dream).
For those of you who are wondering you wont find this word in a dictionary.
5.2 Icons
Use your icons well. The Tardis is a great icon. It has a trademark sound. It hums, it's kinda alive, it has almost any ability you want (don't drag this to far though). Don't have the Doctor running to the Tardis every 15 seconds. Don't try to explain the Tardis either.
6.0 Sound vs Books/Short Stories
In a book, you can draw things out further, detail things almost down to postage stamp details if need be. In audio it is a matter of letting the sounds do the talkin and the people do the walking. If your at the beach, tell the sound engineer your at the beach, which helps create the illusion for the listener.
[Small town sounds]
[Footfalls and small town traffic and sounds fade slowly]
Doctor: "Isn't it wonderful Steven my boy?"
[sound of waves and surf crashing, children playing]
Steven: "Yes it's mighty fine Doctor, but something
tells me that this isn't Earth."
[seagulls fly over head]
Doctor: "Oh it doesn't matter. Trivial, yes trivial it is hmmmm I've never seen such a beautiful sand castle."
Whereas in a book/short story:
The Doctor seemed rather content with strolling through the little town, much to Steven's discontent. It was a sleepy little town, not much seemed to be happening. The air smelt fresh. We must be near the sea Steven thought. When they rounded the next corner and the pavement had disappeared, Steven realised he had been correct. The old man had been making straight for the sea on purpose. He decided he couldn't stay silent any longer.
"Doctor, where are we?""Isn't it wonderful Steven my boy?" The Doctor exclaimed as he gazed along the beach.
Steven wasn't very appreciative of the surroundings at all. A gull flew overhead close to the travelers.
"Yes, it's mighty fine Doctor, but something tells me that this isn't Earth."
The old man gazed across the water, his eyes deeply clouded in mystery, a mystery far from the wind swept world of the ocean beyond this horizon.
"Oh it doesn't matter. Trivial, yes trivial it is hmmmm. I've never seen such a beautiful sand castle."
In theory it is possible to convert from one format to the other, but it is far better to start from scratch and design your story with a specific purpose and medium.
Now, we aren't talking about those things you find your local math teacher/professor preaching to the student body. We're talking about the drive of your story. In Audio, strong plots are not always a major thing that have to be considered. Atmosphere and characterization tend to have a greater bearing on what the listener runs away with and tells his or her friends/relatives/neighbours/pets etc. If you can make somebody remember your work, by having a 'magic moment' that consists of something well executed, well thought of and fun (not to mention actable, see below), then your halfway to selling your story to the producer and ultimately to anyone crazy enough to be listening to it.
By this idea, I don't mean something you alone think is brilliant, ask your friends or other people about what they think. Not that you should always rely on their opinions, especially if they say:
"There ain't 'nough Daleks in it Reg. How many teeth did Davros have?"
In your story about a planet with no Daleks, no Dentists. Following this theme further:
"What has he done with the floppy hat? This guy has to have a floppy hat! Does he smile here? I'm sure he had his hand on his head last page and his sonic blow dryer in his right hand".
If you get fed this kind of style of feedback you should promptly disappear with your script/story/idea never to be seen again.
Asking other hardcore 'Who Fans' to go through your work may cause more grief than you'd appreciate, not to mention lots of pulling hair out and stamping about. Not that I'm saying all Who fans are terrible writers, there are some quite brilliant ones, just check out the fanfic pages on The Doctor Who Homepage (see links section).
Keep in mind, if you have a gag, by the time the editing is finished, it probably wont be quite the gag you thought it was (the cast of a number of productions may be quite good at negatively helping this problem along). Try not to use ideas about things like "I'll have two waters please, make them doubles." or "a man walks into a bar what does he say?" Clever humour tends to work better (especially if the actors don't notice!). I'm not going to try and write any here though ;-)
8.1 Actability
People have to be able to say the lines for audio. You can't run sentences to long and they need to make spoken sense, it's not like writing a textbook or an encyclopedia. You also have to be able to say sentences together so they mean something. It's all fine and dandy to have two excellent sentences, but if they go in sequence, the result can be (afterwards), "is this guy a twat?" or "did they actually script this?" types of responses from your audience. The feel that you've actually bothered to put something together and not just pulled something out of a fanzine or from a Doctor Who special, mixed it around a bit and plastered a new title on it or alternatively, randomly ordered some words from a nearby dictionary file and tried to include each word.
8.2 What's that word?
This is very important. If you have a word that you have made up or have taken from same ancient text, make sure somewhere in your manuscript you make it clear what the phonetic sound of the word is, guessing at silent letters or inflections on particular parts of a word is not an actors job. Make it their job and you'll find they'll do whatever is convenient or most natural (like Americans emphasizing the "Aw" in "Australia"). They actually have to be able to say it to, so don't get too carried away.
8.3 The English way of Long Words
The author who uses the word antiestablishmentarism frequently will probably find themselves being quite unpopular with any decent editor, actor or listener for that matter. If you can't figure out why words of such lengths shouldn't be constantly reiterated or deployed then I'm afraid not even this document can solve your problems.
8.4 Inappropriate or difficult dramatical expressions
When writing an audio drama, try not to use exclaimation points to indicate that a character is excited. Try to use language which indicates excitement, and perhaps add something to the notes for the group of lines which explains that the character is really excited. Another thing to note and avoid is a popular handle that a number of writers seem to try and deploy to build up the excitement, namely the "What the" line. I've heard this one done right, but I've also seen it acted badly and written as more of a hanging hook than a lively part of a body of well thought out narrative. If you're not sure about such hanging lines, or aren't sure of your actors abilities, then don't use them.
8.5 Consistent characters or Multiple Personality Disorders?
This would have to be one thing that causes issues with a number of scripts. Characters within your drama should, as in real life have their own ways of expressing themselves, doing things, and most importantly for radio format dramas, what they say. Quite simply, if you're going to gave a person a nationality, keep their phrasing consistent, don't go and write British characters as if they were say American. There are idiosyncrasies within the lingual structures of almost all english speaking nation's language, and if you interchange them it becomes harder for people to grasp who this person is or what they're really trying to communicate.
Some common examples of language differentials (some are similes): Rubbish bins (Australia)/trash cans (North America), footpath (Australia/UK)/sidewalk (North America), policeman/bobby (UK), bitumen (Australia) /asphalt (North America), back of burke (Australia)/middle of nowhere.
This topic area goes further than just the use of colloquial language. If a character is intended to be some bright middle aged nuclear physicist for example, you wouldn't expect to see lines that gave the impression that they were a ten year old on a school trip, things like: 'Way cool man, lots of bright shiny flying things!' would be inappropriate. Perhaps more fitting of this character would be a line like: 'Those flying discs do look mighty interesting, I'd hazard a guess, they're spinning at at least seven thousand revolutions per minute'.
On the other side of the coin, you wouldn't expect a character such as "local peasant" in a film or drama such as Romeo & Juliet or say Ghormanghast or any other drama to even have a specifically defined background or overall character identity. Choosing which characters require depth may be difficult at times, but chances are if they appear in multiple episodes or parts of your drama then it's a sure sign that they do.
Tip: If you're doing a period piece, make sure all dialogue stays within the bounds of that period, unless you're writing a script for a psuedo historical for contemporary audiences.
9.0 When the Pen is Mightier than the Acting Elite
One consideration that is often forgotten about is the fact that with fan productions it is very difficult for a producer to cast all the kinds of people/voices that are required to fulfill ones paper pipe dreams. I'm not saying it's impossible to cast things well most of the time, but in most cases there may well indeed be a complete apathy of actors fitting your desired description. If a particular group of people do not possess the talents or the inclination to improvise in a fitting way then that obviously presents problems, such as characters being portrayed contrary to their characterization, not helping the artist or the writer to make the concepts they envisioned come to life.
If you really want more exotic language expressions out of actors then as a writer it is important that you communicate just exactly what is thought to be required, that way at least some hint is giving to the poor individual who pulls the part either out of design or a lucky dip so to speak. It is than the production crews responsibility to communicate said information BEFORE recording takes place. Telling someone to "sound hungarian" on the day isn't going to help things much. Be prepared to cite examples of persons or personalities or works that are representative of the type of voice or language expression(s) required.
It must be remembered that recording sessions put a lot of pressure on people to act things out as quickly as possible and anything useful that filters through from pre production through to the recording session may well increase the potential of the end product to be superior to what may happen if little help is given. In an "offline" recording session ala Internet Fan Audios the pressure is not quite so high as actors can practice and try to push their performances further than in many "studio" recording environments. Generally a "we'll do it in a single take" atmosphere will not help matters when it comes to the realization of scripted characters and dialogue.
10.0 The Cast of a Thousand Faces (Voices!)
One day, one morning, you wake up. You look in the mirror. You had a dream. Your dream was to write the greatest and most brilliant audio drama ever. You can see the plot, it's brilliant and a long list of characters in your head. Yes. All seventeen of them. You look around at your group of thespians. You are seeing double. The mirror cracks. You scream.
Seems a little dramatic for a work of fiction? You might be right. The sad reality is that your brilliant audio drama is likely to experience quite a number of problems. Even if you can write all the characters brilliantly it is very difficult to find seventeen capable people to participate in an audio drama. It is also difficult to get them to work together, difficult to find somewhere to keep them all if you are going to a studio, and rehearsals etc can be quite complicated. So what do you do?
Firstly you are going to have to have a think about how many of these characters are essential to the story, and how much they contribute to it overall. Are all these people major players? Is this a short drama? If your drama only runs for twenty minutes then it is going to be almost impossible to create a cohesive work that is easily understood.
After you have figured out the essential number of characters to tell your story with, you are going to have to think about how many of them faill into the category of bit parts. In audio drama in particular it is nothing unusual for bit parts to be played by members of the cast who are already playing minor roles, they usually adopt a different tone, pitch or accent in order to disguise the fact. In the case of some narratives even this may be unnecessary. By now you should have a list of parts which can be played by the same people. If you really cannot see yourself reducing the number of unique important characters then perhaps it is time to analyse the content of your drama, look for other ways to reduce the number of people required.
From a project management perspective typically small teams (< 10) tend to do better than larger groups. If your drama is of the unpaid variety the chances of being let down along the way or people just not turning up might be rather high. Limiting your risks of being left high and dry from the beginning is probably the best way to ensure that your script is performed in a manner that reflects the amount of effort put into writing it in the first place. Limiting the size of the cast required is just one way of reducing this risk.
10.1 Making the Most of Acting Resources
Typically speaking in quite a few fan play/acting circles the number of women involved tends to be quite noticeably low. This doesn't necessarily reflect the fact that audio drama is a male only domain, but it does mean if you are going to use a female actress and if your production crew doesn't have lots of them available that you should probably consider how you make use of them. You may/should/may not have to consider how you may be able to increase your usage of them(giving them two lines and telling them to shove off being a waste of time and somewhat insulting) to even up or vary the balance of characters that are in your production to be. In many cases it is easy work for a writer to increase the possibility of using actors better by making bit parts flexible such that they may be more genderless (that is they may be acted out by male or female actors). This isn't a sexism issue (well I hope it's not) but it does need to be addressed at times, using talent that is available is very important and using it fully may be far more rewarding.
11.0 Writing Processes & Procedures
There are so many ways you can go about writing an audio drama. However it should be remembered that writing an audio drama of at a few pages is likely to be very difficult. This means that the work must be read over and over, refined, rewritten, restructured etc.
11.1 Proof Reading
When writing an audio drama it is probably best if you get someone else to proof read your script. The best way to do this is to give a copy to someone in print form and give them a pen and let them read through the lines. Even a person who does not have very good editing skills should be able to help you pick up on continuity issues, characterisation problems and other issues.
In my experience with story writing, reports and scripting better results are almost always achieved through the aforementioned pen and paper based proof reading process as giving someone a pen provides the opportunity for them to scribble notes on them. People tend not to providehelpful criticism if they are not given the manuscript and a pen. Obviously if someone is reading your work in an electronic format this becomes more difficult, as they cannot physically write on your script. However, if you're using Microsoft Word you could ask them to use the hidden text feature. They can then type on top of your work and you can switch their notes on and off. With the internet it also helps if you can find someone to read your work that is actually interested in it and has a good understanding of what you want to achieve.
11.2 Story Structure
Strangely enough an audio drama should have a well defined start, beginning and end. Like any narrative it typically has some kind of point that it should leed towards, with various different sets of interesting circumstances occuring between the start, middle, and end. Why use the word "end" rather than "conclusion" or "finale" in the last sentence though? The temptation when writing stories of any sort for any type of medium is that it is automatically accepted by many that there must be a definitive end results. The main reason behind this choice of words is the fact that not every story will end in a solid, it all stops or concludes here ending kind of ending. Sometimes it is a good idea to leave some threads hanging, so as to engage the imagination of the listener, rather serve out every fact and detail about a story. See Section 12 about issues concerning the temptation to dump out as much information to the listener as possible.
12.0 Pitching your script to a Production Group
There are many different ways that scripts and submissions may be solicited by production groups or individuals. Typically the first thing that a production group will want from you is not a full completed script. What they will most likely want to see from you is a synopsis about what your audio drama is going to be about, where it's set, what the plot will be, what happens, how the drama will conclude. If the idea is deamed to be workable you may then be comissioned to write the rest of the audio drama. If not you may be asked to try again with a different idea or to revise the script on your own.
Some production groups may vary on the aforementioned synopsis formula and may instead opt to ask for different things, such as a few 'complete' scenes and may also ask for examples of other work you have done (if experience is a requirement this is likely to be mandatory, particularly if they are not familiar with your writing style etc).
It should be remembered that the process of comissioning a script may take a while, different ideas may need to be put forward and concepts changed until the production company and the writer both agree on key parts of the dramas structure and content.
12.1 Expectations
It may take months to write and complete a multiple episode/act audio drama. Production companies expect you as a writer to spend this time working on the script, fixing it, correcting it, getting it edited etc. It's not going to be some easy ride where you can put in a few hours and sit back and then someone will just go out and produce, record and edit it.
in addition to the aforementioned issues it may take a long time for the script to be realised as a drama. This means it may take you a few months to a year to write an audio drama and it wont be acted out and post produced until months later. Be patient. If there are other dramas that are intended to go before yours in the production schedule then you will have to wait for those to be completed. Often you will be told what the current production schedule is like and how far the current dates may shift. If you are working in a not for profit situation much of the work that is done on audiodramas may only be done on weekends or during spare time, which means that things will take longer than you or the production group may have expected. Remember, your script may not be the only one which is being worked on and edited at the same time either.
12.2 Plan your Drama from the start [Duration, Infodumps and Other Related Issues]
When you are pitching your script you should have some idea about how long you want an audio drama to run for. The average attention span of many people isn't very long (usually considerably less than ten minutes) and this factor needs to be considered when you come up with a script. If there isn't enough action during a chapter of an audiodrama then something needs to be done about it. Quite often writers are left wondering how they're going to make a drama reach a particular time frame. The trap to avoid falling into is that of padding. Essentially padding involves filling up scenes or adding scenes which are often overindulgent or add little value to the production.
In order to dodge the padding trap you might like to consider:
12.2.1 Avoiding the "Info Dump"
While we're discussing the planning aspect of writing an audio drama there's another serious problem that many writers face, how to avoid what is known as an "Info dump". Straightforwardly speaking an "info dump" / "information dump" is what occurs when a writer or production runs out of time and all of a sudden there's this need to tie up all loose ends, and have a character explain absolutely everything or alternatively can be perceived as being a device to cover ground within the confines of any one particular part or scene of a production. Obviously in some cases the 'infodump' is appropriate e.g. in a Sherlock Holmes story it may well be appropriate for a character such as Sherlock to explain his methods and how he figured things out, but in many cases this practise is inappropriate. Why you might ask? Well consider the following:
What this highlights overall is the fact that it is important for writers to figure out how much information should be released throughout an audio drama, rather than just that the information must be told in one go.
13.0 Plays of Demonstrative Appeal
It's very hard for anyone to just stand up and say "look that's the perfect audio drama", as there are so many factors that go into said opinions (and I wont try and bias this guide either), however I will go so far as saying if you really have no idea about how to attack this medium then perhaps popping off to the BBC's BBC7 Digital radio station and tune into their stream sometime, they have some quite good radio dramas that may be of help to any budding writer.
If you believe you have a good handle on audio drama but are still struggling to figure out what works and what does not it might well be possible to gain further ideas from television programs. A number of the older comedy series such as Monty Python have been released on audio cassette at various times in the past decade, with good reason - much of the comedy is vocal and works almost flawlessly if the audio track is all that a person can hear.
In addition to the resources included within this document there are other pages within the OIABM Website which will provide ideas pertaining to things such as how to layout scripts. There's also an example script available with the skit "Credit Card Sketch" which can be found here. It is best suited for small productions.
So far as I know there is no guide that covers this particular aspect of fan audio production in this detail, therefore this guide will continue to be updated as and when the ideals, information and time are right.
What you do with this Information
Once In A BlueMoon Indemnifies itself from the written terrors that you may create as a result of reading this document. We cannot be held responsible for your actions behind the keyboard/typewriter/crayon/pen/pencil/water paint and pastel any time, any place or anywhere in or outside of the 46 known dimensions/planes/derived realities for that matter. All content is meant as a guide only, as there is NO SUCH THING AS AN ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WRITING SCIFI/DR WHO/AUDIODRAMA. This document is not endorsed or censored or mediated or spell checked, so use at your own risk!
I would like to take the time to thank the other Fan Producers online (you know who you are!), who have indirectly contributed to the content of this document in more ways than one and for putting up with me and my crazy original sounds and scripts! I am also indebted to Will Cameron for spending time and working with me on some scripts.
Owen Spratley has spent far to many hours at various times during his life listening to audiodramas, providing advice about scripts as well as writing the odd script himself [even if they haven't been produced]. Some people suspect him of being a technical writing junkie and far toooooo creative for his own good. They're probably right.
Once In A BlueMoon Technical is part of Once In A BlueMoon Productions. If you arrived here by any other means, please click here to make sure your receiving the most uptodate link and information available. This guide is © Owen Spratley 2000-2006, and shall not be reproduced in part/whole without prior permission.