the difference between writing for sight and sound

When I was first introduced to writing for radio in my first year of university, I found it a completely different kettle of fish. It was like... walking on your hands. Just seemed backwards. When writing, I'm so used to putting the images my imagination places together into the script. The most difficult concept of writing for radio, is that this is taken away from you. You are no longer reliant on images to piece together your script, but sound.

On the grand scale, it made me realise I was quite dismissive of sound in my everyday life. My focus tends to be on what's before me rather than the sounds surrounding my everyday life. But when it's your one source of description, you realise sound is something that's always there- even silence can be descriptive.

Onto actual formatting on a page, similar to a stage play, a radio play is also conducted in scenes. Sluglines are not included. Below is a snippet from a radio play I wrote 'In The Gutter' to give a further idea:

what can we learn from this?

1.) The scene heading is placed central, underlined, only the first letter capitalised.

2.) Character names are kept aside on the left away from dialogue and action.

3.) Action is also written central and underlined- except entirely capitalised.

It’s vital to bare in mind when writing a radioplay that the audience are trying to interpret the story relying purely on one sense. It’s different to film where sight and sound make it easier to understand what’s happening. Make sure to concentrate on applying sounds which-

Moves... the story... on.

avoid dramatic moments lost by distraction

If a character drops something, but there’s too much sound of traffic and birds to establish location then this is a dramatic moment lost by distraction. Traffic and birds are good to an extent if used in the beginning of a scene so the audience can imagine the world, but perhaps fade them both out once they’re no longer necessary.

how to convey different character ages through voice

Another key difference is that character ages are determined by voice. Tone, softness, etc. In other platforms this is typically evident through their appearance on the screen. In radio, it can only be determined by the sound of their voice. This is why in the image I describe Harry’s voice as, “Young, soft pitch,” to convey the difference in age to John’s.

old habits die hard

It’s difficult to not fall into habits from writing other platforms. For instance, after frantically setting the scene for the radio play: The jingly tone of the house phone, the blinds hitting against the glass from the window. Both meet the criteria for radio description and create an atmosphere. But, you read back, and realise without the detail crossing your mind the audience are told the colour of the couch cushions, the size of the room... all details that are not relevant in a radio play.

Before setting out on this writing quest... stick a post-stick to your screen:

IF IT CAN’T BE INTERPRETED BY SOUND ALONE, DON’T INCLUDE IT.

(Or envision Bart Simpson scribbling it across the whiteboard over and over and over again.)

What I mean is... the couch cushions could be red from blood stains, the audience won’t know this vital plot twist unless the information’s delivered to their ears.

And that’s the difficult difference with radio. But I’m sure you’ll get the gist.