Radio Script Project: Day 4

LAB: Continue writing your radio play scripts. Drafts are due Friday. If you are using Google Docs, please share your script with bradley.craddock@rcsdk12.org so that I can arrange copies for Mr. Fellows' class.

Advice:

• DIALOGUE: Writing good dialogue takes practice. Here are a few tips if this is troublesome for you:
• Read the dialogue you write out loud. This helps you "hear" your characters and how they speak. Consider HOW a character speaks and make sure (in a radio script) that the character's voice is unique in some way. (Ex. a character who stutters, a character who using famous quotes, a character that repeats a phrase or word a lot, a character who speaks quickly, a character who pauses a lot or speaks slowly, a character with an accent, a character who speaks in a particular verb tense or POV, a character who speaks in short sentences and fragments, a character who speaks in compound/complex sentences, etc.
• To sound real, dialogue can be fragmented (not in complete sentences), or characters can cut off other characters when they speak--or they can change their minds or digress. Listen to how people talk and try to model your character's conversation like that.
• Avoid boring small talk. "Hello. Goodbye. Nice weather. How's it going, etc. are boring. Good dialogue should move the story forward or characterize character. 
• Arguments or having characters saying surprising or revealing things helps build dramatic and interesting scenes in a story's plot. Characters don't always answer each other directly. Sometimes what is NOT said makes a difference and adds conflict to a scene.
• Remember: radio plays are meant to be heard. This isn't a movie or a book. If you don't say it, or it's not a sound cue, we don't know what's happening.
• PLOT:
• Plot is about conflict. If nothing is happening in your story, we're going to turn you off. 
• If you're bored writing it, we likely will be bored hearing it.
• Divide your story into scenes. Each scene should include a complication to the conflict.
• Character decisions (what they say or do) should contribute to the plot.
• Resolution of a plot does not have to be "wrapped up nicely" like a present. It can be untidy and frayed or raise further questions for a listener to consider.
• Scenes connect. Just like sentences you need to consider why one scene follows another. Sequence matters!
• Instead of saying "then this happens" in your story, each scene transition should answer "but", "therefore", or "as a result". Plot is built by writing causes and effects. Because X happens, Y happens. 
• WRITER'S BLOCK
• Common causes of block may include: lack of motivation, ideas need to "stew" a little longer, and, of course, fear or anxiety. 
• The only solution to writer's block is to work through it by writing. To break you from your malaise, try freewriting, sketch or doodle, stop fiddling with your headphones/music, stop avoiding the inevitable, stop self-editing your work before you write it. 
• Exercise, diet, having enough rest, and being ready to write (a routine or space/time to write) can all be helpful in small bursts. Reading also helps. Not only can it relax you, reading gives you ideas how you can write something better.

Watch these videos to help you...

Matt Stone/Trey Parker: from Stand In, Advice for Writers

Matt Stone/Trey Parker: Writer's Block

Now get back to work on your radio scripts!

HOMEWORK: None. Your radio script drafts are due (complete) next class.