East Midlands

East Midlands Arts is now Arts Council England, East Mdlands. The information on this page is not necessarily up to date (last updated 2001)

GUIDELINES TO WRITING FOR RADIO

Remember that you are writing for the spoken word. Try to follow natural conversational speech - but without the "ums" and "ers" that people use in normal conversation.
Don't be afraid to use words like "should've" - abbreviations and dashes simulate real conversation more effectively than careful sentences.
Short sentences work better than long ones.
Your characters are the only source of information about their location, physical appearance, state of mind etc, so be on the lookout for detail which brings the story alive.
Avoid carrying sentences through a page turnover. It must be possible to handle scripts quietly during recording sessions.
Don't use: ambiguous expressions; involved sentences; illogical sequences of events; phrases or words which confuse or are so unusual that they make the listeners stop and wonder - you will lose their attention.
Practise reading your piece out loud - do you run out of breath? - does it sound natural?
Remember: Write the way you speak; write for the ear, not the eye.

Presentation

Manuscripts should be on A4 paper, type-written or word-processed; doubled-spaced, and on one side only.
Leave wide margins (about 2" either side). If you use a word-processor, turn off the right-justification function. An uneven right-hand margin makes the text much easier to read.
Pages should be numbered, with your name on every sheet.
Manuscripts should have a front-sheet showing title, author, name, address and telephone number.
Give some indication of the length of the piece; either the number of words or the length in minutes.
Do not fix sheets together - loose leaves are more manageable.
Remember: A fresh clean manuscript is much more appealing than a collection of dog-eared papers.