DONNYBROOK Writers' Group recently invited award-winning writer John Aitken to run a Writing for Radio workshop at the Donnybrook Library.
Mr Aitken is also a producer and performer for stage and radio, as well as films, documentaries and drama series.
Workshop participants learned the differences between writing for radio, for stage or for film.
Mr Aitken explained how they were writing for the ear and not the eye. A radio play relies on the imagination of the listener.
He stressed that writers must be careful not to bore their readers with exposition, and to use sound and silence to break the scenes.
As an example volunteers read aloud `The Dollmaker', a radio play Mr Aitken wrote.
It was also used to show writers how to set out their scripts clearly.
Mr Aitken said it was far cheaper to produce a radio play as opposed to film or stage, as one actor could take many parts and characters' dialogues could be recorded on different days and then put together at the end.
An 'Impulse Exercise' was set using a scene in a park.
Writers were given 10 minutes to prepare a script.
The results were interesting with everyone having different ideas.
The workshop proved not only interesting and informative but entertaining too.
The group hopes to have Mr Aitken back later in the year to run another workshop.
