I attended another workshop. Writing for Radio with Rachel Bentham. It was hosted by the University of Bristol who run a sereis of events. It was organised by Department of English. It lasted most of the day and was informative and enjoyable. There were another eight delegates. It was fun and informal. 

One of the things that we learnt is that story is king at BBC Radio. A good mnemic they use is ODARE, written in the shape of a rainbow, which stands for:

O: opening

D: development

A: apex

R: resolution

E: ending

BBC Radio has several preferred themes for radio drama:

• Docudrama
• Science popular now
• Detective
• Period drama

We did some excercises to generate small beginnings of plays. One of these required us to write several first lines and use these as prompts for an improvisation between the author and a partner. Don't forget the rule of improv: say 'Yes' and make your partner look good.

Another tip was related to the differences between men and women. Although generalisations, they may prove useful:

Women vs Men 

• Women add more ‘clarifying’ words/phrases at the end of sentences
  
• Men talk more plainly
  
• Women more collaborative
  
• Men more competitive
  
• Men more direct.
  

I attended another poetry class. It will probably be last as I can't make the last one of the term. Its been another enjoyable course, even if my last couple of poems have been poor. Last Thursday's topic was 'Spirals'. It was an interesting jumping off point. We looked at poems by May Swenson and Robert Frost. I began a poem about the staircase that led to my grandmother's flat.