Make those vital opening minutes count, give the listener reason to stick with you

“The moment of arrival. This is how you drop your listeners into the story. Don’t give them a warm bed with comfortable pillows and a hot water bottle. The background and sub-text of previous histories is better explored through revelation in dramatic action. So parachute your listener into a top dramatic moment. Not the climax. That would be premature. Find the MOMENT to join the story. Avoid the slow snail’s explicatory route. Kick ’em into a high energy trip and woosh them through the rapids.”

Tim Crook – Principles of Writing Radio Drama

In this episode we expand on this great piece of advice. Looking at examples of where this technique has been executed well, and offering suggestions on how we might use it to open some of our own hypothetical audio drama stories and scenarios.