Writing like Dylan Thomas: radio dramas by new voices

Without doubt it’s been Dylan Thomas’ year. And deservedly so. Celebrating the nation’s favourite writer - both the man and his continually beguiling work - 100 years on from his birth has been a real treat.

But what about the future? What about Thomas’ legacy? How does he continue to inspire the next generation of poets and playwrights? Which writer(s) will we be celebrating in a hundred years’ time?

These were the questions that got us thinking. Dylan was just 19 years old when his first poem won a BBC competition and was read on air. Would we be able to find similar raw writing talent? We wanted to try. And so earlier this year we ran a talent initiative to find young writers whose fresh energy and originality captured the spirit of Thomas’ writing.

We also invited a couple of emerging Welsh writers to put pen to paper and create their very own ‘play for voices’. Many, many scripts and months later, the result is 21^st Century Dylan: Short Plays from New Voices. Five stand-alone, highly original, wildly different 15-minute radio dramas by five first-time radio writers.

It’s been a wonderful experience, working with writers new to the medium and unlocking the possibilities of radio drama to fresh young talent. What’s been most striking to me is how totally different the five short plays are – in tone, topic and style. There is surreal comedy, lyrical romance, poetic fantasy, atmospheric drama and more. Each writer has grasped the opportunity to let their own unique voice shine through their work and has embraced the medium wholeheartedly in their own individual way.

As a radio drama producer that’s been extremely exciting for me. You see, writing is a craft. Certain elements of it can be learnt. Skills can be developed and tools of the trade sharpened. Writers can learn how to structure their plots so that they have a satisfying beginning, middle and end. Writers can learn how to dig deeper into their characters to give them flaws, strengths, fears and idiosyncrasies.

Writers can learn how to clarify their tone and genre and find a focussed way into their story. They can learn about pace, about starting late in a story and leaving early so that every narrative beat moves forward with dramatic propulsion. They can learn how to make conflict the heart of their story and how to hook their audience’s attention from the start. Mostly writing isn’t glamorous. It’s using those tools to re-write, to get rid of the old versions of a story in order to find the best way of telling a tale. It’s hard work. It’s slog and toil.

But what I’m not sure can be learnt - and this is clearly up for debate! – is a distinctive voice. Writing that is born from an inner-passion has originality. Writing that can’t be written by any other writer…

I want there to be more writers like Dylan – artists who are going to break rules and do it their way regardless of what’s gone before. Writers that channel their inner ‘beast, angel and madman,’ to create work that’s uniquely their own.

There is no magic formula that guarantees success. Try not to second guess what people want. Instead enjoy creating a world and characters that are unique to you. It’s great to look to people like Dylan Thomas for inspiration. But it’s more important that you trust in yourself and enjoy being the writer only you can be.

21^st-Century Dylan: Short Plays from New Voices starts Mon 20 October at 10pm on Radio Wales.