Continuing along The Way of The Podcaster, today we look at the gentle art of writing scripts for audio. These are written to be heard not to be read. Keep this in mind as your fingers fly across the keyboard. I’m talking about a fully scripted show, obviously and not a dot point, interview or free form delivery. Think of shows like, well like this one, history shows, True Crime, that sort of thing. Where you need to have all the info ready to go, references in the show notes and so on.
Let’s jump in.
Writing a podcast script involves a mix of creativity, clarity and tone. Most shows use a conversational type of tone but equally valid, if your show is aimed at that audience, is a formal academic style or perhaps a more colloquial style if that fits your show. Remember, horses for courses.
1. Know Your Audience
- Understand to Whom it is You’re Talking: Tailoring your language, topics and tone to suit your audience’s preferences and interests. For example, if your show is for 8 to 10 year olds and your subject is astronomy, a detailed reading of the equations around string theory would not sit well. I know this is obvious or should be but the mis-match of language and audience is one of the easiest errors, especially for beginners. Hand up, guilty as charged. Thoughtfulness in the writing process, editing and rewriting are critical to the process.
- Use Audience-Appropriate Vocabulary: Avoid jargon unless your audience is familiar with it. This is a fine line to dance along. Sometimes a word is the correct word but not in all versions of english. In the commonwealth countries, the thing you fire a shell out of on an artillery piece is called the barrel. In the US military it’s called a tube. Earthing an electrical circuit or grounding it is another US versus the rest of the English speaking word variation. Which should you use? Who’s your audience? Make a decision and be consistent.
2. Be Conversational
- Write As You Speak: Use contractions, colloquial phrases and natural speech patterns. “I wouldn’t do that.” as opposed to “I would not do that.” A good way to learn how you speak is use the voice to text feature in Google Docs. It may take a little time for the system to learn your language nuances but it’s worth persevering with if only to see how you sound in written form.
- Engage Directly: Address your listeners as “you” to create a personal connection. Either use the avatar you’ve created as your ideal listener or think of a person you know and deliver the script as if to them. Having a single, preferably real person to speak to lifts the delivery, enhancing nuance and subtlety with your spoken voice.
3. Structure Your Content
- Outline Your Episode: Break down the script into segments such as introduction, main content and conclusion, maybe. If this is how you feel comfortable writing then do so. Remember though, you are not necessarily writing an academic essay but you might be. Outline accordingly. Sometimes the tyranny of the blank page staring back at you can be soul crushing. This is about the only time I would recommend using a robot to help. The GPTs and Geminis of this world produce writing I wouldn’t accept from an eight year old. However, asking for a blog post as a starting point on a particular subject will provide you with words and more usefully, section headings. Scrap the words, look carefully at the section headings, adjust accordingly and let your fingers or voice to text do the writing. You may even, as I have on occasion, scrap the headings too but only after I’ve used them to rewrite section headings that make sense for me. There may come a time when the robots write as well or even just in your style but that time is yet to be.
4. Keep Things as Concise as They Need To Be
- Avoid Rambling: Be clear and to the point. This maintains listener interest more often than not. If you need to go off on a tangent, and I have on occasion, utilise the “Podcast Footnote!” If I need to dive a little more deeply into something tangential I’ll use the words: “Podcast Footnote.” give my spiel and then end that subsection with “End Podcast Footnote.” and return to the main narrative. It lets the listener know I’m off into the weeds but it will still be relevant if not completely on target. I use and recommend the “Podcast Footnote.”
- Edit Ruthlessly: Cut out unnecessary words and tangents. On the second run through you may just cut the footnote but you’ll feel better for putting it in writing once. Similarly, edit all of your script ruthlessly. This takes time but is worth the effort. It definitely improves the listening experience for your audience.
“Podcast Footnote.”
If you are fully scripting and putting in the hard yards, I recommend publishing your show on a seasonal basis. Say ten episodes out of every thirteen weeks (a calendar season). You have those three weeks to write sufficiently to be ahead of the publishing cycle and still put in the work to polish each and every script. You can even drop pre-season “trailer”episodes to remind your listeners you still exist and let them know what’s coming.
“End Podcast Footnote.”
5. Create Strong Openings and Closings
- Hook Your Audience Early: Start with an intriguing question, a surprising fact or a compelling story. Your title should be good enough to grab people’s attention. Spend as much time as you need on this. It is critical. Sometimes a quote from the body of the episode works. The key is to be consistent across your episodes. Do not have a long, more than 3-5 second, into. Your regular listeners will get sick of hearing the same thing, over and over again. Think carefully about whether you need music. The ABC here in Australia use the same three notes at the start of every episode. Sufficient to remind the listener of the source and not take up too much of the listener’s time. I prefer to start without music but that’s my choice. Make yours deliberately and stick with it.
6. Use Clear and Simple Language
- Avoid Complex Sentences: Use shorter sentences and simple words to ensure clarity. Hemingway is usually provided as the best form of language but I find his prose, problematic. Use your words, remember the voice to text trick mentioned before and you’ll be ok.
7. Inject Personality
- Show Your Character: Let your personality shine through your words. One of the great gifts of podcasting is the discovery of your “Voice”. This is a transferable discovery to all aspects of your life. It will come with practice and is another reason not to use the GPTs to write your scripts.
8. Practise Reading Aloud
- Read Your Script Aloud: This helps you catch awkward phrasing and ensure the script flows naturally. This can become a frustrating feedback loop if you start with text to voice. Balance and “voice” will come with practice. Don’t fret, keep writing, recording and publishing. You will find your feet.
- Listen to Every Episode on a Podcast App: You should subscribe to your own shows. This allows you to keep track of scheduling, picking up missed publication timings and allowing you to listen for any discombobulations that creep in between publishing and the arrival of your show on your listening app. They don’t happen often but they do happen. I’ve had one episode in the thousands I’ve produced that went haywire. But I was subscribed and caught it before it became too big of an issue. Listen to your show with a critical ear. Make improvements, episode by episode and within a short time you will hear the difference.
So take your time, get the scripting right, edit both the words and the audio file without compassion for your own feelings and a powerful show that changes people’s lives will be yours.