Janice Okoh won the Bruntwood Prize in 2011 with her play Three Birds. For seven years she worked as a legal assistant in the City before becoming a full-time writer and teacher, working mainly in radio and theatre.

Has having another career alongside your creative work been useful?

Having a job gives you access to worlds that only you know about. That can become your unique selling point.

But, with regards to learning to write, no, it doesn’t help. The only way to improve your writing is to just write and write and write; to learn something from each draft and each piece.

How do you turn real-life experience into writing?

I need to have an emotional connection to what I’m writing, which you have when you’re writing from personal experience. But just using something you hear on a train verbatim can stick out, so you have to interpret it, at least a bit. 

How do you pitch scripts?

With my new project, because it’s still a bit hazy, I think I’m going to write it until I know it a bit better and then pass it around. 

But if I were pitching for TV then, to save time, I’d sum the idea up in two sentences: this is what it’s about and this is what’s going to happen. If they like it, then I’d flesh it out to one or two pages.

The people you’re pitching to need to know the world of your play, particularly in radio. That’s more important than the characters, unless there’s something particularly strange about one of them. Something has to hook them – once you’ve got that you can go to town.

What do you start with when writing a script?

I suppose I start with something I’ve seen, but then take the emotional response I had to it and work from that. For example, the play I’m writing now came out of talking to retired people I met in India. I was so interested in their world and if I’m interested then I imagine audiences will be too.

What did you get out of doing a Creative Writing MA?

Obviously, it’s such a personal experience, it’ll be different for everyone. But for me, the best thing was that I left having written a whole play that I could then tout around.

Alternatively, if you hooked up with a mentor you could probably make a play over a year, without doing an MA.

What advice would you pass on to young playwrights?

Keep going to the theatre and read lots and lots of different sorts of plays. Write what entertains you and not what you think other people want to see. Look at other people’s scripts and try to break down what they’re doing. For instance, if you want to write a thriller, see how other writers structure their thrillers – learn where they put the twist, when they introduce new characters, that kind of thing.

What do you consider your big break?

The Bruntwood Prize had a big effect. It is open to entries now, until the end of June and I think everyone should apply. They’re not necessarily looking for a really commercial play– they just want to read good stuff.

In Focus: The difference between writing for stage and writing for radio?

You can create a sense of location so much better with radio. And you can jump from location to location a lot easier.

With radio you quite often need to prompt or remind people as you go along, because they don’t have those visual clues to pick up on. It may seem obvious, but it won’t be when you hear it. Also, you can’t rely on your audience’s full attention with radio either – they’re not in a theatre, they might be washing up. 

To apply for The Bruntwood Prize, visit the website.

Three Birds is at The Bush from Wednesday 20 March until Saturday 20 April. To find out more and to book tickets, visit the website.

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