In theatre, it’s all about character and dialogue which is exciting. And plot tends to be minimal. The plot could simply be one or two plot twists or revelations.
Prose and radio are the most liberating mediums practically as there are no production costs like location (although with radio the number of characters is always restricted because it’s difficult for the audience to follow) so I save my most ambitious and crazy ideas for those mediums.
3. The Book Edit Writers' Prize champions underrepresented and unpublished writers. What advice would you give to writers who are still finding their voice or building the confidence to share their work?
Janice Okoh: You must share your work because doing so can help you progress your work faster, and you can get affirmation whether what you are trying to do is working well. However, only share your work when you’re ready. Sometimes I have shared my work too early and have followed a wrong direction of critiquing because I wasn’t sure of my characters or plot. I now share once I have done a really rough first draft (a zero draft) and have an idea of what I want to say even if the plot or character isn’t quite nailed down. This way, I have my core reason of writing the story to come back to when receiving conflicting critiques or too many opinions. You can weed out the feedback that resonates.
As regards to being an underrepresented writer, seek out underrepresented writer mentors because they’ll usually ‘get’ the nuances of your work. Failing this, find peers who enjoy reading novels, and who read widely, including what is selling well on the market regardless of genre or the background of the author. These peers tend to be good at giving helpful feedback and book reccomendations because they tend to get what you’re trying to do because they have read something like it.
4. When you're developing a story, whether for stage, screen, or page, what's the element you find yourself returning to most – character, dialogue, structure, or something else entirely?
Janice Okoh: The one-page synopsis. For my second novel I had a one-page synopsis that I tweaked and developed for about a year on and off before I started writing my zero draft. When I start writing my novel, I can refer back to the one-page synopsis of the story so I loosely know what’s coming next. I didn’t work from a one-page synopsis for my first novel and I think this is probably why it took me five years to write as I didn’t have any structure and I wasn’t sure who was telling the story. I was very unsure. I have always written a one-page synopsis when writing radio plays as it’s a requirement for pitching the idea to the radio drama commissioner.
5. Is there a book, play, or film that profoundly influenced your own approach to writing? What was it about that work that stayed with you?
Janice Okoh: I would say the play Woolworth Farce by Enda Walsh swept me away because of the intriguing and unique world Walsh created. That play influenced my own early writing and helped me create intrigue. When I think about the play now, I think about how weird it was.
