Regathering (Part 2/2) With No Diversions

Hello there

Right come on, second part of the post that I managed to self-indulgently self-hijack yesterday. Today I shall be focussed and stay on track.

So, the actual thing I was sitting down to write was about prep. I might sound like a broken record on this, but the prep I’ve been doing for projects recently has been rather satisfying.  The Tales From Castle Diablo stories (both what you’ve had made available to you, and what I’ve done privately) have been the most satisfying pieces of writing I’ve ever done.

This doesn’t mean I consider them the best necessarily, nor that I don’t, but I do know that they’ve been as close to thorough in their preparation and evolution as I’ve ever indulged.  I’ve done them properly, without any rushing or forcing.  I’ve thought about them a lot.  Real consideration throughout and no corners cut.  If a story isn’t quite right (in terms of what I personally want it to be) then I’ve waited it out, restructured and re-written, and got it all in place to a point where I’m not thinking “that’ll do”.  This has meant that there is a confidence in finding a literary home for them.  I’m not sitting and thinking I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, but rather am actively having discussions about publishing and finding a suitable home for them.  I’m ultra-confident in it as a project, and really content that I’ve found the tone and reason for it. Please don’t misunderstand, not ultra-confident in finding an audience for it, I can’t think that way about anything, but ultra-confident that on this side there is no stone unturned, as it were.

Behind the scenes, I think I have got a very strong wraparound story for it now, which also includes a non-crowbarred theme that fits with the stories.  This was a bit of a Eureka moment, where I looked at what I’d written so far, and analysed it for consistent themes. There is a constant within all the separate stories, which plays out nicely in the wraparound.  At this stage, now it is clarified, we have a reversal and the wraparound dictates the future stories. I am 99% sure that I will be leaving all the wraparound content exclusively to the book, otherwise I’m essentially just uploading an entire book on here which is hardly going to incentivise anyone to get a copy of it when its available. Who buys a book they’ve already read?  Actually, I do.  Loads. That’s a bad example.

As usual, I do feel that I would be totally in the zone with it, if it were all I was working on, and have been feeling a little bit of writer envy for those who get to sit at their desk every day working on one project. In the absence of that possibility though, I think I’m doing the next best thing, and the restrictions on time available are maybe positively feeding into it. They give me enforced time away to just think rather than force.

So that’s all in order and chugging along nicely, which is also true for Group Sex (and there’s the patreon flagging popping up on my document again, thinking I’m writing about porn). That project is further behind than Diablo, but I started it a lot later too, so that’s fine.  Similarly to the early days of Rocky Robot scripting (and this is the only similarity between the two – Rocky has no idea or experience about rudes, and that is officially canon), I’ve been writing down complete interactions between characters.  I’m going through a load of different thought processes on the production on it and am not ruling out going full Mike Judge and just voicing everything myself (with digital voice altering of course). That way it’s my responsibility and my head on the block when people get all upset by it. It also chops down admin by about a million.  The only potential issue is that I’m not very good at doing voices, but maybe if I apply myself and be a bit patient with getting it all right, I’ll manage it.  Who knows.  At this stage, I’m just content that it’s coming together and starting to write itself (which always feels like a positive, this sort of happened with a lot of Rocky Robot).

Speaking of Rocky Robot, which we are still in negotiations for, I’ve just storyline a new episode for it where the puppet builder builds a new puppet and Rocky instantly falls in love with her.  But there are no rudes.  Canon, remember.

Which finally brings us to Loopholes.  Just 3000 words after I said I was going to write about it.

Last week I sat down with Kate Cherrell to record the first episode.  The day previous we had met at my alternate office (outside the RSC in Stratford Upon Avon) to plan it.  Both these things are really important to me. Not just because it was the first in-person human I’d seen in five weeks (but who’s counting?), but because it was a confidence inspiring process, that this would be done with diligence.

The RSC meeting was relatively forensic. We went through the things we’d like to talk about, and the approach in collating it together.  Both of us have form in discussing the esoteric, in very different ways, and I don’t think either of us really had much interest in playing to type. We did, however, have things we had a drive to discuss, starting points for conversations, and a matching ideal on tone.

Which harks back to what I was telling you about in the first part of this post, namely managing expectations whilst not being beholden to them.  One of my main votes was that this podcast doesn’t have the word comedy anywhere near it, whilst Kate was very keen that it not be too dry. I also agree with that, but I didn’t wish to approach any recording with it in my head to try to be hilarious.  I’ve tried that before and it always ends in tears.

The most interesting part of this for me is the idea of having considered (there’s that word again) discussions with someone who has a belief system that is in direct contrast to my own, whilst simultaneously having analytical/sociological approaches that are pretty much identical to mine.  Thematically it is beginning by covering a wider surface area than specific occurrences, and looking far more at belief systems and the behaviours within. All, of course, illustrated with our own experiences and observations.

So, to try and express that in more simple terms, we both have an interest in the esoteric and paranormal, and a particular interest in how that sub-section of society behaves, for good and for bad. The trends and changing aspects of it, the consistent and incongruous. That’s where Loopholes begins, establishing the lay of the land. The “Loopholes” aspect is finding the bits that make no sense at all, no matter which side of the fence one’s belief system falls, and then seeing what’s left when they are pinpointed.

It was invigorating as a meeting, but also a touch overwhelming, as there were a lot of things to consider in one go.  This isn’t one of those “switch the mic on and see what happens” shows, despite us both being more than capable of doing that.  That said, it does have plenty of room for diversions and elaborations.  I’m all good with doing a podcast that just flies in whatever direction the wind blows, but I’m also wanting to add something more structured into the project library. As we know each other well, we are very familiar with each other’s thought processes and takes on things.  Nobody is hiding an ace up their sleeve here.

So the following day, we sat down to record the first/pilot episode.  I’ve still not listened back to it, as I wanted to give it some settling time, but I’m intending to edit that together this week (I’m actually writing this on Monday morning, so there’s a decent chance it’ll be edited by now).  No matter how much planning you do on something like this, it’s still a slightly nerve-wracking time when the microphone light is finally on.  We had made a point of being chatty for around twenty minutes before it, and we both pretty much agreed on when to start recording.  Almost like a mutual conversational priming.

We recorded for eighty minutes, and I’ve no idea what I’m editing that down to, but I suspect I’ll aim for 40-50.  It was very packed conversation, with plenty of back and forth and lots of things covered.  Potentially too many things, but that’s why we produce and edit podcasts.

The other really encouraging thing was the fact that after recording, we went and sat down in the garden and properly went through initial feedback on what we had done.  We talked about what we would do differently, what we should look out for in future recordings, and what we felt was flowing well.  That debrief was – for me – enormously helpful in getting a hold on the project.  It obviously couldn’t be done completely, as that will only happen when we’ve the edited audio to take into account too.  Then we’ll make a joint call as to whether to release/reveal that smartish, or whether it needs a second pass and can just be released down the line as a patreon curio post of the original pilot.

Overall, strong and comfortable start, I think. It was certainly an easy and stress-free creative collaboration, where we were both comfortable to just “be”. I also invented a new word (“Esoteroticism”) which I will be using at any given opportunity in the future, both in the podcast and real life.

Oh, and – sidebar - as we’ve been discussing the Diablo stories, this is probably a good time to credit Kate with editing them.  Amongst her other creative jobs, which rival mine in their diversity, Kate is a proper literary editor and proof-reader. I haven’t mentioned it so far, but once I’ve done the Diablo stories, I send them over to her, and then an hour later we have a phonecall where we both sit with it on Googledocs, and I argue pretty much every edit she’s made on it.  Nine times out of ten I am talked round, and the other one time I am definitely right. I’m probably right on the other times too but can’t be bothered with the argument. That’s something else which has been very satisfying in the production of that book, and another example of it being done very thoroughly. I’m taking it well seriously, genuinely.

There we go.  Got there in the end.  I feel like I’ve written another book in these last two posts.  Really hope it was of interest and not too convoluted (I secretly know it was).

Let’s do something lighter and less wordy on here tomorrow.

Hope your week is all going to plan, and that happiness and satisfaction abounds.

All the love

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