tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post944450691220703756..comments2024-03-14T18:09:09.667-05:00Comments on Do Some Damage: What Can Writers Learn From the Serial Podcast?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-51441562889222122282015-01-21T11:59:27.673-05:002015-01-21T11:59:27.673-05:00John, the podcast aspect of it could've been p...John, the podcast aspect of it could've been part of it. But the This American Life folks have a lot of experience with story-telling and tend to do it well, no matter the format. In this case, the first few episodes were great, the middle episodes were okay, and the final episodes were lacking (as I said, I think everyone began to suspect that they really didn't have a story once they'd spent a year dissecting the case).<br /><br />Eileen has a great point about writers recognizing that fiction can be (and perhaps should be) more satisfying than real life because we can tie up the loose ends. We can manipulate the story so that it actually has an ending.Holly Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08910436592791818527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-88676259731695226962015-01-21T11:53:43.256-05:002015-01-21T11:53:43.256-05:00I am one of the people who got thoroughly hooked o...I am one of the people who got thoroughly hooked on the podcast. Part of the fun was that it was such a buzzy thing and it was fun to discuss the case and the podcast as it played out. <br /><br />I think one of the reasons it was more than an episode of Dateline (and I don't see that as an insult, btw) was the depth to which Koenig was able to dig. She stripped away layer after layer of the case. She accepted as little as she could on face value and she showed us how she did it. I mean, the timeline episode? She could have just told us if the timeline worked or not, instead we had her and her producer clearly getting absolutely punchy as they drove around. I felt like I was riding along in the backseat. <br /><br />I think the other lesson for writers could be how much more satisfying fiction can be than real life. The story of Hae's murder was compelling. A young girl with a promising future senselessly murdered. A young man also with a promising future convicted on fairly flimsy evidence. But as fiction writers, we could come to a conclusion. We can make it all make sense. Koenig didn't have that luxury.Eileenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09803986849921870941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-39111782261280604722015-01-21T11:39:35.915-05:002015-01-21T11:39:35.915-05:00How much of a factor, do you think, was the fact t...How much of a factor, do you think, was the fact that this was a podcast? <br /><br />I haven't listened to it yet but from everything I've heard it sounds like a fairly standard episode of 20/20 or Dateline. But for hipsters.<br /><br />So, I wonder, how much of the interest in it was the style and is there a lesson for novelists in that?<br />John McFetridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09442198820998606682noreply@blogger.com