Short stories for podcasts

Over at Writers Who Kill, KM Rockwood discusses writing stories for podcasts.

Short stories have long been some of my favorites, both reading and writing them, and I’ve added listening to them to the menu.

I’ve also been trying my hand at writing for podcast distribution.

Podcasts have much in common with audio versions of books, and owe much to that earlier invitation to “return to those thrilling days of yesteryear” on pre-TV radio.

But I’m learning that the stories written for podcast do present some unique challenges.

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Processes and a Podcast

by
Scott D. Parker

There must be something in the air this week, because a good number of the writers I follow on Twitter had writing challenges. I did, too, but there is a solution.

On Thursday, Texan Jeff Abbott tweeted this:

“writing early this morning, i had been pondering since last night how to fix a chapter opening, had no good idea, sat down to the chapter, in desperation typed three sentences, character-driven solution presented itself to my weary brain, onward”

Later the same day, Bryon Quertermous had a short thread, the last of which contained this little nugget:

 “Writing can cause so many problems, but almost every time, the solution to a writing problem is to write through it. 5/5”

As for me, I’d been suffering a lazy streak. Part of it certainly had to do with how to craft the beginning of my next chapter. I had struggled to end the previous chapter in a satisfactory way, so I just ended it. The subconscious must’ve festered on my dissatisfaction with that ending because it kept hindering my forward progress.

Until this week. As a writer with a day job, I’m time locked with my writing time. I also hadn’t been doing my exercises as often as I needed to and it’s lack was catching up to me. So I did the most basic thing in the world: Gave myself no excuses. I compelled myself to wake at 5am, get on the rowing machine within five minutes of waking, and after a brisk ten-minute session, sat at my computer and wrote.

Guess what? The words came, fast and furious, until I had to stop and get ready for work. I didn’t mind, really. I had accomplished something. Two things, in fact. I had cleared my mind of the block that hampered my writing as well as the exercise. That was a great day.

No matter the writer, no matter how many stories the writer has completed, there will always be days in which the stuff just doesn’t happen. The brain might be wonky or filled up with life’s clutter. It’s going to happen, so it’s best not to get upset about it.

But there is a way to mitigate the hangups: Rely on the process. Don’t wait for inspiration. For nearly all of us, that means getting in front of our screens and doing the work. When we’re there, inspiration will come. It always does.

My First Podcast Interview

This process of always being available is part of my writing life on which I constantly rely. It’s one of the things Paul Bishop and I discuss in my first-ever podcast interview. It dropped this week and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Have a listen.

Or use this link to get the episode in your preferred podcast-listening app.

Dolly Parton, 50 Years of Creative Mastery

By Claire Booth

Welcome back after our holiday break. I get the honors of ringing in the new year with one of the first Do Some Damage posts of 2020, and I thought I’d start the year off right by talking about something just about everyone can agree on.

Dolly Parton.

Yes, the same Dolly Parton whose first album was released in 1967. The same one who starred in 9 to 5 in 1980. The same one who wrote “I Will Always Love You,” which hit Number One twice and later became one of the top-selling singles of all time. She’s never stopped singing, composing, or acting—but it seems like lately, she’s everywhere.

I’ve been riveted by Dolly Parton’s America, a podcast hosted by a young Tennessean who wondered how it is that a decidedly Southern, bewigged, seventy-something musician can draw together fans who range from church-going Baptists to LGBTQ couples, from college graduates to high school dropouts.

Host Jad Abumrad and producer Shima Oliaee do a good job with this over the nine-episode series (the last episode dropped just this past week). They address topics like how she refuses to be drawn into politics, the removal of the word “Dixie” from her Stampede dinner theater show, her Dollywood theme parks, and whether she considers herself a feminist (that topic is in the first episode, “Sad Ass Songs.”) 

They also delve into three of her biggest successes and their cultural impact with individual episodes on the movie 9 to 5 and the songs “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.” (Side note and blow-your-mind-trivia tidbit: Dolly wrote those two songs on the same day. Most ordinary creative genuises would count themselves lucky to write two such masterpieces in their entire careers.)

I’ve been talking to anyone who’ll listen about the podcast, and some get it confused with the other Dollyverse venture currently playing. Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings is an anthology series on Netflix that takes the inspiration for each episode from one of her songs. Dolly also appears.

A greatest hits album. Not definitive, but a good place to start.

It’s a fine series, if a little too Lifetime-ish for my tastes. Which leads me back to the podcast—which is definitely journalistic enough for my tastes. One reason I’m enjoying it so much is because it focuses on Dolly as a writer and as a businesswoman.

And it seems to me that people in any kind of creative business would be smart to pay attention to someone as savvy as she is (and who has the talent to back up every thing she does). Dolly turned herself into a brand before brands were a thing. She’s been teaching a master class on the subject for more than 50 years, and we would do well to pay attention.

Newsletters and podcasts, revisited

By Steve Weddle

I don't know how you ingest your news. How could I? I know so little about you.

As you may know, we have a podcast called "7 Minutes With," in which we chat about the big screen, the small screen, and music. (sevenminuteswith.com)

If you have listened -- or haven't -- and have some ideas about what you'd like in the next season, please let me know, either her or via your email machine.

We've had various other podcasts in the past, a series in which three of the OG -- Russel and Dave and Jay (all gone) -- chatted about Doctor Who.

We've also done many, many interview with author podcasts.

One of the ways we fed that out to folks was through RSS, via Google Reader, also gone.

In my own life, since you were wondering, I've replaced Google Reader with Feedly.

Feedly instead exactly the way you want to consume your podcasts, of course.  Feedly is one of the two big ways I get my news. Email newsletters are the other.

If you're a reader, you might subscribe to authors' newsletters. For all I know, you might read some of them. As I've said, I know so little about you, which is fine.

Feedly aggregates news for you, and many folks went over there when Google Reader died.

If you want to have the morning (or evening) newspaper delivered to you, you might want to use an aggregator such as Feedly.

Of course, you might want to get your news via Facebook and Twitter. Who knows about you?

In Feedly, you pick your sources and the feeds are refreshed throughout the day, peppering you with all the news from io9 and hacker2600 and the Los Angles Book Review and whatever else you want. Your mileage may vary, of course.

That's the way I get a couple dozen new sources into my brain mass throughout the day. You probably do something similar.

But let's get back to newsletters. We joke about author newsletters -- and not without reason. The publishing world thinks authors will be more successful with a large newsletter base. They think authors will be successful if they have a name for their fans. Sweeties. My Darlings. Weddle's wankers. Whatever. Mary Oliver's Army. Who knows about such things? They think authors will be successful if authors push out reading schedules and edit updates and little person tidbits about the author. Someone decided that if readers see that authors are real people, the author can sell more books, making the author another dollar per sale and the publisher another nine dollars. Isn't publishing wonderful? Why did you purchase the new novel by Anne McAuthorface? Well, she's been sharing these videos of her and her cat and I love cats. Yes, that makes perfect sense. Wonderful plan. Keep it up.

from this morning's Axios newsletter

Warren Ellis, for example, has an amazing "author newsletter." You can read a sample here. While he might talk about his own writing, he more often talks about his own reading. Or listening.

There's more to life than just author newsletters, of course.

In addition to using Feedly more for news, I've been getting a good deal of my news through newsletters. Chances are that your favorite news source already has at least a half-dozen newsletters available. I get the Axios newsletter, delivered between 6 and 7 eastern (US) each morning. I dig the Washington, DC news, and this is a good source to start with. They've added a sports one this month, as well. Casey Newton over at The Verge does a good tech newsletter, which you might like if you like things like that. NY Mag also offers a number of newsletters. I've found the Intelligencer to be perfectly readable.

I have a few rules for email newsletters.

1. I use a dummy email account to receive the newsletters, and have them forwarded to my main email account. That keeps them segregated, so that I can easily locate just newsletters, as opposed to updates from LinkedIn and Indeed, which otherwise dominate my main email account, much like a CVS receipt. Also, this keeps my main email address out of the hands of those who might monetize spam.

2. If I skip reading two in a row of any newsletter, I unsubscribe. This is for much the same reason I give up on a novel if I'm not grabbed after 20 pages.

3. I delete the newsletter immediately after I've read it. It's still in my email trash for six days if I want to go back and remind myself of something, but it's best to keep my email inbox down to zero.

I was going to tell you about some podcasts I'm enjoying at the moment, such as Dan & Eric Read The New Yorker So You Don't Have To, but I've lost interest in my own nonsense. Maybe you have, too. I don't know what your tolerance is. How could I?

American Static in your ears -- and more

By Steve Weddle

First, I'm on the French radio waves, with a musical mixtape. Check it out.

Second, the newest episode of 7 MINUTES WITH is up. I chat with Jedidiah Ayres about movies, Holly West about the small screen, and Chris Holm about music. Check it out on iTunes or SoundCloud.

And our main attraction today -- Tom Pitts, whose AMERICAN STATIC is now available on audio.

Audio Shock

Guest post from Tom Pitts

I had a strange experience recently. I drove roundtrip from San Francisco to Los Angeles and got lost in an audiobook. Why is that strange? Because I wrote the book.

I’d always wanted to record my own audio version of my novels, at least I thought I did, but something always got in the way. Something? Let’s face it, procrastination got in the way, along with finances, equipment, and the pure hatred of hearing my own voice.

That last one may seem odd—especially coming from someone who’s got a live interview show up the on the internet, someone who’s sung for a rock ‘n’ roll band and is comfortable behind a mic—but I’ve never been able to playback an episode of Skid Row Chatter without shuddering. Can’t do it. 

I’ve been told I read well at live readings, but those are short stories with arcs like a well-oiled joke. The audience’s laughs and gasps had a lot to do with my perception of how well I did too. Then I thought I’d maybe try one of my novellas first. You know, dip my toe in the water. Enter procrastination.  I finally faced facts; I didn’t possess the wherewithal to get the ball rolling.

So I finally took the leap with American Static. I put it up on ACX and found an actor, a pro. The search didn’t take too long. I received a handful of auditions and knew right away when I heard the man best suited for the job: Daniel Greenberg. Straight forward, not too much acting with the characters voices, but enough to let you feel them and grow to know them, and, above all, a focus on clarity.  I knew what I wanted in a reader.

You see, a few years back my wife and kids straddled two apartments, one in San Francisco and one in Sacramento. That made for a long lonely drive between cities, and a lot of time for audiobooks. I started my habit by digging used cassette tapes from bins at thrift stores (a practice I highly suggest, because when you’re paying a buck for a book, you’re likely to try something you otherwise wouldn’t) and then moved on to CDs. Eventually I’d burned through every thrift store in Sacramento. When I was forced to upgrade my car, I upgraded my audiobooks too, with Audible. Now I could listen to what I wanted, not just what I found. Anyway, the point is I listened to a lot of audiobooks and I found a style I liked, and that’s what I found when I heard Mr. Greenberg’s audition.  How was it working with a total stranger? Nice. Daniel was responsive, helpful with the process, and let me lean on his experience a little ‘cause I’m a rookie.

On the drive to L.A., listening for glitches or mistakes that may need correcting, I found myself getting lost in my own story, forgetting about the structure and the sentences, forgetting I wrote the damn thing ,and just enjoying the motion of the tale. I wondered, how the hell did this thing come out of my brain? It’s a strange thing when you listen to your own prose read back to you. You start off by being hyper-critical, second-guessing every inflection, every intonation. Soon you’re judging the narrator’s choices—I would have done it this way, I would’ve read it that way—until you finally let go and let the reader tell the tale, and before you know it you’re caught up in the action, waiting for whatever happens next. It was a treat just to be along for the ride. I hope—if you give it a shot—you’ll enjoy the same ride. 

American Static’s audio version is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

--------------------------------------------------------

Tom Pitts received his education on the streets of San Francisco. He remains there, working, writing, and trying to survive. He is the author of AMERICAN STATIC, HUSTLE, and the novellas PIGGYBACK and KNUCKLEBALL. 

His new novel, 101, will be released by Down & Out Books November 5th, 2018. 

Find links to more of his work at: TomPittsAuthor.com

Extra, Extra! New Project!

I've spent the last few weeks getting my creative crap together and refocusing. Projects I've wanted to do for awhile are in swing now, and it feels a lot better doing than thinking about it. The latest project is a podcast I launched with Rae Alexandra of MovieRuiner.com called Mandatory Happy.

The concept is simple, Rae and I, two somewhat cynical feminists, watch rom-coms from every era, and talk about them. We talk about what we like and dislike, and what parts of the movie are nightmarishly problematic. This may sound like it has nothing to do with writing, especially crime writing, but I'm here to tell you it does.

The issues that plague bad rom-coms are the same issues that plague bad crime stories, the same issues that plague bad action movies, etc. It's characters that do things that don't make sense, fall for things they shouldn't, and behave in ways that real humans would never behave.

As crime fiction writers, we're not writing toward a mandatory happy ending, but we're hopefully writing toward realistic characters that catch the reader's attention and feel believable.

The first episode (available now, here!) tackles the film City of Angels, which was marketed as a light hearted almost romantic comedy 20 years ago, and instead was a depressing mess of uneven tone and people behaving in unbelievable ways (if you want to know more, you're going to have to click that link, nothing in this life is free).

One thing we kept coming back to in our discussion was characters behaving in ways that didn't make any sense, things happening, and being accepted in the film that weren't really possible (even in a universe where angels walk among humans, sniffing ladies' hair and talking about Hemingway).

While many male writers still admit, sheepishly, that they don't really know how to write women, I think taking the discussion out of what you are writing at the moment, and looking critically at the writing in other mediums can be helpful. And if you do it with us at Mandatory Happy - it can be fun.

I hope you'll check out our first episode and subscribe via iTunes and join in.

The Pod Tide Challenge

By Steve Weddle

Let me challenge you to add some podcasts to your life.

In fact, many new podcasts have been washing up here on the beaches of the DoSomeDamage HQ. Must be the old pod tide we've been hearing about from the kids.

Yesterday, the lovely and talented S.W. Lauden stopped by the DSD studios to pimp his latest podcast project, Books on the Bus. This will be Lauden's solo project, and you already know the work he and Eric Beetner have been doing with the Writer Types podcast.

Earlier this week, Ben LeRoy and Amphetazine droped the 14th episode of the American Trash podcast, featuing an interview with Liberty Hardy of BookRiot.

If you like books, this has been a great week for podcasts.

You already know about The Defectives, hosted by Jay Stringer (DSD's co-founder) and Chantelle Aimée Osman, of Quick and Dirty fame.

And don't forget the true-crime podcast The Long Dance, from Eryk Pruitt and company.

In addition to those, here are some other podcasts I subscribe to and would suggeset for your earholes:

Back to Work, with Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin
Back to Work is an award winning talk show with Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discussing productivity, communication, work, barriers, constraints, tools, and more. Hosted by Merlin Mann & Dan Benjamin.

KCRW's Bookworm with Michael Silverblatt
Intellectual, accessible, and provocative literary conversations.
Silverblatt is an impressive, insightful reader, often surprsing the author by noticing elements just under the surface or themes running through the book that the author hadn't consciously considered.

Darknet Diaries
Darknet Diaries explores true stories from the dark side of the Internet. Stories about hackers, infosec, online security, and the Internet.

Free Agents
David Sparks and Jason Snell spent their careers working for the establishment. Then one day, they’d had enough. Now they are independent workers, learning what it takes to succeed in the 21st century. They are… free agents.

I Have to Ask
As Slate’s resident interrogator, Isaac Chotiner has tangled with Newt Gingrich and gotten personal with novelist Jonathan Franzen. Now he’s bringing his pointed and smart interview style to the new podcast “I Have to Ask.” Isaac will talk one-on-one with newsmakers, celebrities, and cultural icons to help us better understand them and our world.

Men in Blazers
We discuss football. And wear blazers. Usually at the same time. Men in Blazers is driven by the belief that Soccer is America’s Sport of the Future. As it has been since 1972.

Part-Time Genius
Tune in each week to learn whether you should be washing your bananas (you should), whether freezing your body is a better value than freezing just your head (it isn't), and what James Bond has to do with tax laws (everything!) in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.

Reply All
Reply All is an American podcast from Gimlet Media, hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman. It features stories about how people shape the internet, and how the internet shapes people.

Sports? with Katie Nolan
Sports? with Katie Nolan is a weekly show about sports and all the things tangentially related to sports. Its friends would describe it as "curious," "fun," and "a podcast." Weekly guests will include sports fans from all sorts of industries: comedy, film, television, science?

The Sword and Laser
The Sword and Laser (a.k.a. Sword & Laser) is a science fiction and fantasy podcast, video show on YouTube, and book club founded by Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont in October, 2007.

The Tony Kornheiser Show
This show stinks.

Unregistered with Thaddeus Russell
A show about what you're not supposed to say. Thaddeus Russell, author of A Renegade History of the United States, interviews people who break the rules of conventional discourse and expand the realm of the possible.

Writing Excuses
Now in its 12th season, Writing Excuses is a podcast hosted by authors Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal and web cartoonist Howard Tayler. Promoted as "Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart," the four hosts and guests discuss different topics involved in the creation and production of genre writing and webcomics.