Storytellers Unplugged

BevVincent

Anatomy of a Short Story

BevVincent

Check out Storytellers Unplugged tomorrow for my new essay: Wish I had Joe 90's BIG RAT. The title alone should have you curious!

Lou_Sytsma

It did. I was always more partial to Fireball XL-5 and Captain Scarlett and the Mysterions myself. Great article BTW.

BevVincent

April 2007: Using My Common Senses

BevVincent

May 2007: Take a trip and never leave the farm

BevVincent

June 2007: Pushing the Rope



Also available as a podcast and shortly to be on iTunes--read by me.

Lou_Sytsma

Hey very cool Bev! Good installment and reading, as usual, by yourself.



Did you get it down in one take?

BevVincent

I did a test run with some other recording software as a proof of concept, then got assistance from Brian Hodge to do a real edit of the intro/outro segments together with my recording to make sure there were no pops and that they were on approximately the same level.



My first recording was pretty good and I might have used it, but I probably did it three times total. I fluffed this one a bit in the part about the cheating backgammon game, but I decided it didn't sound bad enough to spend another five minutes rerecording it!

Lou_Sytsma

Very cool. Hearing someone read their work is always enlightening as they emphasize words and/or sentences differently than when one reads it. I find readings like your podcast adds subtle nuances to the material that change one's perceptions.



Look forward to future installments.

BevVincent

July 2007: Why Go To Conventions



I recorded it as a podcast, too, but it hasn't been uploaded yet. I'll post that link when it's available.

BevVincent

Here's the podcast link. I'll have another essay up on Friday.

BevVincent

August: Are critique groups worthwhile?. Podcast link to follow.



I'm really getting the hang of recording these podcasts. The software I'm using allows me to stop and start without leaving evidence of the splice, so I don't have to do it all in one take. I can even redo phrases if there's something awkward upon review and I edited out most of my ticks and clicks between sentences, too.

Lou_Sytsma

Interesting column Bev. Once a writer gets a few sales under their belts the value of a critique group is probably up for re-examination.



BTW, what software are you using for recording your podcasts?

BevVincent

The program is called Audacity. It's very easy to use once you figure out the basics.

Lou_Sytsma

Cool - thanks!

BevVincent

I forgot to mention that I also use a DOS-based program called lame to convert the .wav file that I create with Audacity to .mp3.



Here's this month's podcast.

Lou_Sytsma

Listened to your podcast Bev. Nice job.

BevVincent

September post: It's hard to tell the truth, with podcast to appear shortly.

Lou_Sytsma

Nice job. I kept hearing Rush's - Closer To The Heart - in my head for some reason while reading this.

BevVincent

The short story in question is for an anthology of Atlantic Canadian tales due out next year. Here's the Podcast version.

BevVincent

This month, a bit of classic fiction for Halloween: Harming Obsession -- podcast version to follow.

BevVincent

The podcast version (read by me) is now up at [link=http://www.podango.com/podcast/98/Storytellersunplugged]Podango[/link]

BevVincent

This month: For Love or Money

BevVincent

This month: The Company We Keep: Guilt by Association

BevVincent

January 2008: You Won't Believe What Happened Next -- Podcast pending.

BevVincent

Podcast version here. Next month's will be better -- I got a new microphone today!