Beth Hope (she/her)
Currently helping create gothic fiction podcast Wallpaper (pilot episode was made for 2026 PodJam!)
This blog is created on Aboriginal land with acknowledgment & respect to
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How does a fiction podcast get written? Will it just happen if I start? How do I not completely restart every time I attempt it? = getting nowhere.
Also how do you write (or outline) a series? Is that a second-draft-consideration? Do you just think about it as one big story initially then break it up into episodes later? Or is that making too much work for future you?
I’ve learnt stuff about writing previously (no clue whether my brain has retained any of it haha), and I have access to so many resources, but I haven't written anything in a million years
If anyone has any advice, experiences, successes, failures, process/timeline examples, etc. to share I'd be very interested to hear them :)
someone put out the bat signal for me (thank you so much @zazujoy!!!)
hello! I'm Lauren! I have advice! as zazu mentioned, I do a monthly office hour livestream so I can answer anyone's questions about how to make audio drama - the best way to keep up with when that is is the @atypicalartists patreon (sign up for free and get a newsletter/post a few times a month!) but you can also just go to this page for all the different links. the next one is tomorrow, 1/28, at 3pm PT.
also if you scroll down on that page there are links to a bunch of free resources we provide, including a development and scripting handbook. it's in dire need of an update (the production handbook is much more robust) but hopefully there's still a few helpful tidbits in there.
but, ANYWAY, not to just come on and hawk my wares (for insight - I've been pushing the free patreon a lot recently because I'm desperately trying to spend less money on squarespace but there's no way to automatically move a newsetter to Patreon, so here we are), I DO have thoughts about the questions in your post.
apologies if I'm reading this wrong, but it seems like the two big questions are: "how to start and keep going?" and "what's the best approach?"
this is entirely how I do things, but I've been writing audio drama for over 10 years and, when push comes to shove, I can take script from a blank page to a polished draft in a week with this approach. but of course ymmv!
this got, uh, long (can I ever be succinct?) so putting the rest under the cut!
how to start and keep going? find the routine that works for you, but do make a routine. maybe you write for 10 minutes every day before work. maybe you write for two hours on the weekend. there's no right way to create a writing practice, but you do have to make sure to set aside time for it. then, it's so crucial to write a bad first draft. and I mean bad. use placeholders, skip transitions, leave out sfx, etc. just keep going. don't edit as you go, just get through the basic layout of the script first. this is what I call a rough-rough. my drafts usually go:
rough-rough
rough
v1 - this is the first version of a script I would actually ever share with anyone
v2 - this is the version that will probably initially go to actors
v3
polish - there's very little difference between v3 and polish, just, well, polishing!
for additional insight, this is what a rough-rough can look like:
as you can see, there's just a whole paragraph where I'm like... "whatever, I'll write this later". that's probably two pages minimum I'm skipping over, but I'm just sketching out an episode!
and this is a rough:
there are no huge chunks missing, but I'm still using placeholder dialogue and action - I have to figure out what specific ghost stuff is happening, for this show in particular, I need to talk to my composer and sound designer about terminology and also what's going to be logistically feasible. but the basic approach applies to all kinds of things and is something I learned from Shonda Rhimes' Masterclass that I've carried with me ever since.
(p.s. the show I'm currently scripting is @phantompulseband, so that's what these are from)
I share all this to show that, even if there's a temptation to restart every time you sit down to write, I really recommend pushing forward, even if things are incredibly messy. that said, sometimes you do have to restart - the pilot script for this show is completely different than when I started. the queer western romance novel I have out on submission went through two full drafts before I started over completely. knowing when you need to start fresh is going to take time, but I think newer writers, or writers getting back into a practice, are more inclined to be hard on their writing, when really what they need to do is push forward!
which brings us to...
what's the best approach? this is so so variable and depends hugely on what your story is and what you want it to be. the wonderful thing about audio fiction is that you can do whatever - episode length, season length, etc. can all be whatever you want! though, of course, that amount of freedom can also be overwhelming.
something that I found helpful in making @thebrightsessions was breaking things into smaller chunks. for example, let's say a season was 16 episodes - I'd think about what the story arc was over those 16 episodes, then break it down into two smaller arcs taking place over 8 episodes, then 4, then 2, then the individual episode arcs. that's how a lot of TV story breaking goes and I find it helpful.
I come initially from an acting background, so I think often of Stanislavski's objective and super-objective. what's the objective of the episode or smaller run of episodes and what's the super-objective of the season? what's the best way to get there? every episode and season needs a beginning, middle, and end - you can start with the season and work down into the episode-level or vice versa.
in terms of outlining...oof. I'm the wrong person to give advice on this because I do not outline as I "should". really my rough-rough drafts are my outlines. but I very rarely do full season outlines. here is the extent of how I outlined every season of TBS:
these days, I mostly have a google doc where I just write down ideas as they come! again, this is something you'll find your own process for as you go - it's a lot of trial and error.
okay, I've rambled on long enough. I hope that there's a little glimpse of something useful in all of this or, at the very least, the encouragement to just start and keep going! I'm so excited anytime anyone joins this medium and I can't wait to hear what you come up with!
You actually cannot skip to being good at a creative endeavour that you haven't put much practice into. You cannot trick your way out of the 'knows that your work is not what you want it to be but don't know how to improve it' stage by planning or reading or talking about it really really hard. At some point you just have to craft through it until your brain finds it's own unique way back to the 'everything I make slaps' stage and be prepared to start the cycle all over again. You just have to make that project you're excited about slightly less good than you want it to be. (Says this standing in a pool of blood and covered in blood and also coughing up a little blood)
Why is it always knights in shining armor? What about slightly dingy armor? Dented and scratched armor? I may not be the prettiest, but at least I’ve seen battle before
HopefullyBeth @hopefullybeth - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
