Essays
Fiction in a Snap by Manuel Gonzales, Mark Ristich, and Eliza Smith
"Will people be able to tell what is fact and what is fantasy?"
"Why do we need fiction in our radio show?"
"Won't listeners revolt?"
"Will people be able to tell what is fact and what is fantasy?"
"Why do we need fiction in our radio show?"
"Won't listeners revolt?"
We’ve seen a mini-boom of fictional podcasts pop up over the past year or two (Limetown, Archive 81, and The Bright Sessions, to name but a few). Even so, there’s still not a lot of audio fiction in the world, especially when you compare it to the vast amounts of fiction literature, films, and plays produced each year. But bridging that gap is a bit tricky because what makes an audio story work is very different from what works well in print, film, or on stage. The lack of visual elements in audio storytelling poses particular challenges for fiction, which relies on building imaginary worlds and characters. And I think one of the best ways of understanding what these challenges are and how to tackle them is by exploring the process of adaptation.
James Urbaniak is the kind of podcaster that other producers love to hate. His show, Getting On with James Urbaniak, consists of nothing but a single voice reading a fictional soliloquy, often written by someone else. There is almost no elaborate soundscaping, no intricate plot development, little evidence of endless editing sessions to get the thing just right. Getting On sounds like Urbaniak cruised into the studio, an iced latte in hand, and finished recording before his drink grew tepid. None of this would be infuriating if the podcast in question wasn’t so good.
Sounds Familiar: How radio drama can reinvent existing scenarios in order to create something new.
The first thing you need to understand about Within the Wires is that you won’t understand it--at least not for a while. The serialized fiction podcast is a production of Night Vale Presents, the same team that created Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn’t Dead. Like these titles, Within the Wires trades on an odd and enigmatic style, relying on listeners to locate the threads as the story unspools.
In this episode of Serendipity, we play 5 of the 10 finalists for our 2016 Very, Very, Short, Short Stories Contest. Featuring: "Bitterly Cold" by David Garland, "The Staging Area" by Jason Gots, "Noir" by Pa Ying Vang, "#blessed" by Jackie Heltz, and "Blinking" by La Cosa Preziosa. Read More
We’re excited to bring back the 2020 Sarah Awards with this talented trio of audio fiction judges. Read More
James Urbaniak is the kind of podcaster that other producers love to hate. His show, Getting On with James Urbaniak, consists of nothing but a single voice reading a fictional soliloquy, often written by someone else. There is almost no elaborate soundscaping, no intricate plot development, little evidence of endless editing sessions to get the thing just right. Getting On sounds like Urbaniak cruised into the studio, an iced latte in hand, and finished recording before his drink grew tepid. None of this would be infuriating if the podcast in question wasn’t so good. Read More