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4 seasons of my podcast @20SidedStories in work hours
MACABREVERSE: 221
LASERS: 58
VICTORIA: 126
POKÉMON: 780
MARVEL: 776
That’s about 2000 hrs, & considering this doesnt include social media, website, bonus eps, etc, it’s closer to 2500.
A thread on what I’ve learned so far:
MACABREVERSE: 221
LASERS: 58
VICTORIA: 126
POKÉMON: 780
MARVEL: 776
That’s about 2000 hrs, & considering this doesnt include social media, website, bonus eps, etc, it’s closer to 2500.
A thread on what I’ve learned so far:
Just to preface; My least favorite thing about Twitter is how everyone feels the need to sound smart and pretend they’re some sort of expert. I’m not an Actual-Play Oracle. I’m still in the “beginning”. This thread is a retrospective for myself. Take with that what you will. 2/
First things first: I’ve wasted so much time with discouragement. “I need x first” “I cant because y” “I don’t know how” “maybe maybe maybe”.
Everything you make will be trash to you a year later anyway, so the only way to suck less is to do more of what you want, now. 3/
Everything you make will be trash to you a year later anyway, so the only way to suck less is to do more of what you want, now. 3/
The resources exist. If you have
• a computer with internet
• time
• energy
you can make a podcast and you can make it good.
If you
• really give a shit
• bring on other creative people
• have persistence
you can make it great.
4/
• a computer with internet
• time
• energy
you can make a podcast and you can make it good.
If you
• really give a shit
• bring on other creative people
• have persistence
you can make it great.
4/
You won’t necessarily have access to the above at all times. Especially right now, life is really tough. But you can plan ahead internally. Don’t feel a need to announce your goals. Don’t guilt yourself for time lost. The key is CONSISTENT progress, no matter the amount. 5/
The brain is nuts. You can’t master everything but you can totally learn about everything. Make the time. In storytelling, every discipline is interwoven. Even if you have a lane, you’re going to do better work when you understand the basic principles of every job required. 6/
This granularity, I think, leads to good Creative Directing (my end-all). And its not just knowing a little bit about everything, but taking the time to notice how each art form can sing together in harmony. The whole of the story should be greater than the sum of its parts. 7/
I grew up with, and still have, intense financial anxiety. There wasn’t much good free software when I was trying to start out in the multimedia space. I scavenged what I could and pirated what I couldn’t.
This is no longer necessary. Use Google, YouTube, and Reddit. A lot. 8/
This is no longer necessary. Use Google, YouTube, and Reddit. A lot. 8/
That being said, tools DO matter. Good tools make a world of a difference. Tools and gear teach you your craft more efficiently, help you discover your voice and preferences, get the job done faster, and make it all more fun.
Investing in upgrades IS WORTH IT. 9/
Investing in upgrades IS WORTH IT. 9/
You can put a $25 stage mic next to a $400 Shure SM7B and hide the difference. The key is the diaphragm. Dynamic, Dynamic, Dynamic. Condensers can work but they generally have more cons than pros.
Also if you use a Blue Yeti you sound like shit sorry I don’t make the rules. 10/
Also if you use a Blue Yeti you sound like shit sorry I don’t make the rules. 10/
On recording your own SFX:
PROS: More control, satisfying, cheaper, unique & yours forever.
CONS: Takes significantly longer, potentially lackluster, room & noise, people rarely notice or care.
Have a mic at your desk & on the ready, but also don’t be afraid to buy packs. 11/
PROS: More control, satisfying, cheaper, unique & yours forever.
CONS: Takes significantly longer, potentially lackluster, room & noise, people rarely notice or care.
Have a mic at your desk & on the ready, but also don’t be afraid to buy packs. 11/
Scoping is a skill only freaks of nature possess and I’ll never get my grip on it. That said, everything seems to take at least twice as long as I feel it will on inception. Also time tracking, the thing this thread began with, helps establish general patterns/expectations. 12/
Take too long to finish a project and you’ll feel insurmountable pressure. Jump into something too fast without a plan and you’re likely to burnout entirely. This loops. 13/
Rarely is settling worth it. If you expect other people to care about your work but stay lazy you’re playing the lottery. And you literally cannot plan to “go viral”.
If you shoot for “good enough” you also won’t look back fondly. So try to impress your future self instead. 14/
If you shoot for “good enough” you also won’t look back fondly. So try to impress your future self instead. 14/
Your family and friends are not your audience, and while you absolutely should share your work with them if you’re proud of it, expect nothing. Toxic positivity and endless “good job”s aren’t really gonna push you through a sea of nearly 1 million podcasts. 15/
Set up keyboard shortcuts. I’ve been so bad at this. Those small seconds you get back really do stack over time. There’s also something so much more zen and satisfying once you find a groove, bouncing between hotkeys like a god damn pianist. Keep evolving your workflow. 16/
If you’re shooting for immersion, go bold. Don’t be afraid of some sonic punch. Your dynamic range should be car-friendly; you rarely want anything but ambience below -18db. And even still, if your voices are compressed right they can punch through wild storms. 17/
Put a loudness analyzer on your master and pay more attention to it. Everything sounds louder and more dramatic on headphones vs speakers. Mixing for mobile phones is, unfortunately, just as important.
At the end of the day, train, trust, and protect your EARS. 18/
At the end of the day, train, trust, and protect your EARS. 18/
Leads should be anchored across the stereo field. I believe, even if subconsciously, this helps listeners identify and follow voices. They can and should pan around (even subtle movements can make an immense difference), but always find a way to return them to their “spot”. 19/
In the words of Horse the Band: CUT CUT CUT CUT. You have no right to waste people’s time. Doesn’t mean every second has to be hyper-stimulating. But less is usually more. Your audience will not miss what you remove because they never knew it was there to begin with. 20/
There is a caveat to unscripted content, however. There’s a line you can easily cross where it no longer feels natural. There’s a chemistry being built over the course of the session that’s important to preserve.
The goal should be to ELEVATE, not to “fix”. 21/
The goal should be to ELEVATE, not to “fix”. 21/
Pacing is an entire craft in and of itself. I was video editing years before I was sound designing. Reorder lines, combine words, control silences (more=tension, less=energy). Watch more movies and study film editing.
Your cut should have a mental storyboard. 22/
Your cut should have a mental storyboard. 22/
Like 90% of the time bloopers are only funny to you. 23/
Your brain needs to recharge to be objective. Take a god damn break. I don’t do this enough.
Leave the room entirely. Go for a walk. And listen/watch something during that break. When you come back you will either react to your work with a
or 
or 
. Adapt accordingly. 24/
Leave the room entirely. Go for a walk. And listen/watch something during that break. When you come back you will either react to your work with a
or or . Adapt accordingly. 24/
Use project markers and make notes. You will absolutely forget that thing that you think you won’t. 25/
The actual play format works best when treated more like recorded theater than a traditional podcast (panels, discussions, documentaries).
Unless you already have an audience/platform, you really gotta work on actually being entertaining to be considered entertainment. 26/
Unless you already have an audience/platform, you really gotta work on actually being entertaining to be considered entertainment. 26/
But also we need not blame ourselves for everything.
As I was working on this thread, someone fairly established in the TTRPG space did a thread on how to treat the format as a “show”. Great thread!
A listener suggested 20 Sided Stories to them...and they...blocked us...
27/
As I was working on this thread, someone fairly established in the TTRPG space did a thread on how to treat the format as a “show”. Great thread!
A listener suggested 20 Sided Stories to them...and they...blocked us...
27/
The entertainment industry has a really fucking weird inferiority complex with itself.
People tout a lot of benevolent bullshit but gate-keeping is real. Everyone mostly serves themselves. Lots of acting like the door is open because it looks/feels good to say. It’s not. 28/
People tout a lot of benevolent bullshit but gate-keeping is real. Everyone mostly serves themselves. Lots of acting like the door is open because it looks/feels good to say. It’s not. 28/
BUT in the defense of the “successful”, how can New Creators be taken seriously when most, realistically, don’t take themselves seriously?
How can we expect mainstream audiences to buy in when we don’t put in even a fraction of the effort being done on, say, film sets? 29/
How can we expect mainstream audiences to buy in when we don’t put in even a fraction of the effort being done on, say, film sets? 29/
Maybe I’m just cynical but this is why I believe we have to just create the things we want to see. No use feeding into spite. This is something I work on everyday. It’s no one’s job to respect me or my work, but it is my job to enjoy the input and improve the output. 30/
Take a look at the cross between what art excites you and what doesn’t exist yet and work from there. Theres a lot of fruit to bear in making yourself vulnerable and taking risks.
Gotta constantly ask: what unique thing do just YOU have to offer? 31/
Gotta constantly ask: what unique thing do just YOU have to offer? 31/
Creativity flourishes under restriction.
Picking properties (Pokémon, Marvel) put up a lot of annoying walls but also lead to our best work.
Fan fiction can be good if you are willing to dive off the baseline. Don’t just serve the property. Have something original to say. 32/
Picking properties (Pokémon, Marvel) put up a lot of annoying walls but also lead to our best work.
Fan fiction can be good if you are willing to dive off the baseline. Don’t just serve the property. Have something original to say. 32/
Almost every story idea I’ve ever had came from listening to music. Peak creative hours are from Midnight to 7am. 33/
Art is not logical. You cannot decide what will resonate in the zeitgeist with a formula. Playing it safe is incredibly boring and it almost never works. Even if it doesn’t hit the bullseye, experimentation helps everyone.
Challenging myself has proven worth it every time. 34/
Challenging myself has proven worth it every time. 34/
The best source for feedback and inspiration is always gonna be other people.
This can take a lot of forms but in every case getting someone else to contribute to 20 Sided, or other projects, however small the contribution, has resulted in something far better. 35/
This can take a lot of forms but in every case getting someone else to contribute to 20 Sided, or other projects, however small the contribution, has resulted in something far better. 35/
Podcasting is a performance.
Studying acting/improv in-tandem for a few years was essential. Speech & diction, body language & self awareness, vulnerability, philosophy, creative thinking, being present.
Takes time to develop & you will get rusty if not practicing often. 36/
Studying acting/improv in-tandem for a few years was essential. Speech & diction, body language & self awareness, vulnerability, philosophy, creative thinking, being present.
Takes time to develop & you will get rusty if not practicing often. 36/
In a collaborative setting, there is so much trust required by everyone it can be literally unbearable in certain sessions. But there’s narrative gold to be found in discomfort. Theater taught me this as well.
(This is different than safety. Don’t conflate the two.) 37/
(This is different than safety. Don’t conflate the two.) 37/
Lead characters drive the whole thing. They are the emotional vessel. They ARE the story.
World building details and NPC’s will be forgotten much faster than anything pertaining to the protagonist(s), so every creative decision should circle back to them. 38/
World building details and NPC’s will be forgotten much faster than anything pertaining to the protagonist(s), so every creative decision should circle back to them. 38/
If you want a good plot twist, you can’t approach it that way.
Have an interesting concept then figure out how to make it someone’s secret. Then start writing backwards.
To get this right it truly takes a lot of time, effort, thought, frustration, and luck. 39/
Have an interesting concept then figure out how to make it someone’s secret. Then start writing backwards.
To get this right it truly takes a lot of time, effort, thought, frustration, and luck. 39/
The line between being extremely obvious and extremely cryptic is annoyingly thin. There is no way to know how things are gonna land until you’re editing.
If you want to be really clear and polished, just do pickups. Seriously. But initially perform as if you can’t. 40/
If you want to be really clear and polished, just do pickups. Seriously. But initially perform as if you can’t. 40/
Recording in person is far better for chemistry but recording remote can be better for editing.
Up until the pandemic I’ve been very strict about recording all our episodes in person and I don’t regret it.
Remote feels easier now because of that face-to-face prerequisite. 41/
Up until the pandemic I’ve been very strict about recording all our episodes in person and I don’t regret it.
Remote feels easier now because of that face-to-face prerequisite. 41/
It’s really important to make sure you actually like the people you’re trying to make stuff with. Particularly in improv/unscripted work.
But also, most strangers don’t notice or care about all your friend-group insider baseball. Inside jokes don’t age all that well. 42/
But also, most strangers don’t notice or care about all your friend-group insider baseball. Inside jokes don’t age all that well. 42/
Table talk can legitimately kill the emotional stakes of a scene. But similar to how setting limits can enhance creativity, you do need have SOMEthing strict to work with. A loose but defining touch, like the amount of rules an improv game would have, seems to work best. 43/
Narrative Design has so much overlap with being a Dungeon/Game Master. There’s more to learn from studying video games than watching Matthew Mercer. No disrespect to the guy, just saying... branch out from D&D. 44/
Common advice is “over-prepare the world, under-prepare the session” but honestly this doesn’t even work sometimes.
Fact of the matter is, you’re gonna throw shit away. Whatever. Be confident with what you bring to the table, but also trust in what the table brings to you. 45/
Fact of the matter is, you’re gonna throw shit away. Whatever. Be confident with what you bring to the table, but also trust in what the table brings to you. 45/
Which brings up the inner workings of this format again:
Are you playing RPGs as a game or as a tool for storytelling? How much is the give and take between you and your audience?
They aren’t in the room with you. Be constantly cognizant of that. 46/
Are you playing RPGs as a game or as a tool for storytelling? How much is the give and take between you and your audience?
They aren’t in the room with you. Be constantly cognizant of that. 46/
Would you actually listen to your podcast if you weren’t the one making it? This can be a shitty rabbit hole to jump down. But it helps to stab the ego every now and again. It really helps to make personal goals and continually check in with them. 47/
If you want to treat podcasting as a simple hobby, by all means! Most people start this way (I did!). But I also see a lot of burnout and disappointment. Level your expectations. This is extremely difficult. It will not always work. And you will not always figure out why. 48/
The amount of jobs I give myself is absolutely unsustainable. But leaning into ambition and convincing myself it CAN get done... well... gets it done?
“Fake it til you make it” can be dangerous but it can also be a silver bullet. 49/
“Fake it til you make it” can be dangerous but it can also be a silver bullet. 49/
Final rapid fire:
There are no silver bullets & all advice is bad.
Art is extremely hard & entertainment is even harder.
Podcasting is not “a new medium” it just has a low bar & barrier to entry.
Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well and you are not immune. (50/50)
There are no silver bullets & all advice is bad.
Art is extremely hard & entertainment is even harder.
Podcasting is not “a new medium” it just has a low bar & barrier to entry.
Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well and you are not immune. (50/50)
