I think when I thought about writing a radio drama for a class project, I severely underestimated how difficult it was actually going to be. I also didn't give a single thought to how much work it was going to take to write, and how much work I'd be doing in my other classes.
Nevertheless, I blindly wrote up a plan to write, record and produce a radio drama-- that not only addressed a major issue in the lives of people today, but that would also be really fun to listen to.
I probably decided at the beginning of the year that my creative energies could be put to good use, since I almost always found time to do creative stuff anyway. Why not kill two birds with one stone, and have a snazzy radio drama to show off at the end of the year?
And indeed, why not?
Well, writing is hard. And when you're trying to force yourself to be creative, to write something you're proud of in time to meet a deadline, it's even harder. And a lot of the time impossible.
The first three weeks of work, I really threw myself into the writing process. I didn't really know what I wanted the radio drama to be about, but I experimented with plots and characters and setting and everything else. After the enormity of the DRIVE project, writing a radio drama seemed like a breeze. I could easily do that and manage a café and finish all my homework. After all, Smith had accepted me early on the basis that I work just as hard as ever.
Or so I tried to tell myself. In truth, I became totally unmotivated and absolutely lazy. Nothing could get me to do anything more than the minimum.
It was a dark few weeks. Finally I realized that if I bullied myself into doing my work, I couldn't reason myself out of it. After a slip-up of a missed deadline, I had something to scare myself back into working hard. I also pretty much blocked out the fact that I'd already been accepted to college. There was no time for celebration. I decided to volunteer to help manage the band.
And all the while, I had to continue writing this radio drama. Sometime around this point, I entered the second three weeks of work. I realized there was no way I could possibly write an entertaining radio drama about representation of different factions of people. I'm sure it's possible, but I just wasn't up to the task. I decided to refocus my "issue" on something broader: the hopes and fears of my peers. I crafted a survey, and started receiving incredibly interesting and inspiring responses: things I could easily write into my radio script.
Those second three weeks were when the writer's block started to raise its ugly head. I pushed through and ignored it (although there wasn't much script writing that went on). I concentrated on managing the café and the band and got more and more worried when I couldn't write anything good when the deadline was approaching.
There was enough script to start thinking about recording it-- a good thing, since I'd promised a trial episode at the end of the third three weeks.
The writer's block rose up and swamped me. I bought a notebook to try and move things along. I talked to my friends to see if they had any good ideas. I absolutely had to record the episode by the deadline. I hadn't even picked official voice actors yet.
And I hadn't written any new scripts. The deadline loomed higher than the writer's block, and I penned a few pages in my new notebook. It was absolutely awful, but I had to record.
I hadn't even given much thought to the logistics of recording-- just how terrible it would be if I didn't do it. My assembled group of friends sat around the new notebook and a cat and read my script into my iPod microphone as dishes were washed in the other room and my other friends talked and laughed around us.
I learned a lot, basically.
I need to put my actors in a heavily cushioned and carpeted room to prevent other noises. This should have been obvious, and I am ashamed of not recognizing it.
I also need to coach my chosen voice actors (whoever they end up being) on the finer points of sarcasm. I guess it's really hard to learn to be sarcastic, but by Zeus, I am going to teach them.
And on the subject of actors, I have officially cast two out of four roles. My actors for David and Harlow amazed me with their reading prowess and the way they gave exactly the sort of personality that I wanted for each character.
I also learned, and this might be a little hard to explain, I guess, but once I pick my voice actors, I'm going to have to write their lines more carefully. Each person has a specific way of speaking that can't be changed with written lines, so I'm probably going to have to alter the characters' lines based on their actors.
Which is really interesting, actually. I didn't even begin to think about how the actors' voices were going to change the characters. But it's cool to listen to. Everything about the recording process was really informative. And I know what I'm going to change next time.
And hopefully I'll have a bit more script for the actors to read! This was not a very productive three weeks in general, but they have definitely launched me into the next chapter of this epic. I really hope I'll be able to use everything I've learned to make my radio drama as excellent as I imagined it would be when I decided to create it.
Nevertheless, I blindly wrote up a plan to write, record and produce a radio drama-- that not only addressed a major issue in the lives of people today, but that would also be really fun to listen to.
I probably decided at the beginning of the year that my creative energies could be put to good use, since I almost always found time to do creative stuff anyway. Why not kill two birds with one stone, and have a snazzy radio drama to show off at the end of the year?
And indeed, why not?
Well, writing is hard. And when you're trying to force yourself to be creative, to write something you're proud of in time to meet a deadline, it's even harder. And a lot of the time impossible.
The first three weeks of work, I really threw myself into the writing process. I didn't really know what I wanted the radio drama to be about, but I experimented with plots and characters and setting and everything else. After the enormity of the DRIVE project, writing a radio drama seemed like a breeze. I could easily do that and manage a café and finish all my homework. After all, Smith had accepted me early on the basis that I work just as hard as ever.
Or so I tried to tell myself. In truth, I became totally unmotivated and absolutely lazy. Nothing could get me to do anything more than the minimum.
It was a dark few weeks. Finally I realized that if I bullied myself into doing my work, I couldn't reason myself out of it. After a slip-up of a missed deadline, I had something to scare myself back into working hard. I also pretty much blocked out the fact that I'd already been accepted to college. There was no time for celebration. I decided to volunteer to help manage the band.
And all the while, I had to continue writing this radio drama. Sometime around this point, I entered the second three weeks of work. I realized there was no way I could possibly write an entertaining radio drama about representation of different factions of people. I'm sure it's possible, but I just wasn't up to the task. I decided to refocus my "issue" on something broader: the hopes and fears of my peers. I crafted a survey, and started receiving incredibly interesting and inspiring responses: things I could easily write into my radio script.
Those second three weeks were when the writer's block started to raise its ugly head. I pushed through and ignored it (although there wasn't much script writing that went on). I concentrated on managing the café and the band and got more and more worried when I couldn't write anything good when the deadline was approaching.
There was enough script to start thinking about recording it-- a good thing, since I'd promised a trial episode at the end of the third three weeks.
The writer's block rose up and swamped me. I bought a notebook to try and move things along. I talked to my friends to see if they had any good ideas. I absolutely had to record the episode by the deadline. I hadn't even picked official voice actors yet.
And I hadn't written any new scripts. The deadline loomed higher than the writer's block, and I penned a few pages in my new notebook. It was absolutely awful, but I had to record.
I hadn't even given much thought to the logistics of recording-- just how terrible it would be if I didn't do it. My assembled group of friends sat around the new notebook and a cat and read my script into my iPod microphone as dishes were washed in the other room and my other friends talked and laughed around us.
I learned a lot, basically.
I need to put my actors in a heavily cushioned and carpeted room to prevent other noises. This should have been obvious, and I am ashamed of not recognizing it.
I also need to coach my chosen voice actors (whoever they end up being) on the finer points of sarcasm. I guess it's really hard to learn to be sarcastic, but by Zeus, I am going to teach them.
And on the subject of actors, I have officially cast two out of four roles. My actors for David and Harlow amazed me with their reading prowess and the way they gave exactly the sort of personality that I wanted for each character.
I also learned, and this might be a little hard to explain, I guess, but once I pick my voice actors, I'm going to have to write their lines more carefully. Each person has a specific way of speaking that can't be changed with written lines, so I'm probably going to have to alter the characters' lines based on their actors.
Which is really interesting, actually. I didn't even begin to think about how the actors' voices were going to change the characters. But it's cool to listen to. Everything about the recording process was really informative. And I know what I'm going to change next time.
And hopefully I'll have a bit more script for the actors to read! This was not a very productive three weeks in general, but they have definitely launched me into the next chapter of this epic. I really hope I'll be able to use everything I've learned to make my radio drama as excellent as I imagined it would be when I decided to create it.