Last night I received some feedback on the SPP(tm) – “Secret Podiobook Project” – from two good friends of mine. The introduction was in its early draft stages, and while I felt that it was better than the other two false starts I had produced, I still had some amorphous misgivings surrounding it.
Emily B. and Simon F. acted as fantastic soundboards for me, and I think the SPP is heading in a new and better direction. Determining my narrative approach is proving tricky, because I need a set-up that will ensure that my main character is doing most of the talking in some way or another (to facilitate the voice talents of a friend of mine – the main reason I’m making this a podiobook rather than just a .pdf release), but will also look good on paper, and won’t leave too much room for falling into an overly retrospective and self-absorbed narrative so common with memoir-type pieces.
I’m being mysterious about this project for a few reasons. The main one is that I’m not sure when it’ll be finished, let alone out there in the big wide world. I had ambitious plans for it to be released in August, but the wealth of research and planning I’ve needed to do to prepare has pushed any conceivable completion date way back.
Not to mention the whole hurdle of sound production and marketing online – a bridge I’m planning to cross when I get to it. I’m still loading up my wagon in the gawd-dammed village down the road at the moment.
Also, I find that if I share too much of a project too early, it takes away from the urgency that can lead to 2000+ word days of production. I’m fairy sure a lot of other writers are like this, and I hear the advice to keep a project to yourself for quite a while circulate often in writing circles.
Nevertheless, I wanted to share something, to give you a taste of this one pet project of mine. Here are some of the books I’ve taken out of the library to comb through:
London in the Age of Dickens by Aldon D. Bell
London – The City and Westminster by Arthur Mee
Henry Hudson by Llewelyn Powys
English Life in the Nineteenth Century by Roger Hart
Victorian Buildings of London. 1837-1887: an illustrated guide by Gavin Stamp and Colin Amery
Lost London; a Century of Demolition and Decay by Hermione Hobhouse
Fore & Aft Sailing Craft by Douglas Phillips-Birt
The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor by Darcy Lever
And, perhaps more tantalizing, some of the bookmarks in my project folder:
PBS’ Red Gold
The Diary of a Resurrectionist
Hmmm…that’s a good enough (if potentially misleading) taste for now.
