Pen to Podcast

This month, Jon and I started recording Stories Across Borders’ third season, preparing our buffer for when the episodes start going out. As many of you reading this probably know, Stories Across Borders follows a pretty specific format. We release the podcast in themed cycles. Every first episode introduces the new theme and discusses it in broader strokes. Then the next two weeks we do two episodes each focusing on a specific story fitting that theme. The final week; I write a short story to fit the theme, Jon reads it for you and then we discuss that story.

It’s that final part of each cycle that I thought I’d write about here. Writing these stories for the podcast tends to be very different from writing short stories outside of SAB - and it’s even more different from working on a novel. I have to work within a very different set of constraints than usual.

Speed is Key

I’ve actually mentioned this on Stories Across Borders before, but I write the stories for the podcast as they are needed. I’m not pulling a story from my back catalogue and then building themes around that story. Instead, Jon and I select a theme we want to talk about and then I write the story to fit that theme. 

The biggest impact this has on the process is that it creates time constraints. Once we start recording, if we’re going to stay on schedule, I have a maximum time of three weeks to figure out the premise of the story, outline the plot beats, write it and edit it to ensure that Jon has enough time to read it over ready for recording.

A maximum of three weeks for a short story that is at most going to be a couple of thousand words long isn’t a crazy short amount of time for that. However, it is deceptive because it’s not like that is the only thing I’m doing in that time. I’m also working on books, writing articles, researching and taking notes for other episodes, editing audio and working on any number of other projects. That is, of course, before factoring in dealing with chronic health problems and other responsibilities.

However, the biggest hurdle this poses isn’t usually getting the story written in time, it’s getting it written to a standard I’m happy with. I don’t have the luxury of doing numerous edits or rewrites, so I have to produce something of a quality that is good enough for public consumption the first time, every time. Mostly, this works out fine. Although, I still think Smiling Into the Dark was a good concept executed terribly.

I don’t say any of this in search of sympathy or praise. Depending on who you are, this either sounds like nothing or it sounds pretty rough. I think both camps are right in one way or another. What I really want to illustrate here though isn’t the difficulties, it’s how different this is than other writing. When factoring in the research from the previous episodes, finding a story to tell that showcases what I want to showcase about a theme and then writing and editing that story for Jon to perform and us to discuss; this feels more like being in a writers’ room for Last Week Tonight or The Daily Show than it feels like being a traditional author.

This isn’t a bad thing, but it’s certainly different.

Keep it Brief

Almost paradoxically perhaps, the format of the podcast doesn’t just mean that I have a limited amount of time to write the stories, but also that the stories can’t be too long. Each episode of Stories Across Borders is usually about an hour long. There are exceptions to that, but we try to stay consistent. With most of the episode to be taken up by discussion, that means that the story at the beginning of the episode really shouldn’t be more than five to ten minutes worth of air time. Especially since we’re branded more as a podcast that discusses stories than a narrative podcast.

This poses an interesting challenge as a writer in the form of a very specific framework the story has to fit into. Generally speaking, most people read at something like 170-200 words per minute when reading aloud. That means each story has to be roughly 1000-2000 words in length (approximately 2-4 pages).

That isn’t long at all, which is a blessing given the limited timeframe I write the podcast stories in. But, that means I also have a very limited space to craft an interesting story. The world of the story needs to be understandable and believable, the narrative needs to be engaging and the characters need to be fully-formed and compelling. In a novel or a longer short story, you’ve got a lot more space to do that in. Additionally, all of this still needs to demonstrate all of the ideas discussed in previous episodes. These stories are meant to not just be examples of how I might approach a theme, but also demonstrate how to execute the ideas we explored in the past episodes well and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Doing that with a maximum of 2000 words isn’t always easy, depending on the concept of the story and the theme we’re investigating with that cycle - even as someone whose stories tend to skew to the shorter side. Essentially, any superfluous details need to be cut leaving only the elements of the story that are most important to the core of what I want to show. 

Interestingly enough though, I think this has actually had a positive influence on my writing overall. Obstacles breed improvement by their nature. Having to communicate my ideas in as concise and punchy a way as I possibly can has made me better at stripping away extraneous content from my work to really focus on the important stuff. As a general rule, I think this has had a positive effect on both the quality of my prose and the impactfulness of my storytelling.

Prompt Relevance

All in all, writing stories for SAB isn’t that different to writing for a prompt. It’s a pretty good exercise for expanding my horizons as an author. I can’t say writing to a prompt is something I gravitate towards by default, but I have definitely come to appreciate the merits of the practice. Plus, I have enjoyed doing so more than I might have expected.

Of course, with each cycle’s theme effectively being a writing prompt, that means prompt relevance is important. In the context of SAB, that doesn’t just mean fitting the basic idea of the theme either. As I said in the previous chapter, that also means I have to demonstrate the ideas we have been discussing in the episodes prior. In a way, these episodes are me putting my money where my mouth is instead of just critiquing without demonstrating what I’m saying myself.

Of course though, I don’t want the stories to just be a rehash of plot elements and narrative conventions that we have already talked about. After 5-10 minutes of story, an episode still had 50-55 minutes of discussion to follow. I make a point then of trying to put a different spin on the prompt compared to other examples to make sure the follow-up discussion is still interesting for an audience as well as for myself and Jon. I try to find a balance between demonstrating what we’ve talked about and showing you how I myself might approach those ideas compared to other people. After all, every writer brings a different voice to the table even when examining the same themes.

Conclusion

To sum it up, writing for SAB presents me with a very different set of challenges than writing other short stories or one of my books. Time, writing space and a required theme make for a much tighter set of constraints than just writing whatever I want to write.

It can be somewhat difficult at times, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I enjoy telling stories, including the ones I write for the podcast, and I genuinely think working within these constraints is good practice. It’s definitely expanded my horizons somewhat as far as the topics I might approach. Besides, sometimes it’s just fun to attempt a challenge and see what I come up with at the end. Nothing worth doing is easy and things get stale if there’s no measure of difficulty to them after a while.

So I intend to continue undertaking this challenge as long as Stories Across Borders continues. I may even continue to do this as a writing exercise when SAB’s run eventually comes to a close. Of course, I have no intention of that happening any time soon. I’m looking forward to season three which is on the way.