When I started planning the first Metamor City novel, Making the Cut, I had just recently discovered a theory of storytelling called Dramatica Theory. This theory would come to play a huge role in the way I think about characters and their place in a story.
I’ve mentioned before that the next Metamor City novel will be called The Lost and the Least. I haven’t spoken very much in public, though, about where this story came from, or why it needs to be written. This blog post is the start of a new series, which I plan to add to roughly once a month, in which I’ll explore the real-life roots of the story and why they matter.
If you’ve listened to my podcasts, especially the feedback shows with Dan Sawyer, you know that I’m a huge fan of the writings of Tee Morris. Tee was one of the original podcast novelists, along with Scott Sigler and Mark Jeffrey, and Tee’s Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword was one of the two works of audio fiction that inspired me to try my hand at it. (The other was Listening Library’s full-cast rendition of The Golden Compass.) I’ve been watching Tee’s work since then with great interest, cheering him on and waiting for his big “breakout hit” that would get him the attention he deserves.
This may be his moment. More after the jump.
Hello, everyone!
Some of you who’ve been following me for a long time may remember that chrislester.org used to look very different. When this was just a private blog for my own scattered ramblings about the world, I found that I didn’t have that much to say. But a lot has changed since that old site went dark.
For one thing, publishing isn’t what it used to be. With vendors like Smashwords and Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing providing a direct link between authors and readers, there has never been a better time to bring my fiction to a broad audience.
There also has never been a better time to be in audio production. Making audiobooks and moving them around used to be expensive — remember those huge boxes of CDs that used to fill the shelves at Borders? — but with the widespread availability of broadband Internet access and 4G phone connections, people can not only easily access audiobooks, they can even stream them directly to their handheld devices. We’ve become sort of inured to this, but when you stop and think about it, it’s pretty incredible. And with audio content easier than ever to access, that means that the demand for it is increasing — and that means big opportunities for authors and producers to reach a vastly increased audience.
This year I’m focused on breaking out from the world of podcasting into the exciting, expanding world of professional audio production. I’ll share my journey with you here as it develops.
And, of course, if you enjoy my rants and ramblings, there will be some of those here, too.
So welcome aboard — and as we say in Metamor City, keep it on the bright side!