Writing, Production, and the Joy of Stepping Away

It’s been a hot minute since I updated this on the status of season 2. I’d like to offer my perspective on the most effective tool a writer has— time.

There is nothing to replace stepping away from a project. No eyes are fresher than the ones that have forgotten the scripts or the story arc. Looking at a script and asking yourself, “What could this have possibly meant” is incredibly effective at highlighting mistakes.

I encountered something of a bug in the conclusion to season 2. I didn’t like where the story ended up. So I dropped it for months. I had all the scripts finished by the beginning of summer last year and I set them aside. The cast recorded through ~Episode 10 or so and then I just let it go to dust.

The miniseries came and went, and then after some time, I re-examined the final episodes and came to a reasonable solution to the story problem. It took an afternoon and everything was fine.

Could this have been achieved without months of delay? Probably. Would it have been as good as it is now? That’s a coin flip.

I’ve always found in my process for writing that the best solution to a problem is either total immersion or total blackout. Rewriting a script over and over, thinking about the solutions without ceasing, or simply nothing. I’ve found now, as someone with less free time to spend dwelling on a scripting issue, shelving the problem creates enough space to navigate it. I think it’s something many writers want to avoid. Inertia IS important to most writers. If you can get page 1, page 2 is a cakewalk, and you won’t even notice you’ve gotten to page 15. But, really, consider it. Step away. A long time. Let it breathe on its own. Come back, examine the real issue, and solve it.

Maybe you don’t need six months, but time is a tool. Use it.

That being said, recording is complete, production is underway, and I expect a launch within a month or two.

See you soon.

Nightmare in Nostalgia Land

The mini-series launched today— a bold new step in delaying podcasts for reasons lost to time. This was initially supposed to be kind of a marketing push for season 2, but after recording about 80% of that, I decided to do some pretty extensive rewrites because I didn’t like the direction it took at the end.

While there’s something to be said for “automatic writing”, ie, the idea that the best material you can create is the material created without thought put towards that material (this is way more complicated than how I’m describing it, but the gist is that you simply output writing with a notion of its direction and then shape it), it’s not always the best fit.

For the most part, I actually do write most of the series this way. With a strong handle on the characters and the sorts of things they do and say, simply creating a situation will typically allow it to resolve naturally while composing the script, and take you places you never planned. However, in the case of the season 2 finale, this has proven to be what many would describe as “A Bad Call”, resulting in nonsense that just doesn’t fit. So it’s being worked on, resulting in a delay, resulting in this delay.

It was actually completed near the beginning of June after a very brief turnaround akin to the Christmas special last year. Just, you know, as they say, shit happens.

Regarding the mini-series, this is an experiment for me largely to see how people react to a story composed by someone else. If it generates any kind of good will towards the idea, we will see more of it. If not, it was fun to do once, and maybe some day we will give it another shot.

I do personally expect to release season 2 this year, however, even if this does not occur, there will be more short specials to come.

The cast is amazing this year. The performances have been absolutely tremendous and I cannot wait for you to hear them. In the meanwhile, enjoy Nightmare in Nostalgia Land!

Season 2 & Mini-Series

Here’s a small piece of Season 2 Episode 1

Far, far from this, the once mighty warship named Kyrgan drifted through space, dead silent. Her engines quiet. Large holes in her hull spilled cargo. Heads, tails and... other parts of terrible monsters, once trophies for her crew, drifted alongside her. No bantering. No arguing. No brewskis. No space hookers. Just a titanic heap of metal and hopelessness. Then-- distant at first, but growing in the distance, was a small point of light.

The ship, a small hauler, matched the Kyrgans' drift pattern. An airlock opened, and out of it came a single cosmonaut and a small robot.

———-

JASPER

You want to come work in the prison?

BERNIE

No, haw haw, I'll be sent to it. It's inevitable. I been to jail so many times.

JARRE

What for?

BERNIE

Uh, political assassination, a thing they call "untenable destruction of Federal property" which basically means I broke a space ship, murder a bunch, parking tickets, tax evasion, grand larceny of ancient art, which wasn't true, I didn't steal it, I ate it. Um, shoot man, I forget after awhile. I've had a good time. Space jail sucks though, escaping it can be a real hastle depending.

JARRE

You are unbearably cool.

JASPER

Jarre, that's... ugh.

BERNIE

No it's okay, it is pretty cool.

JARRE

So what are you, a pirate?

BERNIE

We're... uh.. well... we were just a team of mercenaries. We worked for the triple sevens for awhile and then--

———————————-

We have 11 episodes already written, with a good chunk more on the way.

Jason Edwards, the voice of Bloodstorm, and I are also working on a miniseries that should, in theory, air somewhere between season 1 and 2 depending. I’ll keep you up to date on that. It’s a good story. I think you’ll like it.

I’ll keep you updated here.