Writing
This
area will be mostly about the writing, but one key point
I should make now; the writing is never done until the Poinkcast
is finished, edited and ready for release. I'll expand on
that as we go.
All
of it begins with an idea. I could be out driving and see
something, read something that gets my mind going, or wake
up in the middle of the night with one, but they usually
start with one thought that I'll elaborate on. One tip I've
found invaluable though; purchase a small, cheap voice recorder.
You never know where or when an idea will come, but with
everything you deal with on a day to day basis, you can
have a really great idea and forget it at the next traffic
light. Don't worry about sound quality or memory or Stereo
or any bells and whistles; all you want is a pocket memo
taker. I got mine in a Pawn Shop for 10.00.
For
my first draft; I'll sit down, take the original idea, and
just write whatever comes to mind about it. Since I'm doing
it on my computer I have net access as well, so I'll also
run searches in the background researching this or that;
which gives me more material to play with. At this point,
I’m not worried about story length or flow or even
grammer; I just want to get the original thought and whatever
else comes to mind on paper. In my case, if I can come up
with a complete writeup with intro, middle and end, then
it's a piece to work on and expand, but if I hit a wall
at this point and it takes more then 5 minutes to blow past
it, I just save whatever I've written to look at another
day; maybe the vibe just isn’t there right now; but
later it may come to me and expand itself. I've had a few
of those. Once the first draft is done, then I work on the
second.
For
the second draft, I may work on it immediately because I'm
still feeling the vibe, or I may wait till the evening and
work on it then, possibly with a nice adult beverage, but
the main feel for the second draft I want is to be relaxed
so I can concentrate on the nuances. I also put on my headphones
at this time and listen to music. For my standup, I use
audience reaction to time things and pace the material,
but for the PoinkCast; I use music since no one's going
to listen till they download it. For me, this helps keep
the recording tight and moving along, and gives the listener
something to keep time with as well. For the music I normally
have an idea what music I want to use while writing the
second draft; it can be a song a lot of people know with
a title or theme that loosly ties in to the material, or
some piece that just emotionally connects for me to the
spirit of the story. As far as what music I use anything
goes; but above all I try to shoot for something with no
vocals or as little as possible. Despite what you read online;
I have yet to find any process that will decently remove
vocals ; and a song with a lot of vocals can get really
confusing when listening back to it. Also for the second
draft, I’m tightening things up; I like the humor
to be quick and punchy, and unless there's a line I feel
really good about, I keep setup and explanation to a minimum,
and try to have a punch line every second or third line
at the least. There might be an idea that I think is really
funny, but I've found if you have to spend a lot of time
explaining it, then it loses humor and kills the flow. Once
this is done, then I send it out to a small group of people
who I trust to read it and give me an honest opinion as
to whether it's funny, confusing, or complete shit. This
is when I'll get corrections and ideas that I'll use in
the final draft. Yes, I know I said that the writing part
doesn't stop; I'll explain as we go, but for the most part,
the bulk of the writing is now done. The only other suggestion
I have here is, when all is said and done, the entire file
should never be over 5 minutes; unless the material is pretty
damn funny, after 5 minutes you're going to tire of the
subject, and so is the listener in most cases. I try to
keep in the 3.5 to 4 minute mark.
Next
>
Editing
•
Recording
• Writing
