Ask Him Yourself!

[Hellbringer]

Attachment 2919
The darker areas mean the more downloads. As is: 75% US downloads, 12.3% UK, 3.7% Canada. The rest is pretty spread out with Australia being next in line.

So you haven't cracked Somalia, Turkmenistan, and North Korea. You need to get Dennis Rodman to pitch your show to the dictatorship of that peninsula.

Seriously, though, what program do you use to monitor the downloads?

[Kc]

So you haven't cracked Somalia, Turkmenistan, and North Korea. You need to get Dennis Rodman to pitch your show to the dictatorship of that peninsula.

Seriously, though, what program do you use to monitor the downloads?

That map is from libsyn, but we have stats from feedburner too. Feedburner isn't as accurate any more and may have missed a good % of download statistics. We could be well over 20 million by now and not have known it due to days of it reporting no data or not the full # of downloads due to bandwidth concerns. It missed stats during peak times. Right now when we compare the two, we can see libsyn is generally about 10-20% higher for the exact same server.

[alexcadtek]

KC will you have more items in the website store? I like whats there already but just wondering.

[alexcadtek]

Oh and your next project will be when? will we get info here on the website when your done with the show. Or will we have to follow the news elsewhere.

[tonyhind86]

Oh and your next project will be when? will we get info here on the website when your done with the show. Or will we have to follow the news elsewhere.

I can guarantee that the next project will be announced on here. The forum will continue after WA has ended.

[alexcadtek]

I can guarantee that the next project will be announced on here. The forum will continue after WA has ended.

Ya, but I dont think I can wait that long, the freaking anticipation is killing me. And what the project is going to be about? who knows. Or do you have any hints.

[tonyhind86]

Ya, but I dont think I can wait that long, the freaking anticipation is killing me. And what the project is going to be about? who knows. Or do you have any hints.

At this point in time, the only person who has any idea is KC himself. But truth be told, I like not knowing, as it adds to the surprise element.

That's why every WA episode release is so soecial - because we have nothing but our own theories to guide us (which often tend to be waaay off)

[Kc]

KC will you have more items in the website store? I like whats there already but just wondering.

Yes, but we do that stuff slowly and methodically. Since we opperate on such a shoestring budget, buying a product in bulk or something that won't sell could potentially leave us with not enough $ to operate.

Oh and your next project will be when? will we get info here on the website when your done with the show. Or will we have to follow the news elsewhere.

Not sure of when. I've been working on it for a LONG time, actually two big stories. I have an idea of which one I'm going to do first, but it all depends on what medium I choose. Any and all news will be here as well.

I can guarantee that the next project will be announced on here. The forum will continue after WA has ended.

Yup. With the various other projects I have in store, the forum will live on in those other things. If anything the Burt book is still coming. It's just sitting in my box until I have enough time to devote to it.

Ya, but I dont think I can wait that long, the freaking anticipation is killing me. And what the project is going to be about? who knows. Or do you have any hints.

Patience... I work like crazy on this stuff and I don't think I'll rest for long after WA is done. I'd love to do another audio drama, but the workload for this one is a bit more than I can bare with it not being my full-time job.

At this point in time, the only person who has any idea is KC himself. But truth be told, I like not knowing, as it adds to the surprise element.
That's why every WA episode release is so soecial - because we have nothing but our own theories to guide us (which often tend to be waaay off)

Yup, no previews, nothing. If it's a book, there may not even be a description on the back cover. How much curiosity would there be if you read the back cover and it said "You'll just have to read it to find out".

[Litmaster]

Hi Kc... I had a serious question about your perspective on storytelling through the medium of audio drama:

Context:
I've noticed that several times throughout the WA series, you've made use of this audio drama's 'non-visual' nature to purposefully withhold information for the sake of the story. Examples: the recent attack on Datu, the CJ-Scratch knife fight, the murder of Pippin, etc. Often times the listener doesn't fully understand what they just heard until the next episode or some time later. If this were a movie, I guess this technique would be somewhat analogous to the camera zooming in on the killer's gun yet not revealing the shooter's identity.


Questions:
In what ways do you think that working in a purely audio medium both helps and hurts your ability to tell a story?
Are their advantages audio drama provides storytelling that other art forms perhaps do not?
How do you think that the WA story would be different if told in a different medium? (e.g., film or literature)



These are guiding questions that you can answer in the aggregate, instead of point-by-point, if you'd like. To clarify, I'm mainly wondering about the storytelling aspect here, not practical issues like how a different medium would affect budget, casting, etc.

[Kc]

Questions:
In what ways do you think that working in a purely audio medium both helps and hurts your ability to tell a story?
Are their advantages audio drama provides storytelling that other art forms perhaps do not?
How do you think that the WA story would be different if told in a different medium? (e.g., film or literature)

In what ways do you think that working in a purely audio medium both helps and hurts your ability to tell a story? & Are their advantages audio drama provides storytelling that other art forms perhaps do not?

Well, just the fact that you have to TELL rather than show. That aspect alone causes more problems and technical hurdles than anything else. Action scenes are VERY difficult to pull off without some sort of narration. It can also screw up the pacing because in the middle of an action scene, we butt in with a journal entry. In tactical situations the reality of the scene would have them just shut up and use hand signals, here, we have to "talk it out". Any time a character is in a scene, we have to introduce them with a line rather than them just being quiet and observing. We also have to be careful to also use the character's names in introductions and things. Casting is a pain because if two characters sound similar, then scenes get confusing. Also, we have to be VERY careful with just about every word and inflection used. There's no visual to re-enforce an emotion or thought-process, so we have to use dialogue only to have something come across. "Often times the listener doesn't fully understand what they just heard until the next episode or some time later." --- That's mostly why people complain about slower episodes, but don't realize that the slower episodes raise the stakes and set up the other episodes to have that action. Because it's audio only, we have to spend more time in setups and establish things than visual mediums that can do the same in seconds.

The pluses? Not having to SHOW anything. We can do pretty much anything we want in the story and not have to worry about settings. There's also some scenes that the "devil is in the details". If we were to show you the

SPOILER 

list that Michael found in Raydon

then people would over-analyze everything to the point where anything and everything can be proven wrong. Same with Datu's matagun. The actual mechanics of it doesn't have to be shown, so we don't have to worry about the exact specs. So, we get to fudge some stuff.

If it were film, I would do similar story-telling techniques, but not the same. I would rarely show what the zombies looked like. The focus would be on the characters and reactions, and not the special effects that go into making the monsters. I also would show little to no blood or gore. We do more in the audio drama because it can't be seen, so there's already a filter. As much as I write this stuff, I am not an advocate of visual violence.