The Creative Writer's Toolbelt discussion

Hi there Lindy, Terpkristin, Tim, Luca, Jennifer, Marlicia, Sandra, and Noor!

A warm welcome to all of you. I am expecting this group to grow over the coming weeks and months as I put out more podcasts, but it's good to have all of you here now.

Please do let me know what you think of the podcast, I have my own ideas of course but it's easy to get too close to a project when you are very invovled with it, and lose perspective.

With three episodes out there now I am very keen to get some feedback, both on the content and the technical quality of the CWT. Which leads me to a question:

What do you think of the content, and audio quality of the podcast. My opinion at the moment is that the content meets the objectives I set myself but the audio quality needs some work. What do you think? Does the quality put you off? Is it irrelevant? Do you have something else to say about the podcast?

I'd love to hear from any and all of you when you get the chance to get back to me.

With best wishes

Andy

I don't have much feedback beyond saying that I've enjoyed each episode and I hope you keep it going.

Many thanks J - I hope to keep going at it, not sure what frequency I want to aim for, I want to make sure I do the prep to deliver something worth listening to! Plus I want to do some writing - although life does tend to intrude...

I saw your website - I like that beer and pizza thing you have going there ;-)

Haha! Thanks! I like to throw in a bit of humor (like you suggested).

I've been listening since episode one. Your podcast was recommended on the Indie Writers Unite Facebook group.

I think the audio quality is fine, although the theme music is a bit cheesy (it made me smile though, so if that's what you were going for, then keep it up)! :)

The advice you've been giving is very thorough, and I'm loving the examples. It's pretty much the same advice that I get from anywhere else, with one important difference: when you give it, I GET it! I think it's all the examples you use, as well as your voice and style of speech. You're an absolute pleasure to listen to.

The length is also perfect. There's another podcast (The Creative Penn) which is also pretty good, but those are over 40 minutes an episode, and there's NO WAY I have time to listen to something so long! Keep yours under 15 minutes.

So yeah, that's about all I have to say. Thank you for the podcast; I can't wait for the next one! :-)

I'm encouraged to hear all this, it seems that some people (at least) have grasped the principles I'm aiming for here:

- keep it practical
- keep it short and to the point
- keep it honest

I want people to 'get it' as you say, that's the important thing, and 'getting' some of these techniques is hard, because it's not enough to understand them as an intellectual concept - we have to really know them, and practice them, so that we can reproduce them ourselves.

I also intend to keep the podcasts to about 15 minutes. I've nothing against longer podcasts, I've simply asked myself the question - how long would I want to listen to a podcast that was primarily teaching?

As for the theme music, in the spirit of the 'honest' principle - I use it because I do quite like it and it's free - I'll spend my (nonexistent) budget for the podcast in other ways that will help the content, or the audio quality. You are not the first perosn to say that the music can sound a bit cheesy, but I dont't want to change it now ;-) if it makes people smile that's good enough for me.

Thanks for your comments, please do make suggestions if there's any other topic you want me to cover.

Regards

Andy

Graham wrote: "I think the audio quality is fine, although the theme music is a bit cheesy "

Looks like you got your less cheesy, theme tune in the end Graham (;

I do prefer the new one. Firstly, because I associate the old one with the Stuff You Should Know podcast and secondly, now that Graham mentions it, it doesn't fit the more refined style of the CWT podcast. So, the new song is a thumbs up!

Hi Ted

I'm loving that "more refined style" comment, that made my day!

My challenge at the moment is to make sure that what I say is more that just "Creative Writing 101" and really explores the topic, but still stays accessible, and understandable.

We shall see...