Prompt gathering

[zvi]

So, for three_weeks_for_dw, people were interested in both frequent meta discussion and reviews.

So, please comment to this post if there's a discussion about podfic that you'd like us to have. If you have a full fledged entry, you can tell me that you'd like to do the posting. If you just have an idea you'd be okay with me riffing on, say that and I will.

Alternately, if you'd like to review a podfic, I'd like you to comment with the name of the podfic and the date you'll post. This isn't a very serious commitment; you can blow it off without recrimination. I'd just like people to try to space the reviews out a bit, and I know that I, personally, am more likely to complete a specific act with a deadline than a general, "Oh, I should participate in that project," notion.

Remember, reviews should tell us 1) What worked 2) What didn't and 3) a podfic-metaish thing that the podfic made you think of.

Comments

[zvi]

I'd like people to discuss what they wish they'd knew before they listened to their first podfic, and what they wish they'd known before they recorded their first podfic (or what they wish brand new podficcers would learn.)

[podcath]

I'd be interested in talking about podbook covers. I know I'd always expect the reader to be on there, but most podbook covers only have author and title. So now i'm feeling kinda egotistical to put my name on my podfics, but, in a way, the reader is the creator of that particular fanwork, right? So shouldn't her name be on there?

[roga]

I'd have no idea how to make this into a post myself, but I've been thinking about whether a podficcer can make any changes to a fic when they're recording it, with the author's permission, or maybe even an author writing a version of their fic that's better suited for podficcing. This came to me when I was listening to a fic, and I loved it -- and suddenly there was an NC-17 sex scene, and while I'm perfectly okay with that in writing, I always feel really awkward listening to it recorded, and I imagine there are many podficcers who dislike recording sex scenes. And I thought -- what if there was a way to just have an abridged, or toned down version, of sex scenes, for the sake of podficcing? Should we even be thinking about it? Will authors ever give podficcers leeway for changing their stories? Will authors be bothered to create alternate versions of their stories?

Sex scenes were what got me into thinking about this, but then I started thinking about how it might apply to smaller changes. Like, let's say there's a long dialogue scene; could a podficcer add dialogue tags to make it clearer for those listening? Can a podficcer not only read the story text, but adapt it to fit the medium?

I'm not that active in podfic meta so possibly these issues have been discussed before. But I think it could be interesting, and hopefully even productive.

[paraka]

I like this topic. I've come across at least one podfic that was abridged, although I haven't read the written version so I don't know what was out out. And I've totally hit stories that read totally fine but when you say them, they come off as repetitive or confusing.

I'd also be interested to hear what people's takes are on typos and small errors within the text. I know I've run across a couple fics that are great stories but I've been put off from podficing them since I noticed a couple such errors and didn't want to deal with having to either read the wrong line or change the source in my reading of it.

[podcath]

I've made small changes when it was clear it was a typo, wrong tense or lacking subject/object consistency. Once there was a factual error (the wrong time difference between two places in the US) and I just substituted 2 for 3. And once I've skipped a word after 15 attempts to pronounce it failed :) But I'd feel very very uncomfortable editing a story to remove content.

As for the sex getting deleted. We've had this conversations before podfic I think: there used to be quite a few folks who'd offer NC17 and PG versions of chapters or added the sex scene that underage readers could skip. My thinking on that is that if you can skip the sex scene then it wasn't necessary. Or, said differently, I think that sex scenes are not extraneous or added on but instead when done properly tell us something about the characters and their interactions (in fact, I think that a lot of emotional interaction is played out metaphorically in the physicality of those scenes). So I'm pretty sure I'd not edit/censor/change a story upon reading. [And I realize I'm commenting on the OP rather than your point...]

[brimtoast]

I may do a podfic review tomorrow (Monday May 3rd) for New Rule read by shiningartifact. I'm going to check with the reader first and make sure she's cool with being reviewed and discussed here, but if she is, I have the whole morning free and already know most of what I'm going to say about it.

[zvi]

Looking forward to it!

[brimtoast]

Got permission and am typing it up now.

[ama_nesciri]

hey! i'd love for everyone to talk about what got them into listening to podfic [ie. what was the first podfic they loved? etc] and to talk about their top 2 or more favorite podfics, and then talk about whey they love them so much -- if this all hasn't been done yet lol!