Being the Change...

[niko]

So, between tracking the previous post here and being an ffa reader, I'm a little worn down by permission angst (not in a "Stop talking about it" sort of way... just sayin' :) ). Can we have some shiny, happy meta to balance our chi?

I don't have a couple paragraphs in me on any particular topic, but have a bullet list of some of the ways podfic has made me happy lately.

• The way a good podfic can take a story that might seem sort of… non-descript or… “nice enough” if I were just reading to myself, and through the magic of pacing and delivery, make me see that it's really a pretty powerful piece


• Readers who are laid-back and easygoing and soothing in their reading


• Readers who really dig into the prose, rolling the words around and having fun with the language


• Intense scenes where the reader is really "in the moment" and has me holding my breath


• The times when a reader totally nails a character’s voice or inflection – even if they sound nothing like the actual character, otherwise


• The times when the writing style and reader delivery combine to totally nail the tone of source material


• When a line mentions someone giving a huff of laughter, and the reader reads the line with an actual huff of laughter (or other non-verbal vocal ticks.)


• The occasional little editing oopsy that sneaks into an otherwise pristine podfic… always makes me smile :)


• All the subtle inflections in my own readings that no one else will ever notice but that are special to me because of all the takes that came before that weren't *quite* right somehow


• The magic of fixing a reading gaffe by parsing in a few words or even just a syllable from a different "take" and having the edit turn out undetectable


• Cool podfic covers


• Comments (duh :) )


• Actually, now that I think about it, there's also something really satisfying about GIVING comments in podfic-dom, too... knowing how rare they are.

Comments

[colls]

The occasional little editing oopsy that sneaks into an otherwise pristine podfic… always makes me smile :)
:) - me, too. It's like proof that 'hey, this isn't a disembodied voice, it's another fan reading a story'


Sometimes I read a fic so fast that I don't really absorb it and I never realized that until I slowed down and listened to someone else read it. I'll hear things I hadn't noticed or descriptions I'd skimmed over.


/I'm resolving to ignore the wank; whatever it is.
I'm happy, the authors I work with seem happy, I don't really need to know/care about anything else.

[pandarus]

Yeah, I like the little touches that further humanise the performance - a cat in the background, or whatever. It's lovely to get that awareness of the podficcer as a fellow fan somewhere on the earth, loving this story and sharing it with us.

[klb]

I love this list!

I don't have additional list items, exactly, but I thought maybe I could contribute by copy-pasting what I wrote last night to my pod_together group in answer to the icebreaker question "Why do you create fanworks? What does it mean to you?"

I create podfic for a few different reasons. One is that it is my way of participating in the fannish conversation. I like to talk about my thoughts about stories and characters, but somehow that never really translates into fic in my head (even though I enjoy writing—I just have trouble with the actual imagining-the-details-of-what-happens-in-the-story part, I think? And I've read so much good fic that fandom seems like a really high-pressure place to play with writing, as opposed to, say, a writing group among friends). But I've loved theatre since I was a kid, and I had a void in my life for many years when I stopped acting, which only really got filled when I discovered podfic. I love the way performance is a challenge, is stretching oneself but also expressing oneself, or more like expressing different parts of oneself through the different characters. I love working to deeply understand everything that I think a particular line could mean, and then trying to express that all through my performance. And I love that when I listen back to my own performance, I often discover more inside it that I didn't even realize I was putting there at the time. It's this beautiful blend of self-expression and self-discovery, of exploration of situations and characters through embodying them, and of the discipline of trying to hone my craft and find ways to constantly improve my breath control, vocal tone, and so on while also taking on the challenges of specific situations like what do I do when a character's crying but I can't make myself cry on command? How do I voice emoticons? How do I show it when the only word is "hm" and yet I need to convey that the character is feeling two or three conflicting emotions at once? And then, beyond all that, the experience of putting myself into the moment of the story, letting go of everything else and just trying to live it aloud into the microphone... yeah. I really love podfic. As you can probably tell, it means a great deal to me.

[chemm80]

I don't have a lot to add, but the little twinges of recognition of my own feelings in all of these points (and indeed with the ones raised in comments) really have me smiling.

[greedy_dancer]

A+++++++ post :)))))

[sylvaine]

The one thing that will never fail to put a grin on my face is reading porn. The more gasping and moaning involved, the better. :D I don't even know why! But that's one of my favourite bits about recording podfic. *g*

(Naturally, despite that, most of what I podfic is gen-ish! Because those are usually the stories that really catch my attention.)

[mothlights]

Fab post!! I agree with every item on your list. I love that podficcing lets you dive into a story you love and roll around with it, spending time and learning more about it in a way you wouldn't otherwise. And, as klb said so well, the experience of putting myself into the moment of the story, letting go of everything else and just trying to live it aloud into the microphone

[nickelmountain]

Yes to everything in this post!

And I'd also add, for myself:

*Similar to your first item - the way a good podfic can take a whole fandom that might seem nondescript or otherwise not-my-thing and bring it to life in a way that makes me feel really invested. Just reading fic can't always do this for me - if I don't know who the characters are and can't figure out what's going on, I'm more inclined to fail out of a fic. A good podfic, though, makes everything feel immediate and real, and makes me want to stick around. Some podfics have brought me full-scale into new fandoms; others have brought me into listening to other podfics from a fandom, even if the fandom itself still leaves me cold. I love that!

*Readers who add an extra layer of creative oomph to their work through the skillful use of sound effects, music, visuals, or creative collaboration. I like simplicity in podfic, but I also love those moments when the reader/editor takes me completely off guard with some creative stroke of genius.

Everything else I can think of is some variation of what you already said. Thanks for posting this! :D

[metanewsmods]

Hello, may we link this at metanews?

[niko]

Hi, I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for several weeks, but if it's still of interest, yes, permission is all good.