Static Whisper

I'm kinda glad that asking if podfic could be submitted for commenters to choose from for April Comment Shower Bingo did end up allowing that fanwork type into the collection. The last I knew, two podfics that I didn't create have been added to the collection and I think at least one has new comments on them.

The state of commenting on podfic is quite different from commenting on fanfic, so anything that helps another comment on a podfic feels like some level of success.

Day #13: Make a rec list of fanworks.

I only have one fic. Fandom: What We Do In The Shadows (TV).

"Dreams of Evanescent Dew" by kyrilu is a complete fic [oneshot] with 13,280 words. It's primarily Djinn/Nandor in a Season 4 canon divergence that was written with a few details of what might happen in that season. Other relationships: Guillermo/Nandor is very brief and of the 'Nandor realizes he liked Guillermo too late' sort with more development of (and endgame) Guillermo/Freddie. The marriage to Marwa definitely does not happen, and she has a different ending compared to canon. For me, this fic scratches a nice Season 4 Fix-It itch, and I really prefer that this isn't a Guillermo/Nandor focused story.

( Read more... )

This excerpt is from a scene between Nandor and Miss Jana [Original Character]:

When he landed, he was in front of a cafe. The smell of coffee was strong and thick, nothing like the overly saccharine Starbucks that Nandor often tasted from his victims' bloodstreams.

"Are you going in?" said a voice behind him, and then shifted in recognition. "Nandor! It's been forever since you dropped by. إزيَّك؟"

The speaker was a long-haired woman in her mid-forties, who was bundled up in a gray coat with matching gray gloves and a gray mask. She looked a little older than Nandor had seen her last, but he supposed that was how human aging worked.

Nandor thumped a hand on his chest in greeting and hurried to hold open the door for her. "I've been-- busy. Traveling and such. How are you, Miss Jana?"

"Good, good," she said, pulling down her hood and stepping inside, heading toward a table. "I have to say, it's a pain trying to get the nieces and nephews to sit down for a single round of tawla. Too busy with their Minecrafts and Fortnites.”

[...]

Nandor, who was semi-aware of the plague business, nodded and gave Huxley a final pat. While Jana ordered coffee from the waiter, he looked around. There were only a handful of other customers, primarily elderly men smoking shisha. A television was on in the background, muffled, while the cafe played depressing-sounding jazz.

He said, "Where are the others?"

She shrugged. "We’ve been scattered for the last two years. Sometimes we play a game over Zoom. Youssef's been hustling in Washington Square, that fiend. But he's doing God’s work keeping those arrogant chess geniuses on those toes."

Nandor grimaced. Youssef was the best backgammon player of their little group, and he didn't let them forget it. Nandor had even considered eating him, but he had the inkling that he would taste like leather and copious gambler sweat.

It's a nice expansion on a detail first introduced in an earlier scene while Nandor is in the Djinn's library and can recognize more Arabic than Al Qolnidarese. It helps to build out on a sort of friendship with a human who is not a Familiar or knows about vampires, which isn't an absolute must have in this type of comedy, but it just winds up landing in a satisfying way. Nandor is very much still trying to find himself and figure out how to be happy, you know?

While there is a sequel and this is Part One of a series, it feels complete and, personally, I don't really mind just re-reading this as a standalone fic. I briefly considered this for None English Fest, but I didn't exactly get around to fest entries in 2023. However, I can say that kyrilu has permission to podfic:

I really appreciate anyone who puts time and work into remixes, translations, sequels, and podfics in regard to my fics. Blanket permission is allowed, as long as you credit me - I'd love to see whatever you came up with! Thank you!

Day #2: In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year.

Last year's goals, basically.

I had another round of losing my voice during illness, among other obstacles. It's possible to claim last year's Merlin Bingo board again, but I'm very aware that I just want to finish my old Podfic Bingo list for myself.

Anything else will be a nice bonus. Last I knew, I did have the recording done for at least two of the oneshots, so I just need to re-find where I am in the editing process.

Day #12: In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.

One. I want to finish my 2022 to 2023 round of Podfic Bingo.

I got really ambitious with the planning and aiming for more than one bingo aspect, but I need to remember the seasonal part of the Seasonal Mental Illness. I'm two for two on not really creating podfic during parts of the autumn and winter, so I should probably stop assuming that I'll somehow force myself to finish a busy to-do list during that period of time in the future.

Two. I want to get one bingo on my Merlin Bingo card.

I've got cross-fill plans with my Podfic Bingo card, so I'm not hedging on just filling one square or anything that seems a bit nicer to my planning abilities. Each podfic submission has to be at least ten minutes long, and multi-chapter works with individual chapters more than ten minutes long can have each chapter count towards a square, so I think I can get a bingo with three works. (An 1,862 word oneshot, a 1,218 oneshot, and a 59,500 multi-chapter.)


Realistically, this isn't an arduous set of goals. It's very likely that I'll also do some other events and stuff, but I want the easy dopamine (or whatever chemical) of crossing off every item on a to-do list. I also don't want to underestimate completing that longfic in a little under a year.

Day #5: In your own space, tell us about 3 creative/fannish resources, spaces, or communities you use or enjoy.

Podfic: A Resource Index: A website that links out to all sorts of resources for creating podfic. There's stuff for how to choose something to podfic, where to host your audio files, how to edit, picking a microphone, cover art resources, music, sound effects, how to post a podfic to AO3, links to some podfic fandom events, and more.

podfichat: The permanent invite link (also listed at the above site) for a Discord server focused on podfic. There's beginner resources, a channel for equipment talk (like microphones), a channel for language help, ping-able roles to ask for help with specific editing programs (like Audacity), a channel to ask for a beta listener, a channel to share links to fandom events that accept podfic, and all sorts of channels I can't think of in detail right now. (Once you've interacted past a certain threshold, you'll gain access to the safer spaces lobby and be able to join community specific channels: aspecs-in-space, BIPOC-space, Disability-space, polyamory-polysexuality, and trans.)

It's more of a general and multi-fandom space. There's a channel for discussion for events, but the events that get talked about - like, Informal Twitter Podfic Exchange, Out of the Auditary, Podfic Bingo, Voiceteam, and so on - take place elsewhere and don't require joining this server. ITPE was still able to take place on Twitter this year, each round of Voiceteam is in its own Discord server, and there's often a Dreamwidth community or a tumblr blog for events. Example: Podfic Calendar and its tumblr version.

Podfic Turtles: A smaller Discord server, more or less as a back channel to podfichat, that was started for some people who were facing longfic and wanted to cheer each other on a bit. There's no wordcount requirement before joining, but I would like to note that it doesn't really have as much beginner stuff already there. (Not that anyone wouldn't answer a question exactly; it's just not set up to specifically answer 101 questions like podfichat.) There's a specific channel to share to-do lists, though. [I'm not sure if I can give out a permanent invite link to this server, but I think it's pinned in one of the resources channels in podfichat.]

Blanket Permission Highlighter: A browser extension that highlights creators with blanket permission to create transformative works while browsing on AO3. You can also select an option to only show works by BP creators in search results.

AO3 Enhancements [or Chrome version]: A browser extension that's not podfic specific, but I've found that it does have some beneficial aspects while browsing. I use my narrating words per minute as the "reading speed" and have the Reading Time for the work and each chapter be an estimate of how long my podfic will be. I can also hide works without using a workskin on AO3 itself, so I don't have to be logged in; I can hide works with more than a certain number of fandoms, hide certain relationship tags, and hide works from certain creators (helpful if they don't want their works podficced).

Challenge #3: In your own space, Scream Into the Void. Get it all out.

Sometimes I just rely on the Blanket Permission Highlighter because I feel like I'm playing a high stakes puzzle by looking at profiles.

I give blanket permission for fanworks, just ask me first :)

I can only assume that this means the person will always give permission to anyone who asks, but like, that's still 'ask first'.

Don't repost, copy, or host podfics on any site outside of ao3

I mean, okay, sure. It just sounds like a nope to any podfics then because ao3 doesn't host them. Even if someone wants a shared link to a Google Drive upload, so it's not on a site itself, the mp3 files have to go somewhere before they can be posted onto ao3. Host does not equal post. (Some phrasing also lumps podfic in with copying and reposting fanfic in a way that seems a bit disingenuous, but this venting isn't about that.)

I give blanket permission for podfics, just let me know first

Is the Related Work Notification email not enough? (Bonus puzzling out if the profile has zero way of contacting them in the profile itself. I am not going to crawl through dozens or hundreds of fanworks to maybe find links to other sites in the end notes.) Should I give a heads up before I record, or do I need to comment after I've posted in case the email notifications are turned off? If I don't have to ask, what does 'let me know' actually mean here?

Work Title: [Podfic] Feeling Sluggish

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply, | Fandom: Harry Potter | Category: F/M.

Relationship(s): Severus Snape/Lily Evans Potter.

Character(s): Lily Evans Potter, Severus Snape.

Additional Tags: POV Lily Evans Potter, Marauders Era, Teenage Severus Snape, Teenage Lily Evans Potter, Slug Vomiting Spell, Hurt/Comfort, Podfic, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming.

Language: English. | Posted: 10 November 2022. Revealed: 30 December 2022. | Time: 12 minutes, 7 seconds.

Summary:

snapesnailtape's original summary: In which Lily finds Severus in the hospital wing on the night of the Halloween feast.

This work has been podficced as a gift for the HP Secret Santa Rare Pairs 2022 exchange. A note of reassurance that there are no sound effects in this podfic.

Work Title: Hunith’s Second Winter in Ealdor

Rating: General Audiences | Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply | Fandom: Merlin (TV) | Category: Gen.

Relationship(s): Hunith & Original Characters.

Character(s): Hunith, Original Characters.

Additional Tags: Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Canon, Jewish Hunith, Historical Jigsaw, Winter, Illness | Sickness, Hanukkah, Panfandom Hanukkah Bingo 2022.

Fanfic: Complete. | Oneshot. | Word count: 330.

Summary:

Ealdor is in the grips of a cold December.

For Panfandom Hanukkah Bingo 2022 for the prompts: Winter, and Free. In a failed attempt to keep this as a drabble, this is set before Balinor’s disappearance has been presumed to be a death.