Category Archives: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

The Story Board – Episode #1

For those of you who missed it live, here’s the first episode of the The Story Board.

All in all, it went fairly well. Most importantly, we avoided any major catastrophes.

That’s always my worry when doing something like this for the first time, that the technical end of things will go up in a huge conflagration of suck.

Luckily, I managed to hold everything together through a sheer effort of will. You might think I’m exaggerating my own importance here, but I’m not. I know this because about 8 minutes after we finished the show, just when I started to relax, my browser crashed so hard that I had to reboot the computer.

Still, I’m counting it as a win. And now that I have half a clue, the next show will be even better.

While we’re on the subject, there were a few show related comments/questions that caught my eye, so I figured I’d address them here:

  • “Pat, do you really have a whole shelf full of just your own books in your house?”

Um. Yes. More than one shelf full, actually. Don’t question my lifestyle.

But what you see in the video isn’t my house, it’s the writer’s equivalent of my Batcave.

The books you see there are some of the inventory for our online store, The Tinker’s Packs, where we sell signed books, posters, t-shirts, and other stuff to support my charity, Worldbuilders.

  • “Jim Butcher looks like he’s gonna go hunt a bear.”

Yes he does. Then again, Jim Butcher *always* looks like he’s going to go hunt a bear.

  • “This is the internet. There is no need to artificially constrain ones language or time spent. If you all felt like you could have spoken (interestingly to you) on the subject for 30-60 more minutes, i’m sure quite a few viewers would have enjoyed that, and the rest could just leave when they felt they had seen/heard enough.  I could easily have listened for another 30 minutes.”

Yeah. I know.

The problem is, at some point, any discussion gets unwieldy. Not many folks would like to watch, say, a rambly 5 hour conversation about urban fantasy. Or storytelling in comics. Or just about anything, really.

Ultimately, I’d rather have a nice, lively discussion that leaves people wanting more, rather than have a long, rambling conversation where people get bored.

Still, you’re not the only person who wanted more. And the truth is, we all had more to say….

So how about this, I’ll talk to the folks at G&S and see if after our hour-long show, we could continue the discussion in a more informal way. Maybe call it Story Board: After Hours. In that piece of the show, the folks that want to stick around can continue to chat about the subject in a more relaxed way. By which I mean we’ll cuss more and tell inappropriate jokes….

What do you think? Sound like a good plan?

  • “Who are all these other people?  What’s going on?”

You are on the internet, sir. Welcome. At the moment, you seem to be heartily confused. Bravo.

  • “Pat and Jim: You both seem to know a good deal about Fae/ The Faen realm. Did you obtain your knowledge through experience? Research? An outside resource?”

Um…. Pass.

  • “I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t know who Emma Bull was until after this show. Since then I’ve picked up a copy of Bone Dance. I’m only halfway through and I can see why it won all those awards. I’ll admit I mostly showed up to see Butcher, but I left wanting to read Bull. Are you planning on having that sort of line up every time? Because that would be cool.”

Curses, you’ve uncovered my nefarious scheme.

Yes. My plan is to bring in an interesting mix of guests for each show. My hope is that no matter who you show up to watch, you’ll leave with the names of a few authors and books you’d never heard of before….

  • “Are you ever going to get on Twitter, Pat?”

Someday. But not today.

  • “You and your guests recommended a bunch of books at the end of the show. Is there a list of them somewhere?”

Yup. Over here on the Geek and Sundry forum for The Story Board.

  • “What are your future shows going to be about? And what writers are you going to bring in?”

Well that’s the real question, isn’t it?

I’ve got some plans already, and I’m talking to a few authors I know. But at this point, I’m still open to suggestions.

But today I’m going to break with tradition a little and ask you NOT make your suggestions here. In fact, I’m turning off the comments on the blog today.

Instead, if you have a burning desire to give us your two cent’s worth, I ask that you do it on the Story Board forum over at Geek and Sundry. It will be much easier for me to keep track of things over there.

Plus, if you post over there the G&S powers-that-be will see what you have to say, too.

See you later space cowboys….

pat

Also posted in the craft of writing, The Story Board, videos | By PatComments closed
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