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| Roscoe Considers Recording a Podcast by zoomar, on Flickr |
Now that everyone has had their chance to create a podcast (their first.ever.) and reflect on its creation....here are some notes we might want to keep in mind for future podcasts or any narratives we craft. I found a few articles that were very helpful. Feel free to add in (in the comments) ones that you found helpful.
"We can all think of famous first lines in literature, lines that continue to resonate long after the novel has been put back on the shelf. The classic “Once upon a time…” may be considered cliché, but it does a lot of work in just four words:
- It lets the reader know that a story is at hand.
- It eases the way for suspending disbelief.
- It sets the story in a different place and time.
- It awakens curiosity and raises questions.
These are the kinds of things you want your own beginnings to accomplish."
"Open your story with the voice of a narrator we can instantly identify with, or one that relates things in a fresh way.
- “As I begin to tell this, it is the golden month of September in southwestern Ontario.” ~Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief
"A script should be invisible. When delivered, it shouldn't sound like a script. If it sounds like
a script, your program won't sound spontaneous and won't sound friendly to your audience.
The invisibility of your script depends on how it's written and how it's presented."
"And when we talk about active versus passive verbs, you’re talking about instead of having an action done to something, someone is doing an action. So where it would say, “The dog was kicked by that man,” it would be just a simple inversion: “The man kicked the dog.” So yeah, talking about Ernest Hemmingway, I just remember reading it, such a simple sentence structure. Basically it was just subject and verb.And I think that as far as we’re talking about, like ways to become better at this, is practicing writing that way. Simple sentence structure. Subject, verb."
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Podcast by Peter Lakos, on Flickr
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In relation to a script sounding invisible, this quote by Mark Twain came to mind. "It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech." While I think this length of time rings true in a public forum, I think the intention of the sentiment (not the specific length of time) also resonates in a virtual setting. In terms of being comfortable enough with the content you intend to deliver so that you sound spontaneous rather than spontaneous delivering content.
ReplyDeleteYes Jaylene! That's a great quote. And I think we forget about that when working online. We are usually pressured to post/update/write on the spur of the moment, but when we have and take the time, it can really make a difference.
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ReplyDeleteThese are all great points to keep in mind for developing a podcast. I think for me when I review my own podcast the quality of the sound and the music are the two areas I would like to improve on. Sounding unscripted is definitely something to practice and as PR practitioners it is an area we should have some skill in considering we are required to do a great deal of talking and presenting. And of course the voice of the narrator is important. I have been a long devoted fan of Alistair MacLeod and can think of no other person who has mastered the narrator voice more. I would like to try more podcasting and will definitely keep these tips in mind for future efforts.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Roscoe is pretty cute!