May 7th 2024
Welcome to my weekly diary charting the ups and downs of turning my Victorian whodunnit, Octopus: Octavius Guy & The Case of the Throttled Tragedienne, into a podcast. I'm its author, Michael Gallagher. Beric Livingstone is its narrator.
Where Beric is at:
Beric has now delivered the raw audio of the prologue and the first four chapters. While there are a number of minor changes to be made, it is already clear to me how in tune he is with the style of the novel, its pacing, and the many characters that make up Gooseberry's world. He brings the book to life.
Here, for example, is his take on the police sergeant who arrives at the scene of the crime, which happens to be the stage of the Sadler's Wells Theatre.
"Murdered?"
Learn more about Beric here:
Where I am at:
Over the past few weeks I've been making music clips of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, storyboarding a video advertisement, and mocking up cover art for the audiobook version: all of these things proved pointless.
Take the cover art, for example. Audiobooks require square covers, NOT the rectangular, portrait covers needed for regular books. And yet I wanted the square cover to relate to the old book jacket. Here's an example of where I got to:
...and I hate it! I LOATHE it, in fact.
So now I'm doing a lot of thinking instead. It's a lot more productive, let me tell you. While I still don't know what I'll end up with, I have learned two things: DON'T try to turn old book jackets into square ones; you'll just be disappointed. Consider instead the square format. It's basically a 12-inch album cover.