Radio Changed My Life!

Samantha

I've been putting this off for.. months, now.  I've been itching to say something, but I've not been in the right mindset to say anything.  Wow.. where the hell do I begin?

Well, let's start with last year.  Karma decided he'd like me to help a tiny bit in his radio show.  I'd make a camio, kind of walk in and walk out as part of a joke - my character in Guild Wars 2 dating his android NPC, Gemini.  I kind of jumped at the chance, because I wanted to sort of .. well, it's complicated, but the idea of hooking up with a female android kind of appealed.  So, I did my bit - though I hate the sound of my voice, and it was fun.  I liked doing scripts, though I really didn't like talking in them.

It went well, I started talking on TeamSpeak with the gang, and everything was fine.  Eventually, though, I got this strange urge.  I don't quite remember how it happened, but I decided I wanted to make my mark as a DJ again.  I'd had offers to get involved, and I kept turning them down, because - after all - I hate my voice - but I got nudged and urged by my brothers, and finally decided I'd give this a shot.

But... I wasn't going to talk.  Hell no.  So what to do?

Well, I decided.. a synthetic.  Using text to speech, I could have a character doing her thing without having to actually be there.  It felt like a little bit of a cop out, but .. there it was.  So what to do next?  Who was this person going to be?  Well, I decided to go with the flow.. Rebecca and Gemini have a daughter.

Karma loved the idea.  We did a special two parter, one having Gemini and Rebecca coming in and stepping out, and doing secret stuff in the background.  We did advertising for the show for weeks in advance, and then we revealed the daughter, Eris.  As in, ALL HAIL DISCORDIA.

Karma was a huge help in this.  I had picked out the voice I wanted for Eris, and Karma went and bought the specific text-to-speech program to convert the script lines to her voice.  It was a hefty price, too - I was willing to pay for it, but he decided to get it himself.  (And I think he actually prefers it over the old t-2-s that he's been using, which makes it a good investment at least).

Next, one of the studio managers came in to help out.  Cy's been a huge help here.  I've been doing the script writing - with Kit's help - and together we've been able to pound out some (I feel) very good shows.  But Cy's the one doing the heavy lifting.  Karma's supplying Eris' voice, but Cy's the one who gets the voice actors together, records them, and splices them together - along with the sound effects and anything else I come up with.  He's got skillz, yo.

The show's been constantly evolving.  We picked up extra characters along the way - I think we've got ten of them now (an A team, and a B team), and we're heading into perhaps our most ambitious storyline to date.  It's gone from a 'music with microphone breaks' to a 'radio show with music breaks'.  The difference is kinda significant.

And I think it's because that's how I've wanted to do it.  The music's nice, but for me, it's the storytelling.  Kit's the tabletop game master sort, but I'm enjoying writing stories.  I like writing out these scripts, and putting in humour, and drama.  I like sending snippets to the other actors, and hearing them laugh about it.

I feel kind of bad that some of my friends aren't enjoying the show, but still, we've had good numbers for the program, and that means someone's enjoying it, and I'm glad for that.  I really love writing these radio plays, and sending them out into the world for people to listen to.

I also missed DJing.  I liked putting music on, and hearing people say, "Oh, I've not heard this in a while!" or "What's this song?"  That kind of thing makes me smile, and hearing people enjoy themselves is a reward in and of itself.

This week's been a bit hard.  I've had to write some pretty dramatic (sad) things, and the script for next week's twice as long as normal - I'm writing the script for both my show and the show that's before that.  That's twelve parts, which run about ten minutes each, so it's two hours of script for six hours of radio play.  I've been having to juggle a lot of serious stuff, and mix it with some humour, and I'm trying to juggle a lot of balls to get the balance just right.  I think I've done it though.

So, I think I've found my calling.  I'm a script writer!  And really, I'm loving it.  It burns into Kit's time seriously - but he's also enjoying helping out, and he's willing to set time aside for me to do this.

If you're interested in hearing my work, I'm running from 10pm to 1am, Sunday nights.  I'm on phoenixradio-fm.net, and my show's called Another Level:  The Eris Chronicles.  I'll give a rundown of the characters involved, here:

Eris Solace - The synthetic daughter of Rebecca Solace (a Mesmer from Guild Wars 2), and GEMINI Bishop (an Android from Earth).  With the help of the asuran Mini Cy (a genius inventor from Guild Wars 2), biological samples from Rebecca were used to create synthetic flesh and blood.  GEMINI and Rebecca both shared their mental patterns to help create an identity for Eris.  Eris is a Mesmer, like her biological mother, and has the ability to tap into radio waves, the internet, and so forth, because of her synthetic components.  She also has the ability to tap into the Mists - the proto-reality which exists outside of Tyria (Guild Wars 2).  The Mists are effectively countless proto-worlds, and she can use these worlds to create matter.  She's the hostess of the ALTEC Radio show, and while she's only about six months old, she looks like a woman in her late teens.

Christopher Raven - A norn (shape-shifting giant) necromancer, who's been tasked with looking after Eris and keeping her out of trouble.  He's called "Mister Raven" by almost everyone in the show, and is the long-suffering straight man for most of the mayhem that goes on in the scripts.  I've had fun swinging back and forth from having him be the fall guy, to showing that he is actually quite good at his job.  When it comes time to throw down, he's a butt-kicker first class, combining his ability to summon undead hordes with his raw 'hello, I'm seven feet of muscle' power.

Gizmo Cartail - A member of the "Hooligans" - a team that breaks into Karma's radio station and does a show just before he does, Gizmo is a charr - a giant, horned, Roman-like feline.  He's an inventor and I've written him to act 'goofy', while hiding a keen mind.  It's fun, having him play the court jester, goofing off, causing mischief, but having a keen mind and steering the group out of harm's way, or diffusing tense situations.  Gizmo's a lot of fun to write for - he winds up always getting the best lines.  The next two shows are very important for Gizmo.

Khaos Solace - An animated plush griffin.  In fact, Eris crafted this griffin as a companion, and effectively made it a life form.  Khaos is capable of turning from an adorable griffin plushie that walks around, to an asuran child.  It's really hard to explain Khaos' position in the show.  She's an important part - she sort of acts like an extension of Eris - an extra limb - that's a bit more savvy of the world, and a bit more aggressive.  Eris is the 'good cop', and Khaos is the 'not so good cop'.  In some ways, I think Khaos acts as a shield and sword for Eris, and I'm working on this more, showing how Eris knew what she was doing when she made Khaos.

The Book Wench - The Book Wench is played by Kit's wife.  She's the 'normal' in all of this - the perfectly normal human who is in way over her head.  She's savvy though, has a sharp tongue and a quick wit, but she's also the person we use to kind of show that the hijinx that goes on can have real consequences for those around them.  When I wrote the time travel episodes, she was the one that showed 'by the way, some of us have LIVES and people we want to get back to' and later on, 'PEOPLE SHOT AT US' - she doesn't have the ability to make magic force fields, or to drop turrets to shoot back, or to summon undead.  She doesn't have guns or swords or magic.  She's a vulnerable human being, and I felt it was important to keep her there.

The Harlie Quinn - Eris' girlfriend.  This is an interesting thing, it came about almost at random - playing games in Guild Wars 2, I had Eris 'hook up' with Harlie, mostly for fun, but it wound up in the script.  Harlie was part of the B-Team for awhile, but she's recently shifted to the A-Team and has her own on-air contest.  This is something I'm treading over very carefully on air.  Harlie's a Mesmer, which she has in common with Eris, but the interplay isn't quite normal.  You see, for now, Eris is an ace - she's asexual.  She's a synthetic person and has existed for less than a year - the idea of love, passion, and the emotions that come from human interaction are alien to her, and in the script, Eris has admitted - Harlie is the person she's chosen to help her learn about these kind of things.  Over time, I'm hoping to write more on the subject, to show how Harlie's presence has helped Eris to grow as a person herself.

Well, that's the 'A' Team - the primary people who are in nearly every episode.  Next are the 'B Team' members, the sort of 'emergency team' that shows up when things go seriously wrong, or who come in from time to time to join the show.

Rangerium - He's an Elementalist from GW2 - yet he's called Rangerium.  The voice actor's very British, and I'm not quite sure about the character's background.  You see, this is someone we brought onto the show before his character was truly developed.  He's a great guy though - I like having him on the show, and recently his character got possessed by a dark spirit.  This is an important plot point we'll be using in the future.  He's got his own radio show on Thursdays, and the threads between his show and mine are tenuous, but have been useful.

Doctor Discord - This was a throw-away character we used last year for Karma's show.  He wasn't getting much use, so we pulled him into our show, and he's been great fun.  He's a mad genius, and the over-the-top way that my friend voices him is just incredible.  The guy's amazing when it comes to doing voices, and we're grateful he's been willing to help out.  Doctor Discord's Eris' only "official" minion, and works in the laboratory in the station basement.

Taz Bloodfang - A charr who was essential for the storyline we're currently on.  He's a huge warrior, and knows how to kick butt.  For the script, we use him as 'the practical one', who's no-nonsense and seems to get a kick out of everything going on.  He's good for providing a character who isn't all cozy and comfortable with everyone else.  He can come in, provide some outside context, and shake things up.

Cardyana - She's a human guardian, and works as a pair with Taz.  She's sort of like Taz in the 'beat people up' sense, and the 'outside context' sense, but I tend to write her as a bit softer on the edges.  Kind of the 'bad ass mother' character who will look after the group.  There's been a few times in the script when the crap hits the fan, and it's her presence which keeps everyone alive.  I like writing her, because she's kind of "adult" in places, but balances that with being a noble soul.

So yeah, ten characters.  6 A-Team, and 4 B-Team.  It's sometimes awkward balancing the conversations with so many characters, trying to make sure everyone's involved in some fashion with the show.  That's why the B-Team are usually considered 'temporary' - there when we need them, and kept for special events.  I've noticed that the more characters are active, the less involved each character is.  With the most recent script I'm writing however, I have both the A and B team, and then about four characters from Karma's show, and then more characters on top of that.  Fortunately, having twelve parts for the show, I'm able to give everyone a chance to shine, but when I normally have only seven parts, it's a bit trickier.

It's been a wonderful learning experience, and I can't wait to do more!

~ Samantha