Be mighty, and keep your axes sharp!
In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest Not About Lumberjacks story, “Enemy Wanted,” I talk about the first writing I was ever paid to do, collaboration, and how I’m lucky to have support from creative friends I’ve known for decades.
As always, this commentary contains spoilers from the latest episode, so you might want to listen to that first.
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In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest Not About Lumberjacks story, “Mudlarking,” I talk about a recent urge to keep telling more “serious” stories…and why I chose to write something a bit more adventurous [even ridiculous] instead.
As always, this commentary contains spoilers from the latest story, so you might want to listen to that first.
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In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest Not About Lumberjacks story, I talk about how I’m normally not the biggest fan of worldbuilding in fiction, but recognize when it’s necessary. (And not just because “Rockbiters” required some up-front worldbuilding!)
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In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest Not About Lumberjacks story, I talk about why almost half of all tales, here, feature violence to some degree…
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In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest Not About Lumberjacks story, I answer a listener question about the narrators I choose to sometimes work with. After that, I talk about how I have never been much of a fan of puzzles and riddles, but why I chose to write a short story featuring both.
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At 10,308 words, “Gerald’s Grail” is the longest Not About Lumberjacks story to date! (And will likely hold the record, ’cause DANG…that was quite a thing to edit!)
I’ll let you in on a little secret: “Gerald’s Grail” could easily be a novel. (And trust me, I’ve given it some thought.) But…it’s not the only Not About Lumberjacks story I’ve considered making longer.
In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest tale, I talk about other Not About Lumberjacks stories I could turn into longer works…if I weren’t so busy working on the show.
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It was a strange year, but also a productive year for Not About Lumberjacks.
As we close out 2021, some thoughts on the year that was…and some hopes for the year ahead…
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“Calling Out of Time” started with a tweet. Without a random thing I saw on Twitter, it’s unlikely this story would exist.
Ideas are everywhere if you’re open to them, but it’s not as easy as picking them out of the air — it helps to know which ideas are worth working through vs. those best ignored.
While there is an effort involved in writing any story, ideas aren’t so hard when you know the one simple test I talk about in this behind-the-scenes look at the latest Not About Lumberjacks story…
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In honor of five years of Not About Lumberjacks, this behind-the-scenes look is not the usual commentary about the latest episode. If you want to know how “Geocached” came to be, here’s the quick version:
My wife and I love hiking, but we’ve never gotten into geocaching. Still, it’s never lost on me the things we likely pass on our hikes. I jotted down a simple story idea in the file where I keep thoughts about future episodes:
A hobbyist begins finding strange items in geocaches.
The story was initially going to be part of the annual Christmas episode full of micro-fiction, but when I saw there was more to the story, I decided to make it this year’s anniversary issue. (With the 2020 election still lingering almost a month later, no one needed the humorous story about an election I planned to write anyway…)
Now you know!
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So, what is this episode of Behind the Cut about then?
It’s a Q&A from listeners of the show; specifically, these questions:
It was fun answering these questions — thank you to everyone who asked!
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If you’ve listened from the start, thank you for five years of caring about what I write.
If you’re new to the show, check out The Quick List for summaries of all the stories on the site.
I’m not about to run out of story ideas, so as long as there’s time, I plan to write, record, and release stories for years to come…
– Christopher
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Until the last minute, I didn’t like the latest story for Not About Lumberjacks. In this behind-the-scenes look at the episode, I discuss what was wrong, how I fixed things, and what I realized along the way…
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