I’ve turned my attention back to The Ferment. In the last few weeks, I’ve straightened out story arc issues across the full season outline and am in the process of typing up all the paper writing I’ve done over the past many months. Over winter break, I took the time to make a slide show of the characters with listed descriptors and photos of actors who fit the parts. Counts as writing, as they hashtag.

Yes, it’s an audio drama but I need to see the characters in my head. And actors’ voices carry a certain energy and presence. Besides, who says the project ends with audio? I believe in paying talent and a podcast won’t be free to produce but … it can conceivably be done. If I can get it done, it’s ‘Proof of Concept’.

The reality of budgets is enough to trap anyone under writer’s block. I’m not thinking about reality until I’ve got the first three episodes written and revised. If I can keep my spirits up, that could be by summer. I am currently writing multiple episodes simultaneously or the first would already be done. Despite a detailed treatment, I may have to write most of the entire story before I can settle on the beginning. Sometimes, it works that way.

In the meantime, when my brain gets overloaded with words, I turn to visuals. I’ve already made five in a series of Ferment collages. A couple of them have been posted previously on this site. Number six is part of my process to remember what the intoxication of intimacy feels like. Not just physical intimacy, but that sharing, the emotional exposures that move us closer to each other spiritually. This is key to episode four and episode three needs to set it up. -ag