vfdarkness

[vfdarkness]

We need to bring back private rail cars as the cool, sexy, exclusive way to travel, so instead of dumping the carbon budget of a small nation in the global south on private jets, celebrities have to attach their luxury pull an cars to the back of an Amtrak. Then the celebrities will lobby for Amtrak lines to be better

Seriously when did this

Become sexier than this

Like isn't it nice to watch the scenery, to be able to open a window and have fresh air, to be able to stand up all the way, not have your ears pop?

[vfdarkness]

#a voice from darkness #avfd

[vfdarkness]

i'm curious. Is the odd-shaped room based on a real bar?

Yes! In the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, near the Irving Park brown line stop there's a bar called The Long Room. It's not supernatural (to my knowledge). I haven't been to it in years, but while living in the city, it felt like the most "platonic form of a bar" I'd ever stepped in. There were no tvs (so no sports playing), no loud music, the lights were always just a bit dim, there were people there but it was never too crowded. And they had a decent selection of beer (but not too many) and the bartenders could make your standard cocktails (but nothing too fancy). Anytime I went there I felt like I was walking into a pocket of reality that existed on its own, outside of everything else. That's what The Odd-Shaped Room was meant to capture.

#a voice from darkness #avfd

[vfdarkness]

[vfdarkness]

Are you guys still looking for artists for the podcast?

Potentially yes, feel free to send me a copy, or link to, your portfolio.

[vfdarkness]

HI HELLO DO YOU LIKE AUDIO DRAMAS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE YOUR OWN AUDIO DRAMA well do I have news for you

for quite some time, I have been working on putting every bit of practical information I have about making a podcast into some kind of readable resource and I'm very happy to say that, by george, I think I've done it.

that link will take you to our resource page which has links to a 35-page handbook that takes you through every step of podcast production (on our merch page, but you can download for zero dollars! do it!) and a direct download of a 15-page pdf about how I take an idea from development through scripting.

this is by no means the be-all-end-all definitive correct guide on how to make an audio drama. as I emphasize many times throughout, this is just how I do things, but it's a pretty thorough rundown of how I do things. if you've been too overwhelmed to start your own show, I sincerely hope this helps you!

[vfdarkness]

I’m nervously sending you an ask because I don’t know if you’ve answered something like this before but do you have any songs that remind you of Malcolm? I need it for science purposes.

I've put absolutely no thought into this, but I'm declaring now that Malcolm Ryder's favorite song is Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants.

[vfdarkness]

sketchy warmups of some codependent horror podcast men

arthur and john (malevolent), david ward (i am in eskew), nate and steve (the cellar letters), warren and gordon (red valley), jon and martin (the magnus archives).

follow me on instagram!

[vfdarkness]

Happy Valentines Day from AVFD

[vfdarkness]

Midjourney-produced comic book portraits for AVFD characters

Malcolm Ryder:

The Traveling Salesman:

Amelia Ryder:

Duncan Ryder:

#vfdarkness #a voice from darkness

[vfdarkness]

Will there be more episodes of AVFD soon?

Two more in Season 2 on our main feed in the near-ish future. And a few more patreon episodes for this season.

After that a longer break. I think this is readable to anyone who's not a Patreon, so further breakdown is here:

EDIT - the original link looked wrong - like something that might only take me to the post. Hoping this is the right one: 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/another-month-3-77879271?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

[vfdarkness]

As someone whose advice is often “just write”… how do you feel about plotting out books in advance, or about people who swear that it is the only correct method?

That's "just write" too. And you'll probably need some kind of a plot, even if it's just "she'll go through the door into the other world, and she'll meet the Other Mother, and then she'll come back and then she'll have to go back again and sort things out". It's not automatic writing. But how much detail you need and what you invent as you go is going to change.

What I don't enjoy doing is plotting too tightly, because it feels like I'm too constrained by something past me decided. I would rather feel I was collaborating with past me, and throwing balls in the air for future me to catch.

Nobody who says "this is the only way to write" is ever telling you the truth, unless they add "for me, at least" at the end of their sentence.

[vfdarkness]

Unwelcome Riders

[@vfdarkness]

[vfdarkness]

Im here to feed the fandom hello

This is just a doodle but i plan on a rendered drawing soon :]

[character from @vfdarkness]

[vfdarkness]

“The Witch’s old heart crumbled into black sand, and soot, and nothing.” 

— Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

This first story the listener is exposed to about The Traveling Salesman makes a reference to another work of literature I love where deal’s are made and end in black sand and nothingness.

Black sand🏴

Listened to @vfdarkness and had to draw this...

#a voice from darkness #black sand #the traveling salesman #howl's moving castle

[vfdarkness]

That’s a really good summary of our show - thank you! 

I will add - for our Patreon episodes - there’s 13 out so far. Many of which are longer than our normal episodes (up to 52 minutes for the last episode we released). There’s more than enough story there for that to be an extra/side season unto itself.

Alright you got me. Whats a voice from darkness. Sell me i need a new podcast

👏 okay so disclaimer that it is on a break/hiatus right now. Last regular episode was released back in October.

Currently two seasons long with 19 official episodes and a smattering of bonus content (including a few episodes from Patreon), episode length is “30 minutes or less”. Genre-wise I’d say it’s like urban fantasy + horror anthology with plot. If I had to give it a movie-style rating, PG-13 at worst?

The podcast is set in a fictional version of the US with supernatural elements, like a bar in Chicago that you can only find once or a serial killer that turns people into Jack-o-Lanterns. It’s in the style of a radio show, with segments and people calling in, hosted by Dr Malcom Ryder, parapsychologist. He’s a graduate of the paranormal school Ravenswood, and he tries to help the people who call in with paranormal problems, like a haunted wallpaper or “There are Unwelcome Riders (ghosts) in my car, how do I survive this?” Sometimes they take his advice, sometimes it ends well and other times it doesn’t. A few characters are repeat callers, so sometimes episodes with cliffhangers are resolved. The overarching plot is a struggle between Dr Ryder and this entity called The Traveling Salesman. They’ve fought before, it ended badly, and the audience is introduced to this whole battle during what’s basically an arms race phase.

#a voice from darkness

[vfdarkness]

Fun fact: Leland, Iowa was named after Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks:

Thinking about the Traveling Salesman

#a voice from darkness #leland echoes #twin peaks #leland palmer #the traveling salesman