Crown of Thorns. Good Omens Podrama FAQ
What is this project about?
We’re creating a podfic for the ‘Crown of Thorns ‘verse’, written by irisbleufic. Crown of Thorns was begun in 2005 and completed in 2019, and remains one of the longest and most beautiful fanfiction series written in Good Omens fandom.
We’re expecting the final pod'rama to be read by about 30 people, and to run to a length of about 35 hours. This is a longterm project - we hope to complete it by the end of 2020.
The idea and initial organising was envisioned by Literarion. I’ve fallen head over heels into the Good Omens fandom in June 2019, and fallen in love with CoT not long after. I’ve done a number of podfics in the fandom since then. Beyond my experience in making podfics, I have for many years managed both large international projects, and groups of volunteers.
The Discord server is managed by NotBreadPudding.
I found Good Omens through the TV show and fell in absolute love with its genius. CoT and irisbleufic convinced me to read the book shortly thereafter. I’ve (unsuccessfully) dabbled in writing fic for many years, and I’ve been an avid reader of fic for a much longer time. I started listening to podfics this year, found Literarion’s podfics and tumbled into fandom discord servers.
Beyond my lengthy love affair with fic and fandom, I spent many years working in theatrical productions as a designer, carpenter, and painter.
The author of Crown of Thorns is irisbleufic, also known as AJ.
I have been writing in the Good Omens fandom since 2005 and continue to this day, totalling almost 15 years of fandom presence.
Also overseeing the project is procrastinatingbookworm.
I’m AJ’s semi-official protégé, and similarly semi-official director of the CoT Pod’rama.
What is a podfic? What is a pod'rama?
A podfic is an audio book version of a fanfiction story. A Pod'rama is a drama reading of a fanfiction story, where a group of persons read the different roles.
Why are we doing this? Why now?
First and foremost, because the story deserves it. Because we like a challenge. And maybe because we are slightly mad.
Now is the right time: if there is ever sufficient momentum in the Good Omens fandom to succeed with such an extensive, collaborative project, it is now, when the show has brought so many enthusiastic fans together.
We are going to cast readers for all characters in the Crown of Thorns ‘verse, have everyone record their lines, and put it all together. Smaller roles can be recorded in one go at any time; larger roles (Narrator, Aziraphale, Crowley, etc.) will record one to three chapters per week, in order. Voice actors will be expected to record in Audacity, do some basic editing (noise reduction, cutting, labelling), and share their project files; editors will combine all the line files into chapters. Naturally, it is not going to be quite so straightforward in practice, but that’s why we’re doing it as a team!
We want to get the team assembled by the end of 2019, start recording in January, and start publishing in February. The plan is to record up to three chapters or roughly 10k words per week. If we can keep to this timeline, we should be done by Christmas 2020.
The second round of Voice Actor/Podficcer Auditions is open now!
Please fill out the audition form here: https://bit.ly/2qjB51E
The role of Ligur is still available. If you don’t have as much time to commit, but still want your voice in the project, there are many smaller roles that appear only in a single chapter.
Casting is not determined by accent or perceived vocal gender.
(If you have any questions or concerns about the form, or the audition process, you can send us an ask here, or pop into our Discord server)
Every chapter of Crown of Thorns Pod’rama is accompanied by original artwork! Art can be in any format or medium, digital or physical, as long as it can be photographed and/or saved for digital reproduction and sharing. Contact us below to learn which chapters are available and to get more information about signups.
There are many other ways in which you can support the project:
Editing the recordings (e.g. improving quality, cutting, putting chapters together, beta listening)
Organisation (e.g. keeping track, managing files, supporting SM / online channels)
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/J7bjXQp
Or reach out on Twitter: @CoTPodrama
Or here on Tumblr: https://crownofthornspod.tumblr.com/
