Ask us questions for a behind the scenes episode
Added 2023-03-28 17:49:47 +0000 UTCHi there,
Joseph here. Hello. Hi. It's nice to see you.
Jeffrey and I will be recording a behind the scenes episode for our patrons (that's you!) and we'd love your questions. Ask us about the podcast, writing in general, our books, making the live shows, our adventures in television, or just our thoughts on whatever. We're happy to answer.
Thanks!
Comments
I hope I'm not too late to the party- I have been wondering though: What were some of the earlier conversations like back at the beginnings of this thing? When y'all said hey I have an idea, let's make a podcast, what were you hoping to accomplish with it? I ask because I'm recently rediscovering WTNV as an adult after listening as a teen in 2014-15. And I'm struck by how *differently* it affects me with a few more years' life experience. On my first listen, it was edgy and funny, and felt like it was just catering to the "weird kids'" humor for some laughs. As an adult though, I so clearly hear this show going out of its way to not only make the weird kids laugh, BUT TO EXPLICITLY TELL THE WEIRD KIDS THAT ITS GOING TO BE OKAY. I can hardly get through an episode or two without tearing up as we reach the end of another day, some new absurd cosmic disaster averted, and we survived, and we're here, and we're together, and it's enough. How much of this reassuring component was part of the idea from the start? In short, who did you make this show for, and what did you want to tell them through it?
Astrid Gunn
2023-04-09 23:08:40 +0000 UTCHow do you decide what theatres to visit for the live shows, and how can I convince you to come to one closer to me?
Jeffrey Byrne
2023-04-03 14:54:36 +0000 UTCWhat are you reading? Do you stick to a similar genre as Night Vale for your media consumption or do you change it up?
Rebecca Trostle
2023-04-01 01:06:41 +0000 UTCHave you considered an episode from the perspective of secret-police personel? You should.
Melanie
2023-03-31 22:26:36 +0000 UTCIs Kevin gonna show back up any time soon? We miss him 🫶
Tyler Johnson
2023-03-30 17:50:02 +0000 UTCHi, name's Adrian. I've been a listener for about 2 years now and can't get enough of basically all the podcasts on the network. My question is this: Night Vale kind of goes between two tones of eldritch or 1984-esque horror, and light-hearted jokes. How do you make a place with so many horrors as Night Vale have such a comprehensive and balanced tone?
mysty798
2023-03-29 15:07:02 +0000 UTCIn 199: Guidelines for Retrieval Cecil mentions going to school for journalism. What did that entail other than potentially surviving being an intern at the station?
Olive
2023-03-29 12:41:15 +0000 UTCIt's how I start my mornings everyday. A cup of coffee, a warm shower, and night vale in the background. It keeps me grounded, and reminds me that there's something to look forward to every morning and not to give up on the day yet.
Courtney Wathne
2023-03-29 09:41:50 +0000 UTCThanks for backing me up! It's a relief no one pointed at me and shouted "interloper!!" Sending all the weird love your way!
Courtney Wathne
2023-03-29 09:39:46 +0000 UTCWelcome :) I'm a new / longtime fan and it's a bit strange. 2014-18 I never missed an episode, the podcast helped me through so much. Since 2018 life crumbled around me a lot and I kept putting off listening to Night Vale again 'until things got better'. Somehow not considering that Night Vale always made things better to begin with. I started listening again, and it's wonderful. I'm one of those lives that was changed and helped, too, couldn't agree more.
Sebastian C. Ravel
2023-03-29 05:21:24 +0000 UTCCertainly throwing in my voice of love for the script books - I also hope there will be more!
Sebastian C. Ravel
2023-03-29 05:15:47 +0000 UTCOn more than one occasion, hearing Joseph or Jeffrey say “And hey—you’re doing great” has inverted my emotional state to the point of tears. It’s just nice to hear sometimes, you know?
Alexandra Piotrowski
2023-03-29 04:41:36 +0000 UTCWhat's an example of a continuity error you've made when writing the show? I think I've heard them mentioned in previous behind-the-scenes episodes (or Good Morning Night Vale? I forget), but I can't actually think of any off the top of my head.
Jordan Newport
2023-03-29 02:04:28 +0000 UTCYes! I'm so curious if there's essential a giant biography/timeline/wiki to keep track of it all
Danica N
2023-03-29 00:36:53 +0000 UTCI love the script books! Is there any chance there will be more in the future?
Skylar starke
2023-03-28 22:37:52 +0000 UTCCould image descriptions be included with the episode art such as on Patreon and Facebook?
Tor
2023-03-28 21:35:18 +0000 UTCWhere is Kevin? We missed his tenth anniversary!
Jude
2023-03-28 21:32:38 +0000 UTCHow do you balance writing so many projects (episodes of Night Vale, books, and your own projects such as The Halloween Moon and Within the Wires?
Tor
2023-03-28 21:30:25 +0000 UTCA more serious question is whether either of you have ever felt that your writing was at the margins of your life and how did you get it toward the center, if that makes sense.
Christine Havens
2023-03-28 21:14:40 +0000 UTCWhat is your favorite rule you've come up with for the Night Vale universe? Not necessarily laws of the town itself, but world building rules.
Ollie of the Beholder
2023-03-28 21:14:03 +0000 UTCThat's really interesting! I wonder what happened?
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
2023-03-28 20:39:26 +0000 UTCKhoshekh was in the show for almost a decade before we found out his backstory - was that always part of his lore or was it something you came up with later along the way?
sarcasticallyinclined
2023-03-28 20:31:41 +0000 UTCI have the same question essentially-- I have always wondered if they're chosen for intentionally disorienting effect. I may or may not sometimes toss around the word "unlistenable," musically.... but then sometimes they really slap, and either way the comedic or macabre effect still appreciated as an artistic move.
KG
2023-03-28 20:11:34 +0000 UTCI'm a new fan. (Better late than never) After a little under two months I've almost caught up, currently listening to episode 215. Is there anything you'd like to say to those fans who are newcomers? Also, thank you for brightening my mornings with this show, because it's gotten me through a rough start to the year. I hope you realize the lives you've changed, and the people you've helped just by writing about this weird little town. And hey...thanks :P
Courtney Wathne
2023-03-28 19:14:33 +0000 UTCHow long does it take to write the produce each episode. How far out do you plan bigger story arcs or do you develop as you move along?
DefyAllLogic
2023-03-28 19:12:47 +0000 UTCA lot of the early characters had the same first name as their voice actors, Cecil, Kevin, Lauren, was that a coincidence or intentional? Also do you ever write a character with a specific actor in mind or do you write the character then find someone to voice them if they because relevant enough?
Dublin Mullen
2023-03-28 19:09:56 +0000 UTCIs Joseph still in night vale?
DefyAllLogic
2023-03-28 19:04:26 +0000 UTCHow much do you look at fan theories or fan content in general (ie Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr)? Has your relationship with fans changed at all at the beginning of Night Vale vs now?
Elyse
2023-03-28 19:04:04 +0000 UTCAfter all of these years, what is it each of you feels is the most challenging about the other that makes collaboration difficult?
James LEE
2023-03-28 18:54:04 +0000 UTCHow far ahead of time are the episode prints made? Like, is a script finished and then the mini print gets drawn before release? Do you request specific things to be in the prints? Or maybe they’re made some other fascinating way.. I’m really curious about it :-)
Kate Elizabeth Lucas
2023-03-28 18:53:08 +0000 UTCHow do you come up with the content? All of Night Vale is a bit jarring/unsettling, but discussed casually and accepted as normal. What’s the method for walking that fine line? And how do you decide which ideas are kept and which ones are scrapped?
Julia Kringlen
2023-03-28 18:51:36 +0000 UTCListeners (Episode 190) was going to include a segment from TMA but a recording was never received!
Quinn M
2023-03-28 18:23:40 +0000 UTCCan you wax rhapsodic about pencils, or other writing tools? Or maybe Cecil could for a sponsor?
Christine Havens
2023-03-28 18:16:34 +0000 UTCDo you have favorite characters? Are there some characters that the audience latched on to that surprised you?
DefyAllLogic
2023-03-28 18:13:05 +0000 UTCHow is the music that disparition does for an episode chosen? Is it like the scripts or is there more suggestions on tone given?
Doni Payne
2023-03-28 18:07:55 +0000 UTCIn episode 59: "Antiques", in the Children's Fun Fact Science Corner wherein, at Cecil's behest, said child listener sticks out their tongue and it just keep growing, elongating, rolling out of town, etc etc, at one point Cecil muses: "Say, are you related to...never mind. It doesn't matter." Who, exactly, was Cecil referring to here? This question has always bugged me. My two theories are either Gene Simmons or Nazr al-Mujaheed, the latter having prior engaged in a similar action in episode 32: "Yellow Helicopters". I've leaned toward the latter, but I've never been entirely sure. Odd question, I know, but I was just the other day listening to this one again and it stood out to me. Could you shed light?
Shawn Havery
2023-03-28 18:06:30 +0000 UTCAs writers, how do you organize the night vale world and inhabitants?
DefyAllLogic
2023-03-28 18:05:41 +0000 UTCHave you ever considered doing a crossover episode with the Magnus Archive?
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
2023-03-28 18:03:06 +0000 UTCIs there a method to picking which Weather goes with which episode? Sometimes it seems the lyrics or the vibe fit so well (or are intentionally the opposite), and I'm curious if that's on purpose or just luck.
Alex D
2023-03-28 18:01:52 +0000 UTCSometimes characters voice their own messages for the audience and sometimes Cecil reads their comments to the audience. (For example, after that first message, we didn't hear Janet Varney for a while, and Cecil shared her comments.) How do you choose when to use your guest performers and when to have Cecil read them?
Glenn Dallas
2023-03-28 17:57:01 +0000 UTCI bet, it's been asked before but will there be more script collections soon?
Dennis Allgöwer
2023-03-28 17:55:42 +0000 UTC
