AbOut The PrOject
Hello there, and welcome! My name is Will Reierson, and I'm the creator of Adam & The Alchemist; an ongoing audio drama series that follows Adam Callahan on his adventures through the magical (and sometimes odd) land of Twilea.
Adam & The Alchemist is heavily inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia audio dramas that the BBC produced between 1988 and 1997. I couldn't have been older than six or seven when I loaded my cassette player with "The Horse And His Boy" for the first time and was transported to a different world.
Balthazar's Tower
COmmOn QuesTiOns:
Q: Is the story of A&TA finished?
A: No! I'm a firm believer in telling stories by letting the characters do what they would naturally do. That means creating a fleshed-out world/characters with lots and lots of detail so that I can "wind them up" and let them loose to see what happens. Think of this method of storytelling as playing a game of DND by yourself: you create an overarching theme, and then make decisions based on the goals, motivations, fears, etc. of your characters.
By listening to the podcast you are coming on a creative journey with me, and we'll discover how the story plays out together.
That said, I have done and am doing plenty of work behind the scenes to completely flesh out the world, and there are some overarching themes that are going to guide the story toward its ultimate resolution. Outside of the setting and themes, however, this is as much of an adventure for you as it is for me.
Q: How many people are working on A&TA?
A: I'm the primary person working on A&TA. I'm the writer, editor, voice actor, director, and producer. That said, I do have help from the amazing Anne Halsall to proofread everything that I write, and make sure that the story and characters are behaving as they should.
I also have to give credit to the unbelievable work of Kevin Macleod and the monstrous library of Royalty Free music he's put together. Without him, A&TA wouldn't have a soundtrack. Check out Kevin's website here: https://incompetech.com/wordpress/
Additionally - though I don't technically have to credit them - I want to mention the amazing people over at Zapsplat for everything they do. Their sound effect library is second to none, and the premium license is worth every penny.
Q: How often are episodes going to be released?
A: Because this is mostly a one-man project and I'm dedicated to making each episode sound as amazing as possible, new episodes of A&TA can be expected around once every month or so.
I'm also exploring the possibility of having in-between episodes dedicated to discussing the show and the process that goes into producing it, as well as interviewing other creatives to talk about what makes a great story and see how different people go about creating the amazing work that they do.
A town at the base of the Catsback Mountains
Q: How long will the series be?
A: Since this project is an ongoing one and even I don't know exactly how it's going to end, I can't say for certain.
However, based on the amount of content I have in worldbuilding, characters, and plot devices, I would guess that there could be three to five seasons of A&TA, with around 10 episodes each season.
Q: How long will the episodes be?
A: I'm a big believer in quality over quantity, so the average episode will most likely be no longer than 25-35 minutes.
Also, with the time it takes for me to get an episode to a place I'm happy with, making them any longer would make the time between episodes longer as well, and I don't really want to push that much further. Once a month for the main episodes is about right.
Q: What does the production process look like?
A: It starts with me writing out a novelized version of the episode. This allows me to get in lots of descriptions so I know exactly what is happening when I go to edit the actual script.
Once the novelized version is done, I write out a script. This takes almost no time at all because I've already got most of the dialogue written thanks to the novelized version, and the plot/locations have already been determined also.
After this, it's onto recording the character's lines, then mixing in music and sound effects, and finally, I master the audio so it shines.
Q: Can I support the podcast?
A: The awesome thing about community support is it means that I'm able to dedicate more time to the podcast, which means I'm able to get episodes out more frequently. It also means I can begin exploring things like getting original music composed for the podcast, and other nifty stuff that will take it to the next level. I could even get guest voice-actors to take part from time to time, which would be a blast to record AND listen to.
I'm planning on setting up a Patreon where different tiers of patronage will get you access to more behind-the-scenes content. Things like:
- Recording bloopers
- The novelized version of each episode BEFORE the episode is released
- Episode scripts
- World-building content like maps, character/location bios
- A private discord server to discuss the show with other like-minded folks and share your ideas and suggestions (who knows, your genius might even make it into an episode!)
There will also be the option for one-time donations or plain old monthly donations that will be cheaper and still help to massively support the production of the series.
Q: What does the future look like?
A: This is all really far off, but eventually - depending on how big the podcast becomes - I would love to take the novelized versions of the podcast and turn them into a book, or even books depending on how many seasons of the podcast there are.
Beyond that, who knows? Merchandise, graphic novels, an animated TV series, a movie? The sky's the limit!