#abigail answers asks

[backagainpodcast]

i barely even started the new ep, but wow your limerick about spring is beautiful!! (as they always are!!)

ah thank you! And thank you Daisy for the reason to write it :)

The limericks started as a really silly thing, but I've loved experimenting with tone and content within such a confined format --- I've written *quite a lot* of them by this point!!

This, for reference, is what I'm prattling on about :)

And this is the limerick --

When you think it will never be warm

When night comes so early you mourn

You just have to wait

The bitter abates

And the flowers will bloom as was sworn

something something, spring as the season of hope :)

[goddessofganon]

thanks for answering my question about the ship!! I had just wanted to know your thoughts, sorry if you get any rude anons because I said the ship name in the ask

I appreciate your curiosity, anon! As for any impending rebuttals, I’ll just have to take them in stride.

[backagainpodcast]

also gale,

good job with your writing with minutes to spare or something? what is the writing? how does one see the writing is such is possible?

regards,

[In reference to me nearly.... getting my hair bleached by Chloe for not finishing the book in time]

I'm always always writing the colorguard lesbians book! It's my biggest time stealer besides, like, gestures to jobs and school but I love it so. It was "due" at midnight last Sunday to the group chat. I finished at, like... 11:48 :)

No hair dye for me! Someday, hopefully, everyone will be able to read it as I'd love for it to become a Real Book. But until then, I'm going to be secret-y about it :)

[backagainpodcast]

where is YOUR rider

fortunately for all involved, I'm not a horse girl

[backagainpodcast]

hey can you talk about this more if it’s possible, see the quote below hello . apologies for the deception,

“This summer, that’s a book about (checks notes) lesbians perhaps too invested in their high school color guard team, a town-that-is-not-a-town named Thief, drowned girls that wanted to live too much to stay drowned, and possibly arthritic grandmothers. “

did you hello john apologies for the deception me

this is such perfect timing because I'm procrastinating finishing draft 2 by answering asks ---

That is the joke-y summary of the book I'm writing --- it is completely separate from BABA with the exception of 1) magic and 2) The State Of Georgia, Like, Conceptually.

Everything I said was true --- the grandmothers are possibly arthritic! the girls are drowned! Thief is not a real town, but good luck telling it that! those lesbians REALLY love colorguard! everyone's a lesbian! god, the book is chock-full of lesbians!

It's really ridiculous.

Really ridiculous.

like I said, they´re all lesbians. all of them.

Complete with the most high school break ups you´ve ever heard (except, bonus, you cannot escape your ex girlfriend´s because they´ve got a weird pact that has something to do with the fucked up magical lake your grandmother drowned you in when you were eight)

[backagainpodcast]

does ilyaas is has gender

gender is soup, we're eating it with a fork, do what you want with ilyaas

[backagainpodcast]

dear babapodcast,

oh entity who posteth in this blog, might you behold mutual whimsy and enlightenment with answers to these queries three:

in what context are you writing a thesis? how do you feel about it? what is it?

in what context do you actively swing swords for a job? in what context did you learn? swords [y/n. this action will use up an additional 33.00 Kb of storage on your drive].

in which of many ways have you been referred to in your life? which would you be referred to now? which would the ideal, now?

good knight,

1609

dear anonymous user who submits queries three,

ONE --- I'm at the beginning of the last year of my undergrad (graduating early, which is why it's spring and I'm... now starting my senior year) and you've gotta write a fat research paper to graduate!!! I'm writing about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight being fruity asf (old news) through what is hopefully an academically relevant and not-old-news lense.

While the dread of grad school apps/The Real World/graduating is SO SCARY, this will be project #3 I am doing about Sir Gawain, because he's my most special little guy in the world, and I am having a wonderful time. It's a dream thesis class being taught by one of my favorite professors Ever. There are three thing I have hyperfocused on in my time at university, and those are 1) crows 2) twice-exploding Seattle gay bar Shelly's Leg, and 3) Gawain <3 so. Could not be happier!!

TWO --- lol, so I work at a LARP camp in the summers, which means that knowing how to use a longsword is a useful skill. Also playing DND is a useful skill. Also sewing is a useful skill. Also---

I learned such through doing HEMA, which brings me to my next point ---you, too, should join HEMA!!! HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts, though "European" is oft a misnomer, at least in the PNW. I write enough about swords that I started learning how to use them, and now there are five swords in my apartment and I've spent many hours sewing flowers onto my gambeson. 10/10 recommend, but learn from where I've made mistakes and always wear thicker and better gloves than you think you need to. Hockey gloves or gauntlets. I'm so serious. Finger injuries suck so much.

I study longswords from the Fiore and varied KDF traditions, sword and buckler (mostly i.33, but I'm fond of Silver), and have dabbled just enough to be #annoying with basket-hilted broadswords and montantes. I love swords so much.

THREE -- Forgive me if I have misunderstood your last query --- I'm Abigail Eliza, a lot of folks shorten that to Gale (like the wind), and I use she/they pronouns!! Those r all great ways to refer to me :)

[backagainpodcast]

hello hello, have you heard of Camlann from Tin Can Audio? i think you would enjoy it! (also, i love your podcast ❤️)

I've listened to the first few episodes and enjoyed it greatly!! This is a good reminder to get back into it :)

I'm writing my thesis on Sir Gawain, so anything Arthurian is a blessing and a gift --- really truly cannot get enough of it

(and thank you for listening to BABA!!)

[backagainpodcast]

I love to use BABA to unwind from having a rough day. Also this is once of the best concepts I have come across though out the media that I consume. The outro gives a glimpse of hope when this bard needs it the most. I hope that everyone sees the positive impact of this podcast. Thank you. Also do you have any advice for world building.

hello dear one! Thank you so much for your kind words :)

One of my favorite things about art is that it is always in conversation with others :) I'm so glad that you love BABA, but it wouldn't be what it is without every other story I've ever read and have fallen in love with first!!

And thank YOU for listening all the way through the outro -- I always mean it, every time. I hope that you have a wonderful day, I hope that you know all the ways you are loved.

I fear I do not have much advice in the way of worldbuilding, as I'm notorious for just... adding things in when I feel it and praying for continuity. There are definitely better people out there to ask than me, but what I always come back around to are the... little human things, I guess? If you ask me where water comes from or crop rotations or if there are sheep I will be making that answer up in the moment or giving a big 'ol shrug of my shoulders. If you look too closely, you'll realize Rhysea isn't even turtles all the way down. It's more a house of cards in a hailstorm.

However, what's important to me, always, is trying to find ways to make your characters care about the world around them and for the world to care about your characters in turn.

Ilyaas is a forgiving narrator for this --- she falls in love with everything she sees and she tries to cling to it, and she's a big part of me, and the things that I care about are stories and food and traditions and words and fancy engraved swords, so that is what Rhysea has a lot of. Perhaps my world-building advice is to talk at length about the things that make you happy? And to build those into your world?

As much as I wish I could, I derive no joy from sitting down and listing out Rhysea's top exports and the name of every Laerd and their children. It would make Rhysea so much cooler, I'm sure, but it would drive me crazy in the building it. However, when Ilyaas starts to talk about the lottery system or the way cycles work things become intersting to me and I like to spend the time with them. Perhaps my world-building advice is to write a scene and fill in the world, rather than creating a world for the sake of a scene?

I think my only real piece of advice is to add in what feels interesting to you, the writer, rather than what you feel like maybeee you should have in order to have a Real Serious World. Love makes everything feel real. Write in what you love :)

[backagainpodcast]

Hello! I absolutely love BABA, it is everything I need in a comfort media, especially during exam season. Do you have any advice for people looking into writing podcasts? Like audio editing programs or writing tips or anything else that's come up in your process? If you do, thanks so much! But regardless, I adore this podcast and I hope you're having a wonderful day!

hello! thank you so much for listening, and I really really hope your exams go well <<33

My writing advice is the kind that I feel like deserves to get me shook, but it's the truest I know --- write a lot, write every day or as often as you can manage it, write like it is the thing that you must do to keep you alive. Write like it's at the top of your to-do list, write knowing that as long as you write something that day, whatever else happens, it can be enough. Choose a word count and try to reach it every day. Choose a duration of time and make sure you set it aside. Just --- write. Note the things that are important to you and mean the most to you, and you'll never run out of ways to talk about them.

When I am drafting, I aim for 500 words a day (but please god find what works for you don't take this as anything other than an example.) Sometimes I kick and scream to that point and don't go any further. Oftentimes, after 500, the words are loose enough that I can keep going. Stack 'em up. The more you have, the less each one matters. The longer you get into the habit of hitting a word count, the easier it is to do!!

From the podcasting side of things, I have no idea what I'm doing, ever, which means that I am NOT the best person to get good advice from, but I CAN tell you how to duct-tape a podcast together. My tips---

Take the time to learn how to use Audacity (or whatever audio editing software you'd like -- audacity is just FREE, we LOVE) get yourself a mic that fits in your budget (my blue yeti has been going solid for years and years and has survived several moves!), and get talkin'.

Likewise, take your time editing. Get a sense of how much you can reasonably do between episodes, and don't overwork yourself. It's better to have a consistent schedule for releases than a sporadic one, even if that means episodes are farther apart :) BABA comes out twice a month and I could not consistently do any more without losing my mind. Maybe that's not the case for you, but figure it out!!

Uh --- I use Anchor, which is now "Spotify for Podcasters," because, again, it's free. Freemusicarchive.org is where BABA's theme music (Nightingales by Pierce Murphy) comes from, and just do some googling about what each attribution right means so you're respecting people's wishes.

I also cannot recommend enough writing the whole season before you start recording. Editing and recording and editing episodes is enough every two weeks -- I couldn't imagine also having to write the episode on top of that :')

(But again -- maybe you're different!! Maybe it's no problem for you! The biggest thing is figuring out how you can stretch and how you cannot and adapting.)

But I think the biggest thing is having a story that you want to tell and that excites you, if no one else. It's going to be a lot of talking to yourself in empty rooms and listening to yourself through headphones and the only way to get through is to love something about it :')

I finally must encourage you to take all of this with a grain of salt, as I'm just Some Guy with no real qualifications except that I snuck in the back door and no one kicked me out fast enough. But that is the glorious thing about audio drama!!! Anyone can make anything!!!

Good luck, good luck, and always reach back out if there's something more substantial I can help you with :)

Very best, always,

Abigail <3

[goddessofganon]

how many followers u got

I’m almost at 100, though this blog isn’t even a year old yet so I’m not discouraged by being in the double digits ٩◔‿◔۶

[goddessofganon]

(knowing that you don't ship it) how do you feel about narumitsu? I'm just curious

(Thanks for the question anon, I’ll warn you ahead of time that summary is not my strong suit.)Being one of the most dominant ships in the fandom, I’ve seen many sides of this ship and have thought about it a great deal. I speak now as a writer and a reader and someone who has been taught how to analyze text- I am not a surface value kind of girl, one of the main reasons (in my opinion, as is this whole post) that I’m not abroad this ship.I do think that much of Miles’ character development gets overlooked in lieu of insinuated romantic undertone (an example of this being “I am saddled with unnecessary feelings” seen as a confession of love, rather than the touchstone of Miles’ intense remorse and emotional decline). I’ve seen some beautiful fanart that paints such an idyllic picture of their relationship, picnics and long walks on the beach and such, which while charming, subverts the passion that exists in their characters- Phoenix and Miles are competitors, going head-to-head in almost all aspect of life, and as such Shu Takumi describes their relationship as a ‘passionate friendship.’ I think this best describes their want to understand, as well as encourage the other. They believe in the other because they know what they were once capable of. This is 'love’ in a manifestation that rests on people who admit they’re friends, yet talk as though they’re only acquaintances. Really, most of their conversations are terse and professional. They are often bonded through mutual circumstance, yet divided by the separate spheres they live on. They don’t flirt, they negotiate. To me, they are very personally impersonal. Phoenix becomes a lawyer to once again see Miles, but he’s already missed out on such a large portion of his life. He doesn’t know Miles Edgeworth, he knows a version of him. He sees his hidden motives, yet Phoenix doesn’t, can’t, see what Gumshoe sees or what Franziska sees. Miles isolates himself in a very unique way that is often exploited for the benefit of the ship. (That would take a whole other post to really get into, as would the fact that Phoenix would, at most, be bisexual, and erasure isn’t a problem to overlook.)To summarize, Phoenix loves the possibility of Edgeworth, where Edgeworth loves the possibility of Phoenix. They aren’t lovers; it goes deeper than that to a friendship rooted in childhood, before the world changed them. I personally would love to see more of this relationship without the tumblr tinged view of seeing every breath exchanged in the others presence as 'wow so gay.’