The Whitechapel Project

Author’s Commentary

I wasn’t entirely sure how this episode was going to turn out, to be honest. When the vote was firmly cast for bluffing, I had to think about how he could actually do that in a plausible way. I did have a note that VI had the potential for changing his appearance, but I didn’t expect to have to trot it out so soon. Plus, I do have a firm vision for VI’s powers and how they work (in case you haven’t noticed, they all have intentionally violent overtones), so I had to make that all hang together while also being internally consistant. It was a lot to juggle.

It took about three drafts, but early on I was inspired by the “wearing Tucci’s skin” idea. Originally it was just a flavorful way to talk about the illusion of being someone else, but it really worked well with the feel of his powers so far, so I kept that, and I actually have some ideas on where that will end up.

The line about what happens when VI starts killing was a sudden inspiration, and I have no idea where it’s going to go at this point, but damn it was cool.

I wasn’t sure until the chapter break where the Whitechapel Project was located. I even debated changing it before the recording, because it could have just as easily been in London, England. At the 11th hour, though, I decided to stick with Ohio for a couple of reasons. First, I’m from Ohio, so that means I have a lot more material to draw from when things go in a direction I didn’t expect. Secondly, similar to my post-mortem last episode, the recordings are going to primarily be in American English, so keeping the story within the United States means less disconnect from the podcast.

I did know from episode one that one of the visions related to a car. It seemed a good place to tie back to that vision. Also, I needed something to happen to force a decision point.

The recording was a bit weak for my tastes — I was trying to record around a sick cat and a very barky dog, and I was getting frustrated — but it was a (self-imposed) deadline that I had to meet, so I got in there and recorded it. I didn’t stumble as much this time, and the editing went a little easier, but when I listened to snippets of it the next day, I felt it could have been better.

Let’s talk about my outline for a bit. Before I started, I had 24 phrases written down that detail a rough plot progression. Episode 2′s phrase was “Escape,” and yet here I am at episode 3 with the escape still not quite done yet. It might not be until episode 5 before I can get to what I planned for episode 3. It’s more exciting than irritating, honestly — I feel like this story is going to end up with a lot more depth than I originally anticipated.

Also, it was pointed out to me by my wife (who is also a reader and voter) that this is just as much a mystery as a horror story. I admit that VI is a bit of a detective (at least when it comes to finding out his own identity), but I really expected that the mystery elements would be secondary to the action and horror elements. Instead, I’m seeing comments to the effect of “I don’t want to find out the mystery just yet,” which I did not expect.

As a result, I might consider rewriting my rough outline at some point in the future. I think there are some areas that I can move around to make it more mystery-like and follow the current flow more closely. I might be able to get it back to 24 episodes, but I’m not going to force it if it needs more legs.

Voting and Discussion

All I can say is “holy shit.” You guys are awesome.

We did beat the number of votes from last episode, but at the time I’m writing this, three options are all tied for first place — “run for it,” “get in the car,” and “just keep walking.”  I was asked what would happen if two options tied, and I joked about just picking one or flipping a coin, but now with the real possibility of three options all tying, I’m torn. Ideally, I’d like to incorporate as much as I can of all winning options, but most times that’s just not possible (such as in this case). I’m still up in the air about whether I’ll just choose or I’ll determine it randomly — I’m leaning more toward randomly, to keep with the spirit of the voting (i.e., that it’s out of my control).

I was really surprised by the popularity of “just keep walking,” which actually had the lead for much of the time. It ties a bit into some people wanting to preserve the mystery, but there was also a vibe that some readers thought the other options were a little too convenient. Interestingly, I threw that option in as a kind of “non-option,” something that would make for five possible choices but was one I didn’t seriously expect people to choose, and yet there were a lot of really sound and engaging reasons why it was compelling to a number of readers (at least 10 of you).

I’m really excited about how tense and passionate the voting (and the discussion) was this time around. You guys are really inspiring me to push this story in new directions.

Back to episode three