The Stories of Scott D. Southard

March 16, 2012

Episode 8 of The Dante Experience (including an interview with series director, Joel Pierson)
It’s Friday and today I have something special for you. Along with another trip to little ol’ Hell, I have an interview with series director, Joel Pierson.

So to start here is the link to today’s episode (8) of The Dante Experience:
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/episode-8.mp3
Joel Pierson

Joel Pierson, besides being a very charming individual, is a writer and director of radio works. Along with his wife Dana they created the award-winning French Quarter and Children’s Zoo (You can learn more about those works via their Web site here). Recently, Joel has been working on a series of novels called The Messenger, you can find the books on amazon. Joel’s Web site is located here. Below the interview is an additional radio story for your listening pleasure- “A Camping Trip With Joe or My Search for the Meaning of It All.” It was directed by Joel as well. (The interview begins after the jump). (more…)
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March 13, 2012

A Taste of Austen
To those who are new to my blog (and hello), a big part of my writing life right now is trying to find a publisher or agent for my novel, A Jane Austen Daydream.

A Jane Austen Daydream was a labor of love, a project I had worked on and off of for over seven years. It was inspired by the idea of what Jane would have done if she could’ve rewritten her life as one of her novels, making this book both for newbies and Austenites.

Last year, I was honored to have the novel chosen to be shared via Green Spot Blue (a literary Web site). The links to the chapters can still be found via the A Jane Austen Daydream page above. In the past on this blog, I have debated myself around agents or not (I have a history with agents that make me a little nervous), created a query letter, and wrote about different possibilities for the work. Currently, I am sending out query letters again for the work to both agents and publishers. So if anyone knows an agent or publisher that might be interested, please feel free to share (Because honestly, nothing is more persausive and important than contacts in the arts; it is one of the reasons I recommend often for new writers to find opportunities to make contacts and friends in the writing community)… And speaking of sharing, I thought I would share a taste from the work.

This is the second chapter from the first volume. Previously, it was announced that a big ball is being planned to introduce Cassandra to society and possibly find her a worthy suitor, the only problem is her sister Jane has to come to the dance as well…

-Chapter 2-

From Volume I of A Jane Austen Daydream

To the residents of Steventon, she was known as the “other Ms. Austen.” So, when Jane was spoken about, it was in a manner such as this:

“Will the other Ms. Austen be attending?”

“Has the other Ms. Austen discussed the matter with her mother?”

“I try to avoid the other Ms. Austen when I see her, she does effect me so.”

Not to say that Jane was not liked in her hometown, if pressed a person would have a hard time finding anyone that disliked her or had any reason to dislike her, per se, it was just that she had something about her that was different. (more…)
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March 9, 2012

Episode 7 of The Dante Experience
Where were you the first time you went to Hell? Well, if you have been listening to The Dante Experience chances are on a computer. Ha!

It’s Friday and time for episode 7 of The Dante Experience, the radio comedy series. You can hear today’s episode here:
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/episode-7.mp3
You can catch up on previous episodes (and read more excerpts around the making of the series by the author, me) via the Dante 3 page on this blog. If you would like to purchase a copy you can do so via amazon.com (here), or by contacting the producers at Minds’ Ear Audio Productions (here).

Exposure

Hearing your work come to life, for a writer in radio is a multilayered event. It is happy, but emotionally overwhelming; it is disappointing and surprising; it is a relief and a frustration; and there is a sense of peace. A great sense of peace because a chapter in your life is done. No matter what, that chapter is done. To be honest, it’s probably the same feeling I am sure most writers feel around movie, TV, and theater (Completing a novel is very different for me); and you relive in your mind all of the work you went through to get to that point. (more…)
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March 2, 2012

Episode 6 of The Dante Experience
It is friday and Hell is calling you for episode 6 of The Dante Experience. Take the call, this is one of my favorite episodes in the series. Here is the link:
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/episode-6.mp3
You can find links to the previous episodes (as well as read about the writing of the series) via the links on the Dante 3 page (top of the page, right up there^). And remember, you can find the series on amazon (here) or by contacting the production company that made it, Mind’s Ear Audio Productions.

Here is the next chapter in the writing of the series:

Moving Right Along

Frankly, I moved on.

While others may have left the Midwest Radio Theater Workshop that year inspired to make their own radio dramas, I left feeling like I had just finished a funeral and everyone else didn’t know the host was a corpse. The fact that a few years later the MRTW disbanded because of internal conflict didn’t surprise me. There was definitely a power struggle among their different heads, and each seemed to have their own vision of what radio drama can be used for. (more…)
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February 28, 2012

An Excerpt from MEGAN, a Novel
In the hope of doing something different, I decided today to share a scene from my novel MEGAN. In 2009 it was honored in an international novel-writing competition which led to its publication with a new press out of Canada. It can be found on amazon.com here. It is also available as an ebook and audiobook by contacting the publisher or as an eBook from GooglePlay here.

MEGAN is the story of Megan Wane, an imaginative soul who lives in two different worlds. In the real world, she is an event planner at a large firm, dealing with a micromanager and angry fellow employees; in her imaginary world she is a princess and secret superhero who is on a mission to save her world which was turned to blackness. Sometimes her real world slips into her imagination. In this scene Princess Megan and her two companions meet a terrifying and strangely bureaucratic dragon.

–

“Greetings. Hello? Over here. Hi!” The great green dragon was standing in the middle of a large open field. The field (situated where the woods once were) was surrounded by yellow torches. All of the torchlight seemed to coalesce on the dragon, making the beast look larger in the contrast of shadow and the brightness. It was the first dragon Princess Megan had ever seen and it astounded her.

The dragon really didn’t need to direct their attention to itself. The beast was hard to miss, no matter how much the trio might have wanted to pretend that they didn’t see it. It was standing on its hind legs and was wearing a pair of thick reading glasses and a red sweater-vest. It was also holding a clipboard in its right claw and a pencil was positioned behind its left ear. “Are you Princess Megan and her two servants?” the Dragon asked when they had approached closer. (more…)
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February 24, 2012

Episode Five of The Dante Experience
It is Friday and time for another trip to Hell. Here is Episode Five of The Dante Experience, the radio comedy I wrote that was produced by Minds’ Ear Audio Production. You can listen via this link:
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/episode-5.mp3
You can catch up on the previous episodes via The Dante 3 page (link above). On The Dante 3 page you can also get more information where you can find the series.

Midwest Radio Theater Workshop

So I was busy into the writing of The Dante Experience, feeling like I had clear plan ahead of me for getting the work produced. Initally, I was more than happy with the idea of doing it on just the local Michigan State radio, I had no delusions of grandeur… yet.

Then I got the call from Joel Pierson and that changed in a hurry.

OK, to back up, I need to say something about myself and writing. See, at this point in my life I was always entering writing competitions- short stories, plays, screenplays, etc. If there was a competition and a reasonable fee for entry (not over 40 dollars) I would enter one of my work, cross my fingers and hope my check doesn’t bounce. Contests are a great way to build some name recognition and do something about the writing resume. (more…)
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February 17, 2012

Episode Four of The Dante Experience
Here is the link to Episode 4 of The Dante Experience.
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/episode-4.mp3
The three previous episodes, of course, can be found via the links on the The Dante 3 page above.

–

Writing The Dante Experience

It was 1997 and I was in the MA program in English Literature at Michigan State University. My dream, at the time, was to become a professor in literature, getting my MA and then moving on to my Ph.D. Really, I wanted to teach back at my alma mater, Aquinas College (a dream I would succeed at for one semester a decade later), and I saw this as the straightest path to that goal.

Honestly, while I would be spending my days reading the work of other authors and writing reports, the creative side of my brain was starving…. So that brings us up to winter break and I am still living in my dormitory. I had a job working at a bank during the day and I really couldn’t leave Lansing. Which means I was living in something equivalent to a haunted house. I would walk down the hallways of the dorm and hear strange noises in the distance, not sure if it was another soul (living or not), or something more dire. (more…)
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February 10, 2012

Episode 3 of The Dante Experience
Here is the link for episode 3 of The Dante Experience, the radio comedy series written by me and produced by Mind’s Ear Audio Productions, Inc.
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/episode-3.mp3
If you would like to catch up on Episode 1 or 2, please visit The Dante 3 page, above. A new episode will be added each Friday.

–

The YIB Players

So when I was a student at Aquinas College in the 90’s, they started a radio station. It was a pretty small affair, the signal could only reach around the campus (it traveled through the power lines or something like that, I really don’t understand how). Every DJ had free rein to do what they wanted to do, so you would get this weird collection of music being played that didn’t make anyone involved look cutting edge. (more…)
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January 27, 2012

The Dante Experience, Episode One
January was the first month where I focused more aggressively on my blog. Well, today marks a milestone for me. I have had 500 unique views on the site for just this month!

To celebrate this first step, I wanted to share with you something special… The first episode from the radio series I wrote, The Dante Experience.

Here is the link where you can listen.
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/episode-1.mp3
The series was first produced by Mind’s Ear Audio Productions back in 2001 and it is kind of a trip for me relistening to it. Yes, a few references are a little dated (I reference Sharon Stone, for example), but a lot of it holds up very well. (more…)
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January 12, 2012

Fiction Sample: The First Chapter from MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS
In the hope of doing something different, I thought I would share the first chapter of my novel, MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS. It is available on amazon. com, by iPublish Press, a new indie publishing house. Here is the link if you would like to check it out. I hope you will, if I can guarantee anything it is that this book is very unlike anything else out there right now (some books reviews for it can be found on the sidebar). I would like to think you will be surprised.

This first chapter is called “Beginnings.”

From MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS

I will do my best not to lie.

It wouldn’t help my cause to exaggerate,

fabricate

or change any aspect of my life.

Also, I will do my best not to forget anything that may be helpful. Unfortunately, I have never been the kind of person to remember dates or write such information down. Still, I hope that I will be able to generate enough material to aid me.

–

This is a plea for help.

If you have found this manuscript and think it to be only a novel or an ancient piece of fiction, it is not. This is the story of my life and I hope in your reading of it you will be able to help me. (more…)
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