Author: Eneasz

I aim for the 25-35 minute range on my podcasts. This is primarily because any longer than that and I would go insane. I only have so much free time, and my girlfriend claims a fair chunk of it. I’ve already basically cut out video games entirely in the past six months to make room for the podcast (in fairness, I was already starting to tire of them, this is much more fulfilling. But I would love to play Mass Effect 3 and I haven’t even picked it up yet). It’s also a happy coincidence that A) the average commute is about this length, and B) most HPMoR chapters are about this length.

I’ve found that 4000-5000 words fits this nicely. More than that and the episode runs a bit long. Significantly more and I have to break it up into two parts.

Chapter 63 is over 14,500 words. I was hoping to do it in two parts, but I was defeated. Therefore 63 will be my first three-part chapter. I wish it weren’t so, but I am a mere mortal and I have to hold down a full-time job too.

One thing you don’t think of first before you start an audio book is how different speech sounds from the way it’s written. Take “she’d tried harder” from this week’s episode. No problem, right? Except the ‘d’ at the end of she’d rests right against the ‘t’ from tried. When spoken, it sounds exactly like “she tried harder”. What happened to the ‘d’? Trying to pronounce both of them inserts a very conspicuous break between “she’d” and “tried” which not only sounds awkward, but is also not like anyone actually talks. I don’t actually know what to do about this, but I have gotten into the habit of over-enunciating my words so I can be understood clearly.

Relevant: this SMBC comic about glottal stops in conversational American English. I don’t think Batman is a great example, as it’s easy and not uncommon to pronounce both the ‘t’ and the ‘m’, but it’s an astute observation that applies often, and Batman makes for a better punchline.