Writing Druthers in 2024: Approaching 100th unique Druthers story

As Barnaby Druthers Audio Theater continues to entertain listeners on community radio with our stories, I wanted to take a few moments to look back quickly at the exceptional stories in the first half of the year and then share some thoughts on writing as we approach the second half of the year and our 100th unique Druthers story.

In Season 5 we shared some stories by Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven, Fall of the House of Usher and Purloined Letter) and we introduced some new villains to the Druthers canon (The Baronet and the Orb Weaver) and we developed more Modern Druthers stories this year taking place in Delaware, Oregon, and Louisiana. I am happy we also created many single episode stand alone classic stories like The Cursed Mirror, Death’s Horizon, Heart Shaped Locket, Miracle in the Bottle and more). But we also added to the Druthers-Lore, specifically Confessions in the Deluge and the Wake of Barnaby Druthers, that provided insight into our protagonists and their journey through life.

Our listeners may notice that we create stories that fall within different points in the lifetime of the characters. Why aren’t the stories written sequentially? As the writer of Barnaby Druthers, I can tell you that inspiration does not occur on a straight line. There are days when ideas of youthful energy or exploring the effects of mistakes from a lack of experience means the stories should take place earlier in the timeline. There are days when the weight of years and thoughts of the passage of time necessitate the stories take place later in the timeline.

Inspiration is not a bolt of lightning that shocks the writer with immediate insight and pages of material. Inspiration is not a gift of gods magically bestowed by beautiful muses in dreams. For me, at least, Inspiration is hard work and a clock. Nothing informs the creative process more than a hard deadline. I learned this lesson when I had a daily comic strip. Every week I needed to have six daily cartoons worthy of publication in newspapers. That’s a story for a different day but the fact remains that the drumbeat of new stories sets a rythym that is easy to write to and plot points in some stories pave the way for new ones. If you’ll forgive the Yogi-Berra-like phrasing, when you write more, you find you write more.

Some stories take longer to write. The most recent story, the recorded but not yet edited “Harper Thorne and the Great Library”, took two weeks to write because I rewrote the majority of the story twice before finally resolving it with the third version. The cast voluntarily offered after recording that they loved the story so I must have made the right choice. (I promise I didn’t fish for the compliment!) Conversely, the Confessions in the Deluge was written by creating a loop of the rain effect, listening to it and then writing the story in a day and it was equally complimented at a separate time.

Television programs back in the years before “cable” used to have 20 to 26 new episodes a season. Now in the era of streaming, any program having a season with more than 10 episodes is rare, but then again, there are many other factors involved in the visual medium that are not factors in the world of audio theater. My stated goal this year, the gauntlet that I threw down for our team, was to create at least 34 new episodes and with The Great Library, once released this weekend, we will have shared 26 new episodes and that does not even count the four “All We Bring to Bear” series and the New PRB of which there will be two that are new to the new incarnation of Barnaby Druthers as we know it today.

There are times when I would like to do a Barnaby Druthers/Harper Thorne comic book or a comic strip. (Some Barnaby/Harper art is shared here in this post). A long term vision includes a novel featuring the characters. And we would all love to do a Barnaby Druthers video project. But all of it takes time and planning and time is not an infinite resource. Our goal and focus is to have new audio stories for community radio almost every week and that takes priority.

A writer who inspires me is Walter Gibson who wrote 283 Shadow stories under the pen name Maxwell Grant and those stories stand the test of time. With Druthers, when the two already recorded but not released (the New PRB part 2 and The Great Library) episodes are aired, we will have completed 99 original stories. (note: with Barnaby Druthers Mystery Hour you will note we have almost 160 episodes but this is because stories can be mixed and matched and repeated (just not often. We always like to share something fresh and new with some material from our other audio series Nutmeg Junction.) This means the very next story I write will be the 100th unique Barnaby Druthers story. What might stymie me as a writer could be the gravity of the moment but I have to remember is that we have many more stories to tell and a new one will be needed that week.
I have some ideas. There are always ideas. There are always plot threads to follow. As Harper Thorne says, we can follow a thread until we unravel the web of intrigue! So tomorrow I will begin to pen a story that will represent the 100th and then…we will continue with the next episode to 101 until perhaps we match or exceed the output of Walter Gibson!

If there are any questions on process or on specific episodes, I’ll be happy to answer as best I can. Until then, thank you for reading and thank you for enjoying Barnaby Druthers!

-J Timothy Quirk

On Writing Audio Theater Part 1: Deadlines and Creativity

Having written scripts for the past four seasons of Nutmeg Junction and two in Barnaby Druthers, I have learned a thing or two about writing audio theater scripts which might be of assistance to those seeking to do the same. Many pointers/tips/ideas are quite common and can be applied to any form of writing, but they are still worth mentioning. I’ll start with one idea and continue to build as this blog moves forward.

Concept 1: Deadlines inspire creativity

It is entirely possible to think that if one had all the time in the world, one would still create art/stories/scripts, etc at the same pace or possibly even increase one’s output because the availability of time presents opportunities that are unavailable when one’s personal schedule is limited. It is a nice thought but I have not found it to be the case.

In the past decade at least I have not had a large amount of time that was unaccounted for anyway, so it is difficult to extrapolate what would occur if there was an infinite amount of time available. I also assume if one did have every nonsleeping hour available in a 24 hour period for a year or two, that eventually the water of time would find it’s level and one would find ways to produce. But in the reality of my day to day, week to week, year to year, in the very rare times when I have not have an extraordinary burden of responsibilities already placed on my allotted 24 hours, I have found myself consuming other media. Just thinking about this now, I am considering the fact that I’ve watched almost every episode of Star Trek from all series, every Sopranos/The Wire/GOT/and more HBO offerings, every Marvel and DC film, most current era series, etc, of course I’ve watched every Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes episode and movie, I could go on but in listing all of this, which doesn’t scratch the surface, let alone even touch the “one-and-done” shows/movies I’ve spent my time consuming, it does beg the question how I found the time to do that. The answer is that when I had time, I chose to consume and not create. It’s not all bad, there’s something to be said for allowing the brain to have a vacation.

However…

When one has limited time, and one wishes to create, then the time has to be found, savored and used wisely. Given the rigors of my current schedule, I find every two week period has a few hours that are nuggets of opportunity that can not be squandered and so I must write then. And as the writing and creating is my creative passion, I am thinking about ideas, stories, scenes, etc when I’m not writing, and if I have time to have something playing in the background, besides music, I have found documentaries on various subjects of interest foster great ideas for my stories. Learning of the Greek or Nordic myths, of physics, of space exploration, of philosophies, of histories, can inform my ideas and stories more than listening to story based media. So when I sit down to write, there is a good chance that the story has already been written in my head before I begin to put it on the page. The story has never remained the same, however, once I start writing, the stories may evolve into something else entirely but in having a limited time for output, and a deadline for story creation, I find I am never at a loss, in fact the opposite is true. I have four stories right now in the process and I’ve been thinking of a fifth since this morning.

I have a deadline because a new show must be created for the program. To put it in perspective, some television shows, like the old BBC model, produce 6 episodes a season, some modern streaming shows produce 10. At the height of syndicated media, shows would have to produce 26 episodes a season. For Barnaby Druthers in season 2 moving forward and Nutmeg Junction since season 2, I try to exceed 26 episodes each year. ** We have stories to tell and the audience wants to something new every week, so it is a perfect example of creative symbiosis. (** the “season one” of Barnaby was when Barnaby wasn’t fully its own show until August and season one of nutmeg junction began in April so the first seasons weren’t full years.)

Some might think of deadlines as if they were unwanted external expectations, like when a student has homework, or an employee has a report due to their superiors, things that are required but not particularly fun. Because writing is fun and it is what I want to do (and I would actually describe it is as a “need”, really) the external expectation is very much wanted and it helps me.

Perhaps I should have started with this thought, but I hope it’s clear that I find creating the show immensely fun. I might even describe it as a need and a driving force and if I had one hour in the 168 I’m given every week, this is what I’d do, and I would create stories.

I know listeners want new stories. I know the actors who create the show with me are looking forward to being a part of the experience and showcasing their talent, I know the stations are waiting for the new episodes to become available. So I have a natural deadline every week. A deadline by its very nature constricts time. You no longer have an unlimited amount of time to create, you now have whatever time you are allotted up to the deadline. So the equation is: Need to Write + Deadlines (Limited time)=Creativity. I’ve never had writers block because I’ve never had unlimited time to spend on it.

I honestly don’t know if self-imposed deadlines work for folks. If it does, great! It’s also not good to give yourself a medical condition because of stress of deadlines, so don’t do that either. But having a deadline and limited time is one reason why we’re on episode 23 of season 2 of Druthers and in the 3o’s already for Junction.

If you find this helpful, let me know. More on writing next time!