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(Our lovely theme tune by Gerard Coleman [G.T.X.C Music] plays)

Hello and welcome to the Tales from the Fringes of Reality season 2 Q&A! Which is also technically the season 1 Q&A. I was going to do a season 1 Q&A then immediately got a job and didn’t get around to doing a Q&A. But it’s fine! Because I’m gonna answer questions now! In case you are unaware of who I am– which would be a bit strange since this is a post season 2 Q&A, but just in case– I’m Pine, the creator and season 1 narrator of Tales from the Fringes of Reality and voice of Silver in season 2. So we’ve got… A few questions. Not a ridiculous amount but we have enough questions that I’m probably gonna be here for like an hour. So strap in, it’s gonna be fun. 

Kicking things off, we have a question from ClassclownCassie: What sparked your interest in this project? A lot of things, really, I mean… I got into podcasting, like just listening to podcasts in… 2019 at the behest of my friend Niamh [pronounced: neev] who really is the reason that this show is being made at all. If Niamh had not complimented my sweater during my first week of college and we did not become friends, I would not be here. So. Everything stems back to Niamh. Shout out to Niamh. In terms of… like story elements? (sigh) I’ve always been a big fan of fantasy. Like I’ve always always loved fantasy stories. I love magic. Magic has always been something I wished was real. And so I knew I wanted to play with ideas of like magic with elements of sci-fi like bringing in this fear I have around artificial intelligence– which I’ve always had a fear around artificial intelligence. First time I saw, uh, IBM Watson playing Jeopardy! I was like ‘That’s unnatural. I don’t like that.’ And now we’re here. (laugh) Minerva is Watson turned up to… Kidnapping. Um. That’s just the truth. And so taking these sci-fi fears and marrying them with my fantasy loves and just pushing them together… It was always something I wanted to kind of delve into. This world took a lot of different forms– For the longest time this show was actually set in a library. An infinite library that had stories from all over the multiverse and then I was like ‘I feel like I am limiting myself in terms of what I’m doing here’. And so after a lot of back and forth and a lot of rewriting and getting stuck, we stumbled upon the Fringes. I stumbled just as much as Whim did getting there… but I made it. And now we’re here! 

Going to our next question which is from Starlight: What was your favorite part of season 2? This is a hard one! There’s a lot of stuff I like in season 2. Um… I’m a really, really big fan of episodes 6 and– oh wait no. Do math, do math. Episodes 18 and 23 which are my flashback episodes. I loved getting to write Minerva and Silver as like… From Minerva’s first inception to them growing up together and fighting and seeing that past. And I loved delving further into Whim’s past and going ‘Okay. So what was their life like?’ Especially after I introduced this idea of them being the kid of this moon goddess that I’ve made reference to and this random dude. And so I was like ‘What does that look like? What does their past look like?’ I loved doing that so much, it’s one of my favorite things that I’ve written I just… I like a flashback. I like a flashback episode and you’re gonna see more of that but I’m not giving anything else away for now. 

This next question comes from my aforementioned friend Niamh! Shout out again to Niamh! Wouldn’t be here without you. Love you dearly ❤ Which episode (from either season) was the hardest to write/record/or produce, technically or emotionally, and why? I’m gonna give you one from each season just because… I– It’s… the answer is different for each season. Season 1, the hardest episode to do– well, the hardest episodes to do– were the tailend of 11 and then all of 12. That just emotionally was really really hard for me. A lot of my inspiration for Minerva stems from like. Toxic friendships that I have had? And so kind of tapping into that and… Wailing into a microphone like s– well, not screaming but just, you know. Pretending to sob which led to really sobbing… Emotionally it was hard to tap into that. And then going through 12 which is ust this thread of like the reveal of all of the betrayal… Gutted me. Like, I knew I was going to do that from the jump, that was always the plan. And still, having to actually act it was very hard. It was just going to a place that I had not been in a while and being betrayed and sad and forcing all of that out and it just… I’m proud of how it turned out, it was very hard to do emotionally. On the flip side, season 2’s most difficult episode moreso comes from a technical standpoint. Episode 17, which is an episode with the full Council… Balancing all of those voices is really hard. Just like from a writing standpoint, from a– an editing standpoint. Making sure that everyone is there and everyone is talking and it feels like a balanced conversation? Is difficult. Same with 24 where you have the full Council plus Winston and Luna. This is like 8 people that you’re trying to give equal amounts of time to make sure everyone feels like they’re contributing. And so it– Writing and editing and making sure that everything fits right was very difficult. And I am shooting myself in the foot with some of the scenes in season 3 because I don’t learn from my mistakes and continue to throw a lot of characters into the same scenes. Whoops! 

This next question is from the incredible Michael Blundell! If you’re not familiar with Michael Blundell he plays Dean Sutter in Soul Operator which is a fantastic podcast by the Fringes very own Tatiana Gefter, who plays Marigold. Tot is doing great things with Soul Operator, I will never forgive her for it. At the time I am recording this, episode 8 just released for the public. If you listen to this and then listen to Soul Operator… Come back to this moment and be like “Oh that’s what Pine meant. Yeah. Yeah.” Fantastic show, Michael is amazing in it. He keeps punching me in the heart with Dean. Anyway. This question’s from Michael: If you could tell a larger story based in any one of the realities explored in the series, which reality would it be? This question is really hard because I’ve created a lot of silly little places that I really like. Um… I think… Just from like a ‘My brain keeps jumping back to this place’ standpoint I would love to do more with– (deep breath) Okay. Here’s where I admit that I forgot things even as I was writing my first season. And so there’s two places in season 1 named Greenwood. And my thought process once I caught it was ‘Well, I’ve already recorded all of this, um… There’s a lot of realities. There’s… Tons of Greenwoods, it’s fine! It’s fine.’ So, my favorite reality that I would want to like do more in is the second Greenwood that shows up in episode 3, Mushroom Houses and Snailwood Trees. I just like this idea of very like… Modern living inside a very fantasy setting. So like these impossibly tall trees with these golden leaves and magic and people in like, you know, old timey clothes but then you get inside their little mushroom house or little cottage and it’s just like…  ‘He’s got a fridge. He’s got a dishwasher!’ Every time I was writing for that episode I just… The image of this town stays in my mind. Always. I think if I had to go back to anyone or anywhere, it would be that reality. It’s just so much fun to me.

This next question is from Lyssa Jay, who is the fantastic voice actor from The Grotto and 400 Words a Horror which they are also a co-showrunner on. And Lyssa will be playing Persephone in my upcoming show Forged Bonds. This has been Lyssa Appreciation, I love Lyssa with my whole heart. Lyssa asked who my favorite and least favorite character was and why. Which is a very hard question, Lyssa. You’re asking me to pick from my children. I’ve spent so long on this show and you’re asking me to pick a favorite. How could you? (laugh) Ah no, that’s fine. Um… I think just from like a… ‘This is as close to a writer, like, self insert’ as I get, like Silver’s my favorite, I’m not– I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Silver isn’t my favorite, I… have written them, I have voiced them, like I have poured a lot of myself into Silver in a way that just. They are very close to my heart, they are very near and dear to me both from a… ‘This is a character inspired by things in my life’ standpoint and also this is the first character I have long-term played. Ever. And so, to have that just… He’s very special to me. I mean, I stole my name from him (laugh) like, originally– Originally, at the very onset of this Silver’s name was going to be Pine. It was meant to be symbolic, you know… She’s pining after a life that she doesn’t think she can have, not knowing that her memory has been erased and actually she did have that life. She did have a family and friends and connections and all of that was taken from him. And so he pines after it, he doesn’t know, and it was meant to be symbolic and then I was writing it and was like… ‘Damn, I really like that name though. That’s mine now.’ And because I didn’t want to pull a Jonny Sims and name my main character after myself, I changed it to Silver. So there’s always been a lot of me tied up in Silver. And… Of course they’re gonna be my favorite, they’re my special lil guy, they had to be! In terms of least favorite, I feel like… Like there’s an objectively correct answer, which is Minerva like. She’s the villain, she’s… You’re meant to dislike Minerva. She kidnaps people, she moves people from random realities, she forces magical creatures into reality just to fuck with people, like… You’re not supposed to like Minerva. Objectively like the answer for who’s your least favorite question– wait, not least favorite question, least favorite character, it should be Minerva. But Minerva is also very dear to me like I… Conceptually, Minerva has always been very fun to me. Getting to play her on the violin, getting to have this… Extension of my fears, it’s always been very fun so I don’t wanna say she’s my least favorite even though like. She should be. Because she’s the worst. But in terms of like… I have a lot of various one off characters, just people in various realities. And so in terms of them, I feel like… My least favorite might actually be the first one I wrote just because I feel like my writing as I continued writing the show got a lot stronger. And so Jonathan Alverez from episode 1 I feel like is one of my weaker characters just because I didn’t have everything that I have now. Like, I didn’t– I didn’t have the skillset that I have now in creating characters and in doing things, and so he’s probably my weakest character and he’s probably my least favorite for that. 

So this next set of questions… is very much connected. And these questions come from Starlight– who we’ve already mentioned– Michael Blundell– who we’ve already mentioned– and my dear friend slash adopted internet brother Percy– who I have not mentioned before now. Shout out to Percy, he’s my little brother and I love him. He’s not actually my little brother but he’s my little brother in every way that matters. So. Starlight asked: Were there any parts that you wrote that didn’t make it into the show? Percy asked: Are there any scenes or characters you wanted to include this season but didn’t end up fitting them in? And Michael asked: Are there any bits of reality lore that will never make it to the main series? Yes all around (laugh). The thing about writing the Fringes is that it’s heavily inspired by anthology podcasts. Like… I’m a TMA girlie, you can tell that about me. Look at me! You know I loved the Magnus Archives, everyone loved the Magnus Archives. That idea of these anthology like series with interconnecting plots like. Yeah. I’m a sucker for that. And so I wanted to do something like that with my story. And because it has those anthology elements, there’s a lot of ideas that just… Didn’t get to slip in because there’s too many realities, I mean… I have a lot of realities I– that like just didn’t… End up fitting or I couldn’t make work. To get in there. And so there was… There’s multiple versions of… the… Midseason finale and the season finale that just were changed. Not because I didn’t like them, but because I felt like it could be weaved together better. A lot (laugh) A lot of stuff gets left out, and some of it I’m able to push into the next season while some of it– because I knew this was going to be three seasons from the jump– I just don’t have anything to do with them anymore and it makes me kinda sad! So… You might see some other stuff at some point! Who knows? I don’t know! You don’t know either! In terms of Michael’s question in particular about reality lore: There is a lot about like the Council itself and the inception of the Council and like Alexandria’s creation of herself. And like, I have all of these ideas floating in my head that… Don’t feel like they fit into telling the story. Like I already did a lot of expedition dumping in this story– Um. Just the introductions of the Council, end up being basically an expedition dump, like– exposition not expedition oh my lord. I can’t just sit there and be like ‘Let me give you this history lesson on my grandmother who I don’t know is my grandmother’. Like. There’s a lot of things… That I have thought about with the Council. That I would love to share and I might actually throw them together into a document to… I don’t know. Patreon content! We have a patreon: patreon.com/pinetreepods. I’ll remind you of that later, um. (laugh) But outside of them, Winston and Luna are another set that like. There’s a lot of ideas I’ve had around there. Luna is one of the characters I’ve had in my brain for the longest time. I’ve always loved a moon goddess figure. I have most of their meeting story written out? I need to flesh it out a little more, but watch out for that as well because I’ll probably be making that Tay’s problem. (laugh) Sorry Tay! No I’m not!

Our next question is another paired question because we had two similar questions. The first one comes from… It’s just an egg emoji, like the little egg in a frying pan, which was: What was your favorite dynamic to write this season? And my dear brother Percy asked: Which characters are your favorite to write interacting? I love Mari and Memo so much. I love writing them talking to each other, they feed off each other’s energy very well, like… How do I explain this? They both have this sense of… Almost righteous fury. Guillermo because he lost his kid, Mari because her brother lost his kid, like it– It’s palpable, like you feel the way that they connect to each other. And how Alasdair and Opal are very like softer spoken, very mild mannered, and very like… Trying to be blanket kind where Guillermo and Mari have seen enough of reality to be mean sometimes. And getting to write them interacting is always so good. Add in the fact that we have Tatiana Gefter and Julian Dailey who– despite not recording in the same room– bounce off each other’s energies so well like. For every take I had from Tot there was one from Julian that perfectly melded. And I just. Writing them was so fun and getting to hear them come together was so fun. It was just everything I wanted. They have… They have the most sibling energy that I put into the show. They feel like siblings. Which is wild because they’re all siblings but you feel it the most with Mari and Memo I think and that’s what made it really really fun to write them. I love writing them interacting. Marigold is one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written, same with Guillermo, so throwing them together has always been great. I also have to say I love writing Alexandria and Sparrow together. I… I’m a romance writer, like, let’s be real. My next podcast is several love stories in a trenchcoat. I got my start in fanfiction which was pretty much all romance stories for me. I like a good romance story and so getting to write Alexandria and Sparrow who are just… So in love with each other and the was that that pops out in their conversations, I. I love it. It’s the use of pet names, it’s the way they try to calm each other down, it’s… Tarek Esaw and Michelle Kelly also had voices that paired very nicely together. Just hearing it all come together really just made me emotional because I’m like ‘Those are the parents! These are the parents and you can feel it!’ And it’s so good. It’s so good, they’re so good. Have I mentioned that I have the best cast in the world? Probably not yet, but I do. I actually have two of the best casts in the world because I have another show and it has– you’ll never guess– one of the best casts in the world. 

Our next question is once again from ClassclownCassie! Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your world and its characters? Were you influenced by any real-life friends? Yes but not in the way that you think. I kind of mentioned this offhandedly that like, Minerva especially is inspired by like very toxic friendships that I had. People who… I felt like I had to vie for their attention, never felt like I was good enough and always felt like I was constantly being left out. And… who never made me feel like I was… actually part of a group. And so, how I wrote Silver and Minerva is writing Minerva feeling what I was feeling when I was like… fourteen to nineteen. And then writing Silver as what I wish people had done in that time and the kind of friend that I try to be now. It’s this very interesting pull of like “Oh… This is who I am and who I try to be. This is what I felt like and this is (laugh) This is how that leads to kidnapping!” No I mean it doesn’t actually lead to kidnapping, don’t kidnap people! PSA: Don’t kidnap people. But in terms of the world itself… I mean, I’ve talked about this a bit on social media. I drew a lot of inspiration from The Adventure Zone. Um, specifically The Adventure Zone: Balance, and I love the way that they did… Like I loved their play on the planar system in dnd. Because like obviously dnd has those different planes. And like the different levels and hierarchies of like… The regions and where they are and there’s a big chart and there was a question about it on an episode of Um, Actually and I think Matt Mercer got it right, I don’t know, it was something wild. But anyway, like… Dnd and their planar system and especially how The Adventure Zone used it… Really, once I figured out… that the library wasn’t it– Like, originally it was a library that intersected with that planar system. Then I was like “The library isn’t working. What is?” Removing myself from the system and kind of like putting myself on the fringes of it really helped. And so I drew a lot of inspiration from… From there and from dnd campaigns in general, I… I’m a nerd. You’re here, you know I’m a nerd. You’re not surprised (laugh). But I drew a lot of my inspiration from there. And in terms of other, like, real friend influences… I love my friends dearly. Once I got to college and made friends who like… Actually cared about me? And actually made me feel included? It… Makes a huge difference and you can see a lot of my friends in how I write the Council. It is this kind of idealized family that pulls in all of the good aspects of my friends. And yes, like, I’m not gonna say that me and my friends never fight or that we never disagree or that it’s always perfect, but… All of their best traits you can find in the Council. And some of their worst traits you can also find in the Council, but I’ll let you figure out which ones those are. 

Our next question comes from Leanne who is the incredible and ridiculously talented creator of Tell No Tales. And they’re also going to be playing Apollo in Forged Bonds. I’m so excited to get to work with Leanne because they’re literally the coolest and yeah. I’m so excited. They sent in a bunch of questions and I’m like “Leanne, I don’t know how to cope”. Thank you but also ahhhh. Um… This first question from Leanne, though, connects back to these real world inspirations. Leanne asked: Can you tell us anything about the character names in the show? They’re all so lovely, are there any stories behind any of the names you chose? So many. So many. So, the first thing I did as I was writing– When I was a kid, and I was like first starting to write stories, I would steal my friends names and I would just like… I’d be like  “Okay… this is my friend Kelsey. I’m gonna write a character kind of inspired by her and her name is gonna be… Katelyn! Because they start with the same letter!” like that kind of thing. And so I’ve (laugh) I’ve been in the habit of stealing people’s names for a very long time. I’m like the fey! I’ll steal your name! Don’t… Don’t question why! As I was writing the Fringes what I really wanted to do was kind of pay homage to a lot of these people who inspired me creatively. And so a lot of these one off characters end up being named after podcast creators that I liked or people who worked in the industry in general that I liked. So I’ve written out a whole list so I wouldn’t forget anyone. Starting off with the first episode of the show we have Jonathan Alverez, I’ve already mentioned I’m a TMA girlie, you know he’s named after Jonathan Sims. Like no one’s surprised. No one’s surprised! In episode 3 we actually have two name drops: we have an Amie and we have a Mike. Amie being named after Amie Kinch who I had done a couple voice acting classes with. She was a big inspiration with me actually finishing up this work, um… and also taught me how to make a demo reel. Mike named after Mike LeBeau! Who is one of my favorite voice actors, um… Who is going to be in Forged Bonds and I’ll never get over that it’s still one of the craziest things I’ve ever said in my life. I wanted to name a silly lil character after him so of course I did! We had a Naomi named after Naomi Clarke, who is the writer for The Secret of St. Kilda. I credit The Secret of St. Kilda with the fact that this show exists at all. I… (laugh) I hit a lot of road blocks as I was trying to write– like a lot of writer’s block, a lot of me trying to force a story when I wasn’t at a point when I could write the story. When I fin– When… I had been following The Secret of St. Kilda from their original casting announcement. Like I had seen the people that they had cast and that they were looking for more voice actors, I had auditioned, like I had followed them through that whole process and so seeing that from like the ground up? Was really inspiring to me, especially just as someone who’s like… usually jumping into shows part way through because I got into this game very late so… Seeing a show from the ground up and just like the writing on The Kilda… It… Inspired me a lot so of course I named a character after Naomi, I had to. She inspires me so much. We had a Benjamin in season 1 who was named after Ben Meredith, one of my favorite voice actors. We had a Sasha in season 1 named after Sasha Sienna, another one of my favorite voice actors and co-creator of Pitcrawler, which I did a Pitcrawler one-shot with Tay on here. And I wanna do a couple more so keep an eye out for that! For real this time! I am in a better with like managing my time and so we’re gonna get more of those before season 3 comes out, I promise. Season 1 also had a Jaci named after Jaci Seelagy, the founder, ah, of Faustian Nonsense. She’s also the voice of Jack in Jack of All Trades, she’s one of my favorite creatives in this space like… Not to be a shill but like, Faustian Nonsense is one of my favorite networks. And so I’ve always enjoyed the work that they’ve been putting out and Jaci has been like a huge inspiration in this space. And so yeah, I had (laugh) I had to name a character after her! Looking at season 2– The creatives that kind of inspired the names for season 2 we have a Cai named after Cai Gwilym Pritchard, the creator of Chain of Being and also the sound designer on so many shows that I love. Like Super Suits, like Ethics Town, like Cai is so talented. They are so talented and to get to exist and make shows at the same time as Cai Gwilym Pritchard? Immaculate. It’s incredible. I feel so lucky. We had a Tim in season 2 named after Tim Meredith. I had a Ben, I have to have a Tim, it would be rude not to. I love them both! They’re both great voice actors. Um, there is a Cole in season 2 who– I’ve definitely mentioned this on social media before– my lil moss creature is named the creator of The Town Whispers and Tiny Terrors. Two of my favorite shows, very big inspirations for me. The episode that Cole first shows up in, like the episode that he is in, my lil moss creature? Is called The Moss Whispers for a reason (laugh) That was the stupidest name I could’ve given that and I am so glad I stuck with it, it makes me so happy every time I think about it. And then rounding out the characters in the first two seasons that are named after creative that I like– creatives that I like, we have a CL uh named after CL Hendry. They are the creator of Ethics Town, they are the social media person for The Secret of St. Kilda… Louis just does fantastic work, like. Fully obsessed with them. Such good work and they’ve got another show coming out and it’s got– it’s got heists! And puppets! And I’m very excited about it. And that one also has the Fringes very own Ollie Bannerman, so. Shout out to Ollie! They’re phenomenal. So, those are all of the characters named after voice actors that I enjoy. We have a few miscellaneous is what I filed them as even though I pulled these names for very specific reasons– Uh, Opal’s partner Sapphire is Sapphire because that is the September birthstone and I was born in September. I also just think it makes a good name! Our two dragons are Wingyee and Hou Lin. Wingyee being the Chinese name that my grandparents gave me and Hou Lin being my grandmother’s name. In the same episode episode as Wingyee we have reference to a Charles, which was my grandfather’s Americanized name. He was… He was known as Chuck, so I decided to… Make that a Charles and pay homage to both of my grandparents in this show. In episodes related to dragons! I mean, the dragon episodes come directly from my heart. The dragon design for Wingee is directly based on a drawing that my grandfather did that is hanging in my room. Like, that part of that story was true, that dragon has always been watching over me. Those come from a very personal place! Season 2 has an Orestes because I’m a Classics major and I love the Oresteia so much. I’m not gonna tell you that you have to read the Oresteia because it is a trilogy of Greek plays and they’re tragedies and not everyone likes reading plays. Not everyone likes tragedies. Not everyone has the time to read a set of Greek tragedies! But it’s such a good set of plays, I genuinely adore it, and so we have an Orestes. The last of my kind of miscellaneous is Jaspercival! I mentioned my good friend/adopted internet little brother Percy. Percy also goes by Jasper and Percy is short for Percival. So, Jaspercival! Percy has been a major like source of inspiration in terms of just like… Telling me I can do this and… Pushing me to keep going and has just been like the biggest cheerleader in this whole thing. I had to name a character after him, he’s my little brother in every way that matters and he has always been so supportive and so… Percy I know you’re listening to this since you sent questions in and I love you. I (sigh) Leanne, I know you asked this and I know you probably weren’t expecting me to talk about it for this long and I’m sorry I do still have more, there are more names. Because all of the Council’s names were chosen very specifically as well. Alexandria? The library of Alexandria. Listen, I am a Classics major and I will never forget and never forgive. Sparrow was a name that… I knew that I wanted my death deity to be named after a bird. I don’t know why, it just felt right. And I don’t know things about birds! I’m not Brennan Lee Mulligan! I don’t have time to know bird facts! But as I was thinking about it… I was like “Well. Life is fleeting… Just like birds! Birds just flutter by and carry things away.” And I liked the idea of death being like that too. I landed on Sparrow… I don’t even know how. But at some point it entered my brain and it just stuck there. And… It just fit! It just fit. Opal is one of my favorite precious stones, I think they are gorgeous and I loved the idea of this person struggling to name themself until they see just like one tiny detail on this person in front of them. And I was like what feasibly can that be? Then I was like okay jewelry and was like oh I can play with gemstone and gemstone and then I landed on the opal earrings and just… I’m so pleased with it. I love Opal. Guillermo is named after Guillermo in What We Do In the Shadows. I started this– I started writing this show when I was on a big What We Do In the Shadows kick. No regrets, Guillermo’s great. Guillermo is a fat, queer, Latino character, and as a fat, queer, Latino, like… It means a lot to me so like I had to name a character after Guillermo. It also feels like a dad name. But he was just named after the character in What We Do In the Shadows, I’m not even gonna pretend like he wasn’t. Alasdair is named after his voice actor, actually! Alasdair Stuart. I was trying to think of someone who embodies this idea of magic. And I kind of started going “Who’s the most magical person I can think of?” Very quickly settled on Alasdair Stuart. Just between his talent as a voice actor, his talent as a writer, the things that he does with streaming and how like… bright of a– like he’s such an incredible person. And like getting to be part of his stream community, getting to interact with him on like social media, and eventually getting to have him on the show like… He’s magic! He’s pure magic, pure and simple and so I pulled his name immediately when I was trying to think of this magic deity and… It stayed! And now he’s in the show! Which is crazy, it’s a crazy thing that I can say. It’s one of the coolest things to ever happen to me. Every time I get to work with people I’m like “This is crazy! You’re working with me? I’m so excited!” (laugh) Lastly we have Marigold. Marigolds are one of my favorite flowers, I think they are genuinely so gorgeous. Marigolds also have ties to Dia de los Muertos and this idea of, you know, death and the afterlife, and following these petals back to the land of the living. And it felt very symbolic of Marigold’s relationship with Xander, who followed her to the edge of reality. And who died for it. It’s… just the beauty and connection to death and everything about it, Marigold just felt perfect for a character and felt perfect for our character of Marigold. 

We are once again doing a triplet set of questions because three people asked me very similar things. Starting with Dr. Mad Magnetarmadda who is my dear friend that I met through writing fanfiction. She asked: What was the transition like for you, Pine, going from doing s1 solo to having a cast in s2? What were the best parts? Anything hard to adjust to? Someone who just sent a boot emoji– um… I still don’t know who either of the emojis are and it’s great. But they had asked: Was it difficult going from basically being a one-man band to having a full cast show? And Leanne, the aforementioned creator of Tell No Tales, asked: How did you find the process of expanding the cast & story for season 2? (sigh) So. The show started out as a one person thing out of necessity. I didn’t feel comfortable asking people to lend their voices to my show when I couldn’t pay them. And I was in college when I was writing this, in the middle of the pandemic, in a country that I’m not from. I wasn’t working at the time because of all of those reasons. And by the time I was finishing it– or– By the time I was doing the bulk of the writing I did have a job but it wasn’t like… ‘pay your voice actors what they deserve’ job, so. I was like I’m going to do this on my own until I can save up money so I can pay people what they deserve, hoping I could expand the story. The transition was so exciting for me. Because I… I wanted to work with other people from the jump I just also wanted to pay them. And that makes it a little hard when you’re, you know. A recent college grad who’s trying to find a job in a terrible job market because capitalism is kinda the worst. But it was so exciting. It was so exciting getting to change the perspective of the show. From these kind of like– long– it was a challenge. Both for myself and just in a general sense because season 1– because it’s just me it’s all prose and it’s all prose on purpose. Where I can just kinda go “Okay. Minerva’s shit is broken so I have to read you all these stories.” And so I’m able to just kinda straight shot it in prose rather than having to do anything in dialogue. Doing everything in dialogue is a very different skill! Because you can’t… There’s- There’s limits to it. And you have the old adage of like ‘show not tell’ all the time anyway. But when you’re doing like purely dialogue which is what season 2 is, it gets a lot harder to show. My challenge for myself was trying to find that balance. Then going into actually casting the show? That was the most exciting and stressful time that I had. More people auditioned than I ever thought would. I thought we’d get like… 20, 30 auditions max. We had over a hundred auditions. And so I was like “Okay. We’re gonna sit down, we’re gonna listen to all of these, we’re gonna take notes.” I was worried that I wouldn’t– That I would be too picky and I wouldn’t like enough. I had the opposite problem; I liked too many. The cast ended up being a lot bigger than it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be 6 core– like my 6 Council members and then 4-6 ensemble members doing multiple episodes. Instead I ended up with an ensemble member (laugh) an ensemble member per episode. I basically doubled the size of my ensemble because there were so many people I wanted to– I loved their voices and I wanted to work with them. That’s the hardest part! Trying to cull down the list. When I did the auditions for Forged Bonds I had over 300 and I did not have nearly enough roles and it’s hard. That’s the hardest part. Anyone who tells you that casting is not hard is a liar. It’s so difficult because there’s so many talented people and you don’t want to say no to any of them. But you have to, and it’s… Every day I am so glad that I have the cast that I do. And that I get to work with such incredibly talented people but god was finding that list so hard. But I really loved making the show open for more voices. Not only from the standpoint of “Now I don’t have to voice everything” but just from getting to work with people. I… I tend to write solo, I have started writing with other people just kind of casually. And just to kind of expand that skill set. But writing solo I’ve never minded. It’s doing the rest alone that gets kind of, well, lonely. And so getting to open up this world and let other people in and have other people want to join was– still is– one of the best experiences of my life. 

So our next two questions get in– get into a bit of a pickle for me. Because just by the sheer content of it I have no way to be like “No, seriously, people actually asked me this” without it seeming like I am lying. Because these are questions that basically ask me to brag– a thing I am not good at doing. And don’t want to do. Because there will be that seed of doubt like “Okay but did they really ask you that or did you just want to talk about yourself?” And the answer is no, I did not want to talk about myself, they did ask me this. Athan went as far as to ask it both in the questions box and in the comments box that I had for the form. And so I feel compelled to answer it but I’m also just like. I don’t wanna because it feels awkward and bad and like people are gonna think I’m being self-centered. So. Athan’s question was: Why are you so good at doing things? And Leanne asked– (laugh) Well, Leanne wrote: You’re always saying sweet things about your cast, but now get ready for Pine Say Sweet Things About Yourself Challenge! What are three things about making this show that you’re really proud of? (This one is mandatory and I‘ll accept no fewer than three, I’m not sorry). I swear to the gods they did actually ask this and I did not put them up to this because I don’t like these questions. To Athan’s questions: I’m not very good at things. Like, I’m… Trying to get better at things. I think… (laugh) writing is the only thing I’ve done consistently for the past 10 years. I’m not the same gender I was 10 years ago, that’s how inconsistent my past 10 years have been. I think having 10 years of writing experience under my belt has made me kind of okay at writing. Everything else, I’m just kinda winging it. And if people like it, they like it. I don’t think I’m particularly good at it (laugh) but… I’m trying to take compliments I guess? I… I am proud of the fact that I’ve been writing for as long as I have been. I think it has made me a lot better and even across the process of writing season 1 versus writing season 3 or writing season 3 versus writing Forged Bonds, like you can see growth. And so I’m proud of that. I’m counting that as 1 thing, Leanne. I know it’s technically an answer to Athan’s question, it’s also now part of your answer. Um (laugh) I… I am proud that I managed to sound design this show given that I did this whole thing in Audacity. You should not do that. Like, Audacity is great for recording, it’s very easy to use, it’s free, and like you just hook your mic up, you can see everything, you can make sure your inputs are right. Audacity is fine for recording. You should not sound design in Audacity. I should not have sound designed in Audacity. I like to tell people that this show was made with audacity– both the software and the noun. Because it was (laugh) Um… So I’m proud of myself for actually forcing the show out given that I did it on software that it should not have been done on. (laughing) I don’t know what else to say to that, Leanne, I just wanna say nice things about my cast like I’m– I’m so proud to get to work with such phenomenal people. I mean seriously this entire cast is just incredible. And these ridiculously talented people are like “Yeah. This show seems interesting, I’ll audition for that” and then when I was like “Hey! You got a part if you still want it” and they all said yes I was like “Oh! Okay!” Like… I have written something at a caliber that gets really good people in it. And I guess that’s kind of the same as the first thing I was proud of but like… I don’t know. This show means the world to me and getting to share it with the people that I do– and getting to share their voices as well like. I have made two absolutely incredible friends through the process of trying to make this show. Like Tay and Tot mean the world to me and I haven’t even known them for a full year yet. And that wouldn’t be possible without this show. So I guess I’m proud of myself for starting to network? (laugh) Does that work? Does that work, Leanne? Athan, does this work? Can I– Can I move on? I’m gonna move on. This was recorded in the past, you can’t stop me. You cannot stop me. 

This next set of questions is from Starlight and Leanne as well. Starlight asked: Can I please punch Minerva? I’m so upset at her still. I will continue my crusade against her on social media if I must. And Leanne said: Is Minerva accepting requests for hand to hand combat at this time? I know she doesn’t have hands but we could figure something out. Listen. I get it. I would also want to fight Minerva if I was in your shoes. She… Doesn’t have a body. But if you can figure that out? Go right ahead. I don’t know how you’re gonna do it. But you could if you wanted to.

In relation to all of this, Percy asked: Does the Fringes have enough blankets to wrap everyone up in after what you’ve done to them?  No.

Lemon, the creator of Audistorium who is a fantastic human being– Audistorium is an incredible show. Everyone should listen to Audistorium. It is another like anthology show and some of these are starting to have plot threads that are fitting together and I am chomping at the bit. Lemon is a fantastic writer, fantastic audio engineer, very good guy. Lemon asked: Has there ever been a moment with the show where you had your head in your hands stressed out? Yeah, yeah, um. The thing about writing a show that has a lot of your emotions tied up into it when you’re also clinically depressed is that it can get a bit intense. And sometimes it can be hard to get words to happen. There was as couple months were I thought I was just not going to finish this show at all. Like I had basically scratched the idea and said “I am just not meant to do this” and… It was hard. That’s where The Secret of St. Kilda came in and kind of reignited my spark, but like… I was up against a wall with the show for a while. It went through so many different iterations and places, from like– like the infinite library like I mentioned to an infinite train because train are great to “what if I change concepts all together and don’t do any of these things” to “what if I just don’t write a show?” And then at some point it hit the Fringes. And at some point I was able to keep going and finish writing. But there was a long time where this show almost didn’t happen. And I am grateful every day that it did. 

This question comes from Moo who is my dear friend/tumblr mutual/person who hangs out in streams with me who also does good arts. Hi Moo! Shout out to Moo. Are there any details about the characters’ appearances that you like but haven’t found a way to work into the show? So this is… Complicated. I don’t really think in images as much as I think in words, like I… I struggle with picturing things sometimes, especially if I don’t have a reference for it. For fictional characters I haven’t seen? I– I have a hard time with it. Even with one’s I’ve created. It is very difficult for me to nail down aspects of them. I can give you some rough inspirations? But really like outside of the Council I don’t really have anything and even within the Council I don’t have a lot. Alexandria was always kind of inspired by Chang’e, the Chinese goddess of the moon. If you couldn’t tell, I like a moon goddess! After I saw the movie Over the Moon, the netflix movie– it’s really good, it’s really cute, it made me cry a lot. Watch that movie. Not sponsored, but watch it anyway. My image was very much based off of that movie after I saw it. Just kind of East Asian features, long black hair, strong demeanor, that’s about all I had for them. So the interesting thing also about the Council is that my brain was writing them with certain races in mind which– They’re… They’re not possible? Because they’re like entirely made of magic in realities that like… There’s not an Asia on the Fringes because it’s just the Fringes. But Alexandria has always been Asian to me. We get into a weird territory with that but then I decided “I’m a person of color writing a show and I want to have my characters be people of color so fuck it. They are. Get bent. ” So Alexandria has always been Asian to me– More so East Asian just because that’s what I have direct ties to. But as long as you’re somewhere in the Asian region you’re pretty much good to go there. Sparrow… Sparrow is probably the one I have the clearest image of because they were kind of inspired by the official art for Kravitz from The Adventure Zone. And also Gabe James’s cosplay of Kravitz from The Adventure Zone. If you’re not familiar with Gabe James, um, he is a TTRPG creator and cosplay person. They’re fantastic, I’m obsessed. Very much my mental image for Sparrow, like this whole time. Genuinely, that’s as close to a reference as you’re going to get. Alasdair looks very Brendan Fraiser-ish in my mind. Like– like modern day Brendan Fraiser. Yeah. That. And even that’s just kind of a loose association. Guillermo I don’t know that I ever really picture. At this point, when I think of Guillermo I think of Julian Dailey, who voices Guillermo, just because like… I don’t know. He’s become so linked to Guillermo in my mind that I’m just like “Yeah, that’s Julian” because I cannot picture anyone doing this voice as well as Julian did. Like… I heard Julian and went “That’s it. That’s Guillermo.” So my image of Guillermo just kinda became Julian as I was writing seasons 2 and 3. Or– No, I had written season 2. As I was editing season 2 and writing season 3. That’s just kinda where it went. Opal is very… long and willowy and is white and… I don’t know. I cannot picture her in my mind’s eye, I’m sorry. And then Marigold… is (confused noise) She’s Latina. She takes no shit. She… I don’t know. She always had like longer, brown hair in my mind but outside of that and her being Latina I have nothing. Also Marigold, um… Marigold and Alasdair for sure I picture as like heavier set. Alexandria and Sparrow sometimes depending on what my mood is. Silver is definitely fat, like… I’m saying this as a fat person, I’m going to write fat characters. Deal with it. Mari, Alasdair, and Silver always have been like fat in my mind. Guillermo, hit and miss on that because eventually I started picturing him as Julian Dailey. Your… Your directive is: make them people of color, put some fat on them, and have fun. Because I can’t picture jack shit in my brain. I am so sorry, Moo. I know that you put in the comments that this is definitely not for fan art purposes and you were looking for direction but I don’t have any to give you, I can’t picture things (laugh). 

Our next question is another one from Starlight: Will you do any crowdfunding for season 3? This is a difficult question. I am currently in the process of writing a second show, Forged Bonds, which will also be coming out this year. I have also recently quit my job because it was exacerbating my depression. So I’m currently taking a bit of time off to figure out what the hell I’m doing with my life. At this time I have enough money to pay the cast for the Fringes. It would deplete a decent chunk of my savings, but I’m living at home so like… there’s balancing there. But this is all dependent on me being able to fund for Forged Bonds. Forged Bonds is a bigger show in terms of episode length and in terms of number of cast members per episode. My thought process– because I, well one: I can’t run two crowdfunders at the same time on indiegogo. And I don’t trust Seed and Spark enough to use Seed and Spark after what happened to Tonia Ransom. So it’s this weird place of like I can’t do two at the same time anyway both from a ‘what indiegogo allows’ and from a ‘crowdfunding is a full time job and I am not mentally prepared to do two at once’ standpoint. And then I think it’s more important for me to crowdfund for the show that I know I will need more money for. So at this time I am not planning on crowdfunding for season 3. That being said, if anybody wanted to support the show, we do have a patreon: patreon.com/pinetreepods, which goes to support both the Fringes and Forged Bonds and the creation of both of these shows. You can get access to early access for both shows once both shows are out. Ah, you’ll also get access to commentaries that I write out for each of the episodes. I am in the process of going back through season 1 so I can write all of those out for patreon. I am trying to think of other things to do for patreon so if you have any ideas you can reach out to me on social media– please do. If you have patreon ideas, if you’re like “I like it when people do this on patreon” tell me! I would love to have more things so I can have more tiers. I don’t know what to do for patreon so that’s why we only have the one tier so far. I also have a ko-fi. Ko-fi.com/probsnothawkeye if you wanna toss some coins my way to put towards the Fringes or Forged Bonds, it is appreciated. I… I’m doing my best here! I personally don’t… Like, with– with the crowdfunding. I don’t take a cut of that for myself. Like I wasn’t doing that for season 2 and I’m not going to be doing that for any crowdfunding I do moving forward. Like I don’t get paid for this, so if you like it and want to help me pay these incredible people that are in it, there’s options! And thank you so much for asking this! And letting me shill for a minute! It feels weird to do this! It feels real weird to do this, but you gotta sometimes. 

Our next question is once again from Lemon: What gives you the drive to keep going? Lemon really knows how to ask the hard hitting questions. This one… (laugh) it is difficult to say. I mean, I mentioned that there were times that I did not think I would finish this show. At this point, I’ve written the whole thing and so the finish line is in sight. (laugh) But… I think what really helps me get through this is now that I’m working with other people? The collaborative aspect of this really really helps me. Just getting to hear other people say the words that I am writing and having them give me these incredible takes that leave me sobbing in my bedroom. Having the ability to work with incredible people and knowing that my silly little show is something that’s giving them practice in terms of their voice acting… Because every job is practice. Everything you write is practice. Everything you do is practice for the next thing. That’s how you stay improving. You keep going, you keep believing in yourself. I believe in you! But like knowing that I am helping to contribute to someone’s further success in this field, whether it be just from like having another credit to add to their resume or maybe being a clip you put in your vocal reel, like… Getting to work with other people and getting to know I am helping other people continue working in this field helps me feel like I’m doing enough to keep going. It makes me so happy to work with the people that I get to, and to get to make friends in this space, and to just become part of this community. Yeah. Sappy as that is, like, it is the other people that make it worth it. I have often said and it is something that is a little hard sometimes but like… I write for me first and foremost and if someone else enjoys what I’ve written? Then it’s all worth it. If I can make one person feel what I have felt from the works of media that I love? Then it’s worth it. Even if it’s just the one. Connecting to people– be it literally in a collaborative sense or metaphorically in a “Hey I was moved by your piece of work” sense– it’s about the connection. And I– and that’s what really keeps me going with it. 

Another question from Starlight: Did the season end the way you thought it would? Yes. I have had the end of each of the seasons in mind from the jump. I knew that season 1 would end with the reveal of the betrayal. I knew that season 2– well. Once I figured out the Fringes were the location that this was going to be set in it was easier to figure out season 2 and where that ended because I was like “Okay. So this is how season 1 ends, this is how I want to write season 2 so I can work with other people, which means season 2 needs to end with Silver coming home. And season 3 needs to end how season 3 ends.” Because I knew from the jump how I wanted season 3 to end, like I had the end in mind when I thought of the idea. And you’ll have to see what that means in season 3.

Another question from ClassclownCassie: Did you ever envision this show becoming this successful? How does it feel? This is another complicated question. Because in terms of success– I mean it depends on how you’re defining it. From a pure numbers standpoint– like just looking at, you know, listens and looking at community engagement and things like that– this show is not very successful (laugh) um… There are a lot of shows that like came out at similar times that have far surpassed me in terms of like downloads and in terms of general engagement. From a pure numbers standpoint, this show isn’t very successful. And I will say to take that with a grain of salt because like you can’t really judge it just based on the numbers. But the numbers do give you a metric and so it’s– it’s hard to ignore the numbers. That said, from like a personal/emotional standpoint… This show means the world to me. And knowing that people have listened to it and enjoyed it? Means the world to me. And in that regard it has been a success. Because I put the thing out and some people listened and they liked it. And that makes it successful to me; even if it’s not like super successful, it still means a lot. And it feels… Pretty fuckin’ weird. It’s weird to know the impact that you have made on someone else. Like having people that I have become friends with through streams and various servers be like “Oh, I listened to your show. You did this; why? That hurt me.” Or like, Leanne! Leanne’s a great example because like I love Tell No Tales. Leanne and I actually met because we were crowdfunding at the same time; them for Tell No Tales season 2 and me for the Fringes season 2. And we, um. We contributed to each other’s crowdfunders. And so, like, seeing this person who made this show I really like that made me cry at my desk at work on more than one occasion then tell me that I made them cry while they were doing the dishes? It’s a wild feeling. Knowing that I have caused the same emotions that other people have caused me. And that people are enjoying what I’m making. And it’s (laugh) It’s not something I’ll ever get used to, I think. On some level I understand what Athan means when he was like “It’s crazy that you got a tattoo of something I wrote.” But I’m like “My guy. It meant a lot to me. You wrote this incredible song and it squeezed my heart and I had to get a tattoo about it.” And he was like “What the hell, that’s insane.” And I’m like… “Yeah.” Because listening to other people’s stuff and having it move you makes you do crazy things, like get a tattoo or write a story or tell someone that you love their show. It’s– It’s a wild feeling and it’s not one I think I’ll ever get used to, but it’s very rewarding to know that people care and people listened and people actually really liked what I did. 

Our last question is one final one from Leanne: Is there anything you can tell us about what’s coming for the future of Fringes? Season 3 has some of my favorite episodes I’ve written for this entire show. And I thought that about season 2, and I thought that about season 1, so (laugh) there is… There’s a lot of fun stuff coming. And there– from like a business-y standpoint, there’s some other stuff behind the scenes that I cannot tell you about yet but I’m very excited about. That… Once I’m able to share it I will let you know. But there’s stuff coming for the Fringes that I think… I think you’ll really enjoy. My cast (laugh) My cast gets to do more parts this time because I knew how many people I was writing for this time. And there are some incredible, incredible voice actors that have characters named after them in this one. I think you guys are gonna like what you hear. I’m super excited to be able to share it. 

So this rounds out our Q&A! I just want to take a moment to say thank you for listening to the first two seasons of the show. It means the world to me, I know I’ve said that a lot over the course of the past hour and fifteen minutes jesus fucking christ (laugh) But this show… This show started from a place of sadness and grew into a place of joy. Seeing how this show has grown with me and seeing how people have reacted to it… It has made it all worth it. I am very grateful for you for listening. And for asking questions and for sharing and for doing all the lovely things y’all do for my silly little show that means so fucking much to me. I’m so excited to share season 3 with you and I’m so excited to share Forged Bonds with you and I’m so excited to share whatever comes after that with you, because gods know I’m not gonna stop after this. I have a couple ideas kicking around and I already know that this is something I’m doing for probably the rest of my life. It’s just so much fun and getting to share that fun, exciting, everything with you guys, I just can’t wait. Thank you for listening! And for tuning in to our Q&A. We’ll be back again in the coming months with some extra bonus content and then looking at early fall for the start of season 3. Take care!

Thank you for listening to Tales from the Fringes of Reality. In this episode you heard me! Pine Gonzalez as… Pine Gonzalez, reading questions. Our theme music is provided by Gerard Colman; you can find him on most streaming services at G.T.X.C. Gerard is phenomenal and you should listen to his other music. If you like this little bit that’s playing in the background, you’ll like the other stuff he does, he’s great. You can connect with us on social media @thefringespod; I am on twitter and tumblr and theoretically I’m on bluesky, I’m really bad at using bluesky but we are there. You can also connect with me personally @probsnothawkeye; if you see me in a twitch chat, that’s me! I do things. Namely this! And again if you would like to support us you can do so at patreon.com/pinetree pods where you can get access to early episodes once there’s more episodes to release. This goes up early on the patreon which doesn’t matter to any of you because you just listened to this, but it was up there early. As well as commentaries and more things now that I’m trying to make this more robust. And if you just want to toss a coin my way for doing things but don’t want to have to subscribe to patreon every month you can do so at ko-fi.com/probsnothawkeye. That’s me! Again! Hi! Thank you again for listening! We hope to see you on the Fringes again soon.

Hey! You! You’ve listened through the end of the credits which means you’ve unlocked my podcast recommendations. I’m gonna list of so many shows right now because I love so many shows. Starting with ones that have some of our cast members in it, we have The Grotto which is created by Athan or AthansMusic as you can find him on socials. The Grotto is fantastic, it has the Fringes’ very own Taylor Michaels in it, Tatiana Gefter is in an episode, I’m in an episode! It’s so, so good. It’s horror and grief and awesome music. Listen to The Grotto. Listen to Soul Operator, I know I told you to listen to Soul Operator already, I’m gonna tell you again anyway. Listen to Soul Operator. Listen to WOE.BEGONE! Tay is also in WOE.BEGONE and also I just love WOE.BEGONE it’s so good. It makes me feel all of the emotions and a lot of worry for Mike Walters. Tell No Tales, also mentioned this episode, is fantastic. It is… It’s got ghosts but not in a horror way and it is so, so well done. It’s got a lot of queer joy and a lot of queer sadness and I’m shaking Leo Quinn every second of the day. Leanne has done an incredible job with it; listen to Tell No Tales. Audistorium– Lemon’s podcast– is phenomenal. I could go on forever about it– I won’t. But I could. The episodes that are out now are stunning. The first episode is like an hour long and the second is like 10 minutes long and they both make you feel the same amount of things. It’s so good. So well done. Ethics Town and Chain of Being are two of the shows that have creators with their names in this podcast. Listen to both of them. Ethics Town… I don’t know how to describe it but it made me cry at my desk a lot at work. Chain of Being is sci-fi… biblical mythology it’s fascinating and so well done. The Secret of St. Kilda which I also mentioned in this episode. It’s got cult stuff. And it’s great. And it also made me cry. And the season finale of the show, like. I was so worked up after it, I ran my fastest ever mile. Do with that what you will. But yeah, these have been some recommendations. If you want more recommendations, hit me up. Because I didn’t even talk about all the shows that I love. I could keep listing them but I won’t. Take care everyone. See you on the Fringes again soon!