What is this?

Hello, welcome to my FAQ! My name is Lauren Shippen and I’m a writer of podcasts and books as well as a tumblr enthusiast/podcaster. Check out all my work here. If you’re looking for a Bright Sessions specific FAQ, click here! I’m making this FAQ because I quite literally get a lot of frequently asked questions in my inbox, so wanted to answer some of those things here. Check my answered tag to see if your query has already been answered! 

…I came here because I saw one of your posts about fanfic or star wars or something, why are you acting like people ask you questions enough to have an FAQ?

Nice to meet you! So, I’ve mostly used this blog for my very niche corner of creator internet, which is audio drama, hence I’ve received a lot of questions about that over the years from listeners and such! But I’ve started to use this tumblr a little more like I use my real tumblr (the name of which I’ll take to my grave) which means a lot more shitposting/fangirling. Ostensibly, I am a professional writer though. 

I have a question about writing/podcasting/producing/directing!

Awesome! I’m so glad you’re interested in exploring any and all of these things and I love talking about them! You can find some asks folks have sent already about these subjects on writing, directing, and podcasting, though there’s other kinds of posts in those tags as well. Also, if you’re really wanting to know how to make your own thing, I’ve created a comprehensive set of free resources all about that. But that said, if you have a very specific question, send it anyway! I just typically won’t answer any really broad questions along the lines of “I want to make an audio drama, what advice do you have?”

What is [insert character]’s favorite [blank]/do any of the characters [blank]?

I get a lot of questions about my own personal headcanons on my characters, or folks wanting to know a particular detail that isn’t established in canon. For lots of reasons, I don’t really answer these any more. I don’t want my off-the-cuff answer that’s permanently in an internet post to affect anyone’s headcanon or take away the fun, plus oftentimes they’re questions I don’t really have an answer for! I haven’t thought about x character’s favorite breakfast cereal, I’m sorry! And I don’t think it’s fair to you to come up with a random answer when you could come up with something better!

But mainly, I don’t answer these anymore because this is a huge part of the community of atypipals! These are fans who support Atypical Artists, my podcast company–we have a discord where we talk about anything and everything under the sun! Pals will often tag me in questions and because it’s so much more discussion based, and there’s an inherent trust that’s been built between all of us (not to mention my answers are private to the discord), I find it’s a lot more fun for me to try and answer those questions and then have those answers gleefully ignored by my pals :) 

What about questions about atypicals/The AM/your podcast worlds in general?

Ditto as the previous answer! I’ve gotten a lot of these and am mostly sticking to answering them in our discord. I’ve also been thinking about The Bright Sessions for nearly a decade, so sometimes I just need to give my brain a break! So, that said, if you’ve got one of these questions about a non Bright Universe show….eh, give it a whirl, I might answer.

Okay, if you aren’t going to talk about your own personal headcanons, is it okay if I headcanon-

Yes, absolutely, do it. Once you’ve absorbed my characters, they’re yours. 

If I make fanart, can I share it with you?

Please do! I absolutely love fanart and reblog all of it here in my fanart tag!! I also tag for individual shows, so check those tags out as well, though of course they capture all posts about that show. Feel free to tag me in fanart, but I also pop into the show tag every now and then and reblog all the art I haven’t yet. 

Can I tag you in other kinds of posts?

I would love you to! In general, I try not to engage with any posts about my work that aren’t fanart, because I understand that discussion posts and the like are not for me! But if you want me to weigh in or see something, tag away. 

Can I write fanfiction? Can I share it with you or other people involved in your podcasts?

To the first question: yes, absolutely! I’m actually a firm believer that you don’t need my permission! But fwiw, I’m a huge supporter of fanfic, both for my own stuff and also just as a reader and writer myself! But no, I’m not going to tell you what fandoms I’ve written for or tell you my ao3 handle. 

To the second question: if it’s for a show that is already complete (Surviving Hawkins, Passenger List), sure! Send away! I just can’t promise that I’ll read it, and even if I do, I’m almost certainly not going to comment on it or tell you what I think. Not because you haven’t done an amazing job (you have! you wrote a thing! that’s amazing!), but because I honestly can’t think of anything that’s more of a nightmare, for me personally, than having the person who created the thing I’ve written fic for say something about it! I know everyone may not feel that way but I just…simply cannot. I will probably say thanks and maybe be like “ooh, I am so intrigued by these tags!” or something, but that’ll be it. 

If it’s a show that’s still ongoing (Bridgewater, Maxine Miles, etc.), I ask that you don’t send it to me or any of the actors! We’re still building the show and I have a strict “no reading fic until you’re done” policy for me and everyone I work with, so that fic doesn’t influence us and to protect myself legally.

Is it cool if I use your writing (publicly available transcripts, your books, etc.) with an AI chatbot to get more of your characters and stories?

Look, the genie is out of the bottle with AI. I asked Chat GPT to write a scene from The Bright Sessions and it wasn’t good, but it also wasn’t totally off the mark. These LLMs already have my stuff. What’s more, just like with fanfic and anything else, I can’t control what you do on the internet, nor would I want to! If you want to use a chatbot to write a Caleb/Adam story, or chat with Damien, I’m not going to stop you.

That said…I don’t love the idea. I can’t totally articulate why I don’t love the idea, but it does feel fundamentally different from fanfiction. The terms of service of a site like ao3 are really clear about what that website is for, and who owns what, and the terms of service around some of the chatbots out there are…less clear. So, if I had to give a personal wish on the interaction between my original work and AI, I would prefer that my work is just part of the enormous chum box of billions of words that these LLMs have been trained on, and not something that people ask them directly to replicate (I realize the irony of having done that myself, but I was curious!). Fanfiction is something that people do out of passion and love for the story; an AI cannot have passion and love, at least as far as we know. As we integrate AI further into our daily lives and our understanding evolves on the relationship between original ideas and AI “ideas” (as it stands now, AI isn’t actually capable of original “thought”), my stance on this may change! I’m not anti-AI - I’ve toyed around with Chat GPT as a research tool, but using it to generate new content for my work just…squicks me a little.

Can I use your script/transcript/sheet music/etc. for a class project/audition/reel/talent show/youtube channel/etc.?

Absolutely! Just be sure to credit the source and make sure you’re not monetizing it in any way, and send it to me if you want! I’d love to see it! 

I think your podcast should be a TV show - is that going to happen?

Gosh, I wish - I think it should be a TV show too! There’s almost always something happening in the background in this regard, but nothing concrete and nothing I can update you on. TV is very unpredictable, so who knows if anything will ever make it to screen! But that’s typically as much as I can ever say about it. 

You write a lot of stories about LGBTQ+ characters. Are you queer?

I don’t love this question for lots of reasons! Don’t ask real life people about their sexuality and gender! That said, yes, I am queer, which I don’t mind saying here because I have - separate from anyone else - talked openly about being bisexual and how telling queer stories is important to me. I use she/her pronouns. And that’s all you need to know! 

You write a lot of stories about mental health? Do you have any mental illnesses yourself?

Again, don’t love this question! But it does come up. And, once again, I have chosen for myself to talk about how my anxiety and panic disorders were a huge influence on writing the character of Sam Barnes, and how I still struggle with a lot of anxiety today. I’ve also mentioned publicly before that I have depression and am on anti-depressants. Who knows what I’ll choose to share publicly in the future, but I absolutely will not answer questions about it. Peoples’ mental health is their own business unless they choose to disclose it. In conclusion, I highly advocate therapy and medication and anything else that makes dealing with your own mental health easier! 

I have a question that wasn’t answered here! 

Then go right ahead and drop it in my ask box! Or, if you’d like one of the above questions answered more specifically, join the Atypi-pal discord!