“The Seamstress Who Wove the Moon” – A Three Part Folk Tale

Finally, finally, finally…”The Seamstress Who Wove the Moon” is now available in three parts. Tune in via whichever podcatcher, social media, or other hearth you follow.

Part One: A seamstress, unlucky in love and unrecognized in talent, is commissioned to create a cloak of moonbeams.

Part Two: Our determined seamstress dreams and weaves, and is nearing the end of both. What shall she do when the steward gives her the final spool of moonbeam?

Part Three: The seamstress must choose which dream she wants to live in…forever.

The Seamstress Who Wove the Moon is a modern folk tale written, performed, and produced by Lisette Alvarez. Stay tuned for the next experiment and collective tarot reading, beginning Friday, August 4th.

Transcript available.

You can find the full logline and the story’s moodboard on our social media. Find your hearth.

If you haven’t yet joined our Storyteller Workshops, connect via our Discord server.

Experiment Findings and Adjustments

The Storyteller Project is an experiment in collective storytelling, with the goal to find more sustainable models of production. With the second experiment officially complete, I would like to share a few interesting findings with you. As many good scientists know, the most important part of an experiment is the ability to repeat it and compare findings. Together, we have tested my hypothesis that a community is willing to participate and support even small acts of audio storytelling. We also tested the hypothesis that I, an individual creator, could make a new modern folk tale within five days and raise $500 during that time to match my local living wage; an estimated total of about 22 hours at $23 per hour. 

So, with those hypotheses in mind here are the findings: 

1. We raised over $400 to create two modern folk tales. 
2. Experiment #1 took 5 days. Experiment #2 took three months. 
3. I worked 30 hours in experiment #1 and, though it took a while, about 16 hours for experiment #2 without sound design.
4. I was able to finish experiment #1 with sound design, and was exhausted and irritable afterwards
5. I finished experiment #2 with an extension in writing the script, in multiple parts, and without sound design and ended up feeling much more satisfied with my work.
6. Both experiments averaged 2-3 participants in the Discord live streams for the collective tarot readings and moodboard and hook development. Subscribers also remain consistent in listening to the episode of the collective tarot reading.
7. Both experiments averaged 40 listeners in the first 7 days of episode release (this is tracking the first two parts of Seamstress, not this final part obviously, but the data seems pretty consistent)

Takeaways may vary, but I think I will share my personal takeaway and how it is going to inform what this show looks like for the next experiment. I think it is safe to say that this experiment is worth repeating, albeit with an adjusted model of sustainability! 

The next experiment will run Friday, August 4th through Monday, August 7th. This timing is meant to align with my adjusted work schedule so I can minimize multi-tasking and conduct the livestreams more easily. Instead of a goal of $500, I will aim for a per-experiment goal of $200 since I will be cutting hours spent on sound design. 

If you made it this far, congratulations! I am not a scientist, but I am excited to continue to experiment with new models of sustainable storytelling, especially right now amidst so many crucial conversations about the value of art in our society.

Toss a coin to your storyteller.

Please consider supporting the Storyteller Project if you haven’t already! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, you are helping to sustain art in your community.