“Original”

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/original/

The Corpus Christi Writers & Bloggers group is posting a word a day for those bloggers out there to gain some inspiration from. And wouldn’t you know it, this one really got me going.

“What’s your podcast about?”

I’ve never been good at describing my work. In fact, I prefer not to. I’ll waffle, hem and haw, before giving a not-quite-right answer with the hope that the person I’m talking  to will go away. The ones who question further earn my undying enmity. The podcast situation is much the same, because my initial not-answer is always met pretty predictably.

“Do you listen to WTNV/Limetown/The Black Tapes?”

The answer to this question is, of course, yes. If anything, I’d have to say that Limetown is what really got me thinking about this podcasting business. It was so different from anything I’d ever encountered before, so intense, so incredible. It was horror in a format I’d never considered. How did they do it, I wondered? I’ll never forget listening to Episode 4 while driving (DON’T DO IT) through Houston en route to Baton Rouge. I was so frightened that I had my first ever “Jesus, Take the Wheel!” moment. It left a hell of an impression.

“So your podcast is like those?”

God, I wish. And while no one wants to be accused of being a copycat, I’d be lying if I said the media I consumed didn’t have a significant impact on my work. WTNV inspired the radio element, though my love of college radio played as much a role in that decision, and of course there’s the whole “weird, spooky little town” thing, colored by the whole team’s experiences in academia and university communities. Limetown made me want to write something scary. The literary aspect of The Alexandria Archives tends to invite questions about Drabble or nosleep, though without having listened to those, I’d compare it more to knifepoint horror. My point is, sometimes I wonder if what we’re doing can be called original when…well, it’s not. Other people did it first. Other people did it better.

“Haha so you want to be a famous podcaster, huh?”

Well…no. That would be a bit silly. I’m not about to quit my day job – which, incidentally, I rather like. When it comes down to it, what we wanted to do was make something. For one of the guys, the idea was to remake something rather important to him. The Alexandria Archives has got a lot in common with bigger, better things, but it’s got a lot of us in it, too. And that makes it original. No one’s done exactly what we’ve done, because no one’s experienced exactly what we’ve experienced. And at the end of the day, even if we do hope people are liking what we’re doing, damn, we’re having fun! That’s the part that matters.