An EnCrypted Original: "Chance's Motto" by Jasper L'Estrange - AND AN ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

Hello! When I started the EnCrypted Classic Horror Podcast many moons ago (well, a few months back) I didn't really know what to expect. Things I did expect turned out not to be the case at all.

Firstly, I thought it would be easier to get listeners for the podcast than it would be to get listeners on YouTube.  Indeed, I mistakenly thought that the YouTube channel would be the promotional vehicle for the podcast.  It's hard to be sure what the listenership is for the podcast because I don't entirely trust the analytics provided by the hosting service Anchor.  I do know some people who exclusively listen through their podcast app and I know that I have listeners all over the world, but overall it seems to be a small audience and a tough nut to crack. Let's face it, everyone and his/her dog seems to have a podcast these days, and the market seems to be increasingly crowded with celebrities who have marketing budgets behind them.

The YouTube channel, on the other hand, after a wobbly start, goes from strength to strength. Edging towards the first really significant milestone in the YouTuber journey - the 1K subscriber count - the channel is finding its audience and has the added benefit of allowing comments and likes that aren't really such a thing with podcasts.  Creating these audio presentations is fun, but hard (and occasionally tedious) work, so it's nice to actually hear from people!

When you start this, all the advice suggests joining online groups to promote your podcast, but when you do you find there are strict rules against self-promotion because everyone's thoroughly sick of people promoting their damn podcasts.  You're also told to promote your show on Twitter and Facebook etc.  For me, these channels have been a total waste of time - and, in the case of Twitter, the kind of awful place full of toxic individuals you wouldn't frequent out of choice.  I'm leaving them up for the time being just so I've got a presence, but will probably close them eventually. Only Instagram seems to have any ability to reach people.

This blog I had originally thought would be the home of my show.  But, again, it doesn't attract readers or comments and it also takes time to update.  The episodes take long enough to record and produce without having to come up with a well-written plot synopsis, author bio and analysis for the blog.  So the announcement is that, while I will continue to post episodes and accreditations here, I won't be writing a new "post" for each one, since I also post on my Patreon page and my KoFi/BuyMeACoffee pages.

Okay...

Final thing I didn't expect: I didn't expect to be writing and recording my own original stories for the podcast. And here again I've surprised myself by doing just that.

This is the first EnCrypted Original - a Jasper L'Estrange story narrated by Jasper L'Estrange.

In the story, "whodunnit" writer Amelia Cramphorne seeks to engineer a love-match between two eligible singletons in her village - but starts to have second thoughts when she suspects that handsome Peter Chance has sinister motives. Is life imitating art or art imitating life in this strange tale?

I took the germ of the idea from "Stories I Have Tried To Write" by M.R. James, an essay in which the master of the antiquarian ghost story outlined several plot ideas he'd been unable to develop.  Naturally, other authors have since used these ideas for their own stories.  One of the ideas James writes about concerns a Christmas cracker:

"If the right people pull it, and if the motto which they find inside has the right message on it...they will probably leave the party early, pleading indisposition; but very likely a previous engagement of long standing would be the more truthful excuse."

This one always intrigued me and I finally decided to try and write my own story using the Christmas cracker as the instigating object.  What I have finished up with is clearly very far from what James intended, for which I am sorry.  I took the idea and let my mind wander. Rather like the heroine of my story...

I hope you will indulge me sharing a self-penned story. More classic horror stories are on the way soon...

Thank you.

 

J

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Please support my work 

Researching, reading, re-reading, recording, mixing, uploading, promoting each of these short story audio presentations takes many hours - possibly more than you'd imagine. You can say thank you in the following ways: 

Patreon: Becoming a patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/encryptedpod) and making a monthly donation will not only keep me creating, but also lets you access the exclusive content I am uploading for patrons. This includes patron-only stories not scheduled to appear on the main YouTube channel or podcast. You can also read posts about the creation of episodes, stream audio on your exclusive RSS feed, and download audio for offline listening.

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Get in touch! 

I like to hear from listeners, so feel free to reach out to me on the socials. If you want to discuss the show, talk business, or have any ideas for stories you'd like to hear in future episodes, contact me: encryptedpod@gmail.com  

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About the episode: 

"Chance's Motto" by Jasper L'Estrange. Copyright (c) Jasper L'Estrange, 2021. Based on "Stories I Have Tried To Write" by M.R. James.

Credit where credit's due: 

End theme music:  The Black Waltz by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Incidental music:

Music used : " SNOW MAN " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/kIqerxPk0-k SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://bit.ly/3qumnPH Follow on Facebook : https://bit.ly/33RWRtP Follow on Instagram : https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

The House of Leaves by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4496-the-house-of-leaves
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The Ghost Castle by Frank Schröter
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6602-the-ghost-castle
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 

Sound effects: All sound effects sourced at Freesound.org 

The recording was created using Audacity and BandLab. Podcast hosted by Anchor. 

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