Midnight Radio Theater Blog

Each one of my stories has a starting point, the one single idea that all the other ideas come from. It’s important, when you’re looking for story ideas, not to get caught up in the hows or whys (those will come naturally later on). Instead, you want to be inspired by something. You want an idea to grab hold of you on a deep intuitive and emotional level. And when it comes to you, it’s usually never an entire picture – it’s just one small, tiny part of it. Sometimes it’s a piece of dialogue, sometimes it’s an image, sometimes it’s a sound – you never know – but when it comes to you, it’s the most exciting part of the process. It’s what you live for.

In the sixth episode of the Midnight Radio Theater series, Blood Oath, the small idea was a poem. I’m not in the habit of writing poems. I’ve maybe written 10 poems in my entire life. But when the idea comes, you don’t question it, you just go with it – no matter how unfamiliar or illogical. When you listen to the radio play, you’ll see it’s a science fiction story (my only one, by the way) that on the surface has nothing to do with this poem. But the poem was, absolutely, the driving force behind it.

Marriage and Death
by Billy Senese

Her breath is warm in my chest.
A tingling sensation, unfamiliar,  passes through me.
It’s too cold in here; I should complain to someone.

What made us think this would go on forever?
Our vows were like a blood oath.

“You believe in this, don’t you?” I say.
“There is something greater here than the
two of us,” she says.
“I don’t care about any of that,” I say.

Her hair is wet. I don’t remember…
why is her hair wet? I think I’m going
to be sick. I just want it to end.

There is someone coming; I hear footsteps.
“I don’t want to watch,” I say.
“You’re obligated,” she says.

She stares at me, the dead weight of eternity in her eyes.