Elena Fernández Collins
Elena Fernández Collins curates a biweekly newsletter about audio fiction, Audio Dramatic, covers the audio fiction podcast beat for The Bello Collective, and is a contributor to The AV Club’s Podmass, among others. Follow them on Twitter here.
Kindly introduce yourself.
My name is Elena Fernández Collins, which is what you’ll find in my bylines; you can call me Ely if you ever meet me in person! I’m a journalist and critic specializing in podcasts and, if you want to get very specific, fiction podcasts. I write about fiction podcasts in my newsletter, Audio Dramatic, and I’m on the Radio Drama Revival podcast crew, where we interview fiction podcast creators and show case their work. I’m also taking a side trip into voice acting; you can hear me on the urban fantasy podcast VALENCE this season.
What has your podcast journey been like? Where did it start, and how did you fall in love with fiction shows?
If I had to pick one word: meteoric.
I fell in love with fiction audio one summer when I was very lonely (and suffering from various untreated mental health issues) because it gave me something to hang onto. Post-getting therapy (highly recommend therapy, y’all), I went off private on Twitter to tell some podcast creators that I loved their show and it sort of spiraled from there. Within a single year, people were following me on Twitter because they liked my thoughts about fiction podcasts. And here I am! It’s a lot easier to talk about podcasts I like when I have more than 240 characters, I must say.
Okay, here’s an annoying question, but I want my readers to hear your answer: What are the most underrated fiction podcasts?
I spent a while turning this question over. I think we’re still in a time where most independent fiction podcasts are underrated, at least if we’re looking at how fiction podcasts are covered in media and which ones get the headlines. I think in general, indie fiction podcasts get a lot of flack they don’t deserve because they’re being held to standards that simply don’t apply to them: the standards of nonfiction public radio, of places that have the money to hire actors from Hollywood, and of audiences who think that a “trope” is automatically a bad thing that should be avoided at all costs. You see this last problem in all kinds of fiction media, it’s nothing new; unfortunately, because independent podcasting results in fans and creators being so accessible and close to one another, their comments can have a much higher rate of impact.
But let’s narrow the perspective here to not include the podcasting industry as a whole. There’s this amazing podcast, Fan Wars: The Empire Claps Back, by Shenee Howard. It’s a romantic-comedy between two Star Wars fans who meet online and get into arguments over their fandom. I think it’s absolutely brilliant: it makes me laugh, I am rooting for them to grow and love one another, and it’s got a lot of things I don’t see from romantic comedies in other forms. I’m also going to go with Solutions to Problems (full disclosure: I’m in one episode of the second season). This is a Dear Prudence-style advice show set on a space station way in the future, and it’s hysterical; not only that, but their satire and commentary on real-world issues is truly on point without punching down and that takes so much care.
What kind of fiction shows do you want to see more of?
Please. Give me more romance fiction podcasts. The intimacy, the closeness, the space to talk and communicate in relationships – podcasting was made for this, y’all. Give it to me.
At which speed do you listen to shows, and how and when do you listen?
Okay, brace yourselves, are you ready?
I listen to everything at 1x speed.
Usually when I tell people this, they ask me, flabbergasted, where I find the time to listen to all that I do and usually the answer is “I have ADHD and I am very good at multitasking”. But there’s a reason for it! I started with fiction podcasts and listening to fiction podcasts at more than 1x speed feels like I’m doing it wrong. Someone poured time and energy and thought into timing the dialogue, the sound effects, the length of silence and pauses; I’ve tried listening at 1.2x and 1.4x and I have missed so many important moments of awkwardness, or threatening presence, or even just “you’re supposed to feel scared right about now” moments. (This is not to shame anyone who listens quickly, but instead: if you’re having trouble connecting with a fiction podcast and you listen on a faster speed, I highly recommend you try it at 1x before giving up!)
And as for how and when, I listen usually from my phone (I use Podcast Addict) and I listen any time I have the energy and focus to do so, because in my job, I can’t really afford to waste time! I’m trying to be better about planning a listening schedule in order to avoid audio burnout, which is definitely a real thing.
Which non-fiction shows do you listen to?
So many! I used to not listen to any at all, the exact inverse of your story about entering the world of fiction podcasts. I’m unsurprisingly a huge fan of narrative and storytelling podcasts. If I were to list some favorites, I’d have to say:
1) Accession, an art history and experience podcast
2) Las Raras, a Spanish-language podcast about freedom, people who have rebelled and defied norms and the status quo
3) The Heart (I’m so happy it’s BACK), which produces raw, heart-breaking audio about love and relationships
4) Flash Forward, a science-future podcast that combines fiction and interviews with experts in order to explore what possible futures of our world might look like (Rose Eveleth is a genius!)
5) Afroqueer, storytelling about living, loving, and thriving as queer people on the African continent and across the Diaspora
6) The Hiss, a four-part narrative podcast about real-life experience with things that are hard to explain (by James Kim, the creator of Moonface!) I credit this one with really getting me started with loving nonfiction podcasts.
QUICKFIRE! Can you give me a fiction podcast based upon the following words?
a. Animals > Zoo: an FBI agent ends up stumbling upon a hidden and obscured zoo of cryptids that moves locations.
b. Love > Love and Luck: the queer love story of my heart, about two men who fall in love over voicemail and start to build a positive, uplifting queer community and space with a little bit of magical help.
d. Scary > Point Mystic: magical realism horror about a town that’s not on any map, and the histories of the people that have ended up there. This is ingeniously produced work.
e. Mind fuck > What’s the Frequency?: This will absolutely break your brain. This is a psychedelic, experimental noir, about what happens when a popular radio serial becomes the only radio program left on the air in 1940s Los Angeles, interrupted by mysterious broadcasts.
f. Hilarious > Adventures in New America: Afrofuturistic political satire sci-fi buddy comedy (there’s a string of adjectives for you), following the wild escapades of curmudgeon IA and lesbian thief Simon Carr as they try to figure out how to pay for IA’s medical treatment.
h. Listened more than once > Flyest Fables: gorgeous and heartfelt hopepunk uplifting Black kids, following the travels of a magical book that takes children in distress on adventures to help them find solutions, strength, courage, and kindness for themselves. Includes musical numbers.
i. Stop what you are doing and download right now. > The Big Loop but that one’s kind of cheating since I gave you that one a little while ago, so let’s go with Unwell – Gothic horror in the Midwest, a woman returns to her hometown to take care of her mother after she breaks her leg and finds not all is as it seems in Mt. Absalom. If you liked the looming dread of The Haunting of Hill House, I think you'll enjoy this.
When it comes to fiction, which do you care most about…the actual story, the sound, the voice acting?
I have a hard time untangling them sometimes! I think I’ll answer this a different way: the thing I care the least about is sound quality. Bear with me. I still care about it! But I often ask myself this question that I learned from my interview mentor, David Rheinstrom of Radio Drama Revival: am I just listening for the money?
That means, am I expecting the sound that comes from money to drop on good sound equipment, or a sound booth, or even the time it takes away from working for money to learn sound design and editing? Or am I truly holding space for people who may be learning, and also thinking about all the other things I care about: story, acting, setting, themes? Am I thinking critically about the audio I’m experiencing, or am I listening for the money? (and yes, I definitely apply this thinking process to nonfiction podcasts too!)
What do you tell people who say they don’t listen to fiction podcasts?
I usually ask them why, first! It’s often the case that people just haven’t been matched with the right fiction podcast. I ask if they’re willing to try again with me and if they are, I dig into whether they watch fiction movies, TV, or books (I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t engage in fiction in at least ONE of these realms), and try to match what they like in those areas to a podcast or two. I will now smugly inform your readers that my fail rate is very low.
What’s a good gateway podcast for people to get into fiction shows?
The! Big! Loop! This is my number one gateway fiction podcast, because it beautifully straddles the line between fiction and nonfiction – it’s all fiction, but it can feel like a nonfiction storytelling podcast, and it gets people comfortable with the general concept. And that’s super important if you’re someone who hasn’t ever listened to a fiction podcast! (If you’re curious, Paul Bae was heavily inspired by Love + Radio for this podcast!)
Who in the podcasting community is doing great things, but is not getting nearly enough credit for it?
Berry Syk of Podcasts in Color, for real. Podcasts in Color is an incredible directory of podcasts by creators of color, and Berry is the curator. She doles out so much wisdom on Instagram and Twitter, and does a lot of work with playlists on Spotify now! Follow her, shout her name, and give her some dollars.
Thanks, Elena!