We’ve spent a few episodes talking about vampire society and the how and why of the reality show they’ve decided to launch (this season is sequential with connected episodes so you’re going to want to check out 1-3 of Season 3 before you dive into this one). Now it’s time to talk about a few of the humans who will appear on the show. We, of course, end up on a tangent or two as well. Make sure to listen to this episode to the very end to hear EV Knight’s diatribe on Douchebags. It is not to be missed. We promise.

Other than that, we create a few “social media influencers” who make their way onto the reality show that the vamps are producing. It’s a 52 week run and the goal and prize is pure fame. Who wouldn’t want to get involved in a production like that? Even if you…might…die…

We went into this episode with the idea of making the rules for our Vamps. What tropes do we want and what do we skip? We did some of that, but also expanded on the back story and did some more world building. Matt got us hung up on farming humans some more, too. He’s a little obsessed. Season 3 is getting to be dark and fun for us as we delve into the idea of Vampires being among us, how they govern themselves, and why the young, upstart Americans are the most in a hurry to come out to the humans as their superiors.

Last week we felt like we were shot out of a cannon with this new subject matter: What if vampires are real and they take advantage of Covid and our cavalier American attitude to come out of hiding and announce that they are among us and that they do, in fact, kill us sometimes? There is A LOT of meat on these bones, and today we picked just a slice of it. This episode focuses on just a little bit of the back story of the vampire culture. Do they have a government? Do they hunt us in the wild? Do they farm us? Why would they come out at all?

We have a lot of fun diving into this and hope you have fun listening in and want to join in the fun! We are back on a weekly schedule and we usually record in the afternoon/evening. If we can work you into the schedule - we will! Let’s party! We hit 2,000 downloads for the show this week and that may not sound like a lot, but we are excited and hope that a few more folks get into it. Whether you want to spark your creativity or join in on ours, let’s play! It’s like a coloring book but a story intstead :D

We are so terribly sorry that it has been so long since we put some new material up. We just decided that Season 2 was a short one and got sidelined by the old Pandemic, and that we are going to start our new normal with Season 3 now. The prompt that EV came up with was simple: What if one of the contestants on Too Hot To Handle was a vampire? Holy Shit did we run with that! The episode kicks off with a good bit of tangents and housekeeping, but we do get into the meat of this prompt and it gets way out of hand - in a good way.

OK. We got a little obsessed with The Tiger King and we accidentally wrote some future historic fiction about what Joe Exotic’s life might be like after he gets out of jail. It all started with The Writer’s Toolbox supplying 3 prompts: “A Beekeeping Outfit”, “They were all the same, I decided.”, and “Buys a New Wardrobe” You can see how we got to Joe right away, what with him being at the top of the cultural radar right now. Whether you’ve seen that show or not, check out this crazy episode of our little show and let us know what you think of our “plans” for good old Joe….and Carol.

Today we spend a few minutes talking about quarantine life and our fun times with the all new Coronavirus, then launch into another big old session of world building, led by Rory’s Story Cubes. We sort of ignored the rules a little bit, but it turned out fun for us, getting the direction of “Keyhole, Footprint, Apple”, we concocted an old home with a stocked library and a mysterious keyhole in the wall. A young girl moves in with her parents and is immediately left home alone for most of the day as they are stuck going to work as Essential Employees. When she finds the keyhole, it opens up a fantasy world with adorable creatures and idyllic landscapes. But, where did it come from? Why is it there?

Listen to this episode and find out what happens when kids are stuck at home with only stories to keep them company.

Ever in search of a new prompt, today we cracked open Weird Words - A Lovecraftian Lexicon and chose a page to get us started. The only word on that page to work with was Ivory Gate. It’s the gate through which false dreams come to men from the cave of Hypnos. It was a little bit of a slow start, but then we got to thinking about a man named Roman Thompson who wanted to make sure that everyone had good dreams. He made a machine that could manage your dreams his life’s work. It was a smashing success and the world was ever in his debt, until someone figured out how to monetize it many times over…and worse.

We spend a solid hour on world building for the framework of what could easily be a sprawling series fit for graphic novel, novel, TV, or movies. We’re not trying to brag here, it’s actually kind of a cop-out. We try to write one story in every episode, but this one turned out to be more of a universe in which many stories can happen. Enjoy the beginnings of the company known as Somnus.

Alex Josey has an accident at a French ski lodge resulting in a fall to his death...or so we think. When he lands, 200 feet below, he slides into a deep, deep crack in the Earth where he is "healed" by the inhabitants down below. This episode is inspired by a combination of prompts: The Stupid Deaths board game and Pitchstorm card game. Our cats make many appearances as do the doors of a couple of kids' rooms. That's what happens when the "studio" is in the middle of the house. 

We had a long break between episodes that featured a trip to Florida and totaling a car in Wisconsin. We've been busy bees!

Today we connected with Victor Cypert, one of EV’s cohorts from her Seton Hill University days, to craft a tale that spans centuries about a girl who would be sacrificed to a cult but for her mother’s protection and education. The ritual she was subjected to left her body in a state of very slow aging and has allowed her a unique opportunity to see the world become the monster. Victor is an expert on cults, holds multiple Master’s Degrees, and is on the way to his first PhD. We tried not to be too jealous that he’s in 70 degree weather in the South while we freeze in the North by focusing our fiction in Florida. Enjoy our tale of a Moonchild from Florida named Luna who can talk to ghosts, and her shifting perspective on the world she knew vs the world of today.

Today we used a game to get our creativity going and it worked out great! We used the Pitchstorm Creature Feature Edition to get started on this episode, and came up with a really creepy, horrifying tale of triplets who became twins and how life works out for them. We were given characters and a basic plot, as well as one “note” to follow after we had been working on the story for 10 minutes.

There are some intersections with The Green Mile, Stand By Me, and some other existing stories. In the end we did come up with an original tale that is loaded with interesting, intersecting characters in a 1920s or 30s backdrop.

Check it out and let us know what you think of Helen, Blanche, Sophie, and the lives they lead. Would you have done something different with these prompts? We are pretty sure you would have, and that is what makes it so much fun!