Podcasts about van helsing

Josh and Dru kick off Pride with the L in LGBT with 1936's Dracula's Daughter. From wiki: “Dracula's Daughter is a 1936 American vampire film produced by Universal Pictures as a sequel to the 1931 film Dracula. Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett Fort, the film stars Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden in the title role, and Marguerite Churchill, and features, as the only cast member to return from the original, Edward Van Sloan – although his character's name was altered from "Van Helsing" to "Von Helsing".”Also discussed: The Watcher in the Woods, All About Eve, Backrooms, By Design, Universal Monster Movies, Hays Code, Daughters of Darkness, The Addams Family, Sunset Blvd, Bonnie & Clyde, Piranesi, House of Leaves, Son of Dracula, and more. NEXT WEEK: Stranger by the Lake (2013) Bloodhaus: https://www.bloodhauspod.com/https://www.instagram.com/bloodhauspod/https://letterboxd.com/bloodhaus/Drusilla Adeline:https://www.sisterhydedesign.com/https://letterboxd.com/sisterhyde/https://www.instagram.com/sister__hyde/Joshua Conkelhttps://www.joshuaconkel.com/https://www.instagram.com/joshua_conkel/https://letterboxd.com/JoshuaConkel/  

Hoy estrenamos por fin el último relato de la saga de Los Hombres Hiena; un viaje a través del tiempo y el espacio en el que Lucas Buchel e Ignacio Pillonetto, tras una ardua tarea de investigación, han compilado un combo blasfematorio de entidades primigenias asociadas con el mito del vampiro. Un homenaje a la literatura pulp, desde la catástrofe del Deméter a los desiertos insondables de África, para conocer los secretos de Drácula, Víctor Frankenstein, el profesor Van Helsing y otros personajes arquetípicos de la mitología y el Penny dreadful... Aquí les dejamos los episodios previos: I - "Drácula y la Maldición de los hombres hiena" https://go.ivoox.com/rf/114945420 II - "Drácula y la Sangre de los Hombres Hiena" https://go.ivoox.com/rf/133286490 III - "Drácula y el Origen de los Hombres Hiena" https://go.ivoox.com/rf/156608554 Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Alan's Eyes & Ears #041 - Movie Countdown V In this 41st  episode of this podcast endeavor, Alan begins by covering feedback from prior episodes.After that, the Professor talks about the most recent 20 movies that he has watched, counting them down to #1! Where do the 1st & 3rd Knives Out films rank? Which 4 car-based movies are on the list? Where do Superman 2025, Bride of Frankenstein, Birds of Prey, Support Your Local Gunfighter, Van Helsing, and Raiders of the Lost Ark rank?Which films did Alan rank perfectly? And which one (or two or three) do you most disagree with Alan on? Listen to this episode ... and find out! Click on the player below to listen to the episode: Right-click to download episode directly Promo: Coffee & Comics podcast Link: Me and Tom Panarese talking about documentariesSend e-mail feedback to relativelygeeky@gmail.com  You can follow the network on Twitter @Relatively_Geek and Professor Alan @ProfessorAlan You may also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or the RSS Feed. 

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Woinsky reviews “Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really: by Kate Hamill at San Francisco Playhouse through June 27, 2026.           TEXT OF REVIEW According to Google's unreliable AI, nobody beats Dracula as the single most portrayed literary character in film history, with over two hundred direct adaptations, parodies and crossover appearances. You can add the hundreds of theatrical versions floating around as well. Due to a screw-up in the 19th Century, Dracula has always been in the public domain in the United States. 

There's also the whole vampire thing too, Vlad Tepes, Anne Rice, the Lost Boys. In 2020, following a flurry of Jane Austen adaptations, playwright Kate Hamill chose to take a bite out of Bram Stoker, and thus we have Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really … yes, that's the title, which now runs at San Francisco Playhouse through June 27th. This Dracula hews to the beats of the Stoker novel, and at the same time turns it upside down. Dracula is not merely a monster, he's the archetype of toxic masculinity, particularly as muscularly and scarily performed by Johnny Moreno. Renfield, or rather Mrs. Renfield, the fly-eating comic lunatic, played here in an indelible performance by Stacy Ross, is the night's most tragic victim, the rejected female child, yearning for daddy to take her back. After a brief prologue the show opens at the doors of Dracula's castle in Transylvania, where estate agent Jonathan Harker, in a physical performance by James Aaron Oh that runs from torment to slapstick, meets up with the titular vampire, and his vampire wives, who are themselves victims of a misogynist society.

Then we move on to the main story involving Jonathan's Wife Mina, an engaging Sharon Shao, and her friend Lucy, a feisty Nemma Adeni, she's a proto-feminist planning to marry for security, certainly not love. And her fiancé, the staid anti-feminist Dr. Seward of the asylum, a deliberately stiff Josh Schell. And then we meet Dr. Van Helsing, in a cowboy hat, played with gusto by Susi Damilano, and all the elements fall in place. It's to director Bill English's credit that Dracula stays most of the time on a tightrope between Victorian melodrama, horror and camp. The laughter is uneasy, the pathos over the top, and the violence pretty graphic. This Dracula doesn't shy away from its bloody roots. While the subject may be fear and the subtext dealing with the evils of traditional masculinity, this is a fearless production with an impeccable cast. If you don't mind the viscera. Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy Really by Kate Hamill plays at San Francisco Playhouse through June 27th. For more information, you can go to sfplayhouse.org. I'm Richard Wolinsky on Bay Area theatre for KPFA. The post Review: “Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really” at San Francisco Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

Star-Bored, Nebulizer and Kakashi search a new replica of Kakashi's home planet and find Curdy, safe along with Van Helsing and Joe. Theories about coins that seem to glitch into existence when life forms glitch out lead our intrepid adventurers to a plan for what needs to happen next.

In another attempt to revive the Universal Monsters, this time as an action movie franchise, we get the a bunch of stuff stitched together as Van Helsing. We give the 2004 another look.

Cultists, there's only a handful of female Monsters in the Universal canon, and while The Bride gets most of the attention, Countess Zaleska should not be overlooked. Dracula's Daughter introduced the trope of the reluctant and conflicted vampire to the mythos and was pretty subversive for the Hayes Code era. So to celebrate the film's 90th anniversary, we're putting it on the Exam Table. Please join us for the dissection  Dissection Topic  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027545/?ref_=ext_shr  https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0716RKPVN/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r  Unholy Sacrament  HEL'S GARTEN - Helles Lager, Oak Union Brewing https://untp.beer/X5Ddl  Vault Of Darkness  Young Sherlock (Parkhill, 2026) https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0F54T9YCN/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r  Ninth House by Leigh Bardugohttps://www.leighbardugo.com/book/ninth-house/ #draculasdaughter, #countesszaleska, #countessmaryazaleska, #lamberthillyer, #gloriaholden, #ottokruger, #margueritechurchhill, #irvingpichel, #nangrey, #edwardvansloan, #draculasguest, #dracula, #countdracula, #bramstoker, #vanhelsing, #universalmonsters, #universalhorror, #classicmonsters, #classichorror, #vampire,

We return this week to kick off our "Terrible Movies We Love" month, which is exactly as it says on the tin. We begin with Van Helsing, Stephen Sommers' bizarre attempt to bring Universal monsters into the franchise era. Starring Hugh Jackman in the TITULAR ROLE as monster-hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, with Richard Roxburgh chewing the scenery as Count Dracula and Kate Beckinsale's inexplicable accent as Anna Valarious, Van Helsing is both one of the worst films of the 00s, and wonderfully entertaining. Next week is Hotel Artemis, which I'm reliably informed has Jeff Goldblum in it.

Send us a text or a voicemailA woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC recording studio, unaware of the building's history. She soon realizes the building is haunted by the voices of ghosts from a long since relevant podcast that are still arguing and trying to sound smart. On Episode 719 of Trick or Treat Radio our feature film discussion is the stylish genre action flick They Will Kill You from director Kirill Sokolov! We also talk about lost and underseen films, we veer into sitcom territory, and we react to trailers for; Evil Dead Burns and Pitfall (not about the game). So grab your favorite flaming weapon, kill your enemies over and over, and strap on for the world's most dangerous podcast!Stuff we talk about: Horror that hasn't seen the light of day, London After Midnight, Ken Russell's Devils, Shudder, 4k Restorations, roman candles, Bat Mitzvah, Rolling Rock Rhode Island, Robert Pins, securing yarmulkes, reading right to left, Jack Burton, open bars, Dr. Butcher MD, The Amityville Curse, The Mummy, Space Spawns, Gojira, Van Helsing, Carrie Henn, Aliens, Traci Lords, Blade, The Tommy Knockers, Devil May Call, Excision, Crybaby, Marilyn Burns, Eaten Alive, Future Kill, Butcher Boys, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Sacrament, Ruggero Deodato, The Barbarians, Cannibal Holocaust, Hellraiser III, Dawn of the Dead, Albert Band, Castle Freak, Troll, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Ichiro Honda, Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Creepshow, The Twilight Zone, The Wide World of Mystery, Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, Val Lewton, Ed O'Neill, Modern Family, Wayne's World, Streets, Christina Applegate, David Faustino, Dean Cundey, Justine Bateman's deplorable politics, you need a little slap ass in Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Hot Taken, Heil Patrick Harris, Pitfall, Kevin Hart, The Rock, Starry Eyes, Randy Couture, Alexandra Essoe, Dana White is a D-Bag, James Remar, Zazie Beetz, They Will Kill You, Kirill Sokolov, Andy Muschietti, Why Don't You Just Die!, Severance, Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette, grindhouse and exploitation influenced action, Ready or Not, Dead Man's Bones, Suitable Flesh, Sigourney Weaver, Cynthia Rothrock, Aliens 3, Ghostbusters, Rosemary's Baby, Faces of Death, just a skosh of monkeyshines, …with righteous aplomb.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/trickortreatradioJoin our Discord Community: discord.trickortreatradio.comSend Email/Voicemail: mailto:podcast@trickortreatradio.comVisit our website: http://trickortreatradio.comStart your own podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=386Use our Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2CTdZzKFB Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/trickortreatradioTwitter: http://twitter.com/TrickTreatRadioFacebook: http://facebook.com/TrickOrTreatRadioYouTube: http://youtube.com/TrickOrTreatRadioInstagram: http://instagram.com/TrickorTreatRadioSupport the show

On this monstrous episode of Earthling Entertainment, we sit down with special effects makeup artist, puppeteer, and filmmaker Todd Tucker! (00:48:52:00 - 01:44:17:00) His incredible creature and makeup effects work has been seen in iconic films like Watchmen, Monkeybone, Van Helsing, Hook, and Blade.We're also diving into the terrifying legend of the Arkansas Gowrow on this week's Spooky Stuff, discussing the mysterious alien race known as the Arcturians on Disclosure Discussion, and exploring a disturbing new use of AI that makes stalking your ex seem tame by comparison. All this and a whole lot more on this week's episode of the Earthling Entertainment podcast!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/earthling-entertainment/donations

The crew discovers a plan to destroy all the totems at once, hoping to finally end the spreading darkness. Dorothy convinces Alexander to wear a cursed totem in order to track down Martin.But when they finally find him, Martin is no longer the miner they once knew.Now allied with the Vampire Queen, Martin's true intentions remain unclear, leaving the crew questioning whether he's still a friend… or becoming their greatest enemy.As tensions rise and the Werewolf Clan emerges from the shadows, a new hunter arrives at the very end.Van Helsing appears with his gun cocked and ready to fight.

Andrew returns with his latest blueprint for a gothic mystery, and the coaching quickly zeroes in on what will make it work: a clear, compelling villain and twists that truly land. With help from thriller coach and Thrillerfest executive director Samantha Skal, the discussion unpacks the hidden layer of the story—what the villain is actually doing—and how that contrasts with the protagonist's assumptions.As they dig in, it becomes clear that strengthening the mystery means making the murders more personal, introducing a convincing false suspect, and mapping both the visible story and the truth underneath it. By the end, Andrew has a sharper path forward: deepen the villain's motive, raise the stakes earlier, and build each twist so it feels both surprising and inevitable.#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.About Book Coach Sam SkalA fan of the scary, mysterious, and suspenseful, Samantha Skal is the Executive Director of ThrillerFest, the co-founder of Shadows & Secrets writing retreats, and an Author Accelerator-certified book coach who specializes in coaching mystery, thriller, horror, and suspense authors. Sam writes stories that keep her up at night, is a breast cancer survivor, and lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Learn more at www.samanthaskal.com and www.shadowsandsecrets.com. Catch Up on Andrew's Hot Seat Coaching JourneyTranscriptHi, I'm Jennie Nash, and you're listening to the #amwriting podcast, the place where we help writers of all kinds play big in your writing life, love the process, and stick with it long enough to finish what matters most.This is a hot seat coaching episode where we work through a real challenge in real time.And today we're back talking with Andrew Perella, the hashtag am writing podcast producer who has stepped out from behind the mic to work on a novel. And where we left Andrew last time was you'd worked through the whole blueprint and you were tasked with completing. Inside outline. So before we get into our guest and, um, what we're gonna do today, how was that, what was it like for you?Um, I mean, it was, it was, uh, really hard. Uh, but it was, it was, uh, it was really gratifying and it was, it was a lot of fun to do as well. Um. Because I think, um, part of, part of the assignment, you, you, you left for me, [00:01:00] Jenny, was to also beef out certain elements of certain, certain, the presence of certain characters, um, and certain and certain elements of the book.And so I was trying to do that as well as. As, as crafting the outline. Um, and so yeah, it was, it was a long, it was a struggle. It was a struggle, especially to get it to three, to keep it to three, to get it down to three pages. I know, and I'm very strict about that for reasons you are. Um, and. Did you feel a sense of accomplishment when you did it though?Like, oh, this is a book and I'm writing it, or how did that land? Yeah, I mean, like at first I just started writing. I started writing the scene bullets and the, and the points, and just started like, okay, what are all the, what are all the elements that that. I have in my head that I need to get down onto paper and it was like 6, 7, 8 pages.And I was like, okay, now I gotta get this down to three pages. Um, and, and, and I was like, okay, I can combine these two scenes or maybe I don't need this. So I just ended up cutting a lot and cutting a lot [00:02:00] and getting it down. So like, yes, there was a sense of like. Completion. Um, that was certainly gratifying, uh, to get that.And, uh, I had a couple of late nights, um, getting that, getting that squared away, but yeah, it also feels, feels more real now. Um, and it's like, yeah, there's, there's, there's a, there's a there here, which I'm pretty excited about. I'm excited about too, and I'm also excited because we're doing something really cool today.Um, and we have with us Samantha Skull, who I will introduce in a hot second. But hi Samantha. Hi. Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Well, I'm excited too because, um. Sam, as I call her, um, I've known for quite some time. She's one of the OG author, accelerator certified coaches. And Sam, you actually don't know this, but I use you.Probably every day.Oh my God, I'm so flattered as an example of [00:03:00] what a great book coach should do, which is to focus and choose who you're gonna serve and how you're gonna serve them, and to really go deep into what you love and what you wanna do all day. Right? The read books all day and get paid for it thing like do what you love and you.Do that. You've done that just so powerfully and it's so visible on your website, which we'll link to in the show notes so folks can go see, but. Sam loves all the dark and suspenseful and scary mystery, twisty things, which always just cracked me up because I don't, and that's what's so beautiful about book coaching and writing for that matters.Everybody has their own thing and, and that's part of the work of writing Big is. What is your thing? You know? So the reason that I wanted Sam to come is she's built a whole business on this type of work and with, um, another author, [00:04:00] accelerator coach, she runs a really cool, uh, writing retreat that is, um, it's always in Salem.Right. It is in a haunted hotel, which, um, Carrie Savage, who is my co-founder in shadows and secrets, uh, loves being haunted. I do not choose to be haunted, so I choose the non haunted floor. So they have that retreat and they, um, have just started taking it virtual and just all kinds of tools and resources and things for people writing this kind of work.And in addition to that, I. I just am always impressed by your trajectory of having gone from. A volunteer at the Thriller Fest. Well, for a participant at the Thriller Fest conference to being a volunteer, to running the Pitch Fest piece of the thing. And now you're, well then you were co-director, now you're running the whole thing.You're, you're, yes, I am. You're running the entire [00:05:00] Thriller Fest conference, which is how many writers every year. Oh, we have around a thousand and I have a team behind me. Just to be clear. This would not happen without a village, but uh, yes, we have around a thousand thriller authors who come to New York and we, uh, we talk about the dark stuff all week.It's absolutely the, the best time. And it's in two weeks. I can't, I mean, when this comes out, it may have already passed, but yeah, can't wait. No, this is coming out right before, so if anybody wants a quick getaway to New York, they should go. But also just the programming, watch the programming coming out of it and we're so excited.Yeah, it's really good. So, um, I just, I love the career you've built for yourself. It's always just really inspiring to me. And, um, also a recent breast cancer survivor, so we're, uh, always wanna shout out to that. Yes. Get your scans. That's my PSA. Always love it. Same. Love it. Love it. So I wanted Sam to come look at Andrew's inside [00:06:00] outline because I knew that the thing he has to work on is this, what I call in my not totally expertise in this area.I call the twisties of it. That there's a, you know, it's a mystery. It's a murder, it's a gothic, it's horror. It's all the things. And it, those twists have to land. And this is so much Sam's expertise that the whole time I was talking to Andrew about it and guiding him and coaching him, I just kept thinking, we need Sam in here.So, so we got Sam in here. And so, um, Andrew completed his inside outline and Sam very graciously, um, agreed to look through it and to look through his whole blueprint. So before we get into what you saw and what you found, Sam. I just love to hear, I mean, this is so self-serving. I just like nothing more than reading a blueprint.I think it's so fun. Um, just to like, [00:07:00] kind of peel back the, the cover and see what's in there. Did, did you have fun with that? Oh my gosh. So much fun. Andrew. This story is, is so cool. And I love the historical elements and the rethinking of, you know, vampires are running around London and everyone's just like, that's fine.You know, and then how does, how does this all go down? And we have this very agency filled, moxie filled main character who's just a delight and yeah, I loved it. I have, I have so many fun questions to ask you. So Andrew, how does that feel? I mean, it feels great and I, I was reading through, uh, through both of your notes, um, in the, in the, in the outline and like you're asking all of these questions.Um. Some of them that I have not thought of before and like, so I'm, so I'm really excited to kind of dig into these and talk through them. But I'm, I'm, it's really gratifying to hear that this, that this idea is, is, is, is an interesting one. Yeah. I loved it. I a hundred [00:08:00] percent read this book. I'd, I'd see it and be like, yes, I want, I want to be in that world.Cool. Well that's why you're here. Because I would be like, no, too scary. Too scary for me. So, um, I'm gonna let. Sam sort of take it away and, uh, we could talk for days, I'm sure about this, but one of the, the things I love about book coaches who are well trained is they'll hone in on the most important, the most important things.So. What do you think, Sam? What's the most important thing Andrew should be thinking about in his next iteration of this outline? Yeah, so my favorite thing to talk about outta the gate with Mr. Thriller and suspense and gothic horror, depending on how dark you wanna make this, um, is who is the person who's really behind all these murders and why are they committing them?Right? I like to think of MTS mystery full or suspense as the villain's journey as experienced by the [00:09:00] protagonist. Mm-hmm. Right. So we, we must know what's going on beneath the surface in order for those twists to land, because twists are just assumptions about what's going on that the protagonist makes.And when the truth, you know, what's really going on with the villain is revealed, it's twisty because it's unexpected. Mm-hmm. So if we don't, therefore if we don't know who's. Who's behind, who's doing all these villainous things. Um, we struggle to make those twists land and we struggle to get a blueprint that we can actually follow.So tell me your thoughts on who this mastermind murderer is and why they're doing what they're doing. Um, so. So Jack Seward is the, is the, is the Mastermind behind this. And I've been, I've been thinking a lot about it this week since I, since I finished the, since I finished the outline. And a lot of other things have occurred to me about who this gentleman is and how he's doing what he's doing.But I think the why is, um, he is committed to the status quo. He is committed [00:10:00] to, uh, uh, uh, uh, a, you know, uh. He is committed to the manosphere. He is committed to the patriarchy. He has committed to, um, the previous way of doing things. Um. In, in, in society, in politics, in medicine. And so like he's seeing this sea change, um, in all of those areas.Um, with the advent of this, of this, um, medical school for women, uh, with the, with this vote, um, vote, uh, that is happening. Um, and he disapproves and so his goal is to disrupt all of those, um. Disruptions di uh, by pitting them against each other. Got it. So if he can, if he can. Create this illusion that vampires are preying on Suffr jets.They will be too busy fighting each other to try and find any sort of, uh, agency for [00:11:00] themselves. Aha. Very, very well thought out. I love that. As a, as a mastermind villain goal. So here's the other thing, is that mm-hmm. In the genre expectation for any sort of modern mystery, full or suspense, is that we have three twists.We have one at the mid and we can have more. Right. But we have one at the midpoint, which is just the midpoint turn. Like it's, it's a classic story thing, which you already have. You have a great midpoint currently. Mm-hmm. Um, and the climactic twist is the reveal of, uh, as, as Carrie, my co-founder and shadows and secrets likes to say, um, the climactic.Confrontation answers the story question, which is presented in the inciting incident and typically in mysteries, the inciting incident is who's doing the killing? Right? Like, who's behind this dead body that we have early on? And we'll talk about that in just a second. Um, so the climactic answers that question, and then we have a final twist, which is typically the reveal of this gentleman who wants to keep things as is.And he [00:12:00] meanwhile. During the course of the story is going to be taking action to stop, uh, our plucky protagonist from stopping him, right? Mm-hmm. So he's a full antagonist to our protagonist. And in that way we need a fake villain, right? We need someone that he can have set up so that she thinks this is the person behind everything in the climactic scene.And then she gets to the end and is like, oh my gosh, I've. You know, I've conquered, I've brought chaos to order, I've solved this thing, and now, oh my God, now there's somebody else who's actually behind everything. And actually we're still in grave danger and we didn't even know to be worried about this.And that's how you get that like, you know, 85 to 98% just ripping through the pages readers, you know, being so hooked to figure out what happened. Right. Um, so. Tell me a little bit more about who Seward could have set up or manipulated or something [00:13:00] else to commit these murders so that he gets done what he wants to get done, but he also protects himself.And if you don't know the answer, that's okay. We can brainstorm. But if you do, then that's great. So this is, this is kind of part of the, the, the thought, the idea that I've had since I, since I finished the, the, the, uh, the outline is. Because the, the syringe idea mm-hmm. The double-headed syringe idea always felt a little tenuous.Uh, like I, I wasn't quite sure that that was gonna hold, but, so my new thought about this is, is. Because he is, uh, he is the, uh, director of a mental institution. Um, and so, and so, like, that's a whole other politic where he has people who are, uh, who are in his thra essentially. And so is there a way that he can coerce, um, a vampire who needs him to commit these murders on his behalf, thereby kind of insulating himself from the actions.Perfect. And [00:14:00] so I think that could, so the climactic twist would then be. It's a vampire I disco discovering that the, the, this is the vampires committing the murders. But then the, the, the final twist is, oh s**t, he's been doing this at the behest of, of Seward, who's her, you know, kind of Yes, yes. As it were in quotation.Okay. Yes. That sounds amazing. And it also, you know, when we step into this story, um, in your initial scene, we have. Vampires feeding on people and Abby's just like, uh, okay, that's, that's normal. Right? And so is that, did I read that right? Is that the world that we're in? Is that We have vampires existing and Van Helsing, you know, was the one who kept them in check.And we have all that like lore that we're dealing with that the reader brings in. So tell me more about the world I'm walking into here. So, yeah, I think I'm still developing this world. So we're 20 years. Around 20 years after the events of Dracula. Okay. The, the, the novel. And so, and I think, I think people are now aware that [00:15:00] vampires exist.And I think, you know, at this, at the same time, they're being used as like this bogey man or, or, or straw man of like, everything that is wrong with, with British society. Um, but they're also. Not the monsters, right? They're, they're just another, another, um, community that is trying to, uh, eke out, eke out some sort of existence.Um, I love that so much. It's just such a fun, sort of new twist on. Know a story that's so well known and has been in our collective conscience for a hundred years. You know, I don't know when, when Dracula came out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a long time, right? A little over a hundred years. Yeah. It's been a minute.It's been a minute. Um, and so I, so it's still very much a period of transition as, as you know, London and the world are still trying to figure out what that means, that these things actually exist and live among us. Um, and, uh, and so. There were [00:16:00] some things that didn't make it into the outline like I had.There was this one scene where they're walking down the street and there's someone on the soapbox at speaker's Corner at Hyde Park who's railing against, who's railing against, uh, um, vampires as like a sturge on society and things of that nature. And, and there'll be things in the newspaper. I think that kind of addressed this new, this new politic, um, that, that the characters interact with.And so I'm still feeling out what exactly it means. That vampires exist and are part of the public consciousness. Yeah. So one sort of logical question that comes up for me there is, you know, if we're in society and there's just like monsters living among us who occasionally pick people off on the street, that would create a level of, um, extreme tension.Okay. Right. One might say, right, like, yeah, if I'm wandering down the street and I see a vampire eating somebody that's not just like a, you know, we would be taking steps to protect ourselves because humans are always going to protect themselves, and so yes. You [00:17:00] know what, if you change it where the vampires are only allowed to feed on like livestock or something.Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, something that's like the, nobody's happy, right? Yeah. Like, like most, uh, um, situations where we, we agree on something and we're, we're all giving something up. Yeah. But that allows them to exist in society and live among us. Right? Like the, the veil has been lifted. Vampires are here.But they've agreed to only eat livestock, and then the fact that they're murdering people by eating them then becomes. A huge deal. Right? Because this Deante that we've had with them is now broken. Mm-hmm. Um, something like that, because I think if we, if we have it just being casual that they're, they're eating people in alleys or whatever, it reduces, I mean, that's a fun story, don't get me wrong.Yeah, yeah. But that reduces the impact of the murders that we are seeking to solve with this and Right. You know, you said this was, this was a mystery. And so currently [00:18:00] we don't have a ton of mystery on the page like we have. The midpoint is where, um, she discovers that things might not be what they seem, which I love.But in order for that to have impact, we need something earlier. And that could be, you know, these murders have been happening for a few days. That could be the last year. It could be she sees the first murder. Um. Something along those lines, but we need something early. So we, we understand the tension and we understand the mystery story question because you have a ton of other story questions in here, but if this is mystery first, the mystery story question needs to be who committed, who is committing these murders and why?Yep. Yeah. Does that kind of, that makes sense? Land? Yes. No, absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Now as a, as as I was, I was rereading the outline, the other, the other, the, the other night. And I was like, I feel, I feel like there needs to be another murder scene. Yeah. Earlier we gotta up the body count in the, the book.Yeah. You know, it's a, it's a, it's a conversation I have every day. [00:19:00] Yeah. Not, not enough dead bodies. Not enough dead. Not enough dead bodies. Yeah. So, you know, and so if she is, if she's really worried about, you know, that's their question is why, why is she so involved in solving these murders? How do we make it personal to her?Mm-hmm. And so could this be a friend? Could this be. You know, um, a sister, could this be an aunt, like some something that's related to her so that this person is taken out. And then that becomes Seward has targeted her because she's the, she's, you know, van sing's niece, right? Yep. Yeah. So she's a public figure that if he takes out by having a vampire.Quote, you know, kill her. Then he will have achieved his goal of disrupting this whole thing and be like, look how dangerous it's for women to be out in the world and you know. Mm-hmm. We should put a stop to this. Like that achieves his goal, but she won't know. Right. Obviously that [00:20:00] that's his goal. Right.But he also needs to create the unrest, so it's not just, you know, she's the one who's murdered. That's going to be the climactic plan and he will have killed other people in the meantime. Right. Okay. Something like that. Like we need to make, yeah. Whatever it is that needs to be personal to her. And if she paint, if she paints a target on her back later on by being a ksky, amateur sleuth, which is classic.Um. That works well as well. But I like, you know, one of the questions I love to ask is, what was your villain doing on the day that their prote, the pro protagonist, decided to ruin their life by deciding to go after and stop them from villain. And so maybe she had nothing to do with any of this and she's researching and becomes a problem.That's the other way you could play it. Mm-hmm. Um. But, you know, if he has this grand plan and he's like, Ooh, Abby would make a great sort of like, figurehead to the end of all these murders, and that's the one that I'm gonna point at it and be like, [00:21:00] look, we can't, you know, I, we can't have these women out here.Right? Something like that could work well. Um, what do you think? What, what's, what's your brain do when I say all those things? Um, it's interesting. I hadn't considered, I hadn't considered that her uncle would be targeting her. One of the things I've been grappling with was like. One of the reasons he targets people around her is to scare her away from med school to scare her away from the cause, okay.Um, and kind of pin her in further to the existing, to the existing, um, um, status quo. Um, and so I hadn't considered him using her. Sacrificing her for his, uh, for his ultimate goals. Yeah. Um, and that's an in, that's an interesting idea. And, and if she were to discover that would certainly up to stakes, um, that would certainly up to stakes for her.It would. And so if you want him to be a little more [00:22:00] empathetic Right. We don't need to go like full dark if you don't want to. Right. Um, he could be trying to protect her. By killing other people, which is misguided. Yeah. But, uh, fun. Right? And then that would make sense. So when she figures out it's actually him, he could be like, I was doing all of this to protect you because I love you.You're in my family. Right? Yeah. That also works. But we need to have whatever his, his plan is for causing, you know, using these murders to achieve his goal. If she's, she needs to be the target of it so that it's very personal to her as she moves through this story. Um, and upping the stakes is always great.It amps the tension, right? Yeah. And again, she's not gonna know any of this until she gets to that final twist. And so one of like the most fine chilling, you know, tingly things that you can do with mysteries is that reveal at the very end. We as through the protagonist, understand how much danger we were in [00:23:00] this entire story, and we had no idea.Right? And that moment is the one that we're seeking with readers and for ourselves, right? It's like, how do we have that moment that reveal have the biggest impact possible? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Something like that. Yeah. I, I see Andrew just grinning, like, what are you, whatcha feeling? He's just like, got his giant grin on his face.I mean, like, and like I said, I've been trying to figure out how, because it, because as I was reading, as I was reading through the outline, it did feel like, like abriana was just kind of like adjacent to mm-hmm. All of the murders. Um, and, and Jenny, you and I had talked about whether there was an active investigation and, and, and Sam, I think you kind of alluded to that in, in the notes, is there, is there an active investigation and like, is she, is, is Abriana being.Is, uh, uh, coroner does a suspect by the, by the investigators. Um, is that, why, is that why she is doing her own investigation? Um, [00:24:00] which is another, which is another way to to, to up the stakes. Mm-hmm. Also, um, I, yeah, I'm, I'm, that's an interest, that's an interesting way though to, that's an interesting take on Seward, who's, um, an avuncular figure.He's not, like, he's not a blood relation. To Abriana, but like he is, he is determined in his goal and like, you know, he would, he probably would stop at nothing to get that done, even if it meant, even if it meant, uh, the daughter of a friend of his got killed. Yeah, I mean, just thinking through, and this is your homework, really, is to think through how dark do you want to make him, right?Because you can have a villain who starts off with. A, uh, a goal and decides to achieve it through very ill-advised means, but still wants to protect the people around them, right? Like they can be both. We don't have to have it be a hundred percent. [00:25:00] This person is so evil and willing to burn it all down, right?And so, but that can also be a series of bad decisions. It's like bad decision one leads to, oh my God, like people are finding out that these aren't really vampires. Now I have to really like double down to make it really seem like vampires, so I don't get caught. Because guess what, if I get caught, my life is ruined.Right? And you know, as Abby gets closer, he realizes. I have to kill her. Right? Yeah. She's, she's gonna ruin everything. Yeah. And that sort of angst and that, you know, that would be very painful for him. That could be the thing that when she confronts him at the end, and there will be a de Ma, right? We're gonna have something where he's like, I did all these things for this reason.And it doesn't have to be Yeah. Pages, but we do have a, that's a classic mystery thing. Mm-hmm. She'll understand if you like this, that you know, he was trying to protect her and then. He'll be like, you did this to yourself. You know, like, right. Yeah. You're the one who got in the way. Um, something like [00:26:00] that.And he's like, mm-hmm. My only choice now is to kill you. And then of course she will not allow that because she's our lucky protagonist and will survive because chaos will be brought to order. That's the other big thing is we wanna wrap this up unless you're going who, in which case. It gets worse at the very end.Um, is, is that, is that, is that allowed? Yeah, we, yeah. Well, to keep chaos on the chaos, absolutely. We just need it genre bending is. So hot right now, right? Um, and it's really fun, right? So you can have both, you can have the main mystery wrapped up, like she can, Abby can figure out, okay, this wasn't actually vampires and someone is posing as a vampire.And so that actually changes your midpoint, by the way. We'll talk about that in a second. But if that's the arc, right? She thinks it's vampires. She is, when she does the climactic confrontation, she's like, it's vampires like someone, you know, what are they doing? Why are they doing this? And then realizes [00:27:00] in that, that it wasn't vampires and it's actually someone else.Um, the chaos will be brought to order in that way, right? Like we have, we have a right, we have figured out that someone was posing as a vampire. But what if you have a final, final twist where you know, there actually are vampires. Killing people as well. Like seaward only admits to three of these murders and then there's someone else doing, you know, and it's just like we end it with like, oh no.You know? Right. Yeah. Or by, maybe there's something mystical with like by imitating a vampire or that, you know, the vampires have been gathering their energy for the last 20 years by feeding on goats and you know, they're ready to, we need a new van Helsing to, to keep them under control or something. And Abby takes up that mantle and, you know.You can, you can totally play it where there's an unanswered. Okay. Oh no, it's worse at the end, but we do need some sort of wrap up of the story. Gotcha. But there does seem to be some cover resolution. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I see what you're saying. That makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. So it strikes [00:28:00] me, I'm not sure that you picked this up, Sam, and you might not have, but that there's a.Uh, um, Mina the Vampire. Mina, yeah, yeah, yeah. Is is her mother. Right. I did pick up on that, and that's a question I have. Okay. Yeah. Great. Because it seems like what you're all talking about that could play a really important role in any of these twists and arcs. Right. I. Yes. Yes. Plus one. Yeah. Everything you just said.Um, yeah. So Mina being her mother, fantastic. One of your final twists, right? And particularly if you have Seward being like the final confrontation, final twist person, and then, you know, you have this lovely final scene where she's like, oh my God, it's my mother. Um, yeah. But the logical question there is why would Mina Hyde, what's she after?Why would she not have tried to help Abby? Right? Because you're dealing with reader expectations that mothers will do anything to protect their children. Right? And so you can, we can twist that. Maybe she is trying to protect her from what's coming, right? [00:29:00] Like what's actually going on. Maybe she's the one who's been protecting her the whole time by warding off the vampires that have been attacking her, her friends at medical school.Um. And that's why there's so many mistaken identity things, right? Because you have two where, where Abby's like, whoops. I think that was supposed to be for me. Yeah. Um, and so the reader's gonna wonder why are they so bad at killing her, right? Like, if these were assassin attempts, like why wouldn't what, what's going on?And so that answers that question. If it's Mina stepping in, but you know, we need to understand what Mina's really after and why she didn't step forward sooner. That's a huge question that, you know, yeah. Everyone will have. Yeah, it is a huge question. Like, like where has she been for the last 18 years?Mm-hmm. Why has Aubrianna not seen her since, since, since her birth? Um, and I haven't quite nailed that down yet. Like, is there some sort of like vampire code? I don't like, I don't know. Is it, is it that she's, is that she, that Mina. Knows [00:30:00] Jonathan, her husband too well, and knows that, that he would not allow a vampire, uh, to interact with his children.Like. And so I think there, I think there are a couple of answers to that, but I haven't like, landed on one yet. Um, but I, like, I, I like the idea of Mina working kind of behind the scenes to protect, to actively protect, um. Abriana, which is what that, that opening that, that, that scene in the alley earlier on is about, is like she comes to her aid at that point.Um, and, uh, and, and and physically puts herself between, between Abri and Abriana and the violence, which Abriana misunderstands, uh, and runs away terrified. But I think, I, I think there are ways to incorporate that, as you say. Elsewhere in the, elsewhere in the story. Yeah. Well, I mean she, to make to a fantastic twist would be, she assumes Mina is the one after her, right?Right. Yeah. Like she recalls in this opening scene that Mina was coming at her and is like, Ooh, that's the vampire that wants to kill me. Yeah, yeah. And [00:31:00] you know, sees her around. And so that's her assumption. And this is how you create twists, right? Her assumption is that Nina is the person behind all of this, and why, but.You run the risk of when she starts investigating Mina and figuring out who she is? It would be, we'd figure out we need some very good reason that she couldn't figure out that was that Mina was her mother, right? Yeah. Yes. So in that case, I would suggest having some other vampire be the one that she thinks is behind everything.Um, which leads me to the midpoint. So currently this is where she discovers that these bite marks are not bite marks at all. They are. Other Marks syringes. Right, right. Like the, yeah. Yeah. Um, so if that's the midpoint, which I like, again, that means that she's going to assume that there is a human or a vampire who's lost her teeth.I don't know, um, behind all of this. And the climactic confrontation will be with that, [00:32:00] with that knowledge that this is not a vampire doing these villainous things. Um. So how does that feel? Like do if, do we, is there someone in the cast that we can sort of have her assume is that person that's not Seward.Not, not someone that I've identified yet. Um, okay. But I, I, I, I agree with you. We need, we need someone that she, that she's pursuing and, uh, in, at, in, in that sense. Um, and, and she believed, I, I, I see, I see. Now I see what you're saying. That the, the importance of her making that, that, that incorrect assumption that this is the person who's, who's doing, who's doing the, the killings.And I don't know who that is yet. I don't know if there's someone actively in the, in the cha in the cast that we have, or if I need, if I need a new character. Okay. I mean, you can also play with, you know, so this is the thing about mysteries, it gets very quickly complicated, is on the surface we have all the assumptions which are incorrect.[00:33:00] Right? Right. And so we have to build up that, those plots and make it plausible. Yeah. Because we need, you know, the example I like to give is like, let's say you, you come home and you're expecting that no one else is there and there's an open window and there is a earring back on the counter and a bloody footprint on your.You know, nice white carpet and you know, um, a knocked over plant and then you recall, oh yes, you know the nab I've been babysitting the neighbor's cat, they knocked over the plant. So that's solved. But this bloody footprint is really freaking me out because clearly somebody came in here and made a bloody footprint and that's terrifying.You're focusing on the bloody footprint because that's the most obvious thing, but the earring back is the thing that is the villain clue. Right, and that, that's the person that came in and misled you by putting the bloody footprint on the carpet for reasons, capital R, whatever it is in this story, right?But we have clocked on screen, on the page what the clue is and ignored it. And so yeah, [00:34:00] this is how you can go back in on a revision and you know, you maybe we don't know who this other person is that's actually doing this, but they will have a vested interest in not being caught. Right? Mm-hmm. And so these little clues that we put on the page later are ignored, and then we're following the story that we've already created.Mm-hmm. Um, but keeping track of all these layers feels complicated, which is why Jenny's outline with three pages is so, so useful. Um, right. Because what the, what's on the page is the, is the story that you already, that we're focusing on, right? Mm-hmm. And then what really happened? Mm-hmm. Is the thing beneath the surface that we don't learn until the truth is revealed in one of these twists.Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. No, that absolutely makes sense. That Absolutely. That also feels like a lot to think about. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't have, I don't have enough red earrings. I don't have enough mis, I don't have enough misdirecting. Misdirecting clues, as it were. Right. Well, those are fun to brainstorm, right?Because we start thinking [00:35:00] about who really, it comes back to Seward. Like what would he be doing to misdirect Abby away from this? Right. To keep her safe, if you like that as a goal. Yeah. And also to make the, make society freak out about how vampires are killing again. Mm-hmm. Um, what would he plant, who would he manipulate?Who would he pay off? You know? Mm-hmm. Maybe there's a vampire who knows about all of this, and. Is trying to kill the person that Seward is hired to do the syringes because Seward's not going around and doing this. Abby would've seen him or you know mm-hmm. Recognized him or something. So he will have paid someone to, or it has someone in his organization who also believes in the cause.Yeah. And is doing this, and maybe that person's a vampire. I don't know. I do love the double syringe. I mean, I hope that stays. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. It's good. Is it? Yeah. I heard you say, I heard you kind of dismiss it, Andrew, but it, to me, that would be a perfect misdirection if [00:36:00] somebody finds that and now there's this whole thread of assumptions about what that means and Yeah, but that it's not really what it is or it's not being used the way we think, or so.Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Sam, you mentioned something because I was, I was getting close to like throwing that overboard. No, it's good. No. Okay. Okay. I think it is good. So, so, so, so, but that could still be, that could still be used as a, that could still, I could still use it as a red herring potentially, uh, because it could still be a vampire at Seward's behest committing the murders.But maybe they're doing it with the syringe or maybe they're, and or maybe they're doing it a little bit with their own or Right. Or not. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, to Jenny's point, this could be a total, maybe. Maybe it's not used for what we think. Maybe the double syringe is something completely unrelated and it's like the best way to draw out the.I don't know. I mean, depending on, maybe he is drugging the people in the [00:37:00] asylum, like giving them more drugs than they're supposed to have. Right, right. And, and he devised, I mean, you know, devised a double syringe to deliver it and doesn't want anybody to know that that's what he is doing, you know? Yeah, yeah.Okay. Yeah, yeah. But if you wanna play with the idea that there's also a vampire involved who believes in Seward's? Cause then that, you know. That's very interesting because it's like, well, why? What do they want? You know? Yeah, yeah. Or even just someone who is, is being coerced by him, who does, doesn't necessarily Yes.Believe in the cause, but is perhaps is, has perhaps been assigned to his asylum. Mm-hmm. And he's taking advantage of, I love. Which I think, I think really makes sewer to a, a pretty despicable individual on a number of levels, which I, which I can like, well, I mean, he's already killing people, so, right. You know, slippery slope.But that's what, you know, it's, that's the, [00:38:00] that's the thing is that his, his goals. We need to make logical sense when we get to the end and Right. You know, Abby figures out what's going on, but he, he can also be empathetic. Right? Yeah. Like, why is he so scared of women? Yeah. Being in society, what is, what is that deep fear about?And that's definitely something to explore as well. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, so we could, like I said, talk for days, for days about these things, but, um, it feels like this is a good place to leave Andrew with a whole bunch of work to do. And I'm just laughing because, um, this is such a perfect example of.Why we do a blueprint, right? There's so much to work out. There's so much to think about. There's so many layers and levels to every story. And, uh, you know, we, we heard you today, Andrew, sort of going, well, I don't know. I haven't thought about it. I don't know. I, I'll have to see, you know, that's, that's the work and being in that.[00:39:00] Discomfort and that not knowing mm-hmm. And the, all the possibilities and making your choices. That's, that's a work, right Sam? Like that's, it is, it's so fun. But yeah, it's mysteries are puzzles, right? Yeah. And we wanna guide the reader through the puzzle in a way that gives them maximum impact and maximum joy.For every reveal that we decide to put out there, right? We, we, we don't want to casually have a reveal. Everything is on purpose. Um, and so I was gonna say on, on the inside outline that you have, um, a parallel one, or, you know, if you make it even tighter just to flow the flow of events, you can have a, what really happened?Um, line which tracks what the villain is actually doing. And I do find that that can be really helpful because it does get overwhelming with figuring out, okay, we have assumptions. Yeah. And those assumptions are, you know, lead to action and this is how we get a repulsive plot. But those assumptions are.Not going to be the [00:40:00] actual thing that is the truth. And so we need to track what the truth is and what our villain is doing to stop our protagonist from stopping them because Yeah, forces of opposition, you know, so just for our listeners to clarify that makes sense. What Sam's talking about is a parallel inside outline is, is to literally do.An a three page outline for the, the villain? Yes, yes. Or to put a bullet point or a, a subpoint on the protagonists inside. Outline that. Tracks that, um, sometimes people color code that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, but the, that's why we keep this so tight because if you start making it nine pages or 15 pages and then you layer these things, all of a sudden you have a 30 page outline, and now you've just got one of those giant story grid things that I find to be impossible to, to manipulate.Like we still want this to be manipulatable, right. So that you [00:41:00] can. Hold it in your hands and see it and, and then get to a place where you say, I can write that story. I love this story. I can write this story. That's, so that's what we're going for. So, yeah. Um, Sam, could you maybe just summarize, um, Andrew will take some time to work on this next iteration to show me.Can you give him direction on key thing to think about and me direction on the key thing to look for? Yeah, of course. So the biggest thing is figure out what Seward's really, why he's really doing what he's doing and how it relates directly to Abby. Right. What is, what action can he take that is about her, and that's either protecting her or, you know.Um, killing someone close to her to scare her away, but then why, right? Mm-hmm. So figure out the, figure out what he's really doing, and then look and see what actions, what other actions would he take about who this other person [00:42:00] is that he's framing or manipulating, or blackmailing or whatever. And if that's a vampire, then.You know, why does that work when we, when it's revealed? Like, what else could be going on? That makes sense. Perhaps the vampires don't want women and suffragettes to have this power because it threatens the power that they have in society currently, or something like that, or mm-hmm. Whatever it is. But figure out what, what's really going on.That's your homework, that's your big homework. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, for the next iteration. More murder on the page, right? We need the attention to rise and we need to understand why Abby, as she takes her steps based on assumptions, what are those assumptions? Why is she so personally invested in this?Why doesn't she just give up, right? Because that's the big logical question that I always ask is for both the antagonist and your protagonist, why don't they just walk away? Why do they keep doing this when it gets hard, right? Because when someone's actively trying to [00:43:00] stop you as the protagonist is. For the antagonist, why would the antagonist not just be like, okay, this is too tough, right?Like, I'm, I'm out, uh, this is, my goal isn't going to be achieved. So why do they both keep going? And the answer is usually we're in too deep, right? We can't, the only way out is through, um, which is what the midpoint establishes. Usually. It's like, well, shoot, you know, I can't leave this story. I have to keep going.Right? So the three twists, right? We want the assumptions to be present on the inside outline. So we have a midpoint twist. We have an inciting incident that presents the mystery story question, murder usually. Mm-hmm. And then climactic twist, who is this fake villain? And then final villain, Seward. And then final, final twist.Mina is actually involved, right? And has been protecting her the whole time or whatever, right? Yeah. Okay. So on the page, assumptions is second part of that homework, but you have to figure out what really happened in order to have the assumptions, which are Yeah, not [00:44:00] right. Yeah. So drawing, drawing out those two timelines of the, what, what actually happened, timeline, and then the assumptions, timeline and how they, well, the assumptions are gonna be on the page, right?Those will be on your protagonist inside outline, right? Because it, it informs her actions. And so everything you have about her fighting to go to med school and like all these things, all that works. All we're doing is just tweaking it a little bit so that the mystery is more. Front and center, and she's taking action based on, okay, I have this clue, what do I do?Now I have this clue. What do I do now? What stands in the way of each time I do this? Oops, I'm wrong about that. So what now? You know? Okay. And in the meantime it's clear that her personal stakes are rising and she is becoming a target. There's more attempts on her life and, and you know, then what? Right.Once you have a target on your back, you can't run. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. Make it scarier. That's your homework. Yeah, I do. I do. I have to put her in [00:45:00] peril. I have to put her in peril. Right? You do. Yeah. Yeah. And the final thing I'll mention about this is when you actually get to writing the way that you, even if it's, even if the actions are a little less intense, right?We don't actually have an assassin coming at her every page because we'd get bored with that. So through interiority, through inner thought, she's going to think about what she's scared of throughout the entire book. Mm-hmm. It's not just gonna be, oh, I assume this thing. It's like I assume this thing. And also I'm terrified because you know what, if this is about that, and that's how you create those red herrings too, is because she's going to make assumptions about what's happening, and those assumptions will be based in fear.Right. Love it. Right. That makes sense. Love it. That makes sense. Thank you. My God. You're so welcome. Love this story. Can't wait to read it. Are you still with us, Andrew? You're not. You're not walking away. Right. You're not like, I'm in too deep now. No. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just past the midpoint. Yeah, I was gonna say good.Good. No, that's why, that's why I'm, that's why I'm grinning so [00:46:00] much. It's like, it's like, ‘cause we're talking about this as if it's an actual, real thing. It's not just, it's not just an idea that I've, I've, I've had and been, I've been telling my wife about this is an actual, this is an actual thing I'm talking with people about.Um, and so this is, this is real. This is. It is real. It's exciting. Um, we will, uh, see how this unfolds for Andrew and Sam, I just wanna thank you so much for joining us and talking about all this. Um, and I'm gonna tell our listeners that if you want this kind of twisty help, um, that's Samantha's website, which is samantha skull.com and that's SKAL.She has a really cool, um, very inexpensive twist. Course, which you can, um, take. It's just awesome. And it's, um, she got some blueprint stuff on there, all kinds of things. And you can learn also about the retreat that she runs with carrieSavage@shadowsandsecrets.com. And you can go to Thriller [00:47:00] Fest and see all of the big work she's doing for this community of writers out in the world.So Sam, thank you for coming on. Oh, thank you so much for having me. And I just wanna say, Jenny, the reason that I focused, I mean, yes, I love this stuff and I have, I've loved it my whole life, but I listened to you. This was your. To focus in on what I love and I did. And it's just the best I get to wake up every day and talk about murder, which sounds like a terrible hobby, but I love it.So here we are. I know. That's why I talk about you all the time. Maybe that's it. ‘cause you listen toI, I, uh, I push people a lot harder now, let's put it that way. Um. Amazing. That's, that is my craft. But thank you Andrew, again, for being so willing to be doing this in public. It's not easy for those listening just to be on the hot seat like this for so long, so often really hard. So, um, you, [00:48:00] huge, huge shout out to Andrew and shout.Um, just for our listeners, thanks for tuning in and let's get back to work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Dive into the gothic terror of The Brides of Dracula (1960), one of Hammer Film Productions' most stylish and chilling vampire films. Starring the legendary Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, this sequel to Horror of Dracula takes a bold turn- without Dracula himself-and still delivers unforgettable horror. In this episode of Frenzy Frights, Chris and Gerry explore the film's eerie atmosphere, standout performances, and its place in the golden age of Hammer Horror. From its haunting visuals to its unique take on vampire lore, The Brides of Dracula remains a fascinating entry in classic horror cinema. Topics include: Peter Cushing's definitive Van Helsing Life after Dracula: a sequel without the Count Gothic set design and Hammer's visual style Memorable scenes and chilling moments The film's legacy among the classic horror fans If you love classic monsters, Hammer films, and deep-dive horror analysis, this one's for you. Like, comment, and subscribe for more classic horror breakdowns every week!

[15x1] New season, new Count Dracula! Louis Jourdan adorns the cape for this 1977 three-hour BBC TV special; a more faithful retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula co-starring Frank Finlay as Van Helsing. And making her debut on the show is the host of The Time Shifters podcaster, Christopher Page...

Andrew Lands on a Single POV—and Must Choose an EndingJennie Nash coaches podcast producer Andrew Parella through the third “hot seat” session of his Blueprint revision, where he gains clarity that his protagonist should be the sole point-of-view character, with other perspectives delivered through discovered diaries, letters, and papers from her mother Mina and her uncle Van Helsing. After completing a stronger Inside Outline, Andrew understands that each scene's “point” must be expressed through his protagonist's meaning-making, which makes the story feel more alive but reveals key issues: an ending that doesn't yet pay off and several underused setups. Jennie urges Andrew to leverage Mina's influence earlier, make vampires more present in the world, and more. They focus on raising stakes, making the “all is lost” moment harder, and forcing a decisive, morally resonant ending beyond simply solving the murders.Visit Andrew's website: https://www.andrewparrella.com#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Need to play catch-up?Check out Andrew's first hot seat coaching session with Jennie: Check out Andrew's second hot seat coaching session with Jennie: TranscriptJennie: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Jenny Nash and you're listening to the hashtag am Writing podcast. The place where we help writers of all kinds play big in your writing life, love the process, and stick with it long enough to finish what matters most. This is a hot seat coaching episode where we work through a real writing challenge in real time.Jennie: Today I am joined again by Andrew Perella, who is the podcast producer stepping out from Behind the Mic, and this is the third time we've been talking about his blueprint revision. So if you haven't heard episodes. One and two focused on this. You should definitely go catch up on them. I'll link to those in the show notes and where we left Andrew, I feel like this is a, um, a soap opera or something.Jennie: Um. You were going to go off and do some exploration in order to decide on your point of view, uh, narrator, [00:01:00] and you were debating lots, lots of different ideas. So let's just start by asking how that went.Andrew: Uh, it went well. I mean, it was, uh, it was really productive too. Go through the exercise that you played, that you, uh, that you, uh, put to me.Andrew: So the, uh, you had left it to. So to help me identify which POVs were gonna be most important to take the three characters that I had been identifying and kind of draw out an, an outline for each of them. I didn't do a full inside out, inside outline for, for each character. I just kinda did. Sure, sure. A bunch of bullets.Andrew: Here's the, here's the story through this person's, uh, through this person's perspective, through this person's perspective. And as I did that it became very clear that two of the characters, while very important to the story, I think will ultimately Billy Ancillary and the primary. Protagonist Abriana, I think [00:02:00] is going to be, uh, the sole POV for the book.Andrew: Um, so that was kind of exciting to. Get some clarity on that. And now that I know that a lot of other things come in, come into focus a little bit, it's like, okay, I can spend a little bit less time, you know, developing this scene. That's something we could do with a letter or a diary entry that she reads or some, or something to that effect.Andrew: And so, as I was listening back to our last session, I was thinking about, you had talked about other devices, um, that we can use to incorporate. Other POVs. Um, and so I think there can be diaries and letters and papers from, um, from the other, from the other characters. A Brianna's mother, Mina, and uh, and uh, uh, van Helsing, her uncle, her, um.Andrew: And I think that she can discover these papers, these letters, these diaries over the course, uh, [00:03:00] of the story to learn more information, to help her clear certain hurdles, um, that will, uh, that will present themselves to her. Um,Jennie: so, um, I was really curious because. In my mind, I thought one of the people you were considering as the narrator of the story was a Adrianna's brother.Jennie: And so when I went to review your notes, you know, you'd sketched out these, uh, mini, mini outlines for what, what the scenes or the, you know, story would look like from that. And, and it wasn't the brother, so that was interesting to me. It was like, okay, so you really were considering a lot of different.Jennie: Characters to tell the story. And the other thing that struck me was, well, I could immediately tell which one had the most heat. That's the best way I can describe it. Right? Yeah. It's like there's an energy or a a, a vibrancy [00:04:00] or the other ones were good, but there was a flatness to them. Did Is that what you felt?Andrew: Yeah, I felt like. There wasn't enough there it felt like. It felt like there were other stories that I could create that I could invent for these characters, but they were less. Were less relevant to my protagonist.Jennie: Yeah. Yeah.Andrew: And so I felt like that helped me kinda, kinda focus in on her a little bit.Jennie: The other thing that struck me was, um, Mina, who's a Brianna's mom.Jennie: Um, hers was really, it felt really whole to me. It, it was like, oh, she's got a whole story, a whole backstory. Well, it would be a backstory now, um, but. You know, she felt like a really 3D character with Okay. A a lot of, um, like I liked her and I was interested in her and I could [00:05:00] see a lot of places where her story would intersect with Aub Brianna's that you could use.Jennie: So it felt to me like that was a really useful exercise for you to do. Is that where you landed?Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah, no, it really helped me explore who these characters are, because these characters are gonna be, as I say, integral to the protagonist, integral to the story and to the novel, but they're just not going to be carrying the weight of, of, of primary POV.Andrew: And so I think it, but it was really helpful to flesh those out, flesh those characters out a little bit more. And I did have a lot of fun. Building out Mina's timeline, Mina's outline as it related to the, to the primary events of the novel. So that, so that was, that was a lot of fun. And I'm, I, I think, I think the outlines might have betrayed the fact that I'm still trying to figure out how Van Helsing, what Van Sing's relation.Andrew: Is to the events of the story.Jennie: Yeah, maybe that, because that one [00:06:00] definitely felt the, the most flat of all of them. Which is interesting because he's a, an existing character and an existing story in a way. So he's kind of already been fleshed out a bit. But, um, so it sounded when you reported. The outcome to me, it sounded like you were quite sure that there was no more debate.Jennie: You really felt like this is it, is that true? AreAndrew: you, I am sure there is no more debate this week, uh, about that.Jennie: I was gonna sayAndrew: that question.Jennie: Um, okay. So what you did next was, the next bit of homework was. If you can land on that to flesh out the whole inside outline, which you did. Um, and I was really struck Andrew by how different this was from your first iteration were.Jennie: Do you feel that?Andrew: Yes, yes. Um, and I think part of that is I, I [00:07:00] had an incomplete understanding of. Of the inside outline when I was first rolling through it, and I, I was, I was struggling a little bit, but I also have a much better idea of what the story is now than I did a couple weeks ago when I did, when I, when I, when I wrote that initial, uh, inside outline.Andrew: SoJennie: what did you not understand about it? I'm curious.Andrew: I think, I think some of, like some of the notes you and KJ gave me after that first one kind of, uh, were about the point. So there's the, there's the, the, the, the scene or the plot and what is the point of this scene or plot. And I, I had difficulty, I think, expressing what the, what the importance of these, of these plot moments were.Andrew: Um, and I think it was a note that KJ gave me. It's like, try, try writing the point of the plot. Through the eyes of your protagonist, how does this affect me as the protagonist? How, how [00:08:00] does this affect me? And so I was looking at kind of like, so I think I had a, a more full outline in that regard because I did try and.Andrew: Internalized for Abriana what these po plot points meant for her and how they would change or affect the decision she made next.Jennie: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. Um, because what a lot of people get wrong is they think the point is another chance to explain why they're writing that scene, why they, the author, um, are writing that scene and it the point.Jennie: Of it is what meaning is this character making of what they're experiencing in the plot. So, um, you're having understood that and understood your story. When I say it was so different, the, I mean, this is the progression. The, the first iteration was, okay, this is an interesting plot. These are interesting characters, but they're not.Jennie: They're not, there's no [00:09:00] there, there in a way. Right. And this one I read and I, I was like, oh, there's, you know, this is good. You're starting to, to really weave, um, uh, a tail. And, um, it feels weighty. And I was really excited. It felt. Alive to me. Is that, did you have that sense?Andrew: I, I'm really glad to hear you say that.Andrew: ‘cause Yeah, it's feeling much more alive to me as well. And seeing, and seeing all of these points, seeing, seeing this outline put together, it's like, oh, this isn't, this isn't a gimmick anymore. This isn't just an idea. This is a real thing that I can, I can turn into a novel that I can turn into a manuscript.Andrew: So, yeah. Yeah. It's feeling, it's feeling much more real now.Jennie: So there's two things that I saw in reading it through, and these are the type of things that will be revealed when you have something solid. One is the ending isn't [00:10:00] paying off yet, and you know that like you, you said, you know. Some ending scene here or something, you know?Jennie: Yeah. Ending tk. Yeah. And then, um, so that, that ending isn't landing. And then, um, there's a under utilization. Of the character setup that you, you've, you've set something up that you're then not using, you're not leveraging, and there's three places where that's happening. So I wanna talk about those three places and then we'll talk about the ending.Jennie: ‘cause those three places are going to inform your ending. Um, so the first one is in fact the mom. Aub Brianna's mom. Mm-hmm. So now that we know her whole backstory and her unde deadness and, um, that she may in fact be manipulating events in [00:11:00] real time, uh, for Aubrianna in story time, um. She's got strong opinions, she's got enemies, she's got people defending her, she's got secrets.Jennie: Like she's got a whole deal going on, and it feels as though she only really enters the story very, very late and, and at a moment when Mina really needs her to enter the story. So it feels a little under earned when that hap when that happens. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense?Andrew: Yeah. I agree. Yeah.Jennie: What's interesting to me is it's, it's all there.Jennie: You have everything there to use. So now it's just a question of looking at your outline and saying, okay, where earlier can this mom, she's not gonna appear, but can she have influence? Can she have impact? Even just Mina's relationship with her absence is not there.Outro: Mm-hmm.Jennie: And it [00:12:00] strikes me well, I'll let you respond.Andrew: Um, no, I was noticing that like, Mina wasn't terribly present in, in the outline that I, that I drafted. There were just a couple of scenes that, uh, included or, um, alluded to her. Um, before, before the end and, and to really build that relationship up, I'm like, I need to find other places, as you say, to, to bring her in, to have abriana reflect on her.Andrew: Maybe she finds, maybe she finds the diary earlier in, in the story and learns a little bit more about her over the course of the story. So I think, I think that relationship, um, um, needs to be. Be a little bit more developed, as you say. Yeah.Jennie: Yeah. And, and does Mina Pine for her? She's not allowed to speak of her in her father's house.Jennie: Um, but it, the thing that struck me particularly was you have this [00:13:00] fantastic new place, at least new to me, um, to open the story, which is Van ING's funeral. Do I have that right? Yeah.Andrew: Yes.Jennie: Um, so this, the book opens with this young woman protagonist going to this funeral of someone who she admired and who understood her and who, um, wanted for her, what she wanted for herself.Jennie: So it's, it's a really emotional moment. For her, and it strikes me that she would be thinking about her dead mother at a funeral. Yeah. Right. Especially a funeral of this guyOutro: mm-hmm.Jennie: Who played a role in her mother's life and death.Andrew: Yep.Jennie: Um, and it, so it's, when I say underutilized and everything's already there, it's like you've got, you've got the opportunity.Jennie: Right. So Right to let us, that's a [00:14:00] moment we can. Feel Mina's absence, we can feel a Brianna's response to that absence. Um, maybe the impact of the, the mom and the situation on her. Mm-hmm. Um, that's just one example.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Um. That was kind of really, uh, neon lights for me. Um, and obviously the inside outline is three sentences about a scene, right?Jennie: It's not the whole scene. Right. But, um, uh, so do you, do you see. How, what you could do there if you did a pass through the inside outline, just thinking, how can I better use Mina?Andrew: Yes. Yeah, no, absolutely. I think, uh, I think you're spot on there. ‘cause I really wanna, I really wanna open the, the book with, with a, with the funeral.Andrew: Um, and of course that would bring up. Thoughts, um, of, of, of a deceased [00:15:00] parent to, to anyone. Um, so yeah, I think there's a lot, a lot to be had there. And maybe there's even, maybe she even like catches sight of a mysterious, uh, a mysterious veiled woman at the back of the church who is also there to, uh, pay her respects and, you know, maybe.Andrew: Maybe this mysterious, this mysterious figure appears in other places over the course of, uh, over the course of the events, um, and ca and kind of catches, uh, a adrianna's attention. I think there are, there are a lot of ways to, to, to, to, to manage that.Jennie: Yeah. Or even just a feeling that something is there.Jennie: That you can't see.Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: Um, you know, uh, that's a, well, we'll get to the connection to that other piece in a minute. But the, um, the, the bigger point here is the, the role of anything in a story, an antagonist, a, a character, a situation is [00:16:00] to put pressure on the protagonist. For her to make choices she either doesn't wanna make or can't make, right?Jennie: Like stories about choice. So what makes the choice harder? What makes it, um, more potent for that person? What raises the stakes on that choice? So when I say do a pass through the inside outline, just thinking about Mina, it's like, how can you use Mina to pressure, uh, aubriana and, and pressure can be. My mother would be so disappointed in me, or mm-hmm.Jennie: I, I can't let my mother down again. Or, um, I'm so pissed she's not here that I'm gonna do this reckless thing. Like, there's lots of ways that that can manifest. Um, it doesn't have pressure to do the right thing. It can be oppositional pressure. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but you know, she's got, it can't just be. [00:17:00] The way you have it set up, I think you would be really missing an opportunity if you didn't use that more.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Um, so that's super connected to the second I said there were three kind of underutilized things and the second is the vampires. So you've made a decision about do they exist, um, and. They appear now almost nowhere in the story.Andrew: Yeah, I think only, only in a couple of points. Um,Jennie: yeah. Um, and, and by appear, I don't mean literally, here are the vampires.Jennie: It, it could be at the suffragette meeting, they're arguing about the vampires or there's, um, you know, uh, newspaper article everybody's talking about, or there's gonna be a talk. That they have to, you know, uh, disperse early ‘cause there's gonna be a talk about the vampires [00:18:00] or, you know, like mm-hmm. Just a pres, the presence or the sense of them.Jennie: What are people doing saying, worried about, um, their, that needs to be amped up.Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: And when I say that needs to be amped up, that's not, that's not my opinion about your story. It's the story about vampires. Yes. So, uh, I mean actually it's not really a story about vampires. I that's not true. It's not, but it's a story with vampires.Jennie: So therefore, story ofvampires.Andrew: Yeah, yeah.Jennie: We gotta have the vampires, right?Andrew: Yes. It's a primary component of the story. Um, and, and there needs to be more of it. And I, and like, I think. There are a lot of opportunities, as you say, sitting down at breakfast and opening the newspaper. There, there could be articles about, about vampires in the suffragette meetings, there'll be things about, there'll be talk about vampires in, in class among her classmates.Andrew: Um, there'll be, there'll be gossiping, uh, there'll be [00:19:00] gossip about vampires, um, and the merits of this community. Um, and so I think, yes, there are a lot of ways that we, I can bring, I can make the vampires more present, um, and. The nuanced conversation happening around the community. Um. To, to, to kind of draw, draw some, and, and help draw some parallels to, to, to modern events as well.Jennie: Well, and that's why I say underutilized. Yeah. That's what these topics are because there is such richness there and that your villain is, um, using fear of one to, um, terrorize another. Mm-hmm. Fear of one group to terrorize another group. He, he's playing these two, um. Um, misunderstood or, um, marginalized groups against each other.Jennie: Mm-hmm. So it, it feels like it's right. Should be right there, but it's, yeah, but it's not.Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: And then s [00:20:00] same topic. Um, my deeper understanding of Mina, which I got through the, your test outline showed me that the undead are, um, have a agency in this world that I was not. I understood better, and so it made me wonder, are there other vampires doing things, appearing trying to influence?Jennie: Are they rising up in any way? Are any of the murdered people connected? Are there rumors? Are there, you know, did any other person around say my. Uh, I don't know. Mother was a vampire too, or like, I dunno, like is it, is Mina's role as an intermediary? I mean, she's in a special situation, but I was just trying to like, is there a hierarchy [00:21:00] of impact that different vampire beings can make?Jennie: Am I, am I asking that?Andrew: Yeah, no, I, I hear what, I hear what you're saying and you're, you're right. I mean, I have been thinking about, um, vampires within the suffragette movement, you know, helping the cause, um. I've been playing with the idea of whether, whether there should be a vampire in the school that she's attending as well, and maybe she, maybe that vampire is trying to keep their identity, her identity hidden.Andrew: Um, but I like your idea about like, how are the victims related to. Vampires. I think I've, I think I've been, I've taken pains to relate them all to the suffragette movement.Jennie: Yeah.Andrew: But I think what would make them really appetizing victims for the murderer [00:22:00] would be for them to have some relation to vampires as well.Jennie: Right. And it doesn't have to be so on the nose, like I just said, oh, I'm my mother too. It could be,Outro: right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.Jennie: Oh, my, my father's obsessed with them, or, um, right. My father says, don't talk about them, or, you know. Mm-hmm. Relationship to the idea of them. That's something I wanna reflect back to, that I noticed that I thought was really cool.Jennie: And I don't know how intentional you were about this, but you've got this. Medical school, a Brianna's going to this school for women and the suffragette movement. And there's an overlap of those two communities. So a lot of the suffragettes are connected to the medical world. And you have a lot of the young women in [00:23:00] medical spaces.Jennie: So there's, there's the asylum. There's, it's the places people are having internships or being hired to be the receptionist or right, like the people are, which makes total sense. If you have a medical school for women and you're trying to get them out into the world, they're gonna be in those roles at all these different spaces and they're, that was what was interesting to me is that you have a, um, very organic.Jennie: Reason why these young women are brushing up against vampire spaces,Andrew: and I don't know how intentional that was, but I, I needed them to brush up against the murderer.Jennie: And, and he's in vampire spacesAndrew: and he's in vampire and medical spaces.Jennie: Yes.Andrew: And so that, that was my primary rationale, but, um, uh, but [00:24:00] I I, I, I like what you're saying as well.Andrew: Um,Jennie: I just noticed it, and it also occurred to me that Aubriana could notice it,Andrew: that the victims have, uh, are, are showing up in vampire spaces.Jennie: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Because the way that you have it right now. I actually didn't write this in my notes, it's just coming to me while we're talking. Mm-hmm. Um, her solving of this crime is a little bit, um, circumstantial and physical.Jennie: Yeah. She's in the right place or she puts herself in the right place, or she gets an object or she sees. See something. Mm-hmm. But I think that there could also be two other drivers of her being the one to solve the problem, uh, which would be intellectual. She's putting things together that other people are not.Jennie: Yeah. Putting together. And [00:25:00] you, you have her as she's the top student in this class who's failing now because she's so obsessed with this. So she could be putting her intellect. It that would be really natural, but also this other sense connected to her mother, this six sixth sense, if you will, you know, understanding of other worlds, other creatures, other forces that could inform her, um, understanding of the crimes as well.Jennie: So. Now that I'm saying this out loud, I feel like this is a really important part of, um, making the, you know, we want the person to solve this crime to be uniquely qualified to solve this crime. Mm-hmm. So, not to, well, anyone in her position would've figured it out. Um, it's because of her background, ‘cause of her connection to her mom, ‘cause of her dad and [00:26:00] her brother, you know, because of her aptitudes, you know, because of all these things she solves.Jennie: Yeah, the crime. Um, and so that goes back to both her connection to, well, well, amplifying the mother in the story and amplifying the vampires in the story. Um, so, and that actually goes to then one of my other points, and I'm jumping over. Well, I'll jump over. Okay. So the, the last underutilized. Element is the brother.Jennie: So the brother got seriously demoted from possibly narrating the whole story to sort of being this loser, like spineless, you know, whatever. Which I love because it's just such a great con. He's like, oh no, don't, don't upset father. And, and you know, she is like, get outta my way. Like, it's [00:27:00] great. It's a great um, contrast.Jennie: But I feel like you've, you've got him positioned to do something really stupid, um, right. Or to do something really insensitive. Um, he can, at the moment, he just reacts, he could make a choice that really impacts her, that really changes the story.Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: Like, does he stand? With Adrianna or their father when it really counts.Jennie: Mm-hmm. That's, that's kind of the choice. Yeah. That he's, you've got him, and so I feel like, again, underutilized, where can the brother really throw a wrench into what a adrianna's trying to do for herself, where he maybe thinks he's helping, or either that, or he is unable to rise to the occasion and therefore hurts her, but mm-hmm.Jennie: There gonna be a million ways to do that. But you've [00:28:00] got, so just like with the mother and the vampires or the brother, you've got a set up that you could have a huge payoff from that you, that you've sort of just left there. Do you see that?Andrew: Yes. Yeah. No, absolutely. Quince definitely took a back seat from when we were last, when we were last discussing him.Andrew: Um. Yeah. But I feel like there there is more. He can take more weight. He, there is much more, much more we I could do with him. Um, and like I think, I think I definitely see him as letting Aubrianna down at some point and like siding with their father at it at some crucial point instead of with her. Um, I also see him being kind of ultimately the collateral damage.Andrew: From the final decision that Aubriana makes, um, if she chooses to be with her mother at the end, she, [00:29:00] um, is, uh, then choosing, um, to never have contact with her father who has made that ultimatum clear. And Quince is not ready to make that decision. And so. You know, kind of falls in line with, with his, with his father.Andrew: With their father. So I see, I see him playing at this point, he's playing a small role, but I think he could play a larger role. Um, yeah, yeah. As you say, presenting challenges or trying to help, but actually, actually making things worse or something like that.Jennie: So when you go back through the inside outline.Jennie: So we're just continuing to tighten the screws and shore up all the holes. Mm-hmm. So for those listening who may be revising their own outlines or their books, um. You wanna think, what do I, what do I have that I'm not using? What thread do I, well, maybe that's not the right metaphor. It's like, what seed did I plant that I didn't harvest?Jennie: Right? Like, what, [00:30:00] what do I have here? What opportunities for tension? Opportunities for, again, pressure on the protagonist, opportunities to make things bad for them, um, and. You know, that, that sense of her, like she doesn't really suffer very much in this story. Mm-hmm. She doesn't really, um, lose a lot. Um, and that brings me now finally to, um, the ending.Jennie: So the, the question is, how do you. How do you land on an ending? Um, and, and oftentimes the work that you did before this, the, the sense of, well, where does the story start and where does this end that bookend sense of we're, we're trying to, it's solve a, a murder in this story, but more than that, we're trying to, there's a young woman who's going through a massive [00:31:00] transformation and becoming something that, um.Jennie: She desperately wants to be that everything is keeping her from being. But the choice that you have right now, the story is leading to is to be with her mom or not. And in some ways, that's a perfect bookend with a story that starts with a funeral. The choice to basically. Live or die, right?Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: But it, um, it struck me as that that's not the story you're writing, that that's, that's never been the story you're writing.Jennie: She's, it's not a story about, like, this could easily, you could just easily decide to make this a story about a young woman who. The absence of the mom is so profound in their life that they can't function or, [00:32:00] um, you know, uh, live or love or all the things that one would want to do in life. Um, you know, sort of a yearning to be gone, or a yearning to be with that absent person.Jennie: This could be that story, um, where mm-hmm. You know, it starts with this funeral and maybe there's a, a yearning there. Like, everybody I love is dead. Everybody who got me is dead. The only way that I'm gonna be with the people who understand me is, is also to to die. You know, like, it, it really obviously would change the texture and shape and everything, the story.Jennie: And I know that's not the story you wanna write ‘cause it's. Nothing about your why or your point or, right. So when you're struggling with the ending, I always go back to those things. To the point. Yeah. And, and re reread them. Why are you doing this? Mm-hmm. What do you wanna say? Why does this matter to you?Jennie: [00:33:00] Mm-hmm. And, you know, it really is a question about, um. Uh, a monster is a person who doesn't change when the times change or when change is the right thing to do. Um, so it feels to me like the ending still needs to be the choice of who's, who becomes a monster or right. Or, um, is that the question?Jennie: She's not in danger of becoming a monster, is she? She'sAndrew: not, I don't think. Not as, not as the, the story currently stands, but obviously she, she, she goes through change and she can accept or resist that change. Um, obviously to do the change takes, requires a lot of work.Jennie: But [00:34:00] I think you would be short changing what you've set up.Jennie: If the change is simply, I wanna be a doctor. Yeah. And Yay, I became a doctor. Doctor and I got the bad guy. Mm-hmm. Right. There's something thin about that. Yeah. Because at the root of your story are some moral choices,Andrew: right.Jennie: That other people are not making.Andrew: Right.Jennie: Uh, so it feels like something bigger has to be at risk for her.Jennie: So I wanna become a doctor, is the plot level, you know, and my dad doesn't want to, and, and now all these things are preventing me from doing well in school. And, um, you know, all of that, the. The real story point, the emotional point, the, the thing we're gonna read [00:35:00] for is, uh, you know, that, um, that moral choice,Andrew: right?Jennie: What am I gonna risk to become the thing that I want? You know what?Andrew: Yeah,Jennie: what, what, um, what do I lose if I become the thing I want?Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: And, and you could lose, um, people you love, you could lose. Um, I mean, there's so many things that you could lose. You could lose your integrity. You could lose, um, your, uh, innocence.Jennie: You could lose. Um, but I think that, that it shouldn't be quite so easy for her. Mm-hmm.Jennie: Does that, does that resonate with you?Andrew: Yeah, no, I absolutely hear what you're saying. I absolutely hear what you're saying. Uh, and as you, as you're speaking, I'm trying to think through what some of her other motivations are. And while [00:36:00] yes, she's motivated to become a doctor, she's also just motivated to be an independent womanJennie: independent.Jennie: So what does that, that's, what does that mean?Andrew: I think in her world it means independent of. The choices the men around her are making for her on her behalf and being able to, uh, and being able to embrace her full agency.Jennie: So there's a moment in this story when she's lost complete agency. She's literally locked up.Jennie: She can't. She cannot do anything.Outro: Yeah.Jennie: Um, and it, and it struck me in that moment. You gave her a super easy out. Did you notice that?Andrew: I, yeah, I think, I think, I think it was a fairly, a fairly easy out, um, I don't remember exactly what it was.Jennie: Yeah. She contacts her brother and her brother.Andrew: Yeah, that's right.Jennie: Whatever. And it's like, okay. But that struck me as the [00:37:00] moment, the all is lost moment. You know? Like, okay, literally this is a young woman who seeks to be independent and have agency, and she's, yes, her actions have caused her to be in a place where she's locked, locked up. She cannot leave, she cannot do anything.Jennie: She can't use her brain. Well, she can use her brain. She can't. Well, like I was saying before, she can't put herself in the physical place to solve the. The murders were to now protect herself. So what does she have left? She has her intellect and that other sense. Spiritual, if you, whatever. I'm just calling it spiritual as shorthand.Jennie: Sure. Connection to what, what we can't, yeah. See or know.Outro: Mm-hmm.Jennie: Um, and what hap what is, what happens in that moment. That's really, I think that's where you get your ending.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: BecauseAndrew: I, I feel like that, yeah, you put your finger out. That is a pivotal scene. Where she's at her lowest point. And how does she get, and you're right, I I, I took the easy [00:38:00] way out there.Andrew: I think there needs to be a more difficult way for her to get herself out of there or find some other form of assistance to help her, to help her out of that. And I don't know what that is yet.Jennie: Yeah. And it, it's a really typical thing that happens, which is. You created this character and you love her and you don't want harm to come to her.Jennie: Yeah. And you don't, you want her to get everything that she wants, you know, you're fighting for her as you create her. Yeah. But she's gotta suffer. Mm-hmm. Um, and the, and the more that suffering resonates with, you know, what is at stake here, um, the better. The better it's gonna be the be the bigger pay emotional payoff it's gonna be for the reader because the reader, you know, is thinking I too am in a certain [00:39:00] cage.Jennie: You know, I too, uh, you know, am making certain decisions. And if I, if I make these choices and lose these things, like, I don't know if I can tolerate that, um, or I've been tolerating that my whole life. What would it mean to tolerate. Less or um. Right. Right. You know, so if that's the place where you really, the resonance of your story has to come is what, what is she gonna give up or lose or risk to get what she wants?Jennie: Mm-hmm. And, and if she, if that trade off happens. What sort of peace or not peace does she, does she land in? Mm-hmm. Um, right. So, yeah. Um, you have the plot of level of this story really in good shape. I know. We can make it [00:40:00] much better. The twists can get twist. Sure. And, uh, cl more, is cleverer a word? Maybe clever.Jennie: Like, you know, they're a little crude right now. Yeah. Um, so they can get, when I being twister, just like, Ooh, I didn't see that coming. Or, you know, um, and right. Right now it's little Mina swoops in at the right minute. Mm-hmm. The brother swoops in at the right minute. So when you go back through. So here's the work.Jennie: Yeah. Ask yourself, how can I use the mother more? How can I use the brother more to put pressure on the protagonist?Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: To make her choice harder, not easier. Um, and how can I use the vampire existence of the vampires and who believes in them? Who's fighting for them? Who, who gets them? Who doesn't?Jennie: What does Mina's relationship to? To those three [00:41:00] entities?Andrew: Yep.Jennie: And then given all that, how can I make the ending be a choice for what the story's really about and what I really care to convey, and not just a resolution of the murders?Andrew: Yep. That makes sense.Jennie: Um,Andrew: just making some notesJennie: here. There's so many cheesy ways this story could end.Andrew: Yeah. And obvi. Yeah. I obviously wanna avoid all of those, but, um, yeah.Jennie: So these are, but you might have to, you might have to run through a bunch of cheesy endings Yeah. And reject them. And like, and you know, that's not a bad exercise to do. Like, okay. Cheesy ending. What number one? You know, she graduates at the top of her class.Jennie: She finds the murderer, um, you know, some handsome, smart, you know, man who thinks she's awesome, swoops in and marries her instead of her father's [00:42:00] clerk. LikeAndrew: Right.Jennie: You know, all the things. Yeah. And. She has a portal in her house to connect with her mother all the time. You know, like you could like name every cheesy ending possible and but then de define why that wouldn't be satisfying.Jennie: Right. OrOutro: Yeah.Jennie: Why you would neverOutro: mm-hmm.Jennie: That's not a bad way to, to land on an ending. Yeah. Um, ‘cause the satAndrew: iden identify what? I don't want to help me identify what I do want.Jennie: Yeah. Yeah. And, and to think about this is also where genre comes into it. What is the expectation, right, of a story like this?Jennie: What do you want the reader to feel mm-hmm. At the end? And, um, you know, if you want the reader to feel inspired and uplifted, like, I'm not, I'm just making that up. That doesn't necessarily mean the ending is. Uplifting. Right. You know, [00:43:00] it, it has to do with the, the choices that character makes. So.Outro: Mm-hmm.Jennie: I mean, it's a big question of how, of how, how does it end?Jennie: Um, you might, you may, you may or may not get there this time, butAndrew: mm-hmm.Jennie: Um, I would force yourselfOutro: Yeah.Jennie: To put an ending on the outline, even if you don't like it, even if you know it's not right. So that, um. You can see the ripples through the whole thing and And that'll help you make that decision like, yeah, no, that can't be the ending.Jennie: ‘cause then this cool thing I have set up comes to nothing or Right. What's the point of having her had to struggle with this thing if she just gets it at the end?Andrew: Mm-hmm. Yep. That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense.Jennie: So what I love about where you are right now is you've answered. All the fundamental questions about [00:44:00] the the murder plot.Andrew: Right?Jennie: You know, we, we know who the antagonist is. We know his motivations, we know his, what he does. We know his mo, we know, you know, all of those things. Um, we understand. The physical, like I feel like you've done a really good job of almost blocking like a play, like blocking on a stage. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, like, okay, this woman and I could really feel that like she left her purse and then the thing, you know, like you've got the who's standing where, when all of that's in place.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: So now it's really, um, um. Tightening these threads. Mm-hmm. Putting the pressure on her. Mm-hmm. So that there's a gut wrenching choice at the end about, uh, the moral center of, of the story. Yep. [00:45:00] That's, that's what the work is. Easy.Andrew: Piece of cake. Piece of cake. I'll have it on your desk tomorrow morning. Oh myJennie: gosh. Um, I mean, another thing that I would suggest is. Going to look at the books you love.Andrew: Mm.Jennie: And just read through the endings, you know, like books, you know well and love and mm-hmm. Read through the endings and remind yourself why, why was the emotional payoff so big there?Jennie: Why did I love that book? Why did I, you know, just to marinate in, in the, um, in a good ending, how a good ending plays. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, it'll be fun.Andrew: Can I have more than three pages for my next insight? My next version of the outline?Jennie: Um, I thought you were gonna say, can I have more than three weeks? Um, [00:46:00] so I think the way we have it set up, you've got a, a little more than three weeks for this work. Okay. Um, to, to really dig in and do this work. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with, um. No. No.Andrew: Oh. Oh, man. That's cruel. That isJennie: cruel,Andrew: Diddy. I know,Jennie: I know.Jennie: And the reason that I'm gonna go with no is that you don't have your ending yet. And what's the point of my saying? Yeah, Andrew, write nine pages. In fact, make your, make your outline. You know, go to 30 pages. Why don't you just because this, you haven't solved. Solved it.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: But here's, here's what I'm gonna say.Jennie: Okay? If you can email me and say, this is where I have all the power, I have so much power. If you can email me and say, this is the ending. [00:47:00]Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Then I will give you permission mission to, and it doesn't actually even matter what it is. You just have to choose, choose something, because it could change, butAndrew: yeah.Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.Jennie: Something that you feel like obscene in a point. So the point is why it matters to Abriana.Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: That feels like a logical, solid ending then. You could take it, I would say up to 10 pages and you're gonna love it. It's gonna be so fun. It's such a fun moment. You feel so free. You're like, wait, look, now I can put in all this stuff.Jennie: Um, everybody asks the same question, it's hilarious. Um, but the point I'll just for our listeners, the point of this particular tool is to keep it small so you can solve the big building block problems. Before you bake them into something bigger, because [00:48:00] just going bigger with the problems baked in doesn't solve the problems.Jennie: Having more room to figure out your ending doesn't help you figure out your ending. ‘cause the work you have to do is in your brain and your heart. It's not actually on the page. So it's really a decision you have to make and the failure of many, um, many stories is that the writer didn't, no, they didn't decide, they didn't make a choice.Jennie: They didn't want their character to suffer. They didn't wanna, um, put that point so boldly there that some people would despise them for it. Or argue with them or throw the book across the room. Like they don't wanna, that's the whole write big thing. They don't mm-hmm. The writer doesn't wanna choose. And so therefore they don't allow their character to choose.Jennie: And, and we don't wanna choose [00:49:00] because it's, it's actually really hard that, and that's the reason why we love. Novels because they give us the experience of what it would be like to be so decisive in what we believe or think or know or value that we live our lives with that kind of integrity or you know, we don't have to.Jennie: It's like we get to sit in an armchair and watch other people suffer to learn about the world and ourselves, and we don't have to actually really do it. And, and then when it comes down in our lives to our actually really doing it, we realize how very difficult it is to, to choose and to sacrifice. And so that the work is, that's why I say it's in your head and your heart.Jennie: It's, it's not, um, it's not just, it's not the plot. It's not strategic, it's not intellectual. It's really, it's really what do I, what do I believe? Um. [00:50:00] How, how, how far am I willing to go to stand by this point that I've said matters so much to me. So, um, you could send me that email this afternoon. You could send it to me in two days.Jennie: You'll notbeAndrew: ready this afternoon.Jennie: Uh, you, you should do it, um, soon though, because. My daughter's about to have a baby, and, and I might not see it then, and you'll be stuck in purgatory. So I'm putting, so this is the plot, putting pressure on, on you. I, I would say you got about five days.Andrew: Five days. Okay.Andrew: Come up with the ending.Jennie: Come up with the ending and, and like I said, it, it doesn't, you're not locked in for all eternity. Yeah. But, um. You gotta put a stake in the ground in order to make it work. Mm-hmm. You can put another stake in the ground later, you can unwind it later.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Um, that's obviously [00:51:00] the work of creativity.Jennie: You know, you might write this entire manuscript and change your mind again. That's all fine, but you do have to choose, um, because it's not gonna hold together if you don't choose. Mm-hmm. All right.Andrew: Okay.Jennie: Sorry.Andrew: That's alright.Andrew: I knew this wasn't gonna be easy. I knew this wasn't gonna be easy.Jennie: If it was easy, I mean.Andrew: What's, what's the point? What's the point of doing it if it's easy?Jennie: Totally. You're doing a great job, Andrew. ReallyAndrew: thank you.Jennie: Such a good job. The reason we are able to have such a rich conversation about these characters, this set up this world, is because you're creating a really rich and nuanced and interesting world.Jennie: I think it's fantastic. It just keeps getting better and better and better and, um, it's exciting. It's alive. It's great. So you're not that far. You're really not that far from being [00:52:00] done and being unleashed to like start writing, which is gonna be so fun. So,Outro: yeah.Jennie: Um, I mean, maybe you're secretly doing it anyway, and I'm just imagining that I have, I'm the puppet master.Jennie: We will, um, continue to bring our listeners along on this journey. Um. To see what happens, and it'll be really fun, uh, to, uh, to meet next and, um. And check it out. Um, all right, so for everybody listening, thanks for being here. Now let's get back to work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! What do you get when you combine the dark fantasy of Van Helsing with the horror of old school Universal monster movies — and then sprinkle a healthy dash of Red Dead Redemption on top? Well, you get Evil West, the outrageously fun fantasy horror western hidden gem that is the subject of this episode. Topics include: the ingenious gameplay hybrid of God of War 2018 and Doom Eternal, the power of contrast and saturation in art direction, puzzle piece enemy design, the restraint of a great fight, and the perfect "thrill ride" pacing of the Xbox 360 generation. LINKS: Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram Feedback & Theories: secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com

For Episode 196, we have another instalment in our #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt series with Slewfoot by Brom. This might be our most Bookstagram Made Me that we've ever done, because this book has been everywhere! Since we love all things witches, you know we had to read it.Show NotesWe loved Abitha and Samson and support all their witchery.Brom is also an artist and full colour paintings are included in Slewfoot, which was especially helpful for picturing Forest, Sky, and Creek with their strange child faces in the mouths of animals.Brom has done film concept art for Galaxy Quest (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Scooby Doo (2002), and Van Helsing (2004). He has never taken any formal art classes.In an effort to crush our TBR, we're reading books we both have on our shelves, and so for our next episode we'll be talking about M Train by Patti Smith.Don't forget to read along with our book club book, Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit, which we'll be talking about in early May.

An unexpected communication comes to SALI from Curdy, who has been Van-Napped by Joe and Loudah. What we hear is full of surprises.

Care to take a bite? EPISODE SWAP WITH STARSTRIDER PRODUCTIONS! The year is 2004. Flip-phones are in vogue, MySpace has just been launched, and Britney Spears' Toxic is top of the charts. And Castle Dracula is about to receive a young guest for dinner…A found-footage extravaganza, Dracula: 2004 dares to ask what happens when you combine vampires and dial-up internet. Join Jonathan as he survives the work trip from hell; gossip with Mina and Lucy over Lucy's three suitors; and meet the eccentric Van Helsing and her vampire-hunting armoury. This is a new millennium, a new age of technology, and a version of Dracula that you have never experienced before.LinksWebsite: https://dracula2004.wordpress.com/ Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/starstrider-productions?source=share Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/starstriderpods.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573182728988 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Let's get busy with some of the great games the founders have been playing, including Echoes of Time, Dracula vs. Van Helsing, Dark Pact, First Giants, and Citizens of the Spark, along with a feature review of Rewild: South America from Bruno Liguori Sia. Then, after Tony T gives us the best gaming news he can find, we dive into the culture of play in your gaming group. We discuss a situation with a Cabalist from our BGG forum, how we schedule game nights, how we pick games, and our motivations for gaming together. Echoes of Time: 00:04:01, Dracula vs. Van Helsing: 00:12:23, Dark Pact: 00:22:34, Citizens of the Spark: 00:31:43, First Giants: 00:40:57, Rewild South America Review: 00:48:05, News with Tony T: 01:23:17, The Culture of Play: 02:15:22. Check out our sponsors Restoration Games at https://restorationgames.com/ and Game Toppers at https://www.gametoppersllc.com/.

Last day of the month, we have one bonus Frankenstein's monster to talk in Van Helsing directed by Stephen Sommers. Mae Shults (Pleasers & Punishers) returns to get silly with the boys discussing this bombastic film; from the PS2 graphics to the brattiest version of Dracula on film. This podcast has no heart, we feel no love!New episodes drop every Tuesday, subscribe so you don't miss out. Rate us 5 stars while you're at it! Enter The Phantom Zone to access all sorts of bonus goodies like our monthly side show "Watching the Watchlist", movie commentaries, and polls to help shape the podcast: https://patreon.com/spectercinemaHaunt Mae on social media:BlueskyMusic on BandcampHaunt Garrett on social media:TikTokTwitterBlueskyInstagramLetterboxdYouTubeHaunt DeVaughn on social media:BlueskyTwitterTikTokInstagramLetterboxdYouTubeSpecter Cinema Club Original Theme by Andrey Kinnard

“The Invisible Dan” and “Monster Mike” are, once again, heading back to Transylvania, where Count Dracula's Cult of the Undead continues to spread in his absence. Join them as they discuss the return of Peter Cushing's Van Helsing, the new vampire threat, the incredible cast of women, and how The Brides of Dracula finds ways to keep things fresh and exciting while staying true to the established Dracula mythology. If you enjoy this episode, and want to support the show, check out our Patreon!

Producer Andrew Parrella Claims His Own Gothic WorldIn this follow-up session, Jennie Nash checks in with producer-turned-novelist Andrew Parrella, who returns to the “hot seat” with a major breakthrough. After a week of “staring at the screen and walking the dog,” Andrew realizes he has been “writing small” to keep the project manageable. By leaning too heavily on the existing framework of Bram Stoker's Dracula, he was inadvertently stifling his own creativity. He decides to “embrace the big,” shifting the story from a cautious tribute into a standalone Historical Gothic Mystery. This evolution includes a high-stakes world-building choice: making vampires a known, though unaccepted, part of the public consciousness in 1920s London, adding a layer of modern resonance and social tension to the atmosphere of dread.The duo also digs into the “glaring holes” that surface when a writer decides to expand their narrative scope. Andrew identifies a need for deeper research into the Suffragette movement to ensure his protagonist's familial history feels integrated rather than “tacked on.” By connecting the mystery of the protagonist's mother to historical activism, Andrew finds a way to ground the supernatural elements in a more 3D reality. As they grapple with the structural puzzle of Point of View—weighing the benefits of including voices from the past versus staying close to the present—Jennie challenges Andrew to choose the perspective that best amplifies the protagonist's transformation and the secrets hidden within a mysterious Gladstone bag.Visit Andrew on the web: https://www.andrewparrella.comListen to the first session with Andrew:#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.TranscriptJennie: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Jennie Nash and you're listening to the hashtag am Writing podcast, the place where we help writers of all kinds play big in your writing life, love the process, and stick with it long enough to finish what matters most. This is a hot seat coaching episode where we work through a real writing challenge in real time.Today I'm talking again with Andrew Perella, the hashtag am writing podcast producer who stepped out from behind the mic to work on his novel. He completed our winter blueprint challenge and is now working on blueprint revisions, which is such an important stage in the writing process, digging into what you really want the book to be, what you really wanna say.And Andrew's told me he just had a revelation, which I'm dying to hear about. But um, before we get to that. Um, when we're talking here today, the first episode where we did hot seat coaching launched out into the world, and I wanted to ask how [00:01:00] you're feeling about that.Andrew: Um, it feels a little weird. Um, you know, I'm used to being behind the mic.I'm used to, um, helping obviously produce a lot of audio over the years and, and, and helped get a lot of podcast episodes out into the world. It's strange to. Kind of be featured in a podcast episode. Um, that is a new experience for me. Um, uh, you know, when we recorded it, it was just you and I talking, but now it's like out in the world and, uh, and, and people can listen, um, and, uh, and, and, and judge, um, which of course they're welcome to do.Uh, but uh, but yeah, so it's a little, it's a little weird, but it's fun. It's fun.Jennie: Yeah, that's, that's you, you hit the nail on the head, the, the judge part. As soon as you put anything into the world, you put yourself up for judgment. And what we're doing here in these sessions is, is really, in some ways so intimate because we're getting to watch [00:02:00] somebody's thinking as it's unfolding, as it's progressing before they know what they want it to be.And we're watching someone hopefully, um. You know, hone in on their, their voice, their story, their point, their whole thing. And it's, um, it's really special to get to see it unfold, I think. Um, so thank you for. Putting yourself out there.Andrew: I'm, I'm happy to do it. This is, this has been a really value, this is a really valuable exercise for me personally.So, uh, happy to, happy to share that with folks.Jennie: So what happened last time was you left with some, uh, homework, which you did. Mm-hmm. And what was interesting from my point of view was when I. Looked at what you did. My first thought was, well, he didn't do very much. And I, I sort of thought, uh, okay, that's funny.Andrew: I kind of felt the same way.Jennie: Oh, that's really funny. But then when I read it, it was like, oh no, you worked out a [00:03:00] lot of things that we had been circling around. And primarily the, um, I would say the. Personal familial history of abriana and her connection to this famous vampire hunter. So that all got really sorted.Um, but the, the one that really made me chuckle was you have this beautiful description of your ideal reader in the blueprint, and it, it's probably. I don't know, it might be 500 words. It's, it's like, you know, this ideal reader really well, and I can tell that you actually really love this ideal reader and want to I do, I do.Yeah. It's really sort of beautiful, um, the specificity of, of who she is, but you added like three lines to the end of that. That was part of what you, what you did. And, um, [00:04:00] one of those lines was. In response to something we talked about, which was, does your ideal reader, are they familiar with Dracula? And you said, now, no.So that was really interesting to me. Do you wanna talk a little bit how you landed on that? Because I, I do think it might impact the genre.Andrew: Uh, yeah, I agree. And I, I saw your note about the genre too, which, which, um, I'm, I'd be eager to talk more about, but yeah, I mean, as, as I was thinking about this, I say I feel like I didn't do much.I spend a lot of time staring at the screen, uh, over the last couple of weeks and like. Walking my dog and thinking about these questions that you were posing. I feel like I spent hours doing it and like it, like, and, and like the words on the page since we last spoke, don't, I don't know, have reflect like the number of, the number of new words on the page.Don't reflect that. But I spent, I spent a lot of time thinking about, about that question and [00:05:00] some of the other questions that, that you posed. And I think for a long time I wanted to presume a familiarity with Stoker's Dracula, um, because it made my job easier. And, and so I think I, I kind of had to come to terms with the fact that though it is a popular book, not everybody has read it.And while many people, because it's a popular book, many people have some. Passing knowledge about the structure, about the plot, about some of the characters maybe, but they won't know. They won't know the level of detail that I do having read it many times. And so I need to create, I need to expand the world.I need to create my own world. I can't just live in Stoker's world. I need to create my own world. These characters, while they have the same names as the characters in in Stoker's novel. They are, they become different characters in my world, the [00:06:00] world I'm creating. And so I need to, I need to kind of accept that.And so it doesn't matter if you've read Dracula before you pick up this book, and these, these characters have a rich backstory that I will allude to. And if you've read Dracula, you might pick up on some extra, some extra bits, but this is still going to be a cohesive, discreet novel that you'll be able to enjoy.Regardless of, uh, whether you've read the, the, the original or not.Jennie: Okay. That's huge. Is that the revelation or is there something else?Andrew: No, that is notJennie: theAndrew: revelation.Jennie: Okay. So we'll get, wow, okay. We'll get to that in a minute. But that, the reason I said it impacts the genre is that you said your ideal right reader wouldn't describe herself as a horror fan and that her.Most, she's, she loves this, um, period of time. She loves London. Um, you know, there's a lot of things that [00:07:00] connect her to this story, but not horror. And so my thought was, should, should it still be classified as horror? Uh, there are lots of other ways to classify it, you know, historic, um, a historic thriller, a historic mystery.You know, gothic could be in there, but what, what are your thoughts at this point about that?Andrew: Yeah, and I, I, I think we've, we've, we've used the term horror when we talk about it, but when I, when I, when I did the blueprint challenge, I think I did kind of identify more like historical gothic as the genre.And, and, and as, as you say in one of your notes, this is feeling more like a mystery, a murder mystery than it is horror. Like, I feel like the horror genre leans into the gore, and I don't know that that's where. My book lives, I think, I think the gothic kind of sense of imminent doom, pervading, you know, every page is definitely something I wanna lead into.So, so I think gothic is, is [00:08:00] relevant, historic, gothic, and ultimately it is a murder mystery. And so who, and so, and so solving that mystery is the protagonist's kind of ultimate mission.Jennie: Right. So the, the sort of moodiness of the world and, and something, yeah. The dread, uh, that's out there. Right. Um, which fits really nicely, uh, with what you're doing.Okay. So what's the revelation?Andrew: So it came from the question that you asked me last or two weeks ago now. Um, and one that I've been asking myself, which is. Are vampires part of the public consciousness in this world that I'm building. And for a long time I've been saying, no, no, no, no. They're not part, they're still, they're still a secret society.They're still a secret community. They're still a secret species. They're, they're, and nobody knows about them. And, and anyone who talks about vampires is seen as being a [00:09:00] lunatic. Um. And I was realizing, and, and as you probably saw in the, in, in the, in the document, I was, I, I was trying to explore both, both possibilities.There's a possibility where, where the public understands vampire exists and then there's a, a, a possibility where that it doesn't, where they don't understand they exist. And I've been leaning towards maintaining the secrecy of vampires among the public. And I think the reason I've been doing that, it ties back, ties into what we were just talking about in that I was, I saw that creating like a whole vampire society that, uh, that human, that human society has been interacting with for a number of years, it felt like a distraction from the primary.From the primary plot, but I've been struggling because it does offer some really nice motivation for my murderer.Jennie: Yeah. [00:10:00]Andrew: SoJennie: you've been flip flopping back and forth in your mind.Andrew: I've been flip flopping back and forth in my mind until last night. And I was, I was reading, I was reading some of your comments, uh, on my document and I was like, why am I stuck on this?Why am I hung up on this? Why can't I make a decision about this? Um, and it's because. I was writing small, I was trying to keep it, you know, this is something I could manage. Like I was trying to keep it, I was trying to keep it like manageable. I was trying to keep it, I, I don't know. I was trying to give my, I was trying to like pen myself in, I guess, and lean.More heavily on the work of Stoker. And it's like he's already done his work. He's already So the, so the, the, the, the revelation I said he's already done his work. He's already created his book. Mine is a different book. Mine is, is, uh, a different [00:11:00] world and like. As we have been saying, I need to write big, so I need to embrace the big.And so that gonna, that's gonna mean creating more characters. That's going to mean creating, uh, more exposition. That's going to mean creating, um, more interactions between these communities. Creating a lot more than I had initially been thinking about. I feel like my original idea was a nice idea. You know, I'm, and I'm using air quotes with a nice idea, but like, I feel like this is now.Becoming a novel by, by choosing to, by choosing to go big here.Jennie: Well, you're, you make me like actually wanna cry because of happiness, because you've obviously been listening to the right. Big episodes and Yes. That whole um, thing and winter blueprint, um, listening to me hammer away at. Uh, [00:12:00] that this is all we have.This is all a writer has, is what is in their heart and mind mm-hmm. And comes from their experiences and interests. And it is so crazy how we shy away from that. We tamp it down, we hide from it, all the things because it's, it's terrifying in many ways. And for you to just get that and in both. The conversations we've had this morning already, like, like the, um, you were afraid.Yeah. Afraid of your own creation, which is actually very sort of, I guess that's more, um, well, more Frankenstein, more Frankenstein than Dracula, but, but you know, it is like the monster of our own creation. Mm-hmm. You know, like, oh, I wanna write this book. There's a kind of dread in just even saying that.Yeah. And then, oh, I [00:13:00] wanna write this book andRight.Jennie: And that question of am I up to it? Am I capable of, it lies at the heart of. So many problems that we make for ourselves because, you know, we tell ourselves, no, I couldn't do that or that Yeah, that's too, I just, I, you know, that's for somebody else, or I, I'll keep it small, I'll keep it mm-hmm.Attached to this other, I'll keep it easy. That was what mm-hmm. You know, and, and what you're saying is, okay, now I'm gonna. I'm gonna write the book I wanna write.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Oh man, that's so big. So that,Andrew: yeah, that was my, that was my big revelation last night as I was, ‘cause I still didn't have an answer for you on that question as late as last night.And I was like, I don't know what to say. And then I was like, why is this heart so hard for me? And so that was, that was, that was really nice to kind of make that, find that understanding and that gave me peace and like. I started, I started just throwing words on the page [00:14:00] last night about what that meant.Um, what that will mean for the story, what that will mean for the, for the characters. So,Jennie: well, I'm gonna write down this question ‘cause I wanna, I wanna explore that more. Why is this so hard for me? That's such a good question because what I was doing last night after I wrote that note to you was I did a whole pro con thing.You know, pro, um, the vampires are here and present and known, or, you know, be, they're not like, you know? Mm-hmm. Or even c nobody knows if they're real or, you know, like I was trying to parse out what do I have to do to guide Andrew toward. A decision. So I was thinking more what's gonna prompt your brain to decide, and your question, why is this so hard for [00:15:00] me is really what the right question is instead of the pro con list.So that is brilliant. Um, I'm, I'm writing down so good. Um.Andrew: Well, thank you for pushing me.Jennie: Oh, well that's my job. So, um, it's fun. I mean, it's fun. And what's interesting, particularly with this project is as we know, I don't know Dracula, I don't read a lot of horror. And so I'm, I am, I am reacting to you more than this story, you know?So that was, that was why, how am I gonna get Andrew to. Figure this out. I have absolutely no, you know, opinion or, or you know, um, any reason why we choose one or the other. Uh, sure. You know, it's really what you want. So once you decide that, then does that help with. Other open questions? [00:16:00] Does it sort of have a domino effect in your mind on some of the other things?Andrew: I think it, yeah, it, yeah, I think it's gonna affect, I mean, it's gonna affect, so it's gonna affect the whole tenor of the book. Um, I think it, it's, it's going to change the motivations of so many other characters. It's going to change. The relationship between, um, uh, between all of the characters. Um, it's going to change the politics of the moment inside this world.Um, and it's going to kind of raise the stakes, uh, a little bit more. And I think in, in, in another way, it's going to make it resonate more with a modern audience. Um,Jennie: Ooh. Say more. Why do you think that?Andrew: Well, I think, uh, I think. Just because the vampires are no longer a secret, uh, society, just because they are, um, part of the public zeitgeist, that doesn't mean they are accepted by the public.Um, and so there's going to be [00:17:00] misunderstanding and fear, um, and uh, and violence all around this, uh, group of individuals, which I think. Again, as I, as I said, resonates with, with, with modern, with a modern audience.Jennie: Wow. That's, that's awesome. Um, so I'm also curious, one of the questions I had, you did some work around a Brianna's mother whomm-hmm.Jennie: Died in childbirth, giving birth to her. Mm-hmm. And, um. She was involved in this whole previous generation's relationship to the vampire hunting andmm-hmm.Jennie: Um, all of that. And it, it's been a little vague. Um, we've talked about it a little, but it sounds like that is becoming more of a connection for, for two things, both for a [00:18:00] Adrianna's motivation, um.To, to solve these murders, but also her connection to the suffragette movement, which prior to this draft, I kept feeling a little bit like it was shoehorned in there, likemm-hmm.Jennie: Oh, there's this vampire story and it's London and it's at this time, and there's this young woman in suffragette. You know, and, and now that small change really locks the, the suffragette movement into Aub Brianna's world and life.Um, so what do you now know about the mother that feels new or, um, that you've pinned down more because of these thoughts?Andrew: I'm still fleshing that out. But let me, let me say, one of the reasons I think that the suffragette movement element of the book feels a little tacked on is I have not [00:19:00] yet done my research there.And so it's like, that's a really, that's a, that's a glaring, that's a glaring hole right now that I need to fill with more research. I've been doing a lot of vampire research now. Um, and, but I need to switch. I need to switch tax and start and start doing more, uh, suffrage, uh, research. Um, but that said, yeah, I think.A Brianna's mother, Mina, um, was involved briefly in the suffrage movement because she dies or does she? And um, and, and I think she continues, she continues to play a role in the suffrage suffrage movement. What. What I've been grappling with now is how much of that does abriana know how much of that has her father told her?And I could see that being another point of contention between the two of them. If she discovers later that this was [00:20:00] another, another piece of information that was, that was hidden from her. And so,Jennie: Ooh, that's so good. It's so good. This, this young, yeah, this young woman. All these things stacked up against her that she, yeah.Sort of knows about or maybe suspects. Um, right. So you're right. The work is, there's always in any story who, the question of who knows what, when. Mm-hmm. I mean, particularly in a mystery or thriller, obviously.Andrew: Right.Jennie: Yeah. But who knows what, when, you know, can. Change who you choose to be your narrator. Who, who has right point of view, um, who gets point of view in the story.Uh, you know, do we go to a chapter in somebody's point of view? You know, all of those, all of those questions hang on. This idea of who knows what went. So, you as the author, are the first person that has to know. Everything. Right. And [00:21:00] then choose to, you know, how like, like putting little breadcrumbs or, you know, planting little seeds, ummm-hmm.Jennie: That you have to manage that material. Um, so that's a big question. And here's a question. Do you think you need those answers before you can pin the whole story down, or do you feel like. You can pin the plot down and that that is, gives more texture, more, more to a Adriana's motivation. Maybe it'll move certain scenes about her discovery of certain things, but do you, what do you feel about that research?Andrew: About the suffrage research they needJennie: to do? Yeah, yeah,Andrew: yeah. I think it's going to get, I think it's gonna open avenues for me. To identify what Mina's role was, what her mother, what, what breanna's mother's role was in the suffrage suffragette movement. [00:22:00] Who some of the players were, who some of the, some of the larger names, the, some of the larger, um, protesters and advocates for it were.Because the, you know, being a historical novel, I do want to incorporate some historical figures, which I, I think, um, is always a kind of a fun element of, of, of a novel. And so being able to incorporate some of that, I think will lay out a lot of avenues for a Brianna's story arc.Jennie: So I just wanna point out for our listeners that what is happening here, um, is that every question we ask or we pose.Is work, right? So some of it is, you know, work of walking the dog and thinking and saying, well, I don't know. Or Why don't I now? Or why is this hard for me? Or, uh, or, you know, all of that. And then now we're talking about. This question is work, um, figuring out research and, you know, at every turn it's, [00:23:00] when you do the thing that you wanna do, when you really lean into that, it, it gets harder.I mean, you're making it harder for yourself. So,yeah,Jennie: I just wanna point that out. ‘cause it, it's so interesting here as this is unfolding, um, that, that, that is just a, a truth. And the other thing I wanna point out is. Where this story started is where every story starts, which is you have this idea, it's a really cool idea.You have this sense of a plot. And, and in some ways, that very central idea of the plot is never gonna change. No matter what you do to this book, it's, it's a, mm-hmm. It's a murder, you know, there's murders and this young woman's gonna solve it, so. Mm-hmm. Like, that plot's not changing, but the, where it started was.These kind of card work cutout characters, kind of placeholder characters. And if you leave it at that, you can see where that would go, you know? Mm-hmm. It's like, [00:24:00] oh, mother died in childbirth. Of course child's motivated to, you know, something. Um, or Oh, distant and emotional dad, you know, you sort of start, start there.But now by understanding. The whole life that her mother lived and the whole role that she played, and is she even dead or not? You know, like huge, huge questions. Yeah. Make the mother a fully fleshed out 3D character. You know, that's where you're gonna go. And then you can see how that will make a Brianna.A more fully fleshed out 3D character. So instead of, instead of the tropes or the expected things, there's gonna be these nuances to it andmm-hmm.Jennie: Um, specific things. And then your question of what, how much does she know and, and what does she find out? [00:25:00] Um, there's gonna be plot points that come from that.Right. You know? Uh, do you have a sense. At this point, are there letters, are there diaries? Is there a friend who hasn't spoken? Like is there some source of information in your mind that Abriana might encounter?Andrew: Yes. And I think, and, and I think there are a couple of different sources. I think, I think her mother Mina will have had diaries, um, and potentially letters.I think also Van Helsing will also certainly have papers. Um. And letters. Um, and, uh, there's a, there's a, there's a prop. He, when he dies, he bequeaths to abriana his Gladstone bag. Um, and I think there's going to be some sort of revelatory piece of information in the Gladstone bag, and I haven't figured [00:26:00] out what that piece of information is.So,Jennie: is that black bag that doctors hadAndrew: that doctors carry around? Yeah. That the old time, that old, that old timey doctors carry?Jennie: Yeah. Why was it ca called that?Andrew: You know, that's a good, that's a good question. I don't know where, uh, what the etymology for, for, for the Gladstone bag is. I don't know why that is.Jennie: Interesting. So that's like a toolbox basically. Yeah. It's filled, filled with things and,Outro: yeah. Yeah.Jennie: Uh, that's cool. That's cool. Um, that, I love that. So this is a silly thing. I was so confused. And I know you told me this, um, but that there's a character, John Seward, who's a character from Dracula. Mm-hmm.And Abriana refers to him as her uncle, but he's not her uncle. Correct. But the reason I continue to be confused is that her dad's name is also JohnAndrew: Jonathan. Yeah.Jennie: Jonathan.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Does it have to [00:27:00] be or is that just like, oh, Jennie, come on. Surely the reader can handle a John and a Jonathan.Andrew: Well, I mean, no, that's a legitimate question because, um, can they, um, especially if we've got two characters named Abraham and Abriana, right?And so like, and so now I, I, I've been struggling with that too. I think I've been, I've been trying to carry forward some of, some of the characters from Dracula. I think I like the character of Seward because he is a protege of Van Helsing, but perhaps the protege bit is important and not the actual name of the person.So maybe it's another character that I've, that I'm introducing here who was a protege of Van Helsing.Jennie: Oh. But see, I think that's where you get into. So your ideal reader you've established may not know Dracula right. Inside and out. Right. But you will have a lot [00:28:00] of readers who do.Yes.Jennie: And there is a world of people who really love this stuff and who really.Right. You know, and if you were to change an actual charactermm-hmm.Jennie: And give it, give him a different name or a different whatever, people will come after you.Yeah. People will be obsessed.Jennie: And that's fine. Right. Butyeah.Jennie: Is, is that one of the things that could be in the book that those readers. That would delight those readers.Andrew: Right. I like, I feel like there are a lot of ways I can leave Easter eggs for Dracula fans.Jennie: Yeah.Andrew: Um, that aren't, that aren't germane to understanding the plot of the motivations of the characters, but that, like a Dracula fan will appreciate, oh, I see what you did there. That was a nice touch. Um,Jennie: and soAndrew: I,Jennie: oh, I think they, they're gonna love that andAndrew: Yeah.Yeah.Jennie: You know, there's also then. This is just where my brain goes in terms of marketing. There's also then a whole [00:29:00] thing of, you know, a connection to a literary, uh, to literature readers, which could potentially be students and scholars and, you know, that sort of thing. Yeah.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: So I don't, I don't think you should so quickly dismiss.John Stewart, but it's a Adrianna's father being named Jonathan, I was wondering about.Andrew: Mm-hmm. Okay.Jennie: And, and you do not have to care that Jennie can't keep him straight. Uh, I'm, I'm 62. My brain doesn't work the same way it used to, but I can't tell you the number of times. I'm like, wait. Was that like I wasAndrew: right.Jennie: Really snagging on that. So, um, just a point of information.Andrew: Gotcha, gotcha. No, it's worth thinking about though. It's worth thinking about. But I, I had a, I had a question for you.Jennie: Yeah.Andrew: If now is an appropriate time to ask it.Jennie: Ask it. [00:30:00] Yeah.Andrew: I've been, I've been spending a lot of brain power on the question of POV.Jennie: Yeah,Andrew: and I've been go like, and going back and forth about whether this is going to be a single POV, uh, and Abriana is, Abriana is our narrator, or if it's more third person omniscient, or maybe this is a dual POV. And I think most recently I've been thinking this is a dual POV between Abriana and her namesake Van Helsing, and like.Which is also create some time traveling, uh, mechanisms because we'll be, we'll be talk, he'll be talking about his experiences, uh, before Abriana was born and as she, as she's a child, and she'll be talking about her experiences as a young woman. And so, but now as we're talking about a Adrianna's mother, I'm more, I'm wondering like, do I want the dual POV to between, between Abriana and her mother?Um. What question should I [00:31:00] be considering to help me make that decision?Jennie: Uh, well this is a huge question, Andrew. Um, there, I feel like you just named so many excellent structural ways forward, right? And the question of what do you ask yourself? You're asking such good questions, like what do you ask yourself to make that decision?And. I'm gonna, my answer's gonna be something really unsatisfying in many ways because it's, you gotta go back to your why, why are you writing the story? Mm-hmm. Okay. Why does it matter to you? Mm-hmm. What is your point? Who do you, who do you want to speak to? Uh, those fundamental questions are going to inform the POV because if you, well, I know you originally had an idea about the brother.Um, her brother being a narrator, and you didn't mention him this time, you mentioned No, [00:32:00] the mom. So a story in which the mom and daughter are narrating and the mom and they're never going to meet.Mm-hmm.Jennie: Those two people in, I don't think, well, no, that's not true. Uh, uh, an unden person could meet a, a human walking the earth, um, right.Andrew: And that may be, that may be part of the climax.Jennie: Yeah. SoAndrew: of the novel. ButJennie: that, um, that a mother daughter who, who don't think that they can, maybe the daughter doesn't think that they will ever meet, you know, that's a real particular. Kind of a story. Mm-hmm. So I do think, going back to your why, why do I care about this?Why, you know, I, I asked you in our, our initial conversation, you know, you're, you're a man. You're writing about [00:33:00] suffragettes, you're writing about a woman protagonist, a young woman, protagonist, and you talked a lot about your sister.Mm-hmm.Jennie: Understanding those motivations and interests and passions because that mother-daughter story will carry a certain kind of weight.The, if we think of the, the Van Haling being a narrator, that taps into what we were talking about before. How connected is your story to that lineage ofright,Jennie: of that one. ‘cause now you're. Not only having Bram Stoker's character, you're giving that character a POV voice. Mm-hmm. Which is another level of connection to that mm-hmm.Literary lineage. Mm-hmm. Um, so that would take it in a different, you can see how that would take it in a really different direction. So POV is, [00:34:00] you know, in some stories it's quite. Instant. Um, you just sort of know, um, in other stories it's not, and this one, it, it is not. Um mm-hmm. I think it's, it's clear Abriana is your protagonist.It's her our core following. Mm-hmm. It's her. Transformation. We're interested in her, uh, solving the murder, her understanding her legacy, her coming into her own power. Those are the things we want to see resolved. Um, so whether or not she is a POV though, because there's a, then there's, there's third person.Mm-hmm. I mean, third person has different, you know, there's different permutations of it. There's third person close mm-hmm. Which is sort of functions in some ways, like first person, because in third person close, you don't go into anybody else's head. Mm-hmm. Um, I, I sometimes don't understand why, [00:35:00] why that is even a choice.Then I read books that do it, that work beautifully, and it's like, oh, okay. You know? So, uh, you know, everything can be a choice, but, um, you know, so we know that she's at the center. So then the question I'm circling around to answering your question, how do you help yourself solve this? What other voices would amplify?Mm-hmm.Jennie: Her transformation, that's really what it is, is it's her story. You know, the, the mother, POV would take it in one direction. Van Helsing would take it in a different mm-hmm. Uh, third person where we're,I don't know, a third person narrator that goes back in time feels odd to me.Andrew: Okay.Jennie: I think if it's, and I'm just talking out loud here. I think if it's third person, it, it, we could go into all the heads of everybody. Walking the earth [00:36:00] right now. But I feel like if you go into someone you can see I'm betraying my not understanding Vampire vampires very well.They never die, right?Andrew: Yes. They're undead.Jennie: They never die. So. Okay, so I think, ignore what I just said, A third person, omniscient narrator, could go into their heads as well. Um, right. And go back in time as well. But your time travel, like, like actually having that, that's a really different story, so.Mm-hmm.Jennie: Um, how you're going to answer is you're gonna sit with that question of what is gonna make a adrianna's story resonate the most at that end, right? What, mm-hmm. What knowing is going to, to amplify that the most. And then the second thing to ask yourself, and you might need to do a little more work, uh, in order to answer [00:37:00] this once you get the inside outline done.Looking at the key scenes. Yeah, you may just see, oh, there is no way that this is gonna work in a certain POV, or I have to have this other POVI can't convey. I can't go to that scene. I have to go to that scene. Or alternatively a scene that you can't go to. Then you think, alright, how will I get this?Into How do I convey this? I'm thinking of that. Um. You know, there's so many, uh, there's so many, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? I'm thinking of JK Rowling and Harry Potter and all the things that she did, you know, the mirror Yeah. That shows Harry or his parents and the pen sea that, you know, gets the memories outta somebody's head.Like all these, um mm-hmm. Mechanical ways Yeah. Of show, showing us what happened.Yeah. [00:38:00]Jennie: Back, back in the day. You know, that's a particularly kind of story with particularly kind of magic. But there, there, you don't know. You might have this, they're devices.Yeah,Jennie: that's the word I was looking for. Devices, yes.That you might have one or two scenes, it's like, do I need a whole POV just to convey these scenes or is there another way I could get this information in? So it's two parts, it's both. Um, I would say heart a heart. A heart-centered thing. What, what do I want? What will amplify my why and my point the most?What, what I think would be interesting and fun to write the question of, um, then Helsing, do I want to embrace that? Mm-hmm. For some reason I'm thinking of that, um, novel, um, the Hillary Clinton alternative history novel. Um. Called Rodham, uh oh, by, [00:39:00] is it Curtis Sittenfeld, I think. Um, Rodham, but so courageous and daring.She, yeah, she imagines, um, what would have happened had, had Hillary not married Bill, and it follows the, their lives and their meeting and their love story and all this whole thing, which he just chooses not to marry him. And, you know, like. That's a certain kind of bravery as an author to, to take that sort of a character.And you'd be, you'd be doing that. So do you, do I wanna do that? So it's all those hard questions and then there's plot questions, so Right. I'm gonna say that for the next, your next bit of homework. Mm-hmm. Um. Is to, I would go to the inside outline and start trying to pin this plot down and noodling around with it.And we know that it's going to change based on your research. Mm-hmm. Based on the fact that it always changes. [00:40:00] Um, but just noodle around with it and try it from different POVs. See, see what happens. You know? Take, take the, um, this is the reason, by the way, listeners, why I insist that the insight outline at the beginning is only three pages because Andrew can do one that is a Briana's, POV only.What does that look like? Uh, AA and her mom, what does that look like? Abriana and um. Van health sink, what does that look like? Uh, third person, what does that look like? You could do four, three page outlines and it's not gonna kill you. Right. Right. You could just to sort of get a feel for it, and I promise you mm-hmm.That what's gonna happen is one of ‘em is gonna feel more alive.Andrew: Right.Jennie: So that's the sortAndrew: of, okay,Jennie: unsatisfying [00:41:00] answer is one of them is gonna feel more alive. So you're gonna start with your why. Start with your point. Try to sit with that, then try those things on. One of them's gonna feel more alive.Okay.Andrew: So you're not just gonna tell me which POVs to use then?Jennie: No, it'sAndrew: not. That's not how thisJennie: works. I know, it's such a bummer. Um. I mean, it's such a, such an important question and people often skim past it, butAndrew: mm-hmm.Jennie: You know, take, I think it's the time, like dig, dig into the outline with the intention mm-hmm.Of landing on POV. How about, how about that for your homework?Andrew: Okay. That sounds good. That sounds good. I can do that.Jennie: Okay. Well, I can't wait to hear how it goes. And for our listeners. Until next time, stop playing small and write like it matters.Outro: The hashtag am [00:42:00] Writing podcast is produced by Andrew Perilla. Our intro music aptly titled Unemployed Monday was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output because everyone deserves to be paid for their work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

We're heading back to Tromaville, but is it all a little too polished? We're watching The Toxic Avenger reboot this time on Harmless Phosphorescence!   Support the show and get early access and exclusive content at  https://www.patreon.com/harmlessentertainment   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEDmdtUAW_pJYCJfaZV7Unw/live   https://www.reddit.com/r/harmlessentertainment   Buy some Merch! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/attention-hellmart-shoppers   Check out Executive Producer Michael Beckwith's movie website at https://upallnightmovies.com/   Ranked: #152   RANKINGS   1 Endgame 2 Spider-Man No Way Home 3 Infinity War 4 Superman 2025 5 Logan 6 Deadpool & Wolverine 7 Captain America: Civil War 8 The Avengers 9 The Dark Knight 10 THE Suicide Squad 11 Thor Ragnarok 12 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 13 Black Panther 14 Iron Man 15 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 16 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 17 Guardians of the Galaxy 18 Batman Begins 19 Batman 89 20 Spider-Man 2 21 Spider-Man Homecoming 22 Spider-Man Far From Home 23 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 24 Thunderbolts* 25 Thor: Love and Thunder 26 Deadpool 2 27 Deadpool 28 The Batman 29 Captain America: The First Avenger 30 Spider-Man 31 X-Men: Days of Future Past 32 Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 33 Shang-Chi 34 Joker 35 Captain Marvel 36 Ant-Man 37 Blue Beetle 38 Black Widow 39 Ant-Man and the Wasp 40 Eternals 41 Avengers: The Age of Ultron 42 Birds Of Prey 43 Wonder Woman 1984 44 Wonder Woman 45 Iron Man 3 46 The Dark Knight Rises 47 Superman 1978 48 The Marvels 49 Dr Strange 50 Thor 51 Kick-Ass 52 X-Men First Class 53 Hellboy 54 X2 55 Darkman 56 Iron Man 2 57 Swamp Thing 58 Hellboy II: The Golden Army 59 Watchmen 60 X-Men 2000 61 Batman Returns 62 Blade 63 Defendor 64 Unbreakable 65 The Crow 66 Batman 66 67 The Fantastic Four: First Steps 68 Orgazmo 69 Superman II 70 Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania 71 Shazam! 72 Thor: The Dark World 73 The Wolverine 74 Superman Returns 75 Blade II 76 Mystery Men 77 Super 78 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 79 Venom: The Last Dance 80 Chronicle 81 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 82 Man of Steel 83 Venom: Let There Be Carnage 84 The Green Hornet 85 The Incredible Hulk 86 Sky High 87 The Mask 88 Constantine 89 The New Mutants 90 The Rocketeer 91 Superman III 92 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 93 The Return of Swamp Thing 94 The Flash 95 Shazam! Fury of the Gods 96 Superhero Movie 97 Blade Trinity 98 Batman V Superman: Dawn of justice 99 Venom 100 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 101 Captain America: Brave New World 102 Black Adam 103 Fantastic Four: The Rise of Silver Surfer 104 Hancock 105 Fantastic Four 106 Madame Web 107 Blankman 108 Supergirl 109 The Crow 2024 110 Hellboy 2019 111 Power Rangers 112 The Meteor Man 113 Justice League 114 X-Men Last Stand 115 Van Helsing 116 Spiderman 3 117 The Amazing Spider-Man 118 TMNT2 119 Superman and the Mole Men 120 Green Lantern 121 Ghost Rider 122 TMNT3 123 Hero At Large 124 Push 125 Jumper 126 Condorman 127 Howard The Duck 128 Aquaman 129 Punisher: War Zone 130 Toxic Avenger Part II 131 TMNT: OOTS 132 TMNT14 133 Hulk 134 Bloodshot 135 Daredevil 136 The Crow: City of Angels 137 The Punisher 04 138 The Punisher 89 139 Batman Forever 140 Kick Ass 2 141 Steel 142 Glass 143 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 144 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 145 X-Men: Apocalypse 146 Split 147 Suicide Squad 148 Brightburn 149 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 150 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 151 Sgt Kabukiman NYPD 152 The Toxic Avenger 2025 153 The Phantom 154 Toxic Avenger 155 The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 156 The Shadow 157 The Toxic Avenger Part III 158 Spawn 159 Batman and Robin 160 Elektra 161 Morbius 162 My Super Ex-Girlfriend 163 Zoom 164 Underdog 165 Catwoman 166 The Spirit 167 Jonah Hex 168 Fant4stic 169 Max Steel 170 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace 171 Dark Phoenix 172 Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 173 Fast Color 174 Joker Folie a deux 175 Kraven The Hunter 176 Archenemy 177 Son of the Mask 178 The Crow: Wicked Prayer 179 Super Capers 180 All Superheroes Must Die

Jennie Nash launches a brand-new Hot Seat Coaching series on the podcast—real, on-air coaching sessions where listeners get to hear a story develop in real time.In the first episode, Jennie brings #amwriting podcast producer Andrew Parrella out from behind the microphone as he begins work on his first novel. Fresh off completing the Blueprint challenge, Andrew shares his gothic horror premise: a Dracula-inspired story set in 1920s London, where Abriana Harker—the daughter of Mina Harker—faces a string of mysterious deaths unfolding against the backdrop of the suffrage movement.Jennie and Andrew pressure-test the blueprint together, refining the novel's central point, exploring how Van Helsing's legacy shapes the world of the story, and identifying ways to strengthen Abriana's role so the plot is driven by her choices. Andrew leaves with clear next steps—and this is just the beginning: he'll return in future episodes as Jennie continues coaching him through the process of developing the novel.You can connect with Andrew via his website AndrewParrella.com#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.TranscriptJennie: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Jennie Nash and you're listening to the hashtag am Writing podcast. The place where we help writers of all kinds play big in your writing life. Love the process, and stick with it long enough to finish what matters most. Hi, I'm Jenny Nash and you're listening to the hashtag am Writing podcast.This is something new. It's a hot seat coaching episode where we're gonna work through a real challenge in real time with a real writer. And today. I'm joined by a really special guest. His name is Andrew Perella, and he has been the producer of this podcast for many, many years and is stepping out from behind the microphone to write his first novel.Andrew participated in the Winter Blueprint challenge that we recently completed. Which is to say he answered all 14 of the blueprint questions during our challenge and, and produced a [00:01:00] finished blueprint. And so I wanted to get on with him and talk about what do we do next? How do we go from there to the next thing?And he agreed to do that to help show our listeners how it goes. And I'm so excited about it because. He just did incredible work and also has so much work to go, so hopefully we're gonna get to, we're gonna get to follow Andrew as he does this for a few episodes and bring you along on the journey. So welcome Andrew from Behind the Microphone.Andrew: So much work to go. Thank you, Jenny. I'm really excited to be here.Jennie: So Andrew is, has a long career in public radio and is a producer of podcast for many people and is a storytelling guy, you know, as well as a sound guy. So this is, this is a big move. I feel like this is a right big move for you for sure, for deciding.This is the time to embrace the fact that you wanna do this thing. Does it [00:02:00] feel like that to you?Andrew: It, it feels like a right big move for me that I'm kind of prioritizing now this writing project for me. I'm prioritizing my project, um, over, over, uh, the projects of others whom, whom I help with projects.Yeah. So this is a big, big a right big moment for me.Jennie: It is totally a riping moment and. You're in the hot seat personal coaching, which I, I really appreciate you being willing to do So, um, where we stand today is, as I said, you, you finished the blueprint, you did all the work, you did the thing. So I'm just curious to sort of check in.How do you feel? Do you feel like that's an accomplishment? Do you feel some momentum? Like, what, where are you feeling, what are you feeling? Um,Andrew: I, I feel like it is a, a really big accomplishment because as we were working through the blueprint, I was getting feedback, uh, from you and KJ Dium about, uh, about, uh, how I was, how I was creating my [00:03:00] blueprint.It got me, it forced me to think about the book in some very real terms, in ways that I hadn't yet, and in ways that, you know, I had been kind of thinking about the book in more abstract notions. Um, and like this was putting pen to paper, uh, on so many things to think about, you know, beyond the, beyond the simple plot structure.Um, and I realized as I was going through this. How much I hadn't yet considered, and I think this helped to show me where the holes in my story were. Um. And he, even, even as I've finished, quote unquote, finished the blueprint, it's like I finished one inter iteration of it and like already the story has changed since I first started work on the blueprint.And so already I know I gotta go back and start reiterating on, on, on this, uh, uh, as we go along here.Jennie: Yeah. I mean, and that's the point, right? Yeah. Is the whole point is this is a tool that reveals. [00:04:00] What's working and what's not working? Is this what I want? Does this reflect my vision? And you get to, to play with that wet clay of the idea.So that's really what what we're doing. But the reason that I thought you'd be such a good candidate for coaching live in this way is your story. It really hangs together in so many ways. It's so great in so many ways and it, it would be easy to feel like, oh, I'm, I'm not that far. I got this. I could, I could start right?I can start writing. Yeah. But I hope, I hope what we're gonna show is, is really pushing yourself to answer core questions is gonna just make it so much stronger.Andrew: Absolutely.Jennie: So, um, all that being said, do you. What do you think the best way to share what you're writing with our listeners is? Do you think reading your book jacket copy feels good or do you wanna just say it out [00:05:00] loud?Andrew: Um, I feel like the book jacket copy, I. Um, that I, that I wrote doesn't quite, doesn't quite capture, I think in many ways what I think the book is going to be so Well,Jennie: and we're gonna actually getAndrew: to that. So I, and we're gonna get to that, I think. Yeah.Jennie: So why don't you just, just share what, what it is.Andrew: So, uh, the premise of the book is this happens, uh.Uh, the, the novel, it happens 20 years after the events of, uh, Bram Stoker's Dracula. Um, and so. It involves some of the same characters, and then it also involves the next generation of these characters. So these, those characters children. Um, the, uh, our protagonist is a Abriana Harker, who is the daughter of Mina Harker, who was, um, kind of the female, uh, lead in, in, in Dracula.And she was, she was bitten by Dracula in, in the original novel. [00:06:00] Um, and she is, uh, someone who is defended, um. Uh, by her, uh, by her friends and, and counterparts in, in that story, Abriana is her daughter. And Abriana is now facing a similar challenge. There are bodies that are turning up around her circle and uh, they appear to have similar injuries that Dracula's victims had 20 years ago, and some people recognize that and are.Going to begin trying to unravel the mystery. And this is all set against the backdrop of the universal suffrage movement, which is also happening in, uh, you know, 1920s London, where, where the novel is, novel is set. And so in broad strokes, that is, that is the, the, the primary premise of the book.Jennie: So the genre is horror.Gothic and I, I did some, some digging. I'm not a big reader of horror, so I did some digging into the genre to make sure that that was right. Because there [00:07:00] there's also thriller elements. There's mystery elements. Mm-hmm. There's, you know, there's other elements and it is, I always liked to, to test. Is this right?Is this right? Could it be tweaked? Could it be better? And it feels, it feels like there's really no question about the genre. Right. Do you feel thatAndrew: I, I feel that, I feel definitely, definitely feel that. And I think I, I, like gothic is, is, is a genre that I really enjoy and I want to develop some of those gothic themes in the story a little bit more than I have so far.But yes, I think gothic and, and horror is very much where, where this, where this book lives. Yeah.Jennie: Yeah. And that is something I wanna talk about for sure when we get to the inside outline. But I wanna start with, um, the second question of the blueprint is what's your point? And I know this is something you've struggled with a little bit.Yeah. Um, but so the current point that you have here is. I feel like maybe this came from me. So, [00:08:00] uh, I, it's, you can't change the world without upsetting people. The more you want to change, the more people you upset, and that's fine, but it, but it doesn't, it does, it doesn't feel like it captures. There's a real moral, philosophical debate at the center of your story.Right.Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, the, the characters are certainly, uh, in the midst of a paradigm shift, you know, there's the, there, the, the world order is changing as, uh, as suffrage is, is being opened to more and more people. Um, and times a world order like that changes. There are people who are for it and there are a lot of people who are against it.And so I think that's. That's an element in, in play here in the, in the novel. And that, and that's something that I wanted to explore. And obviously there are parallels in current times as well for, uh, for this, for this sort of change. So I think that's, I think that's, that's certainly, that's certainly part of, uh, of, of [00:09:00] the story.Yeah.Jennie: So I was, when I, when I review a blueprint, and for anybody who's, who's got one all on the page and, and you, you like it and it feels pretty good. The step is to, to really pressure test everything. So I, I read through the whole thing. I love looking at a blueprint. A blueprint as a whole rather than piece by piece.And in this particular case, it's like this. Yeah. This point feels bloodless, which is something we definitely don't want in this story. So I went back to your why and your why is really powerful and really personal and really political. Um, it's, it's fiery, it's articulate, like there's so much about your why that I.You can see my comments on the page. Mm-hmm. Not the listener, but Andrew can Right where I was going. Great. Yes. Very powerful. Awesome. You know, it's just, it's excellent. And you had some lines in there [00:10:00] about the, the monster in this story is not the vampire, but a man who is refusing to change with the times basically.And. That felt to me, given everything else you're saying about the parallels between this, the milieu of this story and the milieu we live in right now, the, the fraught. Climate, political climate. Cultural climate that felt more potent as a point. And I, I wondered what you thought about that.Andrew: Yeah, I mean, I think that that is as mu that is as much a part of the, the premise as I've conceived it, as, as anything else that I've, I've said, um, you know, the, the, the.Spoiler alert, the the murders aren't being committed by, by the vampire, uh, or vampires. Uh, the murders are being committed by an old white dude who is not [00:11:00] happy with how the politics are shifting under his feet and how the world is changing around him, um, and is trying to, at all costs, prevent that from happening, even sacrificing a bit of his own humanity in, in the process.And so I think that is. Is is something that certainly resonates, but I think it yeah. Is, as you say, there's a passion, there's a blood there that in in, in the why that didn't quite make it to my point. Um,Jennie: yeah, yeah, yeah. So I would suggest for the next iteration mm-hmm. To, to really push that point and.It's gonna keep changing, it's gonna keep, um, you know, getting refined as you go. But I think it's important to move it forward as you keep writing. So the, um, yeah, something that's, that's fiery and that's, um, about, ‘cause that's a, that's a, you're flipping an important trope in a. In a [00:12:00] classic novel, right?Mm-hmm. That it, it's not the vampire. So like, why that? Why, why are we flipping out? What is that showing us? What is the point of, of doing that in the story? That, so I would really play with that. Um, does that make sense? Mm-hmm.Andrew: Yes, it does. Okay. Yes, it does.Jennie: Okay, so the next thing I wanna talk about is your super, your super simple story.Mm-hmm. And. What's interesting about the super simple story is, I mean, I love everybody always. Here's me say this, who's listened to me for very long, but I love a constraint on in creativity. And this, trying to get this story in a really short space often reveals something. And what it, when it was revealing to me is, so you've got, you've got a abriana, she wants to, uh, become a doctor.Because of her mother's, [00:13:00] her mother died in childbirth with her. Um, so that's the, that's the storyline. You've got the murders that are happening and, and then you've got the universal suffragette movement, this political debate that's going on. So there's these three threads and. Even in the super simple story, it was feeling a little bit like they're disconnected.I don't think they're disconnected in your mind. I think they're disconnected on the page.Andrew: Okay.Jennie: So I wanted to just ask you to articulate that a little bit more. ‘cause you hint in the um, book jacket copy later, AA has things in common with Finn halting who's. Her uncle, the Vampire Hunter. Are you comfortable sharing what those are?Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: What those commonalities are?Andrew: Yeah, I think, I think, [00:14:00] um, uh, Abraham Von Helsing is, is a character from the original novel, um, and he helps guide the team to, uh, uh, find, track down and destroy Dracula. Um. In the world of my novel, his understanding of vampires changes as he's, as he continues to do research on them.And so he's discovered, he's discovered more about them. That will spell out a little bit more in the, uh, in the novel, but. First and foremost, and one of the, one of the primary roles he plays in the, in, in the original novel is a, as a doctor. And that's one thing that Abriana really admires about him. He becomes a bit of a, a, um, a surrogate.Parent to her with her mother dying and her, uh, her father's grief, turning into a little bit of emotional distance from, uh, from Abriana. And so von uh, van Helsing kind of fills that gap and so she associates her. I think her desire [00:15:00] to become a doctor stems from both her birth, you know, ultimately killing her mother, but also because, and, and, and wanting to prevent that from happening to other women, but also because she's seen, you know, van Helsing.Perform his, his service as a doctor. He, she's seen it in action and what it can do and wants to, and wants to, wants to emulate that. And so, and, and I think one of the, one of the things that, that I get excited about is incorporating a little bit of like historic realism into, into the novel as well. And there was in, uh, the 1920s a, a medi, the London School of Medicine for women.Um, it had it, it had been. Open for a, a decade or so. It was still a fairly new school at the time. And so that there was an, uh, a real place that she would've been able to go and get an education is something that, uh, is something that I'm, I'm excited to have part of, part of the novel and like that school wouldn't have been possible if it was not for the Women's Liberation [00:16:00] Movement, which resulted obviously in the universal.In the universal suffrage movement. And so all of that I feel, kind of ties, ties together in a way that I haven't explained very well in my super simple copy, super simple story explanation there.Jennie: So, so that's what I'm trying to get at is Adrianna is not just some random young woman. No, I mean she's, she's very clearly descended from.A, a particular, uh, family who's had a particular thing happen and you know, there several generations. So have you designed her as a protagonist using those elements of the family yet, or, or is it more kind of just convenient that she's there? Does that make sense?Andrew: I think so, [00:17:00] and I think it's probably somewhere in the middle.I think I like the idea of tying her into these characters that who have an existing history, and it then gives her a little bit of, a little bit of, uh, gravitas for the listener when they, when they start digging in that maybe they, maybe they, maybe they have read Dracula, are familiar with those characters and so, okay, this is the next, this is the next generation.But yeah, I mean, I think Abriana reflects. A lot of other things that, that aren't in, that aren't represented in the original novel. Um,Jennie: I guess what I, I guess what I'm saying is it feels, one of my concerns is it feels as if you could write this story about Adriana and not have her beat from this family.She could, she could be kind of. Anyone Gotcha. In this [00:18:00] situation? Gotcha. Does that, am I, am I missing, am I missing that? What would make, you know, let's just, um, I know there's, there's several women in the novel who have, have important roles. So I'm gonna pick a name that's not them. Let's say that, uh, there's a young woman, Catherine, you know, not connected to, um.Ben Helsing not connected to her mother, not connected to that whole thing. And same time period, same motivation. She wants to be a doctor. Maybe she had someone in her family die, and that's her motivation. You know, like suffrages, like that whole story could still play out with Catherine. Uh, am I wrong? I want you to prove me wrong.Andrew: So like, yes, it could, I feel like, I feel like one of the things I like about tying in Van Helsing is it, it presents a red herring, um, in the sense that it's like, oh, we all think. [00:19:00] That we're gonna find out vampires are responsible for all of these deaths. Um, like, I don't know, like, and I, and I can kind of slow burn the, you know, the reveal of vampires in general and, and, and how they end up not actually being the antagonists in this By, by which is So by borrowing, by borrowing his name and sharing his glory a little bit.Yeah.Jennie: Right. But back to Catherine, our, our mm-hmm. Mythical protagonist.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Same thing could happen there. Everybody thinks, oh, the vampires are back. Um, Catherine, you know, they, they keep happening around her. She's gotta figure it out. You know what I mean? So,Andrew: well, so, soJennie: isAndrew: Yeah,Jennie: no, go ahead.Andrew: The question, the question I, I think that I've been grappling a bit with too is do we exist in a world where.Is, does the novel, does the world of the novel, a place where people [00:20:00] have recognized the efforts of Van Helsing and that vampires exist? Is that, is that common knowledge in this world, or is all of that still unknown to folks?Jennie: Okay, this. Is the piece that I've been missing.Andrew: Okay.Jennie: That's exactly the piece that I've been missing.That's totally it. That, so here, this is world building. If anybody's writing anything with magic, fantasy, sci-fi, even just straight up history, and maybe it's a retelling or a re um, imagining, you often know those, those questions for sure. And especially for where for. My understanding, I, I'm, like I said, I'm not a horror reader, but I do know a little bit about Dracula, but the, it was a, a sort of science versus, um, like science played a big role in that.What [00:21:00] can we know? Mm-hmm. What can we prove? What is, what is unknowable?Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: Those sorts of things. Absolutely. So that, you've gotta know that here. Mm-hmm. Has it been proved? Is it. Accepted knowledge. Is Van Helsing a hero who's locked away in his lab continuing to, you know, with funding and whatever to research his thing?Or is he some. You know, recluse who was shamed in the public eye and people think he's crazy, like that's gonna color everything. Mm-hmm. Okay. And that's gonna be, that's gonna then be the answer I'm looking for. Like, why Adriana as our protagonist and not Catherine. Right. So she's gonna have that, you imagine her going to medical school with.Those two different stories behind her, how different it's [00:22:00] gonna be when she shows up in the classroom and people know, you know, or when they know who she is.Andrew: Right? Yeah.Jennie: So there, there's a real, the reveal to the reveal to the reader about her connection and who she is and then her, her reveal to the society she lives in about.Who she is and you know, the meaning she makes from all that you know, and did, no matter what you decide about Van Helsing, she then you have to all just also decide about her. Does she agree with the prevailing wisdom? If everybody thinks he's a hero, does she think he, he is too? Or does she think he's kind of whacked and then, um, learns otherwise or, you know, like the or, or the other wayAndrew: around?Jennie: Yeah. Or the other way around. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So yeah, this is the piece that's missing is I feel like you have, and this is what I felt the second I heard you talk about your story. I'm like, oh, this could be so [00:23:00] good. Like, this is so potent, but you're like, you're missing it. You're just, it's like it's, it's like it's not landing as as solid as it should, and I think this is why.Right. I had not been able to figure it out, but. And you have, so I gotta make sure I understand the character. So a Adriana's dad is the brother of Van Helsing.Andrew: Uh, they're not related in the original, in the original novel. They're, they're, uh, they're just friends. Okay. Okay. But they're, but they're clo Okay.They're, they're close friends. And because Van Helsing ultimately saved both of their lives, uh, he is kind of a, a, a surrogate uncle. So, uncle, uncle in quotation marks. Yeah,Jennie: yeah, yeah. Uncle is Is an honorific.Andrew: An honorific, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yep.Jennie: That confused me. Okay. So I thought that there was a direct lineage there.Andrew: Right.Jennie: But there's not No,Andrew: no genetic link. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:24:00]Jennie: But a link through. Her mother a link to Van Healthing Through the mother.Andrew: Yes.Jennie: Um, and, and what happened to her. So, okay. Yeah. We have to understand his role, who he is, what he's doing in the world, what people think of him. Mm-hmm. Um, and also this is important for.Just the environment of your story, because we've got this division, political division around the suffragette movement. Is there, is there o, are there other, um, like, I wanna say mood, like what's the mood of the place where she's, this story's taking place? Is it, you know, a creeping sense of doom on many levels?Uh, is the do the vampire, like, is the fact, oh, maybe the vampires are [00:25:00] back. Does that make sense for the times? Um, like you and I are talking right now in 2026, um, during very extreme political upheaval and also during the time when there's this been this kidnapping of this prominent. Um, media personalities, family member that hasn't been solved.And there's this sense like, well of course this is happening now. Like this, you know, is there a weird, are we gonna have a, um, famous serial killer? Story unfolding in our time. Right. Like, that's what I keep thinking, right? Like there's a sense of, of course these things are going to start happening now ‘cause things are, feel so unstable and unsettled.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Is that what's going on there? [00:26:00]Andrew: I mean, I think potentially yes. I, I've, because yeah, I feel like this, it, it, it, it was an unsettled moment politically. And also a little bit medically as they as like the medical establishment is transitioning from miasma theory to germ theory. And that was kind of late, late, uh, 19th century, early 20th century.But like there's, there's kind of been a, a paradigm shift there. So I think, I feel like yeah, there does wanna be, as you were saying, kind of like this constant, creepy. Creepy feeling. Yeah. I'm like, I'm like to lean into the gothic, like I thought, like, I really want that to pervade every, every chapter, every page.I want that kind of like creeping sensation that that doom is around the corner. Um, that, thatJennie: Right. And doom for many sources. Right. Because I think that that's kind of one of your points.Andrew: Mm-hmm.Jennie: Is well, what I'm going back to what [00:27:00] the point, point was. The point we're kind of, um. Leaning toward is people who review, refuse to evolve.When the world demands, it can become monsters. So the world is evolving in many different ways and probably getting the opportunity for a lot of different people to have to evolve in a lot of different ways. It's not just one way. It's not just like, oh, get on this bus, or you're missing. Get on, you know, what's the metaphor?Like you'll miss the boat if you don't get on the boat. But it feels like there's all kinds of boats one, one might miss here, right? Um, I think so. And so that's that. Yeah. Okay, so, so in terms of what to do next, I think your, your homework here is you've gotta get to know Van Haling. Yeah. And the, and the world a little bit better.So I would do some character [00:28:00] development work on, on him and what the world thinks of him and what a Brianna's stepping into the, the light by. Insisting on going to medical school does to Van Haling. Does it delight him? Does it challenge him? Does it, um, you know, what does he think of that? I think that's important.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Um, to know too.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: Um,Andrew: a couple, a couple of things that are occurring to me. I think I had taken for granted the reader's knowledge of the events of Dracula, and I don't think I can do that. I think I need to. To develop these characters for my own, as you're saying, I, I gotta, I have to develop Van Van Hels, the Van Helsing character.I have to develop him for, for my own purposes for this novel. Um, which makes a lot of sense.Jennie: Well, that's actually a really good question. You defined your ideal reader in a way that I thought was. [00:29:00] Completely delightful. Like she was so fleshed out. She felt like a, a full on character and I was like, oh, I know that.I know that woman. I loved it. It was great. But an important piece you missed in that is you said that she enjoys books about. London, the city and maybe some horror and gothic, but what is her relationship to Dracula, your ideal reader? You need to know that.Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.Jennie: My, you know, this is what's funny sometimes about being a book coach is I always say that the, the writers, the god of their own story, I can't possibly know everything that the writer knows about what they're writing about, what they've read, what they've thought, how they've lived, any of it.And, and in this particular case, I don't read. I don't read horror. I, I, I could barely tell you the, the bear outlines of Dracula if, if press, [00:30:00] um, I mean, I know the, you know, cartoon, the cartoon version. I, I, I could tell you a little more about Frankenstein only because I, against my will, watched the recent, um.Retelling.Andrew: Oh yeah. I haven't actually seen that yet.Jennie: So I say against my will because I was like, oh my gosh, this is too much for me. But um, you need to know if, so here's a perfect, let me finish my sentence. You need to know if your reader is a fan, is a reader, is a immersed in the gothic world, is gonna know all these things.Know all the tropes and know all the connections or not. And the, um, perfect example of that is, remember that book, um, pride and Prejudice and Zombies?Andrew: Yes.Jennie: So that appeal to people who love Jane Austen.Outro: Mm-hmm.Jennie: Like, you're probably not gonna read that book if you're not a Jane Austen [00:31:00] fan, but if you are a Jane Austen fan, you're, you cannot wait to get your hands on that.And. Also probably if you're a zombie horror fan, you know, you would delight in that even if you didn't understand the depths of the Jane Austen piece. But that book spoke to such a very particular audience that turned out to be a massive audience. Right, right. So, yeah,Andrew: yeah, yeah.Jennie: You know, I think you need to make a decision.Are you writing for someone like me who's, who's like, I don't know, like I think when I first read it, I was like. Who's Ben Sing? And you're like, he's the famous guy from the thing, right? So are you writing for someone like me or does your, a avatar, your ideal reader hear, you know, does she watch the movie?Does she, does she read the books? Does she gobble that stuff up?Andrew: Right? Yeah.Jennie: What, what is your instinct right now?Andrew: Singling out one or the other is going to, is going to change [00:32:00] how I write the book. Um. What is my instinct? Uh, I dunno. When I think about the character that I, that the character of the reader that I fleshed out in the blueprint, um,Jennie: yeah,Andrew: I don't think she necessarily would have read Dracula.She might be familiar with the story, but she might not have, um, uh, have read, uh, Dracula itself.Jennie: Okay. So yeah, let's get to, let's get really clear on that. Mm-hmm. Because it's gonna really change. And for those listening. The ideal reader. Oftentimes people think it's just a throwaway part of the blueprint because they kind of can just picture, you know, generally who their reader is.I mean, first of all, no part of the blueprint is the throwaway. Uh, something really important can come from any one of these. So really go back to your ideal reader. And think about them in relationship to their story. ‘cause this [00:33:00] conversation reveals how drastically you would change the writing of this book, depending on your ideal reader's relationship to the, to Dracula.Andrew: Yeah.Jennie: And, and there's no right answer. Either answer's. Great. Right. So, um, so that's, I just put that on the list of, of things too, um, that you're gonna be thinking about. Um. So once you get that, so yeah, the understanding of of Van Healthy's re reputation in the universe right now is going to be the way that you bring your reader up to speed a little bit.Right? Like famous Vampire Hunter still doing his thing or, or. Famous vampire hunter, you know, shamed and, uh, not doing his thing. Um, that's, those are gonna tie [00:34:00] together,Andrew: right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.Jennie: And cement down the world that we're coming into, um, more.Andrew: Absolutely. No, I can, I can see how that will change things.Yeah.Jennie: Okay. So, um. We're not gonna have time to dig, to dig into this yet, but I just wanna touch on it so that, um, when you're doing this work, you can be thinking about, um, thinking about this piece, but the, um, there's a cause and effect trajectory that's obviously what the inside outline is. And at some really key places in yours, you miss an opportunity to to tie in.So we always want our protagonist to have agency to be making the [00:35:00] decisions that cause things to get worse or cause them to be in a worse position or, um, and, and there's several places in your inside outline where. Things just sort of happen, which is the plot, and then she sort of happens to be there.But if you understand better these parts of her and her connection to this, uh, the not her uncle now, uh, her, this guy, uh, and her connection to what's happened with her mother and those things, then we wanna use that to push the story. To push the, so the plot has to serve the story. So the things that happen are gonna push your character in ways they don't wanna be pushed to make decisions that are gonna then push them further and, and they're gonna get deeper and deeper each time.And [00:36:00] you have a murder mystery. So each murder, we wanna feel more and more as if. She is boxing herself in by what she does. By what she thinks. By what she believes, by what she wants. And the, the CLO is gonna squeeze her to the point where she asks to make a, a big decision, you know, comes, that's the climax, comes to that like, will I, in this case, um, confront.Uh, both the murderer and her father is kind of where it all ends, so,Andrew: yeah. Yeah.Jennie: You know, it's not gonna be just like, and now we arrive at a place where she confronts the people. It's gotta be like. Gut wrenching along the way. Right,Andrew: right.Jennie: So, um, there's a lot to say there, and I made some comments on the outline, which, which you'll see [00:37:00] sort of my thoughts and thinking there, but I actually think that this conversation we've had is gonna be the solution because the, the big question I had was, is it coincidental that Adriana is.These murders are sort of following her around and people think that it, she might be responsible. Is that coincidental or is there something real there? Yeah. Do you know the answer or not?Andrew: I, I, I'm, I've been thinking about that and I think there are ways that it's not entirely coincidental. I mean, obviously she's not causing the murders, but I think, I think yes, I think there are things that she does that prompts these.That prompts these women to become targets of the murderer.Jennie: That's what I hoped you were gonna say. Yeah, because that's what's gonna, that's like, it's, I think this was on the page and maybe you didn't realize it, but. [00:38:00] Being friends with Adriana is a little dangerous,right?Andrew: Yes. Yes. I think that could be, that could definitely be part of the part, part of the, part of the theme there. Yeah.Jennie: So that, that shouldn't, that shouldn't be coincidental. Well, and this is what's so, so great about the blueprint and showing it to a critique partner or a writing group or an editor or a book coach, is.Somebody else can say, do you see that you're doing this thing that's actually really cool? Or do you, do you see that you're not doing this? Like it's things are just revealed. So,Andrew: yeah. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.Jennie: So let's just wrap this up. Your next iteration, you're gonna work on sharpening your point. You're gonna work on sharpening the super simple story so that the Dracula connection is clear.Dracula connection to your [00:39:00] protagonist is, is more clear and you're gonna under in order to do that. You're gonna understand then Helsing, the world that we live in and what his relationship of that world is 20 years after Dracula. What, what is happening with him? What is happening with the world? And and that's gonna help inform the connection between your.Protagonist in these things. And then I think you already answered the ideal reader, but just make sure that you're comfortable with that, that she's not a super fan. This is not a insider. Um, folks who know and love and read Dracula, it's, it's more someone like me. He was a little clueless. And then if you have time to dig into.How that all plays out in the cause and effect of the inside outline. That's, that's where I would go. [00:40:00] So it's, um, I had an agent, my first agent, way back in the day, used to say, run it through the typewriter one more time because we were actually writing on typewriter. Yeah. Right. Back in the day. And, uh, that's kind of what I feel, you know, with these ideas in mind, like, run it all through one more time and let, let it all flow through One more time.Um, and we'll see where it goes.Andrew: Excellent. No, this sounds good. This is, this is some good homework. I'm looking forward to, to digging into this now.Jennie: I know. I can't wait to see too, and I hope our listeners have enjoyed, uh, going along on this conversation and gotten some inspiration for what, how to pressure test your own, uh, blueprint.And if you're not doing the blueprint. Uh, also fine, but pressure test what you're writing. Uh, this is just a tool for doing that, but there's this kind of questioning and making sure that things are not [00:41:00] assumed. That's, that's the key, right? It's that you, you sort of make these assumptions, but we have to articulate them and pin them down so that we can use them to make a much better story.Well, thank you Andrew. Really thank you for being willing to, uh, expose yourself in this way. Come out from behind the mic, uh, share your journey. It's not easy to do that, and I appreciate it.Andrew: Well, it's, it's fun. Thank you for pushing me outside my comfort zone. Uh, I've really enjoyed this.Jennie: I have too. So, uh, for our list.Thanks for joining in. Now let's get back to work.Outro: The hashtag am writing podcast is produced by Andrew Perilla. Our intro music aptly titled Unemployed Monday was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output because everyone [00:42:00] deserves to be paid for their work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Clockwork Torgo: Joe vs The Volcano, AI, Monarch, Godzilla x Kong, Mr. Mercedes, Operation Bounce House, Journey to the Center of the Earth, La La Land, Van Helsing, 1776, The Mutiny, Improv, Diablo 2, Tacta, Southland, Dungeon Crawler Carl pinball, Hawkman, DC Universe, Paramount+ and HBO Max to combine, physical video game sales, Universal monsters, Game of Thrones movie, SLIME,

Finally, Pedro Pascal is getting some work. We're watching The Fantastic Four: First Steps this time on Harmless Phosphorescence! Support the show and get early access and exclusive content at https://www.patreon.com/harmlessentertainment https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEDmdtUAW_pJYCJfaZV7Unw/live https://www.reddit.com/r/harmlessentertainment Buy some Merch! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/attention-hellmart-shoppers Check out Executive Producer Michael Beckwith's movie website at https://upallnightmovies.com/ Ranked: #67 RANKINGS 1 Endgame 2 Spider-Man No Way Home 3 Infinity War 4 Superman 2025 5 Logan 6 Deadpool & Wolverine 7 Captain America: Civil War 8 The Avengers 9 The Dark Knight 10 THE Suicide Squad 11 Thor Ragnarok 12 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 13 Black Panther 14 Iron Man 15 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 16 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 17 Guardians of the Galaxy 18 Batman Begins 19 Batman 89 20 Spider-Man 2 21 Spider-Man Homecoming 22 Spider-Man Far From Home 23 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 24 Thunderbolts* 25 Thor: Love and Thunder 26 Deadpool 2 27 Deadpool 28 The Batman 29 Captain America: The First Avenger 30 Spider-Man 31 X-Men: Days of Future Past 32 Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 33 Shang-Chi 34 Joker 35 Captain Marvel 36 Ant-Man 37 Blue Beetle 38 Black Widow 39 Ant-Man and the Wasp 40 Eternals 41 Avengers: The Age of Ultron 42 Birds Of Prey 43 Wonder Woman 1984 44 Wonder Woman 45 Iron Man 3 46 The Dark Knight Rises 47 Superman 1978 48 The Marvels 49 Dr Strange 50 Thor 51 Kick-Ass 52 X-Men First Class 53 Hellboy 54 X2 55 Darkman 56 Iron Man 2 57 Swamp Thing 58 Hellboy II: The Golden Army 59 Watchmen 60 X-Men 2000 61 Batman Returns 62 Blade 63 Defendor 64 Unbreakable 65 The Crow 66 Batman 66 67 The Fantastic Four: First Steps 68 Orgazmo 69 Superman II 70 Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania 71 Shazam! 72 Thor: The Dark World 73 The Wolverine 74 Superman Returns 75 Blade II 76 Mystery Men 77 Super 78 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 79 Venom: The Last Dance 80 Chronicle 81 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 82 Man of Steel 83 Venom: Let There Be Carnage 84 The Green Hornet 85 The Incredible Hulk 86 Sky High 87 The Mask 88 Constantine 89 The New Mutants 90 The Rocketeer 91 Superman III 92 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 93 The Return of Swamp Thing 94 The Flash 95 Shazam! Fury of the Gods 96 Superhero Movie 97 Blade Trinity 98 Batman V Superman: Dawn of justice 99 Venom 100 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 101 Captain America: Brave New World 102 Black Adam 103 Fantastic Four: The Rise of Silver Surfer 104 Hancock 105 Fantastic Four 106 Madame Web 107 Blankman 108 Supergirl 109 The Crow 2024 110 Hellboy 2019 111 Power Rangers 112 The Meteor Man 113 Justice League 114 X-Men Last Stand 115 Van Helsing 116 Spiderman 3 117 The Amazing Spider-Man 118 TMNT2 119 Superman and the Mole Men 120 Green Lantern 121 Ghost Rider 122 TMNT3 123 Hero At Large 124 Push 125 Jumper 126 Condorman 127 Howard The Duck 128 Aquaman 129 Punisher: War Zone 130 Toxic Avenger Part II 131 TMNT: OOTS 132 TMNT14 133 Hulk 134 Bloodshot 135 Daredevil 136 The Crow: City of Angels 137 The Punisher 04 138 The Punisher 89 139 Batman Forever 140 Kick Ass 2 141 Steel 142 Glass 143 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 144 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 145 X-Men: Apocalypse 146 Split 147 Suicide Squad 148 Brightburn 149 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 150 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 151 Sgt Kabukiman NYPD 152 The Phantom 153 Toxic Avenger 154 The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 155 The Shadow 156 The Toxic Avenger Part III 157 Spawn 158 Batman and Robin 159 Elektra 160 Morbius 161 My Super Ex-Girlfriend 162 Zoom 163 Underdog 164 Catwoman 165 The Spirit 166 Jonah Hex 167 Fant4stic 168 Max Steel 169 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace 170 Dark Phoenix 171 Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 172 Fast Color 173 Joker Folie a deux 174 Kraven The Hunter 175 Archenemy 176 Son of the Mask 177 The Crow: Wicked Prayer 178 Super Capers 179 All Superheroes Must Die

Welcome to another Movie Bracket Battle!  We took the last 16 weeks of movie recommendations, seeded them, and pit them against each other in an awesome spectacle of emotions and choice.  Who will win?  Tune in to find out.   The brackets match-ups begin as such: THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) vs. VAN HELSING (2004) ROCKETMAN (2019) vs THE EVIL DEAD (1981) DUNE: PART 2 (2024) vs TOTAL RECALL (1980) NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) vs GREENLAND (2021) SE7EN (1995) vs JOYRIDE (2001) DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) vs THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) ARACHNOPHOBIA (1990) vs PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH (2022) THE TERMINATOR (1984) vs PREDATOR (1990) Hosted, produced and mixed by Grayson Maxwell and Roger Stillion.  Also Hosted by Christopher Boughan. Visit the new Youtube channel, "Post Credits Podcast" to watch the video version.   Thank you for listening! Check us out on many podcast services: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean. Check is out on YouTube for the full video each week: https://www.youtube.com/@Postcreditspodcast1

This week on Reel Talk, Honey heads to the cinema for a fright fest with Scream 7, she has a look at the Charli XCX mockumentary, The Moment, and Jonathan dives into the Netflix hit, How to get to Heaven from Belfast.In other news, the Ross family encounter a beef martini, Jonathan is still going on about the Dracula vs Van Helsing board game, and is it time for the youths to revive the word 'randy'?If you want to get involved in the show, email us at reeltalk@global.com and follow us on Instagram at @reeltalkross.Listen and subscribe to Reel Talk on Global Player or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week on Jumpscare! we're discussing Nadja from 1994,  Nadja is a hypnotic dive into downtown noir—where vampires brood in black-and-white and love feels as cold as immortality. Directed by Michael Almereyda and produced by David Lynch, this indie gem blends art-house style with gothic romance in the shadows of New York City. With a haunting performance by Elina Löwensohn as the mysterious Nadja and an unforgettable cameo from Peter Fonda as Van Helsing, the film feels like a dream you're not sure you want to wake from. Moody. Minimalist. Mesmerizing. If you love vampire lore with an avant-garde edge, this cult classic belongs on your watchlist. Where to find us: https://linktr.ee/Jumpscarepodcast #Nadja #1994Film #IndieCinema #GothicVibes #VampireFilm #ArtHouse #CultClassic #MichaelAlmereyda #DavidLynch #90sCinema

Clef and Tim return to the normal scheduled programming of disc golf and baseball before talking a bunch of board games. We talk recent plays of Memoir '44, Duel for Cardia, Catan, Dracula vs Van Helsing, Wooden Shoes & Iron Monsters, and Atlantis Exodus! We also discuss our motivations for buying games (trading not included). Board game talk starts at 23:33! Join the discord at discord.gg/s8hYtWkMS3 and visit punchboardparadise.com for more info on PPCon 2026!

What are all these colors doing in my DC movie? They rebooted the universe and made a brand new Superman on Harmless Phosphorescence!   Support the show and get early access and exclusive content at  https://www.patreon.com/harmlessentertainment   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEDmdtUAW_pJYCJfaZV7Unw/live   https://www.reddit.com/r/harmlessentertainment   Buy some Merch! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/attention-hellmart-shoppers   Check out Executive Producer Michael Beckwith's movie website at https://upallnightmovies.com/   Ranked: #4   RANKINGS   1 Endgame 2 Spider-Man No Way Home 3 Infinity War 4 Superman 2025 5 Logan 6 Deadpool & Wolverine 7 Captain America: Civil War 8 The Avengers 9 The Dark Knight 10 THE Suicide Squad 11 Thor Ragnarok 12 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 13 Black Panther 14 Iron Man 15 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 16 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 17 Guardians of the Galaxy 18 Batman Begins 19 Batman 89 20 Spider-Man 2 21 Spider-Man Homecoming 22 Spider-Man Far From Home 23 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 24 Thunderbolts* 25 Thor: Love and Thunder 26 Deadpool 2 27 Deadpool 28 The Batman 29 Captain America: The First Avenger 30 Spider-Man 31 X-Men: Days of Future Past 32 Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 33 Shang-Chi 34 Joker 35 Captain Marvel 36 Ant-Man 37 Blue Beetle 38 Black Widow 39 Ant-Man and the Wasp 40 Eternals 41 Avengers: The Age of Ultron 42 Birds Of Prey 43 Wonder Woman 1984 44 Wonder Woman 45 Iron Man 3 46 The Dark Knight Rises 47 Superman 1978 48 The Marvels 49 Dr Strange 50 Thor 51 Kick-Ass 52 X-Men First Class 53 Hellboy 54 X2 55 Darkman 56 Iron Man 2 57 Swamp Thing 58 Hellboy II: The Golden Army 59 Watchmen 60 X-Men 2000 61 Batman Returns 62 Blade 63 Defendor 64 Unbreakable 65 The Crow 66 Batman 66 67 Orgazmo 68 Superman II 69 Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania 70 Shazam! 71 Thor: The Dark World 72 The Wolverine 73 Superman Returns 74 Blade II 75 Mystery Men 76 Super 77 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 78 Venom: The Last Dance 79 Chronicle 80 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 81 Man of Steel 82 Venom: Let There Be Carnage 83 The Green Hornet 84 The Incredible Hulk 85 Sky High 86 The Mask 87 Constantine 88 The New Mutants 89 The Rocketeer 90 Superman III 91 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 92 The Return of Swamp Thing 93 The Flash 94 Shazam! Fury of the Gods 95 Superhero Movie 96 Blade Trinity 97 Batman V Superman: Dawn of justice 98 Venom 99 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 100 Captain America: Brave New World 101 Black Adam 102 Fantastic Four: The Rise of Silver Surfer 103 Hancock 104 Fantastic Four 105 Madame Web 106 Blankman 107 Supergirl 108 The Crow 2024 109 Hellboy 2019 110 Power Rangers 111 The Meteor Man 112 Justice League 113 X-Men Last Stand 114 Van Helsing 115 Spiderman 3 116 The Amazing Spider-Man 117 TMNT2 118 Superman and the Mole Men 119 Green Lantern 120 Ghost Rider 121 TMNT3 122 Hero At Large 123 Push 124 Jumper 125 Condorman 126 Howard The Duck 127 Aquaman 128 Punisher: War Zone 129 Toxic Avenger Part II 130 TMNT: OOTS 131 TMNT14 132 Hulk 133 Bloodshot 134 Daredevil 135 The Crow: City of Angels 136 The Punisher 04 137 The Punisher 89 138 Batman Forever 139 Kick Ass 2 140 Steel 141 Glass 142 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 143 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 144 X-Men: Apocalypse 145 Split 146 Suicide Squad 147 Brightburn 148 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 149 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 150 Sgt Kabukiman NYPD 151 The Phantom 152 Toxic Avenger 153 The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 154 The Shadow 155 The Toxic Avenger Part III 156 Spawn 157 Batman and Robin 158 Elektra 159 Morbius 160 My Super Ex-Girlfriend 161 Zoom 162 Underdog 163 Catwoman 164 The Spirit 165 Jonah Hex 166 Fant4stic 167 Max Steel 168 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace 169 Dark Phoenix 170 Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 171 Fast Color 172 Joker Folie a deux 173 Kraven The Hunter 174 Archenemy 175 Son of the Mask 176 The Crow: Wicked Prayer 177 Super Capers 178 All Superheroes Must Die

From the classic script written by Orson Welles and John Houseman, the Icebox Radio Theater presents "Dracula", recorded before a live audience in Int'l Falls, Minnesota on Oct 30, 2025. Starring Jeffrey Adams as the count and Seward, Dalton Johnson as Jonathon Harker, Aela Mackintosh as Mina Harker, Diane Adams as Lucy Westerna, and Justin Kapla as Van Helsing. Other voices by the talented cast. Direction and Sound Effects by Jeffrey Adams.

The group faces the growing threat of the Weaver. The fight turns deadly when Alexander shoots one of the Weaver's minions and Arty finishes him off.Van Helsing threatens the Weaver and makes it clear he plans to kill him. Dorothy reveals she still has an extra vial that could be used against the monsters.Meanwhile, Martin makes a blood pact with Julian the vampire, changing everything. At the end of the episode, a Queen is introduced, hinting at a bigger danger connected to Julian.

Dana and Tom with 5x Club Member, Sara Shea (Host and Creator of Shea Cinema; @sheacinema on X, IG), discuss the monster horror classic, Dracula (1931), for its 95th Anniversary: directed by Tod Browning, written by Garrett Fort, cinematography by Karl Freund, music by Phillip Glass, editing by Milton Carruth and Maurice Pivar, starring Bela Lugosi, Helen Chambers, David Manners, Dwight Frye, and Edward Van Sloan.Plot Summary: Dracula (1931) is a classic horror film about the mysterious Count Dracula, (Bela Lugosi), a vampire from Transylvania who travels to England in search of new victims. After a young man named Renfield (Dwight Frye) falls under Dracula's control, the Count sets his sights on Mina Seward (Helen Chandler), slowly draining her life while charming everyone around her.As Mina grows weaker, her fiancé John Harker (David Manners) teams up with the wise and determined Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), who realizes Dracula's true nature. The film builds tension as Van Helsing uses knowledge and courage to confront the vampire and stop his reign of terror.Guest:Sara SheaHost and Creator of Shea Cinema; @sheacinema on X, IGPreviously on 12 Angry Men (1957) Revisit, Barry Lyndon (1975), Shampoo (1975), 2025 Post Oscars Reaction Show, Patton (1970), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)Chapters:00:00 Introduction, Cast, and Background for Dracula03:27 Welcome Back, Sara Shea05:12 A Bygone Era of Film09:38 Relationships with Dracula13:53 Why Do We Celebrate the Original Monster Movies?22:59 Plot Summary for Dracula24:02 What is Dracula About?28:48 Did You Know?32:08 First Break32:57 What's Up with Sara Shea?35:52 Xmas Movie Exchange42:53 Congratulations to the Newest Class of the National Film Registry43:56 Best Performance(s)55:05 Best Scene(s)01:04:15 Second Break01:04:55 In Memoriam01:12:49 Best/Funniest Lines01:14:10 The Stanley Rubric - Legacy01:19:20 The Stanley Rubric - Impact/Significance01:26:15 The Stanley Rubric - Novelty01:30:03 The Stanley Rubric - Classicness01:35:06 The Stanley Rubric - Rewatchability01:40:02 The Stanley Rubric - Audience...

In this episode, we look at how the classic black & white Universal movie monsters tap into universal fears, and how you can use that to create compelling villains in your book. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight, Book #2 in the Dragonskull series, (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store: GARETH50 The coupon code is valid through February 16, 2026. So if you need a new audiobook this winter, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 289 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 6, 2026, and today we are discussing how you can use the Universal monsters to write interesting villains. Before we get into that, we will have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing and publishing projects. First up is Coupon of the Week and this week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight, Book #2 of my Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store. And that code is GARETH50. And as always, the coupon code and the link to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through February 16th, 2026, so if you need a new audiobook to get you through the middle of February, we have got you covered. Now let's see where I'm at with my current writing and publishing projects. As of this recording, I am 63,000 words into Cloak of Summoning and I am almost but not quite halfway through my outline. So this is definitely going to be a long book and it's probably going to come out in the first part of March because it's long enough that it will take me a while to finish writing it and then to edit and proof it and everything else. So I'm making good progress on it. It was a very productive week, but I am still not even halfway through, so I think it's probably going to be March. I am also 5,000 words into Blade of Wraiths. That will be the fourth book of my epic fantasy Blades of Ruin series, and that will probably be in April, if all goes well. In audiobook news, Blade of Shadows (as narrated by Brad Wills) is done and it is slowly starting to roll out to the various platforms. I think as of this recording, the only place it is live right now is my Payhip store and Google Play, but hopefully by the time I record the next episode, it will be available at even more stores than that. Hollis McCarthy is working on Cloak of Titans and I think she's about halfway or two thirds of the way through recording, so we should be able to get that to you before too much longer. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and publishing and audiobook projects. 00:02:13 Main Topic: Universal Monsters, Universal Fears, and Creating Villains Now our main topic, which is the Universal monsters and the universal fears and how you can use that to create villains. One idea a writer can use to create compelling villains is to tap into some of the universal fears, and in some ways, those universal fears are embodied by the classic Universal monster movies. I mentioned before that in Halloween of 2025, I saw that a bunch of the old black and white Universal monster movies were on Prime Video. So I watched them for the first time since I was a kid, and I was pleased to see that they held up pretty well for movies that are nearly a century old, especially considering these were some of the very first movies ever made with sound and the filmmakers were kind of figuring it out as they went along. Dracula is a bit uneven because they tried to cram the stage play version of the book into a 70 minute movie, which really doesn't work, though Bela Lugosi's performance as Dracula and Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing really carried the movie and helped define the characters in the public eye, but the others are all good and Bride of Frankenstein is legitimately a great movie, but why have these particular movies lasted so long in the public consciousness? For that matter, why do people keep coming back to new versions and new stories of Dracula and Frankenstein's Creature and all the others? Partly it's because these characters are in the public domain and you can use them without getting sued. True, but there's a lot of stuff in the public domain that doesn't see the light of day nearly as often as these classic monsters. I think it's because the classic monsters tap into the universal (small U) fears or classic archetypes of the things that people fear in real life. It's interesting to note that most of the classic Universal monsters were either originally humans who became monstrous or creations by humans that turn monstrous. Essentially, the monsters tap into archetypal fears and are exaggerated versions of villains and monsters we might actually encounter on a day-to-day basis. What do I mean? Let's expound. First up, Dracula. Count Dracula is in some ways the easiest metaphor to explain. He's an aristocratic vampire that feeds upon people and gives them nothing but evil in return. Perhaps he will pass on his own immortality to some of his victims, but it's a cursed and hellish form of immortality and any vampires that he creates are essentially his slaves, sometimes his mindless slaves. Dracula is the fear of the Evil Elite. This of course, takes many different forms in the modern era, but it is very much alive and well. The various conspiracy theories that the elite of society might be devil worshippers or engaged in sinister cults are definitely Dracula adjacent (and based on recent news reports, it indeed appears at least some of these conspiracy theories turned out to be accurate). More prosaically, "rent seeking behavior" is often characterized as vampirism. Rent seeking behavior is defined as finding ways to extract profit without adding value by manipulating the legal or regulatory environment. The landlord who raises rent by $500 a month for no reason. A software developer who reduces features while raising the subscription price or a financier who manipulates the regulations for an industry while investing in it are good examples of rent seeking behavior that is metaphorically vampiric. For that matter, it can be downright mundane. The middle manager who bullies his employees and then takes all the credit for their work is a very boring and unpleasant, but nonetheless, an all too common example of the vampire metaphor in real life. Frankenstein's monster is a much easier metaphor to explain now than it would've been before ChatGPT went mainstream. There is always a fear that we will be destroyed by the works of our own hands, especially in the last a hundred years since the creation of nuclear technology and gene editing. Probably most famous examples of that in science fiction are The Terminator and The Matrix movies series. However, these days the metaphor for Frankenstein's monster is almost ridiculously easy. We have generative AI to fulfill the metaphor of Frankenstein's monster for us. Karl Marx famously said that history repeats twice, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Nuclear weapons as a metaphor for Frankenstein's monster was a tragedy but generative AI is a farce. The tech bros sold it as this omniscient mind that could solve all problems and eliminate all jobs. What we've actually gotten is an imbecilic chatbot that makes a lot of mistakes, can't remember anything, can't actually do anything right, inflicts widespread damage to the economy, drives up electricity costs, and makes existing products like Windows 11 and Google search much worse. It's like as if Frankenstein's monster was really, really stupid and wanted you to add glue to your pizza to keep the cheese from sliding off. The Wolf Man, of course, is a metaphor for the potentially bestial nature of man. We all know, of course, or are eventually forced to learn that human beings have a dark side that can come out in times of anger and stress. Civilization is sometimes a thin veneer over the animalistic side of humans. Sometimes the veneer grows even thinner and the dark side comes raging out in riots and wars and mass slaughter. For Larry Talbot, the original Wolf Man in the movie, his situation is even more terrifying. He's a rational man who believes in science and psychology and doesn't believe in things like werewolves. Yet when he is bitten, he nonetheless loses control and transforms into the Wolf Man. He doesn't want to transform and attack people, but he has lost control of himself to the werewolf curse, and so he does. In a sense, all humans are werewolves in that we have a monstrous side that can come out under the right or the wrong conditions. The worst of us embrace that fact, just as in medieval legends, sometimes people would make pacts with the devil to become werewolves. The Invisible Man was originally a science fiction story, which means that the Invisible Man represents a new fear created by science. "Transhumanism" is an idea that eventually humans will merge with machines and evolve and become something new. Naturally, many people think this is a bad idea, and so a new idea has emerged: "posthumans" or humans that have been so modified by science that they are no longer recognizably human. So far, this has remained mostly science fiction, but you can see the glimmers of it beginning in biology and medical science. There's a reason performance enhancing drugs are banned in most sports. Genetic engineering opens up the possibility that corporations could create their own custom humans, essentially their own posthumans. The possibilities for abuse in such situations are sadly endless. So the Invisible Man, like Frankenstein's Creature, taps into the fear of science or more accurately the fear of what horrors science might create. On the surface, the Creature from the Black Lagoon is a monster story about a creature that carries off a pretty girl. I think it taps into a deeper fear, however, namely that the world is older and stranger and more alien and incomprehensible than we can possibly know. Like hardcore creationists say that the earth is 6,000 years old or so, and the traditional scientific view is that the earth has been around for four and a half billion years or so, and both groups have detailed charts explaining why their theories are correct, but what if they're both wrong? Oceanographers say that we don't fully understand the oceans. And a common theory among UFO people is that UFOs emerged from hidden bases at the bottom of the ocean, inaccessible by any human. There are other theories that there have been entire civilizations such as Atlantis that have vanished without a trace and were more advanced than our own, or that all of human civilization is a cycle that constantly destroys itself and restarts without a memory of its previous failures, or that aliens have influenced and controlled human history or that aliens created the earth and this is all some sort of elaborate science experiment. Of course, all these theories are likely bunk. Probably. I think it is true to say that not only is the world stranger than we know, it is stranger than the human mind is actually capable of comprehending. And depending on how far that goes, that could be a terrifying thought. So the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the idea that some race of fishmen lurks beneath the waves that we don't know about, taps into that fear. Like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mummy on the surface is another story about the monster who wants the girl since Imhotep waits 3,000 years for his love to be reincarnated. But I think this taps into a deeper fear, namely that we can't escape history, that no matter what we do or how hard we try, history will catch up to us (whether our own personal history or national history). Political philosopher Francis Fukuyama famously wrote a book called The End of History and The Last Man in 1992, arguing that with the collapse of Communism, liberal democracy was the final form of government achieved by mankind and it would have no serious competitors in the future. This was a nice dream, but I think it's fair to say that the last 34 years since 1992 have proven that thesis profoundly wrong. History is definitely not over and in every domestic or international political crisis of the last 34 years, you can trace its roots back for decades or even centuries. It took 3,000 years for the dead hand of Imhotep to affect the present, but it usually doesn't take nearly that long for history to have negative effects in the present world. The Phantom of the Opera is considered one of the Universal monsters, but I don't think he really taps into a deeper fear, maybe just to be wary of a creepy guy who lives in a theater basement and is unhealthily obsessed with the leading actress. Honestly, that just seems like good common sense. Maybe poor Christine Daae just needs some pepper spray or a good solid shotgun. In conclusion, I think each of these Universal monsters remains popular because they tap into a deeper, more profound fear. So if you're a writer looking to create a memorable villain, you could do worse than to follow those universal fears. You don't even explicitly have to write horror, science fiction, or fantasy to do it. In a mystery novel, you could have a Dracula type villain in the form of a slumlord who traps his tenants with restrictive lease agreements to bleed them dry financially or an Invisible Man villain in the form of a scientist who is illegally injecting college athletes with an experimental drug without their knowledge. The Wolf Man appears quite often in detective and thriller fiction as a serial killer or some other kind of violent criminal. Naturally we cannot escape history, so the Mummy can appear as a conflict that had its roots in events that happened decades ago. Of course, the range for universal fear villains in science fiction and fantasy is much greater. Then you don't even have to be metaphorical. So hopefully this look at the Universal monsters and the universal fears they tap into will give you some good tips and ideas for writing villains in your book. So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes in https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.  

What if depression was the big bad and we hugged it to death? We're watching thunderbolts* on Harmless Phosphorescence!   Support the show and get early access and exclusive content at  https://www.patreon.com/harmlessentertainment   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEDmdtUAW_pJYCJfaZV7Unw/live   https://www.reddit.com/r/harmlessentertainment   Buy some Merch! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/attention-hellmart-shoppers   Check out Executive Producer Michael Beckwith's movie website at https://upallnightmovies.com/   Ranked: #23   RANKINGS   1 Endgame 2 Spider-Man No Way Home 3 Infinity War 4 Logan 5 Deadpool & Wolverine 6 Captain America: Civil War 7 The Avengers 8 The Dark Knight 9 THE Suicide Squad 10 Thor Ragnarok 11 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 12 Black Panther 13 Iron Man 14 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 15 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 16 Guardians of the Galaxy 17 Batman Begins 18 Batman 89 19 Spider-Man 2 20 Spider-Man Homecoming 21 Spider-Man Far From Home 22 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 23 Thunderbolts* 24 Thor: Love and Thunder 25 Deadpool 2 26 Deadpool 27 The Batman 28 Captain America: The First Avenger 29 Spider-Man 30 X-Men: Days of Future Past 31 Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 32 Shang-Chi 33 Joker 34 Captain Marvel 35 Ant-Man 36 Blue Beetle 37 Black Widow 38 Ant-Man and the Wasp 39 Eternals 40 Avengers: The Age of Ultron 41 Birds Of Prey 42 Wonder Woman 1984 43 Wonder Woman 44 Iron Man 3 45 The Dark Knight Rises 46 Superman 1978 47 The Marvels 48 Dr Strange 49 Thor 50 Kick-Ass 51 X-Men First Class 52 Hellboy 53 X2 54 Darkman 55 Iron Man 2 56 Swamp Thing 57 Hellboy II: The Golden Army 58 Watchmen 59 X-Men 2000 60 Batman Returns 61 Blade 62 Defendor 63 Unbreakable 64 The Crow 65 Batman 66 66 Orgazmo 67 Superman II 68 Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania 69 Shazam! 70 Thor: The Dark World 71 The Wolverine 72 Superman Returns 73 Blade II 74 Mystery Men 75 Super 76 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 77 Venom: The Last Dance 78 Chronicle 79 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 80 Man of Steel 81 Venom: Let There Be Carnage 82 The Green Hornet 83 The Incredible Hulk 84 Sky High 85 The Mask 86 Constantine 87 The New Mutants 88 The Rocketeer 89 Superman III 90 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 91 The Return of Swamp Thing 92 The Flash 93 Shazam! Fury of the Gods 94 Superhero Movie 95 Blade Trinity 96 Batman V Superman: Dawn of justice 97 Venom 98 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 99 Captain America: Brave New World 100 Black Adam 101 Fantastic Four: The Rise of Silver Surfer 102 Hancock 103 Fantastic Four 104 Madame Web 105 Blankman 106 Supergirl 107 The Crow 2024 108 Hellboy 2019 109 Power Rangers 110 The Meteor Man 111 Justice League 112 X-Men Last Stand 113 Van Helsing 114 Spiderman 3 115 The Amazing Spider-Man 116 TMNT2 117 Superman and the Mole Men 118 Green Lantern 119 Ghost Rider 120 TMNT3 121 Hero At Large 122 Push 123 Jumper 124 Condorman 125 Howard The Duck 126 Aquaman 127 Punisher: War Zone 128 Toxic Avenger Part II 129 TMNT: OOTS 130 TMNT14 131 Hulk 132 Bloodshot 133 Daredevil 134 The Crow: City of Angels 135 The Punisher 04 136 The Punisher 89 137 Batman Forever 138 Kick Ass 2 139 Steel 140 Glass 141 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 142 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 143 X-Men: Apocalypse 144 Split 145 Suicide Squad 146 Brightburn 147 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 148 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 149 Sgt Kabukiman NYPD 150 The Phantom 151 Toxic Avenger 152 The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 153 The Shadow 154 The Toxic Avenger Part III 155 Spawn 156 Batman and Robin 157 Elektra 158 Morbius 159 My Super Ex-Girlfriend 160 Zoom 161 Underdog 162 Catwoman 163 The Spirit 164 Jonah Hex 165 Fant4stic 166 Max Steel 167 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace 168 Dark Phoenix 169 Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 170 Fast Color 171 Joker Folie a deux 172 Kraven The Hunter 173 Archenemy 174 Son of the Mask 175 The Crow: Wicked Prayer 176 Super Capers 177 All Superheroes Must Die

Van Helsing is a name to be feared... Because it's one of the biggest horror movie catastrophes of all time. Or is it secretly great!? No...no it is not. [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Version⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠] [⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sources & links⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠] Get this episode AD-FREE on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, along with our exclusive podcast The Netherworld Dispatch! Listen on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For more, cruise through our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sources: We watched Van Helsing. The whole thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's 2025 and America still isn't ready for a Red Hulk. We're watching Captain America: Brave New World on Harmless Phosphorescence!   Support the show and get early access and exclusive content at  https://www.patreon.com/harmlessentertainment   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEDmdtUAW_pJYCJfaZV7Unw/live   https://www.reddit.com/r/harmlessentertainment   Buy some Merch! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/attention-hellmart-shoppers   Check out Executive Producer Michael Beckwith's movie website at https://upallnightmovies.com/   Ranked: #98   RANKINGS   1 Endgame 2 Spider-Man No Way Home 3 Infinity War 4 Logan 5 Deadpool & Wolverine 6 Captain America: Civil War 7 The Avengers 8 The Dark Knight 9 THE Suicide Squad 10 Thor Ragnarok 11 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 12 Black Panther 13 Iron Man 14 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 15 Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 16 Guardians of the Galaxy 17 Batman Begins 18 Batman 89 19 Spider-Man 2 20 Spider-Man Homecoming 21 Spider-Man Far From Home 22 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 23 Thor: Love and Thunder 24 Deadpool 2 25 Deadpool 26 The Batman 27 Captain America: The First Avenger 28 Spider-Man 29 X-Men: Days of Future Past 30 Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness 31 Shang-Chi 32 Joker 33 Captain Marvel 34 Ant-Man 35 Blue Beetle 36 Black Widow 37 Ant-Man and the Wasp 38 Eternals 39 Avengers: The Age of Ultron 40 Birds Of Prey 41 Wonder Woman 1984 42 Wonder Woman 43 Iron Man 3 44 The Dark Knight Rises 45 Superman 1978 46 The Marvels 47 Dr Strange 48 Thor 49 Kick-Ass 50 X-Men First Class 51 Hellboy 52 X2 53 Darkman 54 Iron Man 2 55 Swamp Thing 56 Hellboy II: The Golden Army 57 Watchmen 58 X-Men 2000 59 Batman Returns 60 Blade 61 Defendor 62 Unbreakable 63 The Crow 64 Batman 66 65 Orgazmo 66 Superman II 67 Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania 68 Shazam! 69 Thor: The Dark World 70 The Wolverine 71 Superman Returns 72 Blade II 73 Mystery Men 74 Super 75 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 76 Venom: The Last Dance 77 Chronicle 78 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 79 Man of Steel 80 Venom: Let There Be Carnage 81 The Green Hornet 82 The Incredible Hulk 83 Sky High 84 The Mask 85 Constantine 86 The New Mutants 87 The Rocketeer 88 Superman III 89 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 90 The Return of Swamp Thing 91 The Flash 92 Shazam! Fury of the Gods 93 Superhero Movie 94 Blade Trinity 95 Batman V Superman: Dawn of justice 96 Venom 97 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 98 Captain America: Brave New World 99 Black Adam 100 Fantastic Four: The Rise of Silver Surfer 101 Hancock 102 Fantastic Four 103 Madame Web 104 Blankman 105 Supergirl 106 The Crow 2024 107 Hellboy 2019 108 Power Rangers 109 The Meteor Man 110 Justice League 111 X-Men Last Stand 112 Van Helsing 113 Spiderman 3 114 The Amazing Spider-Man 115 TMNT2 116 Superman and the Mole Men 117 Green Lantern 118 Ghost Rider 119 TMNT3 120 Hero At Large 121 Push 122 Jumper 123 Condorman 124 Howard The Duck 125 Aquaman 126 Punisher: War Zone 127 Toxic Avenger Part II 128 TMNT: OOTS 129 TMNT14 130 Hulk 131 Bloodshot 132 Daredevil 133 The Crow: City of Angels 134 The Punisher 04 135 The Punisher 89 136 Batman Forever 137 Kick Ass 2 138 Steel 139 Glass 140 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 141 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 142 X-Men: Apocalypse 143 Split 144 Suicide Squad 145 Brightburn 146 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 147 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 148 Sgt Kabukiman NYPD 149 The Phantom 150 Toxic Avenger 151 The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 152 The Shadow 153 The Toxic Avenger Part III 154 Spawn 155 Batman and Robin 156 Elektra 157 Morbius 158 My Super Ex-Girlfriend 159 Zoom 160 Underdog 161 Catwoman 162 The Spirit 163 Jonah Hex 164 Fant4stic 165 Max Steel 166 Superman IV: The Quest For Peace 167 Dark Phoenix 168 Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 169 Fast Color 170 Joker Folie a deux 171 Kraven The Hunter 172 Archenemy 173 Son of the Mask 174 The Crow: Wicked Prayer 175 Super Capers 176 All Superheroes Must Die

Fresh from defeating the Flatwoods Monster, the group barely has time to breathe before a new terror arrives. The Weaver steps from the shadows, flanked by his skinwalker-like enforcers.Van Helsing demands the use of a secret vial to end the threat — but Martin, distrustful and impulsive, refuses to give it up. Hidden tensions rise when Dorothy reveals she has salvaged part of the vial's power.Arguments erupt. Trust collapses.A gunshot rings out.To be continued…

— You durn foolWaves of hot lava washed down my throat, past my lungs, and hit my stomach like an acid avalanche.By day, Nick Sipe works as a mild-mannered IT manager for a Fortune 150 company. By night, he mostly recovers from the workday, but occasionally finds time to write. He enjoys writing Twilight Zone-style short stories, mostly horror and light sci-fi. Nick is currently shopping his debut novel, “Midnight Springs,” to literary agents. “Midnight Springs” is the first in a planned horror-Western series that sends classic monsters (think Frankenstein, Van Helsing, the Wolfman) to the Wild West to tangle with their American counterparts (think witches, the Headless Horseman, the Wendigo). Nick live in Gastonia, North Carolina. He is a member of Charlotte Writers Club.

We talk Van Helsing, Vampire Lore, and whether Penny Dreadful is letting us down or not.

A witch, a medium and Van Helsing get together to talk about all kinds of divination...the good, the bad and the ugly.

A found-footage extravaganza, Dracula: 2004 dares to ask what happens when you combine vampires and dial-up internet. Join Jonathan as he survives the work trip from hell; gossip with Mina and Lucy over Lucy's three suitors; and meet the eccentric Van Helsing and her vampire-hunting armoury. This is a new millennium, a new age of technology, and a version of Dracula that you have never experienced before. Dracula: 2004 is a modernised version of Dracula set in the year (you guessed it) 2004, exploring key themes of friendship, faith and inner light. Find the show on all podcast platforms! In this episode, Jonathan Harker, solicitor, arrives in Romania, listens to a voicemail from Mina, records his travel log, and meets his employer's new client: Count Dracula.Content warnings: Imprisonment, wild animal attack Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14XmVMYjOt9KL01DOa2CXoN6a5jbB7pD58w46FrfLfJk/edit?tab=t.0  Find us online:Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/redracula⁠Merch: ⁠https://store.dftba.com/collections/re-dracula⁠Website: ⁠www.ReDracula.live⁠Tumblr: ⁠https://www.tumblr.com/re-dracula⁠Bloody Disgusting Website: ⁠www.Bloody-Disgusting.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week we celebrate the season by listening to the Insane Clown Posse and wishing you all a very merry ICPissmas! We are listening to the brand new album The Naught, released Aug. 12, 2025. Fair warning, it isn't all Faygo and murder this time dear listeners. These clowns are getting older and beginning to fill their songs with existential dread and fears about their own mortality (it's pretty funny). In this episode we discuss poorly designed demons, Tim claims Jesus is a clown, pathological aging, spontaneous games of pickup basketball, how to celebrate this strange holiday we made up, if ICP is now writing songs about our show, the dangers of online dating and subsequent catfishing, undercover Van Helsing sting operations, a debate about which host is "softer", bed wetting, existential dread, and so much more! Hatepod.com | TW: @AlbumHatePod | IG: @hatePod | hatePodMail@gmail.com  Episode Outline: Top of the show "Do you hate it?" Personal History History of Artist  General Thoughts  Song by Song - What do they mean!?! How Did it Do Reviews Post Episode "Do you hate it?"

Send us a textStake, silver, and a whole lot of spectacle; this week we dive headfirst into Van Helsing (2004), the loud, lavish monster mash that tried to launch a new Universal era and left us with glorious chaos. We unpack why this movie still feels like a relic from a braver time in blockbuster filmmaking: a place where studios gambled on pulpy ideas, action never took a breath, and Dracula could fund Frankenstein's science to bring his bat-babies to life without irony getting in the way.We talk through the craft that often gets overlooked: the striking black-and-white prologue, clever camera choreography, map paintings that nod to classic Hollywood, and creature work that swings from impressive werewolf transformations to delightfully rubbery CGI. Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale anchor the adventure while the supporting cast leans hard into operatic camp, especially a Dracula who turns melodrama into a contact sport. At the center of the noise sits Frankenstein's monster, rendered as both eloquent and thunder-forged, the closest thing the film has to a soul.From there, we zoom out. Universal's long quest to revive its monster pantheon, theme park crossovers, and why Van Helsing tried to do in one film what today's studios stretch across phases. We compare it to Underworld, Reign of Fire, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, drawing a line between bold swings that win hearts and calculated “universes” that lose them. Along the way, expect laughs about Faramir in a bumbling turn, Jekyll and Hyde's Andre the Giant homage, and a final set piece that's equal parts juicy and joyous.If you crave throwback adventure with teeth, this one's a wild ride worth revisiting. Hit play, then tell us: camp classic or beautiful mess? Subscribe, share with a fellow monster fan, and drop a review to keep the geeky goodness flowing.Twitter handles:Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekologyAnthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswowDakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dakInstagram:https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9yYouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@projectgeekologyGeekritique (Dakota):https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbASupport the show

This is one of those conversations that reminds you how quickly the sport can move when the right horse, the right timing and a lot of patience come together. Lea Siegl joins the show to reflect on a career that has quietly turned into something pretty extraordinary. From being the youngest rider at the Tokyo Olympics to delivering Austria's best-ever European Championship result at Blenheim, she talks about the moments that shaped her, the pressure that didn't always feel like pressure, and the belief it took to keep going when things weren't straightforward. At the heart of it all is DSP Fighting Line. The horse who taught her patience, trust and resilience. Lea also looks ahead to the next phase, with Van Helsing stepping into his moment and Aachen 2026 firmly in focus. Highlights The Olympic journey that came earlier than expected Why Tokyo changed everything, for both horse and rider DSP Fighting Line's story, from spooky youngster to championship star Five-star ambition, championship pressure and learning to trust the process Van Helsing's rise and what the next few seasons could hold Guests Lea Siegl - Austria's leading event rider, Olympic competitor and European Championship top-five finisher, with multiple five-star performances to her name and a growing presence at the very top of the sport. This show is kindly supported by Bedmax, purpose-made, natural horse bedding designed to protect respiratory health, support hooves, and provide a clean, comfortable stable environment.

Jim Hill and Eric Hersey trace the ambitious — and ultimately ill-fated — vision for Universal's Dark Universe, from the scrapped sequel to The Mummy to Tom Cruise's push to reinvent himself as the studio's modern Van Helsing. NEWS Universal courts talent and headlines by hiring Mark Platt and director Lorene Scafaria for a Sabrina Carpenter–led Alice in Wonderland musical. Comcast explores a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs advising. Competing interest from Netflix and Apple raises the stakes ahead of WBD's planned corporate split. Peacock sets a new premiere date for The Epic Ride documentary, now featuring rare dragon-drone testing footage from Epic Universe. A closer look at how the industry shake-ups could affect theme park rights, licensing, and future Universal IP development. FEATURE The original plan for a direct sequel to 2017's The Mummy — and how the story would have expanded Dr. Jekyll's organization and the gods-and-monsters mythology. Why Tom Cruise's version of Nick Morton was conceived as the entry point to a larger shared universe… and how internal plans positioned him as the modern Van Helsing, monster hunter and connective tissue between films. How Cruise's hands-on creative control — the same instinct that later led Top Gun: Maverick to a $1.4B box office — clashed with Universal's rollout of the Dark Universe brand. A breakdown of what actually killed the Dark Universe: mismatched expectations, a premature cinematic universe announcement, and a marketing campaign Cruise felt undermined the film he delivered. Why Epic Universe's Dark Universe land succeeds where the films didn't — channeling classic-monster storytelling without the burden of a forced franchise blueprint. HOSTS Jim Hill — X/Twitter: @JimHillMedia | Instagram: @JimHillMedia | Website: jimhillmedia.comEric Hersey — X/Twitter: @erichersey | Instagram: @erichersey | Website: erichersey.com PATREON Love the show? Support more insider stories, deep dives, and history of themed entertainment at:https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia/ FOLLOW US Facebook: @JimHillMediaNews YouTube: @jimhillmedia TikTok: @jimhillmedia PRODUCTION Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey — Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR Unlocked Magic — Save up to 12% on Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World tickets, including discounts on after-hours events like Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and Jollywood Nights. Start planning at UnlockedMagic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2004 Universal attempted the impossible, recreate the success of The Mummy reboot from 1999 using the classic monsters of old. At it turns out that was impossible and would continue to be so until The Invisible Man in 2020. Over the next four weeks we're going to take a look at a series of movies that each tried to start their own Dark Universe incorporating classic movie monsters. This week it's Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale which pits Gabriel Van Hesling against a really bizarre version of Dracula. Thanks for watching our Caravan Of Garbage reviewSUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNHelp support the show and get early episodes ► https://bigsandwich.co/Patreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies The Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 The Weekly Planet Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.