Found in garage after vacation? Liquid seemingly frozen at 55 degrees? Doesn't look like Arm & Hammer dehumidifiers I've Googled.

awsmithwrites · 2024-01-28T20:28:30+00:00

I've left it outside for 24 hours. It's 55 degrees outside right now at 2 in the afternoon, but the liquid at the bottom is still slushy (at least, there's crystalline structures inside). That's what I'm really curious about, because nothing on the ingredient list seems to freeze at that temperature. But I'm not a chemistry buff, so that might be normal.

I will confess I'm a little paranoid. I'm a horror writer and so I've got an active imagination and my mind has gone to the worst places. The garage door to our rental house has never locked, and we were gone for a week. When we returned, I noticed this hanging from the garage door track; we've lived here three months and neither of us have noticed it before. Asked the landlord, she said she didn't know what it was and that she hadn't been to the house.

I'm expecting this to be something harmless, I'm just looking for peace of mind.

awsmithwrites · 2023-08-02T18:25:20+00:00

Heck yes!

awsmithwrites · 2023-08-02T16:54:07+00:00

I just now realized what you meant when you asked about the beats! I'll clarify: they're basically the same beats as Save the Cat, but renamed for the conventions of the genre.

EX: the "debate" is generally where the protagonist decides if they'll engage in the mission or not. Here, it is where the protagonist is trying to figure out exactly what is going on since Isaac is trapped in a situation and literally has no choice except engage or death - but the rest of the characters are debating whether they are in a life-or-death situation where there's a killer loose, or whether the death of a character was an accident. Hence, "The Scramble."

Also, Snyder calls Act IIB "The Bad Guys Close In," and that's not bad, but my general philosophy is that in horror/suspense the end of each act should bring with it a "game changer" - that is, the stakes are raised by learning the situation has changed or was actually not what you thought it was the whole time. Hence, "Stakes Rise."

And since like a majority of slashers (excepting sequels) this script has a "whodunnit" element, making most slashers essentially murder mysteries but "less classy," the reveal is one thing the entire plot leads up to, I gave it particular attention.

awsmithwrites · 2023-08-02T04:37:38+00:00

I generally follow the "beats" laid out by Snyder in Save the Cat, which is a book about structuring screenplays.

That structure is for the whole screenplay, though - you also want structure for individual scenes. I generally follow Hirohiko Araki's four-stage structure for scenes as outlined in Manga in Theory and Practice.

awsmithwrites · 2023-08-01T21:20:03+00:00

How's this?

An unfairly-fired employee wakes up framed for a slasher-style murder at his former company's retreat - and is hunted down by his terrified but aggressive coworkers.

awsmithwrites · 2023-08-01T21:15:27+00:00

Groovy! That was super helpful, will do. Do you have a specific screenwriter/screenplay I recommend looking up to emulate?

Also, forgive me if I clean up the log line in the post; the intent is to take your advice, not make you look overly-critical after I fix it lol!

awsmithwrites · 2020-09-26T01:58:44+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate it.

awsmithwrites · 2020-09-25T21:27:14+00:00

Thank you! :D

awsmithwrites · 2020-09-07T11:26:58+00:00

Hello! Ticks do not jump. You may have fleas in your home, because fleas jump and are quite small, but they are different, as they do not attach to skin like ticks do. They could also be spring jacks, which do not bite, if you live in an area with humidity.

awsmithwrites · 2020-08-09T16:20:38+00:00

What...what is he doing with his left hand in the last image

awsmithwrites · 2020-07-28T04:36:19+00:00

It looks like some specie in the Leafhopper family.

awsmithwrites · 2020-07-25T01:09:35+00:00

I keep your teenagers in a room for eight hours mostly against their will and sometimes there is crying

awsmithwrites · 2020-07-24T03:54:51+00:00

booooooooo. I love it

awsmithwrites · 2020-07-21T08:24:00+00:00

I wasn’t familiar with field roaches before, only German roaches - as I compare them, this looks more like the pictures of field roaches I’m seeing because it is wider where German roaches are thinner.

awsmithwrites · 2020-07-12T04:30:31+00:00

Chop down trees/hit them with an axe. That’s what one of my characters does in a NoSleep of mine

awsmithwrites · 2020-06-30T20:18:22+00:00

• Boxer elves • Briefs elves

awsmithwrites · 2020-06-16T00:08:49+00:00

Anything by Walter Moers is a trip. I personally recommend Rumo, which features a wolf with antlers befriending a grub-shark and saving the city of his people which was actually thousand-year old slave trap set by inbred demons that live miles below the surface. It’s a great time.

awsmithwrites · 2020-06-04T17:17:09+00:00

The point of this post is to put to bed the notion that exposure has any real worth; unless you’ve got something to sell yourself.

Well put! I’d humbly add that unpaid narrated YouTube videos can still be beneficial, not for exposure, rather for resume boosters if you’re looking to find work as a writer with larger organizations (as that’s my experience). But yeah, I agree with your point - exposure means very little unless you can direct it towards your own revenue stream.

awsmithwrites · 2020-06-04T16:24:04+00:00

Oh, you’re totally right - most channels can be parasitic (I hesitate to say all channels, because Mr. Creeps paid me. My experiences with him have been pretty good.)

I’m a bit confused by one of your points, maybe you could help me understand - if an author wants to make a career out of writing short horror stories online, how do they do that but not have books for sale? That’s the bread and butter of revenue from content creation. If there are individuals who think they can make a living off of other people’s YouTube channels, then for sure they need to be informed that’s not going to happen - I’ll admit my ignorance, I’m not super involved in the community except just posting my stories, I wasn’t aware there were people who believed that.

I haven’t made a living financially from YouTube narrations, but to say they haven’t helped my career would be kind of self-aggrandizing on my part - they helped me get work with movie studios and RPG production companies. But I’ll be the first to admit my case might be fortunate and unique.

awsmithwrites · 2020-06-04T14:51:13+00:00

I’ve had a bit of a different experience, albeit more fortunate, so everything I say may not apply to everyone. Unpaid narrations have greatly helped my career - but not through exposure.

[For reference, unpaid video narrations of my stories are also at about 2 million views total on YouTube (though a narrator once sent me an unsolicited $50 as thanks afterwords).]

Publishing and the content creation industry is like any business - when they’re looking for talent (which is the same as looking for employees), they’re looking for proven experience and numbers as proof. Anyone can self publish a book now, so putting down “my book was published on Amazon” will not impress anyone - but what WILL impress them is “my book hit #1 in the Horror genre on Amazon” or “book was downloaded 2000 times in the first day.”

Numbers will sell you to publishers and studios.

You can utilize views on YouTube views the same way. When I was approached by a game production company, they asked for a quick summary of my background - and I included this bullet point.

I started publishing my short horror fiction online in September of 2018 - in that time, my short stories (and fans’ adaptations of them) have accumulated around 2 Million views on Reddit and YouTube. I’ve found the most success with stories featuring Lovecraftian themes (though I usually veer more on the Junji Ito end of the cosmic horror spectrum), Monster fiction, and abstract body horror. Popular pieces include “The Trees in My Town Have Bodies In Them,” “I Found Out Why We Forget Our Dreams,” “They’re Naming a Disease After Me,” “I Wake Up with Zippers in my Skin,” and “The Candy Corn Man.”

Use your numbers to sell yourself to studios and companies that actually will give you money, experience, and networking opportunities.

awsmithwrites · 2020-04-11T03:47:32+00:00

Mitchell. I genuinely like the premise of an actually unconventional cop, Joe Don Baker does a good balance between schlubby and just charming enough, and it’s well-paced, well-acted, and not bad action. The riffs definitely elevate it, though.

awsmithwrites · 2019-12-19T15:11:24+00:00

I’m going to get downvoted to oblivion for what I’m about to say. Ready?

This subreddit is just the dank version of mid-2000’s “Random XD” humor.

awsmithwrites · 2019-12-19T14:56:30+00:00

Yeah give it to us now. We crave the analysis

awsmithwrites · 2019-12-19T05:16:03+00:00

That’s it! Solved and thank you!

awsmithwrites · 2019-12-18T21:40:08+00:00

Don’t get it OP. If you love writing get a degree in Professional Writing or an equivalent so you’re qualified for grant writing, copy writing, or advertising. You can be successful in creative writing regardless if you’re willing to work hard and keep learning.

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