First off, some homework.

Outline and Sample Text for “Text Story #1”
Written for Amy Goodenough

Outline : A woman gets a text from a mysterious figure who called himself TheVoidThatKills and seems to know a lot about her. This entity then demonstrates its supernatural powers to by making her cat disappear and reappear. At the peak of her terror, TheVoidThatKills tells her that it’s known her a very long time, and reminds her oif a summer day when she was 4 years old and she ‘mysteriously’ survived drowning. It says she owes it her life, and now it’s collecting on that debt. At the end, we are left wondering whether she went with him or just burned her phone.

The first ten lines :

<AmazingShielaD> Um, hi there. Do I know you?
<TheVoidThatKills> Oh, we’ve known each other for a very long time.
<AmazingSheilaD> Well that’s nice but where do I know you from? Work?
<TheVoidThatKills> I’m so glad you accepted my friend request, little She. That makes this all voluntary. Or at least, voluntary enough.
<AmazingSheilaD> So like…. is it high school? Did I go to high school with you?
<TheVoidThatKills> Oh no. We met long before that. It’s so good to see you, little She.
<AmazingSheilaD> Stop calling me that! The only person who calls me that is my Dad.
<TheVoidThatKills> Ah, yes. Your dear father. He’s the one who told me all about you. Is there something about his pet name for you that bothers you?
<AmazingSheilaD> Besides the fact that he’s dead?

And voila, c’est pret. That’s my second-stage application for the job writing stories for an app that tells stories in the form of texting conversations.

Creepy, isn’t it? And I haven’t even come close to the super scary stuff I have planned. They said they wanted “thriller” stories, and that seems to be what they call horror movies these days,. so I decided to go right for the spine chilling horror that I have always wanted to write.

I could write a story without the supernatural content if I had to. It would be boring by comparison, but I have ideas for a conversation between an average citizen and someone who claims to have kidnapped their daughter. And sends pics to prove it.

That could be scary as fuck too. It’s fun trying to create terror in what is essentially a dialogue only medium.

It’s a lot like writing a radio play.  And I have listened to some of those that would scare the pubes off of you. So I am drawing on that tradition, amongst others.

Right now, the specs call for two characters only. Which is fine, I can work with that. It makes things a little clunkier than I would like. There are stories that would be a lot easier to tell if there is a third person who can help balance the tension between the two principals or add exposition or even just pop in to stir the pot.

I’d love to do other genres as well, of course. I would particularly like to tackle romance in this format. I think putting a romantic story in such an intimate context could make for a very powerful combination.

I can’t see doing my first love, science fiction, in this format. I would have to bring in so much detail from the world outside the conversation that it would end up being very clumsy, even with my talent for exposition in dialogue.

I dunno. Maybe I could write a conversation between a human and an alien who just figured out how to text with humans.

Pretty sure that would end up being comedy.

I can easily write comedy in this format. Everyone at VFS agreed that I write really funny dialogue. I could write my own little sitcom episodes in texts! I think that could work as long as I remember that I am writing for the eye, not the ear, so the timing and beats will be a bit different.

Ooh. I just thought of another possibility. Not sure if there is a market for it, but I could write intense verbal combat type scenes. Like an interrogation scene, or someone whoi is trying to coax information out of a reluctant source, or something like that.

I know I’d find that kind of thing compelling. And I know I could write it to be intensely exciting, full of twists and turns and mindblowing reveals.

And that’s pretty much what they are looking for. The sort of thing that makes people desperate to know what happens next.

I am not exactly sure how this content will be monetized. I suppose they could give free previews and then charge to read the whole thing. A nice small fee, like a buck a story, so that people feel free to read lots and lots of them.

Then again, perhaps I am too timid about such things. When Amy asked me what I would charge for one of these stories , I said $25, and she replied that they would be very happy to pay me that.

VERY happy? Damn it, I should have asked for more. Even with the best of employers you don’t want them to be VERY happy with what they are paying you.

Oh well. Perhaps my lowball offer will give me a competitive edge over other equally qualified contenders. That way, I can pretend I quoted such a low price as a hardball business tactic designed to cut the legs out from under the competition,  and not just me having no idea what my talent is worth.

There’s an advantage, when you are just starting out, in looking like someone potential employers can really exploit.

And who knows. Maybe I will become a super popular writer on that thing and that will give me the leverage I need to renegotiate.

I am pretty sure I can write one of these episodes in around an hour. So making $25 an hour ain’t so bad.

And I have lots of other irons in the fire too.

This job hunting thing is kind of fun!

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.