Somebody Write This

"In a dystopian future, seven former students lobby for their own execution in order to impersonate the FBI agent." Former students of what? Why is their own execution a good thing? And how does this help any of them turn a profit? Thanks to our guest, Scott Harris, for helping us figure it out! Here is everywhere you can find him and his comics: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbNBYQo08...

"A playwright retaliates against those responsible, but a team of rebels changes the sound and style of country music forever." Those responsible for what? How does country music connect to the playwright? And how is a portal part of any of this? Thank you to our guest, J. Trevor Robinson, for working through this with us! You can find him on social media @jtrevorrobinson and purchase his book "Th...

"A group of inept amateur superheroes hired to escape a hostile blockade to find allies discover just how dark eternal life is." What makes eternal life so dark? Who hired the amateur superheroes to escape? Was it the mysterious "K Smiley"? Thank you to our guest Amy Michelle Carpenter for helping us sift out the details of this one! You can find her on the web at amymichellecarpenterwrites.com or...

"A group of grandsons in the outside world must help their community survive the farmers' retaliation." Why are the farmers retaliating? What makes the "outside world" different from the inside one? Well, as the title says, your guess is as good as mine... Thank you to our guest Chase Jacobs for helping us sift out the details of this one!

"A sergeant and a professional assassin both discover that his wife has been killed in a car accident." Wait, whose wife got killed? Did the professional assassin have something to do with it? Is one of them Frankie? Thank you to our guest Simon Elson for helping us work through this wild plot! You can find Simon at simonelsonauthor.com, on Twitter @simonelson5 and on Instagram @simonelsonauthor....

"A bourgeois family joins a cattle drive, which leads to her reaching his son." Who is "her" and who is "his"? And why are these women going mad? Thanks to our guest David Conrad for helping us flesh out this story! Follow him on Twitter @DavidAConrad and on his website davidconradauthor.com.

"A young man defends three ghosts accused of entering a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament." Who cares if ghosts are playing dodgeball? Is this related to those basketball vampires 20 episodes ago? Thanks to our guest Clay for helping us work through this! You check out his podcast The Flying Cow wherever you get your podcasts.

"The evil wizard and the Prince's bride are unable to cope." Unable to cope with what? Is the Prince's bride also evil? And where does the monastery come in? Thanks to our guest Julie Hahn for helping us figure out this beautiful YA fairy tale! You can find more info about her and her upcoming book "Fly With Me" on social media @authorjuliehahn or at her website http://authorjuliehahn.com/.

"Chloe, an Ares, falls for Viktor, a Vietnam vet." Between Chloe, Viktor, and the titular Angelo Manzoni, we have a lot of people mentioned here... And is it a typo that Chloe is an "Ares," not an "Aries"? Thanks to Grace Helmcke for helping us tease out this fascinating story! You can find her podcast "...so here's the thing" on Spotify, Anchor, or wherever you get your podcasts.

"Michel's focus on the music scene is interrupted when she finds herself an animal." How does she find herself an animal? What is she focusing on in the music scene? And WHAT to do with that awful story title? Thank goodness we had Erika Blue helping us figure it out! You can follow her on her YouTube channel "Pineapple Plays" here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUrZUf3zu4I6Skx0oeCqCQ/

"A ex-fitness instructor discovers a dead CIA operative's skills in 1950s Connecticut." How do you discover somebody's skills? Who killed the CIA operative? Was it the 40th global threat? Thank you to our guest Lowell Brillante for helping us untangle it! Check out his podcast Prodigy at www.prodigypodcast.com or anywhere you find podcasts.

"A hurt reindeer tries to live with her condition but a bellboy may change her plans." What is her condition? How does the bellboy change her plans? And is one of THEM Detective Robert, addicted to drugs and gambling? Thank you to our guest Kellie Kirkpatrick for helping us figure out these answers! You can find her writing on oklahomacity.momcollective.com.

"A retired FBI agent with psychological gifts becomes torn between stopping a diabolical plot and getting turkeys off the Thanksgiving menu for good." Why can't he do both? What psychological gifts does he have? And whose father has a daring plan? Thank you to our guest Emma G. Rose for helping us figure out these answers! You can listen to her podcast on her podcast Indie Book Talk and follow her...

"Perseus works with a a beautiful thief to wins over the college's most popular girl at an auction house." This isn't Greek mythology Perseus, right? How does a thief's beauty help him win someone over? And what is the sinister conspiracy all about? Thank you to Calista Kern-Lyons for helping us figure out these answers! You can find her book channel A Novel Beauty on YouTube, and she's also on In...

It's been a year since we launched the show, so today we're doing a speedrun through all the plots that didn't make it into the final cut. Having only a minute to brainstorm instead of 20-25 is tricky, but we get some workable choices out of it! You can check out the full list over at our blog: somebodywritethis.blogspot.com. Thank you for listening this year, folks! Here's to another year of crea...

"Two rebels team up to stop a boy from befriending the cute Mandy." Who are the rebels? Who is cute Mandy, and why doesn't she get to be friends with this boys? And who's Leia - is Star Wars part of this story? Thanks to author Jennifer Anne Gordon for joining us on this journey to unravel it all! Check out her website https://www.jenniferannegordon.com/ for info on her books, her writing podcast...

"A New York girl with eternal life attempts to afford medical insurance." The biggest question here is... what does she need with medical insurance? And how does the Empire's defeat play into all of this? Thankfully, we have mutual friend of the podcast Tim Hodge along to help us make sense of this possible futuristic medical drama.

"In the Australian Alps a group of a dead CIA operatives becomes the victims in one of a series of brutal shark attacks." What are sharks doing in the Australian Alps? How are the CIA operatives victims if they're already dead? And who is Eve? Thanks to our guest Joelle Shenk for joining us to dig into the heroes, villains, and surprising philosophical questions behind this story!

"A detective must protect a group of a dancers who have become protectors and mentors." There's a lot of protection going on -- why? What do the dancers need protection from? And who is Tyler? Thanks to our guest Sheeva from @fancycomma for helping us answer all these questions! You can find her and her work at https://fancycomma.wordpress.com/

"Santa's reindeer travel to the Vatican on a business trip to unite." What are reindeer doing at the Vatican? What are they uniting? And who is the titular Battlefield Man? Thanks to our guest Richie for helping us answer all these questions! You can find him and his work at https://richienorton.com/

"Two friends indicate a willingness to be killed in the north of England with the help of a mean lord and a group of 30-year-olds who have been friends since high school." There is just so much going on in that synopsis. So many characters, a couple locations, two different groups of friends... Thank goodness for our guest Elybeatmaker helping us to make sense of it. You can follow Ely on YouTube...

"A team of mercenaries is determined to improve themselves while they look for love in a year in which they keep a personal diary." Why are these mercenaries looking for love? Are they all keeping one diary? What is this weird story? Thankfully we have Presley Thomas to help us wrestle some sense into this one. Follow him on Twitter @writerthoughts and check out his writing at https://medium.com/@...

"Chickens frantically search for their missing conspiracy, which is in her South Bronx apartment." So. Many. Questions. How does one lose a conspiracy? Are the chickens sentient, and how are they involved? And who is the mysterious "her"? Sam Stoddard of http://rinkworks.com/ (where Hannah and Jennie first met!) joins us to work through this completely bizarre plot synopsis.

"A nightmarish hippie cult is on trial for retiring in post-Katrina New Orleans." How is an entire cult on trial? Why did retiring get them in trouble with the law? And how does New Orleans play into all this? Thank you to our guest Bethany for helping us work this all out! Check out her blog online at bethanymegill.com.

"His bowling buddies try to find out why her son tries to invade Earth in the Texas bayous." Who is he, who is she, and why IS her son trying to invade Earth? And how do the cheerleaders play into all this? Thank you to our guest, Tim McMeen, for helping us flesh out this story with far too many characters.