-
Day 10 Assignments
Reply to post your assignments.
-
8 Replies
-
Lesley’s Trust Relationships
ASSIGNMENT: Create trust / distrust relationships between your characters and add them to your Thriller Map.
What I learned: That there’s a lot of redundancy in some of these questions… That going through the process even when I find it tedious inevitable helps me resolve issues and develop plot twists and define characters.
1. Make a list of the main characters.
Hero: SAM
Villain: CHRISTIAN
Villian #2: KELSEY
Red Herring Character: TRACY
2. With each character, ask these questions:
A. What is their basic state — trustable or not trustable?
SAM: Trustable
CHRISTIAN: Not trustable
KELSEY: Not trustable
TRACY: Trustable
B. How might they really be trustable, but appear not trustable OR be not trustable, but appear trustable?
CHRISTIAN: Appears trustable but isn’t… In the beginning he is loving, gentle & and generous with Sam (then Kelsey) but he’s a predator.
KELSEY: Appears untrustable but isn’t…. Kelsey is a hot mess who is intentionally cruel to Sam (and may wish her grandmother was dead) but she is devastated by the loss of her grandmother & she risks her life to save Sam’s.
TRACY: Appears untrustable but isn’t ….Tracy behaved inappropriately by having a sexual relationship with Christian when she was defending him during his trial.
C. What circumstances might cause them to switch from one to the other?
SAM: Trustable… but will stop at nothing to protect her daughter.
CHRISTIAN: Not trustable… but pretends to be in order to seduce his prey.
KELSEY: Not trustable… but realizes what she’s done and saves Sam.
TRACY: She appears untrustable and intent on derailing Sam’s relationship with Christian – until she risks Christian’s anger by warning Sam that she’s in danger.
3. With each character relationship, brainstorm how trust or distrust might show up between them.
D = Distrust T = Trust
Sam/Christian: (Hero/Villain)
D: Sam believes that Christian may have murdered his wife.
T: Sam meets Christian and discovers that he’s not a thug.
T: Sam believes that Christian’s relationship with Tracy is professional.
D: Sam finds out that Christian was sleeping with Tracy.
T: Sam discovers that she & Christian share the same values, dreams, and desires.
D: Sam gets ‘warning’ email about Christian.
T: Christian charms Sam into falling for him by mirroring her.
D: Christian betrays Sam by having sex with Kelsey.
D: Christian elopes with Kelsey.
D: Sam realizes that Christian was playing her for her money then targets Kelsey when he realizes that Sam rejected her family’s wealth.
D: Christian kills Martha.
D: Sam discovers that a seven-year-old Christian killed his baby brother.
D: Sam discovers that Christian may have killed his pregnant ex-fiance.
D: Sam discovers that Christian did murder his wife.
D: Christian hurts Kelsey and Sam is convinced that he will kill both of them as soon as he can pull it off without getting caught.
Christian/Sam: (Villain/Hero)
T: Christian knows that Sam is rich.
D: Christian discovers that Sam renounced her mother’s wealth because of what Martha did to Sam’s brother.
T: Kelsey will receive her trust fund money when she turns 20.
T: Christian believes that he has control of Kelsey.
D: Kelsey gets pregnant against his wishes.
D: Sam accuses him of killing Martha.
D: Sam threatens Christian, reveals everything she’s learned and is going to the police.
D: Sam pulls a gun on Christian.
Kelsey/Christian (Villain #2/Villian
D: Kelsey thinks Christian is exploiting Sam.
T: Kelsey has sex with Christian.
T: Kelsey elopes with Christian.
T: No pre-nup.
D: Christian turns on her when she gets pregnant.
D: Did Christian kill Kelsey’s grandmother?
D: Kelsey kills him.
Kelsey/Sam: (Villian #2/Hero)
D: Kelsey blames Sam for rejecting Martha’s money.
D: Kelsey blames Sam for not having a father.
T: Kelsey believes that her mother will always be there for her no matter what she does.
D: Kelsey believes that Sam is punishing her for taking away Christian.
T: Kelsey realizes that Sam is only trying to protect her.
T: Kelsey risks her life to save Sam’s.
Sam/Kelsey: (Hero/Villian #2)
D: Sam knows that Kelsey is fucked-up.
T: Sam thinks that having Kelsey back home will be good for Kelsey.
D: Kelsey has sex with Christian.
D: Kelsey elopes with Christian.
D: Kelsey gets pregnant.
T: Kelsey comes to her senses about Christian.
T: Kelsey saves Sam’s life.
Sam/Tracy: (Hero/Red Herring):
T: Tracy got Christian’s sentence reversed.
D: Tracy is sleeping with Christian
D: Tracy is sending warning emails about Christian to Sam because she’s jealous and wants to undermine the relationship.
T: Tracy did not send the emails.
T: Tracy risks her own safety to help Sam.
4. Create a sequence for each trust/distrust relationship (like I did with Three Days of The Condor) and then add that to your map.
See above.
-
Ann-Marie Brennan Trust Relationships
What I learned doing this assignment is that playing with both trust and mistrust and perceptions of trust and mistrust between the characters and the audience is a great way of adding intrigue and suspense. By asking 3 questions:- 1. each character’s basic state of trustable or not, 2. how might they be trustable but appear not and vice versa and 3. how might someone’s loyalty change, this can reveal character traits that may change under certain circumstances and reveal new possibilities for each character.
I also discovered that my trust/mistrust relationships do not swing over and back throughout, but make one sweeping change from Trust to Mistrust or Mistrust to Trust. Also, I have set up my main character to be untrustworthy and my villain to be trustworthy all the way to the midpoint. As there is a big reversal at midpoint, this does not change back and forth throughout but changes from Trust to Mistrust.
I found this exercise very interesting but a little daunting to articulate, as my plot does not have trust issues changing over and back, but going from a full trust to a mistrust, due to a big reveal. I’m not quite sure what this means – I have a lot of twists in my story but not many changes in trust issues. I’m not sure of the impact of this on my story.
1. Make a list of the main characters.
Basic States:
Hero – Dan – Isn’t trusted but should be
Villain – Alison – Trusted but shouldn’t be
Red Herring Anjelica – Trusted but shouldn’t be
Det. Hanly – Not trusted but should be
<font color=”#343434″ face=”Helvetica”>Dan/Alison (Hero /Villain)</font>
T: Dan arrives back late. Alison is in the other room. Dan trusts Alison (he’s the cheat)
T: Alison gives Dan his medication.
T: Detectives call and Dan confesses to Alison he’s been secretly going to a Club.
T: Dan is a suspect and Alison stands by him.
T: Dan sneaks about with Sadie, Alison has no idea (from Dan’s POV)
T: Dan tells Alison they should get a divorce, he never made her happy. She is very upset.
M: Dan/Dan – Dan is beginning to doubt his own mind
T: Dan is found over Sadie’s dead body, he calls Alison.
M: Dan hands in his medication for testing. It is a placebo. He begins to doubt Alison.
M: Dan finds out Anjelica’s surname.
M: Dan is out on bail. He pretends to Alison he still trusts her, but he no longer does.
M: Dan sets up Alison, again pretending to trust her but does not.
Dan/Anjelica Courcao (Hero/Red-herring)
T: Dan meets Anjelica. He rejects her advances
M: Anjelica takes something from Dan’s coat.
T: Anjelica befriends Sadie, Dan’s lover. Dan is happy Sadie has a friend.
M Anjelica kills the second girl
T: Anjelica calls to Sadie
M: Anjelica kills Sadie
M: Dan discovers Anjelica’s real name (this is a big twist as Anjelica is a fake persona)
OPENING
We meet (Red Herring) Anjelica “auditioning” as a dancer for a men’s club. She is dark and seductive. She gets the job and is told to interact with customers.
Twist 1 – Anjelica is a fake persona (we do not find this out until a lot further into the story)
We meet Hero Dan in a men’s Club. He is confronted by Anjelica but rejects her. He tells Anjelica he is married to dancer Sadie. Anjelica removes something from Dan’s pocket
Mystery 1 – what did Anjelica remove and why?
Sadie’s very jealous ex, Terry, turns up at the Club. Dan gets him thrown out.
Terry threatens Dan.
INCITING INCIDENT- A girl from the Club is stabbed on her way home from work.
Mystery 2 – who killed the girl? And why?
Dan arrives late to his house, photos of wife Alison and daughter. Alison has a ‘do not disturb’ sign hanging outside their bedroom door. He sleeps in another room.
Twist 2 – Dan is not married to Sadie. He is now established as a very untrustworthy character.
Mystery 3 – Did Dan kill the girl?
Suspense – why did Dan lie about being married to Sadie?
Twist 3. Alison was not in her bedroom at this time (this is revealed a lot later)
Next morning, the TV reports the murder of a girl from the Club. Dan freezes, but hides his reaction from Alison and his daughter. He secretly calls Sadie and tells her not to mention his name to the police.
Mystery 4 – what has Dan to hide from the police?
Alison has collected Dan’s medication and reminds him to take it. She doesn’t want him going off the rails again. She also reminds him about her book launch, she’d like him there, by her side. He agrees, of course.
Twist 4 – Alison has replaced his medication with a placebo (we do not discover this until a lot later)
Dan calls over to Sadie. He uses a PIN Code to enter the building. *this is important later. The police questioned Sadie and she is afraid she got Dan in trouble. Dan tells her it’s time for everything to be out in the open.
Suspense- what is Dan going to do?
Alison has a book launch, Media and the Law. She is a very successful Barrister/Attorney and the media love her (beautiful, great career, great marriage). Dan appears, late. Alison is not too happy with him. Media ask her the secret to their marriage, she says Honesty and Communication is key. She looks over at Dan. Dan looks a little ashamed.
Twist 5 – Dan is the one with honesty issues, but so also is Alison (we do not know this until later)
Detectives call to Dan’s house to question him about the dancer. Dan confesses to Alison about going to the Club. He denies knowing anyone called Sadie. Alison stands by him, tells him to say nothing, she’ll represent him.
Alison appears trustworthy . Dan appears untrustworthy.
Suspense – why did Dan lie about Sadie?
Twist 5a – Dan lied about Sadie to the detectives because he wanted to tell Alison himself first, in private, for her dignity. She already knew (we don’t know this until a lot later)
TURNING POINT ONE
Dan becomes a suspect in the murder of the dancer.
Dan is established as a cheat and a liar.
Suspense- Will Dan be charged with the murder? Can Alison help him? Did he do it?
Dan tries to tell Alison he does know Sadie and that he loves her. Alison smashes a vase, refusing to listen. Their daughter appears and Alison says Dan has to clean up the mess he’s made. Alison tells Dan they’ll talk another time, hasn’t she had enough for one day?
Suspense – will Dan leave Alison? Will their marriage fail?
Twist 6 – Alison appears the hurt victim, but we find out later it’s the opposite.
Terry is waiting outside Sadie’s apartment. Dan arrives and Terry beats him up. He tells him this is just a message, to leave Sadie alone or he’ll be sorry. Dan is not a fighter.
Suspense – Will this threat of violence make Dan stop seeing Sadie?
Sadie tells Dan she told the Police about their relationship. Dan tells her it’s ok, it had to come out in the open.
Dan goes to see Detective Hanly. Dan tells Hanly about Sadie, he loves her. He lied because he wanted to first tell Alison, for her dignity. Det. Hanly asks him which lie is he to believe now?
Suspense – Is Dan telling the truth?
Twist 7 – Dan lied to protect Alison. Alison already knew (we don’t know this until later)
Twist 8- Dan trying to protect Alison is making him look more like a liar.
Sadie, with Dan, asks Det Hanly for a restraining order against Terry. Det Hanly wonders if she should get another restraining order against Dan?
Twist 9 – Dan would never hurt Sadie
Alison is ready to talk to Dan about his affair. She has prepared a romantic dinner. She is dressed to kill. She gets him to carve
Twist 10 (this knife will be the knife used to kill Sadie)
Alison tries to seduce Dan. She wants him back, to look at her like he used to . She undresses for him, like a dancer at the Club, is this what he likes? Dan drinks, his vision is getting distorted, he is very unhinged. Alison does all she can to seduce him. She believes in them. Dan tries to leave, Alison starts mocking him, is he really sure he didn’t kill that girl? She knows how to make him doubt himself, is he getting blackouts again? She begs him to try again, but he says he doesn’t make her happy. He leaves, very disjointed. Alison is extremely upset.
Twist 11 – he is disjointed because his medication is not working.
Dan drives aimlessly, he begins to get distorted visions, blurred memories of fire. Sounds of his parents, telling him to run, to get out. He thinks he sees Sadie walking, swerves almost knocking a pedestrian. He pulls in and sits, holding his head.
A girl walks alone on a dark street near the Club. Someone bumps into her and when she turns, a knife plunges into her stomach. The girl drops.
Mystery – Did Dan kill this girl?
Dan arrives at Sadie’s apartment, late, dishevelled, in a terrible state. He tells her he had a blackout. They’ve started again. The blackouts and voices have started again. He’s beginning to doubt himself. Sadie is worried for him but she’ll stand by him.
Suspense – Is Sadie safe?
MIDPOINT
Police knock on Sadie’s door. They enter, looking for Dan. Dan and Sadie are brought to the station and questioned separately. Sadie gives Dan an alibi, tells the police he was with her all night. They feel she’s lying, she denies it. They warn her he could be a killer. She knows he’s not. They have to let them go, because of Sadie’s alibi. But Dan is now being followed at all times.
Suspense – Is Sadie next?
Terry is waiting for them outside Sadie’s apartment door. Dan thrashes Terry. Sadie has never seen him be violent before. She is worried. Dan is worried himself. Maybe he did kill those girls? Maybe he should leave Sadie, for her own safety?
Twist 12 – Dan would never hurt Sadie.
Dan is called into work, to see his supervisor. He tells Sadie not to leave her apartment. Sadie agrees.
Suspense – Is Sadie in danger? Is she the next target?
Dan goes to his work place, looking dishevelled. He is followed by a police car.
At Work – Dan is told to take a leave of absence. News of his links to these horrific murders is bad press. He understands and leaves. The police watch him leave.
Anjelica buzzes Sadie’s apartment from outside the building. Sadie answers. Anjelica tells Sadie she’s afraid, she thinks she is being followed. Sadie immediately buzzes her in.
Suspense – Dan told her not to see anyone. Is this ok?
Anjelica arrives at Sadie’s apartment. Sadie lets her in, notices her gloves. After a few minutes chat about Brazil, where they’re both from, Sadie is confused as to how Anjelica knew where she lived. Anjelica tells her she’s been watching her for some time now and plunges a knife into Sadie’s stomach, killing her.
Mystery – Solved. Anjelica is the killer. But why?
Suspense – Will she be caught? Will Dan be blamed?
Trust – Sadie trusted Anjelica. This was a big mistake
Anjelica finds Sadie’s phone and texts Dan, telling him she can’t lie for him any longer and she is afraid of him. She tells him she is leaving and he is not to come looking for her. She sends the text with a smile, drops the phone near Sadie’s body and leaves quietly.
Dan gets Sadie’s text. He goes beserk. He tries calling her but he cannot get through.
The police watch his very erratic behaviour. Something is up?
Twist 13 – Sadie did not send the text although it came from her phone.
Dan trusts Sadie. He believes the text is from her.
Dan drives erratically through the city, the police chasing behind. He makes a few crazy and dangerous turns and crossings, calling Sadie’s phone. The phone rings out.
Dan arrives outside the apartment block and uses the PINCODE to enter. He races inside and up the stairs.
The police are outside, they dont have the code. They start buzzing apartments.
Dan arrives at Sadie’s apartment. The door is wide open
TURNING POINT 2 – the worst of the worst.
Dan enters and sees Sadie’s body on the ground, a knife in her chest. He falls to his feet beside her, distraught.
The police arrive. They see Dan weeping over Sadie’s body. They arrest him for her murder. Dan is too distraught to move. Det. Hanly arrives on the scene.
Twist 14 – we know Dan did not kill Sadie.
Suspense – will Dan be blamed or will they discover it was Anjelica?
Dan is brought to the station. He has to hand over any medication. He gives them his pills for testing. He is allowed one phone call. He calls Alison.
Dan trusts Alison. Alison comes to his support.
Twist 15 – Alison is the one person who will not help him (we dont know this yet)
Alison is supportive to Dan. She consoles him, but it’s not looking good. Is he sure he did not do it? Remember his blackouts? Dan swears he could never hurt Sadie. Alison winces at this. But she stands by him. She tells him not to speak to anyone without her being present. She agrees. Alison leaves, telling him she’ll bring him some things.
Dan watches Alison on TV, being interviewed. She relishes in the attention, but tells the camera she knows her husband is not a murderer. Someone asks if he was having an affair with this woman who was murdered? Alison refuses further questions.
Dan trusts Alison
Suspense – What can Alison do for Dan?
Twist 16 – Alison won’t do anything to prove his innocence (revealed later)Det. Hanly goes to the Club, asking about Anjelica Courcao. She has disappeared. Maybe she got scared, people come and go, it’s not unusual here. He gets her last address.
Det. Hanly visits Anjelica’s address. No one there has ever heard of her. She has no bank account, no trace of her anywhere. He is curious.
Suspense – will he find Anjelica?
In Prison, Dan is handed back his medication but told it is nothing more than sugar pills. He is very confused.
Mystery – did Alison switch his medication? What does this mean? Was it an accident?
In jail, Alison brings him a few things. She seems very upbeat. Maybe in a funny way, this is the best thing that could have happened for them. Such a weird thing to say. He tells her about the medication, he needs more. She’s surprised, didn’t she just give him some. He tells her he lost it, doesn’t tell her it’s not working. Sure, she’ll get it for him.
The Media swarm outside. From inside his cell, Dan watches Alison glow in the attention. Her sincerity in knowing her husband is not a killer does something to him. He asks for Det. Hanly.
Suspense – why is Dan asking for Det Hanly?
Det Hanly visits Dan. Dan tells Hanly Sadie used to talk about a dancer called Anjelica, from Brazil. Did the Detective question her? Hanly admits there’s no trace of her. Isn’t that strange? Dan asks Hanly what is her full name and when Hanly says Anjelica Courcao, Dan puts it together – Angel Heart. Angel Heart was Alison’s favourite film. What is Dan saying….? Dan isn’t sure what it might mean.
Suspense – what has Alison to do with this?
Twist 17 – Dan is now working with Det. Hanly
Trust – Dan now trusts Det Hanly and does not trust Alison.
Det. Hanly visits Alison’s Law Professor Prof Pufferton. He’s long retired now, his wife is dead. They talk about Alision, beautiful, smart, extremely competitive. She only wanted to be top, nothing else would do. She was clever but she wasn’t the Top. Yet she got the Top Award. Yes. She slept with Pufferton, then blackmailed him to get the marks she wanted. He always regretted it, but he could never tell his wife, it would kill her. It killed her in the end. She knew, somehow.
Hanly discovers Alison was part of the Drama Society, known for her searing role as Medea in the Greek play Euripides. A picture is being painted.
Det. Hanly reading Euripide’s Medea over a sandwich.
Suspense- did Alison really do the murders? What about Anjelica?
Alison visits Dan and tells him she’s applied for Bail but he won’t get it.
Much to Alison’s surprise, Dan gets bail, but under house arrest .He is to remain at home under Police Guard.
Alison pretends to be pleased, but she is not. There’s a media frenzy when Dan’s released, but Alison (fakes) that it just proves she knows her husband is not a murderer.
Twist 18 – she knows because she is the murderer.
Twist-19 Det Hanly has arranged for Bail, as Dan needs to find evidence against Alison.
Before leaving, Dan is given his correct medication. He does not say anything to Alison.
Twist – he appears to be muddled from lack of medication, but he is not acting (like Alison)
Dan has a quiet heart to heart with Nelly, his daughter. He is very careful in his dealings with her and we see how important she is to him. We also see the negative influence Alison has been (subtly) having on her. Dan asks Nelly to stay with a friend for a few days. She agrees, the one friend who’s still her friend – a true friend, Dan tells her.
Alison is with Dan at all times. He has no chance of searching the house for clues. He pretends to be in a constant funk, due to the medication not working, to throw Alison off her guard. She is fully guarded.
Det. Hanly calls Alison in for questioning. He wants her out of the house, give Dan a chance to search through it.
Alision meets Hanly. Hanly mentions her old professor and Alison says he was a pervert.
Alison now says she no longer believes Dan is innocent. He acts erratic, she thinks he is dangerous and she wants him out of the house, for the safety of her daughter and herself.
Intrigue – Alison has changed sides. She no longer wants to protect Dan for herself, she wants rid of him. She is setting him up as a killer.
Twist – Alison is the crazy one. Alison is lying about Dan. She can feel a net tightening, so she’ll get rid of him. She’s setting herself up to give herself a reason to kill him.
Det Hanly asks Alison to wait, as he calls Dan. Dan has found nothing. Hanly tells him he’s running out of time, she wants him out of the house. Dan asks for a package to be delivered. Hanly makes a note of the items, raising his eyebrows.
Suspense – what is Dan’s plan? What about Anjelica?
Alison arrives back to Dan. Dan looks at her lovingly. He tells her how much he appreciates her, all she does for him – he is playing up to her narcissism.
Intrigue – Dan’s plan to trap Alison
Trust – Alison has mistrusted Dan up until now, once she found out he was secretly going to a Club behind her back, having an affair with another woman. Suddenly she realises he sees her true beauty, he has fallen in love with her again. She starts to trust him as he strokes her ego.
Alison can now see they have a future. It’s not ideal, but what ever is? He’ll go to prison, but she’ll always be there, to defend him. And if there’s another murder, that will prove his innocence
Intrigue – Alison is already plotting a way to get Dan out of prison. In time. In her time. Not for a while.
Intrigue – Dan is also plotting his way to get Alison to show her true nature.
Trust- Dan pretends to trust Alison but doesn’t
Trust – Alison didn’t trust Dan but now does
Dan plays up to her. He wants her. He’s never wanted her more. She loves it. (she is crazy, of course). He only wandered because maybe he just needed a little spice, something different. But Alison is the one. If she wanted, she could dress for him.
He has seduced her ego enough to get her to believe she is sexier than all those dancers at the club. He has a gift for her, a package. She opens it, it is a costume, a very sexy costume. And a wig. She’s surprised but he sweet talks her into trying it on. She agrees. (her guard is down as her ego is highly inflated with all his loving attention, it’s been a long time)
CLIMAX
Alison gets herself ready in the bathroom, to surprise Dan.
Dan arranges a knife by the bed
Intrigue – what is his plan?
Suspense – someone is going to get killed? Who?
Alison appears, looking very like Anjelica. She puts on a Brazilian accent. Dan pretends to be infatuated. Alison moves to him and Dan starts kissing her.
Dan pulls away, telling her it’s no good. She’s not Sadie, she just doesn’t do it for him. Alison is at first shocked and pulls away but Dan keeps throwing insults at her, how common she is, how ugly she is inside, she doesn’t know the meaning of what beauty is …the more he insults her, the angrier she gets until she is in full blown rage (Narcissistic rage). He suddenly reveals the knife and Alison grabs it and thrusts it at Dan. Dan reacts in time. They struggle, Alison getting on top of Dan.
Suspense- who will win. Will Dan kill Alison and become a killer also? Will Alison kill Dan and say it was self defence?
Dan gets their very heavy, very fake smiled framed photograph and whacks Alison over the head with it, knocking her out cold.
Dan opens the door to the police. They find Alison, dressed as Anjelica, with a knife in her hand, out cold. She is not dead. Dan is not a killer.
RESOLUTION
Alison is arrested. She is taken in. The media are in a frenzy.Reports that Alison has Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which can bring about furious rage. Managing to hide it to the outside world, those who live within the walls see what no ones else sees. For Alison, she took her rage out on innocent women, not on Dan etc.
Dan with his daughter Nelly, telling her everything will be ok. He has a good way of talking to her that we know Nelly will survive this, Nelly has a good father and her narcissistic mother will be behind bars, where Nelly can visit her but she no longer has a very negative impact on her future not yet fully formed adult life.
THE END
-
-
Mary Emmick’s Trust and Betrayal
What I learned doing this assignment is that trust is a part of the Thriller model. Trust issues are used to build emotion, intrigue, and interest into the story.
Hero:
· Katie Green
Villains:
· Olga Novikov, operative working for Igor Stepanov and the New World Order Party.
· Billionaire Cabal (consisting of President of Tajerkistan, Igor Stepanov, Aaron Stench who is oil magnate and social media owner, Gordon Grimes who is owner of international media conglomerate that owns FACT NEWS, and others in the cabal including other billionaires and members of the New World Order Party.
Red Herring Character:
· Katherine Volodka, unruly and annoying Morluvian immigrant
Trusted, but shouldn’t be:
· Olga Novikov – manager of Morluvian Immigrant Assistance Center (MIAC)
· Victor Ivanova – Olga’s assistant
· Hairstylist at Katie’s salon
· Allison Hanover, new garden club member
Isn’t trusted, but should be:
· Katherine Volodka, the annoying Morluvian immigrant at the MIAC
· Gardener who whisks Katie away from the garden tour.
1. List out your structure using whatever structure you are comfortable with.
Opening – Car wash explodes after Katie has driven out of it.
Direction: Someone places a bomb on the bottom of Katie’s car in the carwash.
Twist: The bomb that was attached clumsily to the bottom of the car falls off in the carwash. After Katie drives away the carwash explodes. She is safe.
Life Threatening: Is someone trying to kill her?
Mystery: Who is it and why is she a target?
Inciting Incident – Katie’s friend Natasha from the Morluvian Immigrant Assistance Center (MIAC) disappears. Katie sets out to find her.
Life Threatening: Katie realizes that she and her friend Natasha are targets.
Mystery: Before Natasha’s disappearance, she told Katie that her brother Antony Petrov was imprisoned in a Tajerkistani prison by Tajerkistani President Igor Stepanov.
Villain’s Plan: The villains consist of a ruthless cabal of billionaire individuals: Igor Stepanov, President of Tajerkistan who is threatened by Antony Petrov, social disrupter and critic of Stepanov; Igor’s advisors, Stan and Sergei; Aaron Stench, Oil company magnate and new owner of social media company…his goal: to control all social media and shut down the free press and the internet; Gordon Grimes, owner of FACT NEWS, an international news conglomerate that deals in propaganda which promotes the ultra-wealthy class and whose goal is control all television broadcasting worldwide; Morluvian woman, Olga Novikov, the new manager of Morluvian Immigrant Assistance Center, an operative who works for Igor Stepanov; her assistant, Victor Ivanova.
Turning Point I – Jack Green (Katie’s husband) who works in security as a software engineer at UnisoftNW is working one night at home trying to fight off the attacks of hackers on the system when their power and internet goes down.
Life Threatening 1: Their power and internet go down.
Life Threatening 2: They grab their granddaughter who they are babysitting and drive to his company and a car chase ensues.
Life Threatening 3: Someone breaks into the Green’s house that night when they are gone. They rifle through their computer and make a mess of the office. They see the pirated Disney Dumbo video as well as a few other old VHS tapes and take them.
Life Threatening 4: Later that week police show up and press charges for pirating VHS movies. They are fined for 8 pirated VHS tapes at $500 a pop it comes to $4,000.
Direction: Katie and Jack were informed on by the intruders that they had pirated old VHS children’s video tapes.
Twist: They are fined for 8 pirated VHS tapes for total of $4,000…humorous twist
Mystery: Who is targeting them?
Villain’s Plan: Igor Stepanov, Aaron Stench, Gordon Grimes and the rest of the cabal are coordinating to take down UnisoftNW in the final course of action to control the internet as well as all social media, press, and television worldwide in order to control the world. Their goal: a kleptocracy.
Midpoint – Katie and Natasha are at an outdoor café, and a car races towards them at high speed. Someone is trying to kill them both.
Life Threatening: A car is attempting to kill them.
Mystery: Who is doing this to them? What do these people want?
Villain’s Plan: Because Natasha is in communication with the Morluvian resistance, the cabal fear she is a threat to their power. Katie’s husband Jack is fending off threats to take down the internet and run it deviously for the cabal’s selfish and devious ends.
Turning Point II – At hair salon, her regular stylist Sue has been replaced by a COVID masked woman who is definitely NOT SUE!
Life Threatening: The stylist attempts to stab Katie in the back of the neck with a pair of sharp scissors. Katie sees her pick up the scissors in the mirror.
Direction: Hairstylist is about to stab Katie.
Twist: Katie quickly swivels around in her chair and kicks the stylist to the ground and flees. First she pours a solution of hair gel on her assailant’s face and head blinding the stylist for the time being. A car chase ensues and Katie drives away safely when a large group of political protesters who support the Justice Party cross the street when the light turns red halting the assailant’s car.
Mystery: Who is this?
Villain’s Plan: If Katie is killed, they can stop her support of her husband Jack and her friend Natasha.
Climax – At garden tour of Lake Washington mansion, the gardener whisks Katie away into his car; he informs her that someone is trying to kill her.
Life Threatening: Someone tries to assassinate Katie.
Mystery: Who is the gardener who whisks her away in his car?
Villain’s Plan: The cabal sends an assassin to the garden to kill Katie.
Direction: Katie is on a tour of a Lake Washington mansion garden that was coordinated by new garden club member Allison Hanover.
Twist: The gardener is actually CIA who is protecting her from being assassinated. Allison Hanover is actually working for Aaron Stench and Aaron Stench is the owner of the home.
Resolution – Disaster is averted.
Life Threatening: At the Morluvian charity luncheon Katie sees in the mirror Olga Novikov switching her beverage glass on the table with Natasha’s glass. Katie has Natasha district Olga and Katie switches glasses. Olga later drinks the beverage and passes out, later dying in an ambulance.
Direction: Olga was going to poison Natasha with poison in her drink.
Twist: Katie sees this and deftly switches glasses so that Olga poisons herself by drinking it.
Mystery: Why is Olga doing this? Is she trying to kill Natasha?
Villain’s Plan 1: With Olga out of the picture, Natasha and Katie learn from Katherine Volodko, an undercover CIA spy posing as the insufferable Morluvian immigrant, how to break into Olga’s computer and access the passcode of the cabal that is set to take over the world.
Direction: Olga is the manager of the Morluvian Immigrant Assistance center and Katherine Volodkoa, is an annoying immigrant that spends time at the center and causes trouble. Natasha and Katie suspect that Katherine may be working to harm them.
Twist: Olga is actually an operative working for President Igor Stepanov and plans to kill Natasha and Katie. Katherine Volodko is a CIA spy trying to help them.
Villain’s Plan 2: They expose this diabolical plan to take over the world to the president, the press, and the world.
Villain’s Plan 3: Natasha’s brother escapes from the Tajerkistani prison and leads an uprising that overthrows the corrupt government lead by President Igor Stepanov. Others in the cabal are exposed as criminals: Aaron Stench’s takeover of the social media company goes to pot and he is bankrupt. He is indicted for hacking into UnisoftNW and multiple corruption charges. Gordon Grime’s international television empire falls to the lowest ratings ever and everyone considers Gordan and his media empire a laughingstock. In the next election the Justice Party wins and democracy and freedom survive. President Igor Stepanov is taken out and Tajerkistan no longer wages war against Morluvia. Antony Petrov becomes an important advisor to the president of Morluvia.
Direction: The cabal expects to take over the world.
Twist: By their sheer ego mania and stupidity Aaron
Stench, Gordon Grimes, President Igor Stepanov and the cabal ruin any success
they may have obtained and they destroy themselves -
THRILLER ASSIGNMENT DAY 10
Alfred’s Trust Relationships
What I learned doing this assignment is:
I need to be more aware of where these Trustworthy, Untrustworthy, Changing relationships are occurring.
Create trust / distrust relationships between your characters and add them to your Thriller Map.
1. Make a list of the main characters.
· Hero: — Spencer
· Villain: — Russell
· Red Herring Character: — Hilda, (the lodge owner)
Hilda’s Dogs
· Trusted, but shouldn’t be: — Russell
· Isn’t trusted, but should be: Hilda (the lodge owner)
Hilda’s Dogs
2. With each character, ask these questions:
A. What is their basic state — trustable or not trustable?
· Hero: — Spencer – Trustworthy.
· Villain: — Russell, Trustworthy.
· Red Herring Character: — Hilda (the lodge owner), Not Trustworthy
Hilda’s Dogs, Not Trustworthy
· Trusted, but shouldn’t be: — Russell
· Isn’t trusted, but should be: Hilda (the lodge owner)
B. How might they really be trustable, but appear not trustable OR be not trustable, but appear trustable?
· Russell is in a trusted position of authority, but covertly, he is the Villain.
· Spencer is trustable because he follows orders… up to the point where his orders don’t make sense anymore.
· Hilda is not very trustable because of her tall tales and her apparently vicious dogs.
C. What circumstances might cause them to switch from one to the other?
· If Russell is caught in a lie, or even no longer seems credible, trust will slip over to distrust
· Ditto for Spencer
· I Hilda’s playacting is found out, her untrustworthiness will shift to trustworthiness.
3. With each character relationship, brainstorm how trust or distrust might show up between them.
Hero / Villain:Hero / Red Herring Character:Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be:Hero / Isn’t trusted, but should be:
(SEE MAP)
4. Create a sequence for each trust/distrust relationship (like I did with Three Days of The Condor) and then add that to your map.
(SEE MAP)
5. Give us the new version of your Thriller Map.
THRILLER MAP
ACT 1 – STEP 1 — STATUS QUO.
OPENING/CALL TO ADVENTURE: (STATUS QUO/HERO RELUCTANT)
Life threatening 1 — Mutilated dead bodies in a mountainous wilderness
TWIST 1
v Direction: Spencer is going fishing.
v Twist: Russell has other plans, won’t reconsider or find someone else.
Trusted relationship between boss and employee
Life threatening 2 — Russell, despite Spencer’s objections, sets off to assess the rumors
TWIST 2
v Direction: Russell thinks he is more qualified than he is.
v Twist: Spencer immediately begins noticing more things that Russell is.
Trusted relationship is called into question
Intrigue – Because of Aliens, mystical creatures? The true believers are scared
Mystery 1 – who or what thing or things did this?
TWIST 3
v Direction: Russell is ready to accept Aliens
v Twist: Spencer is not.
Mystery 2 – Why the mutilations?
Mystery 3 – The bodies are mutilated, but they show overt signs of weapons
TWIST 4
v Direction: Russell is promoting the idea of wild animals… or Aliens
v Twist: Spencer looks for wounds, like gun shots, but is unsuccessful… begins to consider Russel’s POV, even though not completely convinced.
Trusted relationship is wavering
Villain’s plan 1 — To try and influence everyone into believing it’s wild animals.
INCITING INCIDENT/DRIVER: (HERO MUST FIND AN ANSWER/SOLUTION)
Life threatening – Spencer is raising questions
TWIST 5
v Direction: Spencer is beginning to suspect the lodge owner
v Twist: She has an iron-clad proof she could not have done it
Hilda appears untrustworthy despite her claims
Life threatening – Spencer’s life may be on the line if he doesn’t quit.
TWIST 6
v Direction: Russell orders Spencer to cease and desist.
v Twist: Spencer can’t let the mystery alone. He covertly continues.
The relationship between Spencer and Russell is further weakened
Mystery 4 — Why is Russell being so adamant? Why did he go to all the trouble to get Spencer go with him if he now wants him to quit?
Mystery 5 – With the bodies turned over to the coroner, why is Spencer instructed to abandon the investigation.
TWIST 7
v Direction: The idea peddled to the corner is that wild animals attacked the hikers
v Twist: The corner says it looks like they were bombed.
Spencer no longer fully trusts Russell – begins to doubt
ACT 1 –STEP 2
Mysteries begin to evolve:
6 The coroner: The coroner’s assessment is dubious about the cause of death and Russel’s theory.
TWIST 8
v Direction: The coroner is thinking they were bombed, but
v Twist: He doesn’t see how that could be. Surely someone would have heard it.
Spencer no longer fully trusts Russell –doubts even further
7 The fenced off area: Spencer begins to think it’s odd.
TWIST 9
v Direction: Spencer is biologically savvy enough to question why that area is fenced.
v Twist: He discovers that Russell requestioned the wire
Spencer now fully distrusts Russell
8 The lodge owner: Spencer questions her mental state.
9 Hilda’s dogs: They are huge and definitely appear to be not people friendly.
TWIST 10
v Direction: The dogs are huge, growling and baring their teeth.
v Twist: Hilda, takes Spencer to the dogs, speaks to the dogs, they become as docile as kittens.
Spencer is changing his mind about Hilda – distrust to trust.
10 The earthquake: Its epicenter was approximately in the fenced-off area.
TWIST 11
v Direction: Everything seems random and disconnected, however —
v Twist: Spencer learns that the epicenter is in the same area as the fence and the dead bodies.
Spencer is beginning to reconsider – could Russell have had anything to do with it? — Distrust
11 The pack stations: The one closest to the possible crime scene is near the lodge.
TWIST 12
v Direction: The lodge owner states that her nearby pack station is the only on in the area near the mutilations.
v Twist: Spencer discovers another pack station, but on the other side of the mountain.
Spencer’s Distrust of Hilda returns
Villain’s plan 2 – To try and keep Spencer quiet – get Spencer to quit asking questions that might expose him
TWIST 13
v Direction: Russell discovers that Spencer is still asking questions.
v Twist: However, Spencer, without revealing all his evidence, tells Russell he suspects the loge owner’s huge dogs got on the loose.
The trust between Spencer and Russell is gone, despite Russell’s regained trust.
TURNING POINT 1 – Spencer begins suspects the lodge owner’s dogs and a coverup
Life threatening – Will she try to quiet Spencer if/when she suspects “he knows.”
Mystery –What is going on in Russel’s head? He seemed to champion the wild animals idea.
Villain’s plan – to milk Spencer’s belief that it was the lodge owner and her dogs.
TWIST 14
v Direction: Russell is pleased with Spencer’s viewpoint shift, but pays Hilda a visit, on the quiet.
v Twist: Hilda becomes angry and wary of Spencer.
ACT 2 – STEP 3
ETC
MIDPOINT TWIST: (THE EYE OPENER) – Spencer now begins to suspect Russell
ACT 3 – STEP 5
TURNING POINT 2: (THE BATTLE SEEMS LOST) – (THE ANTAGONIST/VILLAIN APPEARS TO HAVE VANQUISHED THE HERO)
Life threatening – literally takes on a new meaning as Spencer struggles to stay alive.
Mystery – Will Spencer make it?
Villain’s plan – to kill Spencer and default to putting the suspicion back on the lodge owner.
ACT 4 – STEP 7
CRISIS: PROTAGONIST (HERO) AND ANTAGONIST (VILLAIN) MEET FACE TO FACE)
Life threatening – This has literally become a life and death battle.
Mystery – Who will survive?
Villain’s plan – To stay alive by vanquishing Spencer.
ACT 4 – STEP 8
CLIMAX: (FINAL CONFLICT –ONE MUST EMERGE A WINNER)
-
<div>What I learned from this assignment is that trust and distrust between characters, and their shifting dynamics are just as important and often paired with twists and turns. Having characters appear to be one thing and then switching back and forth between trust/distrust is a big part of what creates drama and tension in thrillers. This was an illuminating exercise. I came up with a new character and was able to flesh out the other characters stories much better as well. </div>
1. Make a list of the main characters.
• Hero: Keith
• Villain: Jack
• Red Herring Character: Laura, Beau, The Company,
• Trusted, but shouldn’t be: Gabe, Jack, The Judge, Keith’s mother and father (his mother doesn’t believe or stand up for him when she could, his father is abusive).
• Isn’t trusted, but should be: The Sheriff, Heather, Beau,2. With each character, ask these question:
• A. What is their basic state – trustable or not trustable?
– Keith: Keith is trustable.
– Keith’s sister Heather: Heather is trustable.
– Gabe is not trustable.
– Jack: Jack is not trustable.
– Laura: Laura is not trustable.
– Beau: Beau is trustable.
– The Company: The Company is not trustable.
– The Judge: The Judge is not trustable.
– Keith’s mother Barbara: Barbara is not trustable, because she is ineffective.
– Keith’s father Joe: Joe is not trustable because he is abusive.
– The Sheriff: The Sheriff is trustable.• B. How might they really be trustable, but appear not trustable OR be not trustable, but appear trustable?
– Keith: is trustable but appears not trustable because of the way the effects of his abuse come out as drug abuse, alcoholism, rage and perceived violence.
– Keith’s sister Heather: Heather is trustable but appears not trustable because she seems like a goody two shoes with a perfect life and no faults to her family, including Keith.
– Gabe: Gabe is not trustable but appears trustable because he comes from a wealthy family, is in The Program and is close to Jack.
– Jack: Jack is not trustable but appears trustable because he comes from the most prominent family in town. His father is a judge. He is a preacher. Jack does a lot of good and spends a lot of time in the community.
– Laura: Laura is not trustable because she is too damaged and erratic from years of manipulation and abuse by The Judge and Jack.
– Beau: Beau is trustable but he appears not trustable because he lives in the country, smokes pot and marches to the beat of his own drum. Which the town people of Black Maple do not care for.
– The Company: The Company appears trustable (they are the U.S. intelligence agency after all.) But The Company may be the single most not trustable organization in the history of America.
– The Judge: The appears trustable because he comes from a prominent family, he worked for The Company during the War and he is now a powerful judge in town. He is not trustable because he is deeply corrupt, maneuvering on a level that most in Black Maple don’t know about, let alone understand.
– Keith’s mother Barbara: Barbara appears trustable because she is a nice woman who loves her family. She is not trustable because she is so terrified of her husband and The Judge’s powerful family, she is rendered unable to act.
– Keith’s father Joe: Joe appears trustable to the people of Black Maple because he provides for his family, clearly loves his wife and daughter and takes them to Church every Sunday. But Joe is not trustable because he regularly violently abuses Keith physically and mentally when they are out of the public’s eye.
– The Sheriff: The Sheriff appears not trustable because he seems to be a hard ass with a bone to pick. The Sheriff is actually trustable because he only wants to solve the murders and restore peace to Black Maple. He is on to The Judge, The Company and Jack much more than anyone else in town.C. What circumstances might cause them to switch from one to the other?
– Keith: Keith was trustable before he was abused by his father, Laura and Jack. Keith blurs the line into not trustable when he starts doing whatever Jack tells him and when Keith appears unstable and acts erratically. Jack causes Keith to simultaneously become more trustable to him while less trustable to the town.– Heather: Heather is conflicted about Beau, her life, Keith and Jack. She is 22 and a whirlwind of emotions. She has a good heart but her allegiances shift according to whoever is making the best (or most recent) argument with her.
– Gabe: Gabe has been groomed by Jack for so long that he only knows to obey Jack and his family. Anything else is out of the question for Gabe. Only the murder of his own family will snap Gabe out of being trustable to Jack, and even then he loses his mind.
– Jack: Jack appears trustable to Keith, Gabe, and his father The Judge and to The Company but he ultimately double crosses them in addition to Heather, Laura, Barbara, Joe, etc. to take as much power as he can. Power motivates him to change.
– Laura: Laura appears trustable to Keith but her abuse by Jack leads her to be not trustable and she goes back and forth between her love hate relationship with Jack and The Judge.
– Beau: Beau seems not trustable because he’s a pot dealer but his love for Heather causes him to be trustable.
– The Company: The Company is always going to do what is best for the company.
– The Judge: The Judge feels he is being used by the Company and will switch from trustable to not trustable with them in order to get out from underneath their boot.
– Joe: Joe is not trustable to Keith because of the way he beats him. He becomes even more not trustable when he believes Keith is the killer everyone’s looking for.
– Barbara: Barbara is trustable until she is confronted with a choice to make, at which time she folds and becomes not trustable.
– The Sheriff: The Sheriff just wants to catch the killer. He’ll do whatever it takes to bring the killer to justice. This should make him trustable, but in Keith’s case, it does not.
3. With each character relationship, brainstorm how trust or distrust might show up between them.
• Hero / Villain: Between Keith and Jack, trust shows up when Keith is put into Jack’s care and he takes him under his wing. Distrust shows up when Jack asks Keith to do things for him he knows he shouldn’t do, especially involving his sister Heather, who he loves.
• Hero / Red Herring Character – Laura: Between Keith and Laura, trust shows up when she is seducing him and after they’ve been together. Distrust shows up when Keith realizes Laura is sleeping with Gabe and some of the other guys as well, at Jack’s direction. Keith thinks Laura is manipulative, vindictive and has a plan of her own.
• Hero / Red Herring Character – Beau: Trust shows up between Keith and Beau when Beau tells him he knows what it’s like to be under Jack. Distrust shows between Keith and Beau when Keith wonders how much Beau really knows and if he can actually help him or if he is just a lot of talk.
• Hero / Red Herring Character – The Company: Keith trusts in The Company, as most Americans do, because we trust them to do whatever it takes to protect us. The distrust between Keith and The Company comes when he realizes what they are really up doing in Black Maple.
• Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be – Gabe: Keith trusts in Gabe – they’ve known each other their whole lives and have grown up together. The distrust comes when Keith realizes Gabe will do anything and hurt anyone for Jack, including him.
• Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be – Jack: Keith trusts in Jack because he’s the town preacher, because everyone, including his whole family loves Jack and the town looks up to his family. The distrust comes in when Jack starts having him and Gabe do things for him which Keith knows are wrong. He becomes distrustful of Jack when Jack does awful things to him, but by that point he has nowhere else to turn so he grits his teeth and falls further under Jack’s grip.
• Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be – The Judge: Keith trusts The Judge, as does everyone else in Black Maple (except possibly The Sheriff and Laura). The distrust for Keith and The Judge comes when Keith realizes what The Judge is doing with The Company and also what The Judge has enabled Jack to do.
• Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be – Joe & Barbara: Keith trusts his parents. He’s from Black Maple, Arkansas, a place where people are taught to respect their parents, and for the most part he does. The distrust with them comes when Joe beats him and Barbara does nothing to help him.
• Isn’t trusted, but should be – The Sheriff: Keith doesn’t trust The Sheriff. He’s an outsider to Black Maple and therefore untrusted. The trust never really comes between these two until after it is too late. After The Sheriff is murdered, Keith figures out that The Sheriff was on to Jack, The Judge and The Company.
• Isn’t trusted, but should be – Heather: Keith doesn’t trust Heather. She seems too high and mighty and out of touch with reality to him. The trust comes for Heather too late as well. By the time Keith realizes he should’ve been honest with his sister it is too late for both of them.
4. Create a sequence for each trust/distrust relationship.
Keith/Jack: (Hero, Villain)
1. TRUST – Keith trusts Jack because of he is to the town of Black Maple.
2. DISTRUST – Keith begins to lose his trust in Jack when he makes him and Gabe kill.
3. TRUST – Keith trusts Jack more than his father Joe, who is physically and verbally abusive to him.
4. TRUST – Keith trusts Jack when Jack sets him up with Laura and brings him into his fold.
5. DISTRUST – Keith distrusts Jack when he realizes Jack is doing the same thing with Gabe and has likely done it with many other boys, including possibly Beau.
6. DISTRUST – Keith distrusts Jack because Jack wants to use Heather in a ceremony the way he’s used Laura. Keith says no.
7. TRUST – With the murders piling up, Keith trusts Jack again, possibly the only person who can save him. He trusts Jack over his own family and The Sheriff.
8. DISTRUST – When Jack instructs Gabe and Keith to kill Keith’s family, Keith realizes he’s made a terrible mistake, but by then it is too late.
9. TRUST – After the murders and Jack’s successful transformation, Keith is in prison. The only person who he trusts to save him is Jack.
10. DISTRUST – It may take awhile for Keith to realize, but Jack has abandoned him. His plan went perfectly according to plan, there are no loose ends and he’s moving on. Jack thinks Keith should be grateful he hasn’t had him killed in prison yet.Keith / Laura: (Hero, Red Herring)
1. TRUST – Keith trusts Laura. She is a well known teacher, connected to Jack and The Judge and loved by many in Black Maple.
2. TRUST – Keith trusts Laura when she seduces him and they sleep together. He believes her when she says she cares for him.
3. DISTRUST – Keith distrusts Laura when he realizes she is just doing whatever or whoever Jack tells her too, including Gabe and Beau.
4. TRUST – Laura is a big part of Jack’s plan and his Rituals, so Keith begins to see her as part of the plan and trustworthy. Plus he still likes her.
5. DISTRUST – When Keith tries to see Laura on his own she flips out and lashes out about Jack, The Judge and Keith and Gabe.
6. TRUST – Laura tells Keith that she needs his help and then they can be together.
7. DISTRUST – What Laura is asking Keith to do is even worse than what Jack asks him to do, because she’s asking him to go against Jack and The Judge.
8. TRUST – Keith realizes he’s been played by Jack and that Laura was telling the truth and he didn’t believe her, but by that time it is too late.Keith / Beau: (Hero / Red Herring Character)
1. TRUST – Beau reveals to Keith that he was in Jack’s Program and part of his Group.
2. DISTRUST – Beau reveals that he slept with Laura and had to break free of The Program.
3. DISTRUST – Beau tells Keith that he thinks Heather is in danger and that he cares for her.
4. TRUST – With Jack’s hold on him tightening, Keith sees Beau as the one person who might be able to help him.
5. DISTRUST – Keith thinks Beau has double crossed him to The Sheriff because he thinks that Keith might be responsible for the murders and he wants to protect Heather.
6. TRUST – Keith realizes that Beau hasn’t double crossed him and that he needs his help, but by that time it is too late.Keith / The Company: (Hero / Red Herring Character)
1. TRUST – Like most Americans, Keith trusts The Company.
2. DISTRUST – When Keith sees what the company is doing in Black Maple he begins to distrust them and to wonder what else they are up to.
3. DISTRUST – Keith speculates to Gabe that what Jack is having them do has to do with The Company, and he doesn’t like not knowing what’s going on.
4. TRUST – The Company send men to talk to Keith, to try and figure out what Jack and The Judge are up to. We’ve had agents go rogue before, it’s like a hand grenade going off, the people closest to them always get hurt the worst.
5. DISTRUST – When Keith is in prison he believes The Company is keeping tabs on him, but not helping him. (he’s right)Keith / Gabe: (Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be)
1. TRUST – It is established that Keith and Gabe have grown up together. They’ve known each other their whole lives.
2. DISTRUST – Keith witnesses Gabe do things that let him know Gabe is loyal to Jack and not to be messed with.
3. TRUST – Keith trusts Gabe to go with him to figure out what the Company is up to.
4. DISTRUST – Keith distrusts Gabe when he realizes he has been sleeping with Laura too.
5. TRUST – Keith gets into a jam with the law and Gabe saves him.
6. DISTRUST – Gabe is doing all kinds of crime for Jack and Keith doesn’t know what to do about it.
7. DISTRUST – Gabe betrays Keith by bringing Keith’s family into the Ritual against their will.
8. DISTRUST – Gabe kills Barbara and Heather in front of Keith.Keith / The Judge: (Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be)
1. TRUST – Keith trusts The Judge, as does everyone else in Black Maple.
2. TRUST – Keith is brought into (what he thinks is) Jack and The Judge’s inner circle. He’s very proud of that.
3. DISTRUST – Keith sees the way The Judge demeans Jack, and Keith’s true loyalty is with Jack.4. TRUST – The Judge is present for The Ritual, Keith thinks that The Judge is to be trusted – both in his secret world with Jack and in the outer world of Black Maple.
5. DISTRUST – Keith sees what The Judge is doing with The Company and he knows he can not be trusted.
6. DISTRUST – The Judge terrifies Keith all the way up until the end, where in the Ritual, Keith’s family is killed.Keith / Joe & Barbara: (Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be)
1. TRUST – Keith trusts his parents, they’re his parents.
2. DISTRUST – Joe beats Keith and Barbara does nothing to help him.
3. TRUST – Joe puts Keith in The Program with Jack, which Keith thinks is a good thing.
4. DISTRUST – When Keith wants to get out of The Program after talking to Beau, Joe forces him to stay in.
5. DISTRUST – Joe continues to beat Keith any chance he gets.
6. TRUST – Keith trusts his mom and sister enough to tell them what he knows about what is going on.
7. DISTRUST – They don’t believe Keith and go to The Sheriff.
8. TRUST – Keith still tries to warn them about Jack, but they still don’t listen to him, to their own detriment.Keith / The Sheriff: (Hero isn’t trusted, but should be)
1. DISTRUST – Keith doesn’t trust the Sheriff, he’s an outsider to Black Maple and Jack explicitly tells him not to trust him.
2. DISTRUST – The Sheriff is looking into Keith, Gabe and Beau in connection with the murders.
3. TRUST – Keith realizes the Sheriff may be his only hope in breaking free from Jack’s grasp.
4. DISTRUST – The Sheriff doesn’t believe Keith and thinks he’s acting crazy, causing Keith to distrust him again.
5. DISTRUST – From that point forward, Keith is running from Gabe, The Company, The Judge, The Sheriff, and Joe. Jack offers the only way out, leading Keith to turn on the Sheriff.
6. TRUST – Keith realizes that The Sheriff was on to The Judge and Jack and The Company, but by that time, it is too late.Keith / Heather: (Hero isn’t trusted, but should be)
1. TRUST – Keith and Heather have grown up together. They were best friends growing up.
2. DISTRUST – Keith isn’t sure about Heather anymore, after she’s been in college and he’s fallen under the spell of Jack and Laura.
3. DISTRUST – Heather tells Keith to stay away from Laura. This makes him mad and he tells her to stay away from Beau.
4. DISTRUST – Keith doesn’t trust the way Heather is falling under the spell of Jack, even though he already has.
5. TRUST – Keith trusts Heather enough to try and tell her the truth about what’s been going on, but she and Barbara don’t believe him.6. TRUST – Keith tries to save Heather in the end, but it is too late.
5. Incorporate into the Thriller Map.
I don’t understand how to incorporate the Trust/Distrust aspects into the Thriller Map. I’m happy to do it, I’m just not sure how.
-
ASSIGNMENT 10
Pat’s trust relationships
What I learned doing this assignment is; How they can switch when the details all come together.
Create trust / distrust relationships between your characters and add them to your Thriller Map.
1. Make a list of the <b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>main characters.
Hero: Terry Holder
Villain: Harry Favors
Red Herring: John George
2. What is their basic state — trustable or not trustable?
Hero: Terry/ Trustable
Villain: Harry Favors Trusted
but shouldn’t be.
Red Herring Character:/ Isn’t
trusted but should be3.With each character, ask these questions:
A. What is their basic state?
Terry Holder: Trustworthy
Villain: Trustworthy but shouldn’t be.
Red Herring: Untrustworthy but should be.
B.How might they really be trustable, but appear not trustable OR be not trustable, but appear trustable?
· Villain: Appears trustable. He fools everyone by being so agreeable
· Red herring appears to be guilty because he has things to hide.
· C. What circumstances might cause them to switch from one to the other?
· Villain: On first appearance he blames someone else. And tried to become friends with Terry and Law enforcement. ·
3.With each character relationship, brainstorm how trust or distrust might show up between them.
Hero / Villain: Trusted but
shouldn’t be
Terry was fooled by his
actions.
Hero / Red Herring Character:
Not trusted but should be. Terry was fooled by John George’s irrational behavior.4. Create a sequence for each trust/distrust relationship (like I did with Three Days of The Condor) and then add that to your map.
Trust Sequences.
Trust: When Terry first interviews John George he has no reason to distrust him.
Distrust: John George is belligerent with him. He doesn’t trust him after that.
Trust: Harry Favors treats the searchers with food and the use of his house. Mrs. Favors is just as helpful.
Distrust: John George’s sons seem to be hiding something.
Trust: Someone calls in a tip. Believed to be Mrs. Favors.
Distrust: Did favors put it in his own shed to accuse John George putting it there.
Distrust: Who ran them off the road.
Trust: John George had an alibi.
Distrust: WHO killed John George’s son?
Trust: Mr. Favors has an alibi.
Trust: John George is cleared of all charges. When he breaks down and tells them about the deer killings is the reason,<font face=”inherit”> he had been so disagreeable.</font>
Distrust: Harry Favors secret of wanting to buy John George’s property becomes clear he wanted to sell it to a investor for a big profit.
Trust: Mrs. Favors had called in the tip and wanted to clear herself of charges.
5. Give us the new version of your Thriller Map.
· 1. Mystery: Two young boys bicycling on a dirt road through the woods came upon three bodies in a dump area.
· They are so scared they run home to tell their parents.
· 2. INCITING INCIDENT: Terry Holder having a drink in a bar. Gets the news “His brothers are missing.”
· 3. The detectives interview the main suspect – John George. He is belligerent with the detective.
· Detective/John George
· Trust: Detective assumes that John George is innocent Until.
· Distrust: He becomes belligerent.
· Why is he belligerent with police.
· Does he have something to hide?
· 4 Neighbors around the area give John George a bad name.
· What do the neighbors know?
· 5. Mystery: Mr. Favors offers food to the searchers.to appear to be a nice guy.
· Detective/Harry Favors
· Trust: The detective admires Favors for working with them.
· 6. Mystery: Detective finds blood in John George’s truck and calls Terry to tell him things aren’t good.
· Detective/ John George
· Distrust: More evidence against John George.
· Trust: The blood was actual from a deer.
· TURNING POINT 1
· 7. Terry, brother, realizes that he must find his brothers’ killer.
· 8. Intrigue Terry gets angry with one of John George’s sons.
· Terry/ John George’s Son
· Distrust: Terry believes he is hiding something.
· Mystery: That night the son ends up dead in his car.
· Distrust: John George/Terry
· John George believes Terry had something to do with his son’s death.
· 9 Life Threatening: John George angry about his son comes to look for Terry.
· 10. Suspense: Detective finds out John George has served time in prison
· Distrust: Terry and the detective are watching John George more closely.
· 11 Life threatening:
· Terry talks with John George on the street. A fight breaks out.
· MIDPOINT.
· 13. VILLAIN’S PLAN: John George is shot and almost killed.
· Why would someone shoot John George?
· Detective/Terry
· Distrust: Detective questions Terry.
· 14. Mystery: The detective and Terry are run off the road by a black sedan.
· Terry and Detective/John George
· Distrust: Was it John George?
· Who was in the car that run them off road?
· Who ran them off the road?
· TURNING POINT 2:
· Suspense: Terry gets a tip that the ATVS may be in Mr. Favors storage shed.
· Terry and Detective/ Harry Favors and Mrs. Favors.
· Distrust: Who called in the tip?
· Trust: It was Mrs. Favors. She didn’t want to be involved any more.
· 16. CLIMAX: The ATVS were found in the storage shed. Mr. Favors was arrested after a standoff.
· 17. RESOLUTION: Terry’s family got some closure. John George was released from the hospital. Terry and police apologize to John George proves to be trustworthy when the truth came out.
-
Budinscak’s Trust Relationships – Day 10
What I learned Doing This Assignment:
o At some point, our hero needs to trust someone.
o Much like real life, not all characters are trustable.
o Fresh way to look at characters.
1. Make a list of the main characters.
– Hero: Vicki
– Villain: Commander
– Red Herring Character: Red
– Trusted, but shouldn’t be: Camper Bob
– Isn’t trusted, but should be: Karen
2. With each character, ask these questions:
– What is their basic state
– How might they really be trustable, but appear not trustable or be not trustable, but appear trustable.
– What circumstances might cause them to switch from one to the other?
Hero – Vicki – basic state is trustable. Given the journey she’s on, she’s dirty and bruised and doesn’t look like someone who’s there to help even though that’s exactly why she’s there. What would cause her to flip – when she can’t trust her other characters (Villain, Red Herring etc), she’ll understand what side to take.
Villain – Commander – basic state is distrust. He carries himself like he’s in charge, the authority figure handing out instructions. They don’t realize he’s bat-shit crazy, singular in focus. What would cause him to flip? The Commander will adapt himself to any situation as long as it enhances the achievement of his goal.
Red Herring Character – Red – basic state is distrust. Red is the technician/drone pilot for the old regime. He is a talented chameleon, able to pull out whatever personality is needed. He is trying to protect his own skin – he’s the one making unauthorized drone flights, raising suspicions of UFO sightings. Trouble is – he’s seen the UFOs.
Trusted but shouldn’t be – Camper Bob – his basic state is trustable. He’s chosen himself as the spokesperson for the captured campers. He will sacrifice his friends for his own wellbeing and financial gain.
Isn’t trusted, but should be – Karen – her basic state is distrust. She’s a very cynical co-worker, initially jealous of Vicki. She’s on the Commander’s project’s payroll to look the other way. What causes her flip? When she meets the Commander and realizes she’s been lied to about the project. Her mission becomes to help Vicki however she can.
3. With each character relationship, brainstorm how trust or distrust might show up between them
– Hero/Villain
– Hero/Red Herring Character
– Hero/Trust, but shouldn’t be
– Hero/Isn’t trusted, but should be
Hero/Villain – Vicki/Commander – Trust in the very beginning when Vicki believes the Commander’s sincerity that he’s there to close the project down. When Vicki witnesses his methods and command style, distrust remains until the end.
Hero/ Red Herring – Vicki/Red – When Vicki meets Red, he pretends to be an outcast like her, someone banished from the Commander’s team and she trusts him. Distrust occurs when his story has too many inconsistencies and she finds out he’s the drone pilot – the pilot whose drones have been chasing her through the tunnels.
Hero/Trust, but shouldn’t – Vicki/Camper Bob. Bob is not one of the captured campers, but pretends to be. He is looking to save his own skin at whatever the cost. And if that means turning in this young Forest Ranger, so be it.
Hero/Not trusted, but should be. Vicki knows Karen lied about work and how she can afford her new truck. To see her held captive softens Vicki’s initial feelings. Karen more than shows her true self-protecting Vicki from the Commander’s security team.
4. Create a sequence for each trust/distrust relationship and add them to your map.
Vicki/Commander
Trust – The Commander puts Vicki at ease representing himself as the new guy who’s going to clean up this mess
Distrust – The Commander sends his security team after Vicki.
Trust – Vicki is rescued from being pursued by robotic animals.
Distrust – The Commander interrogates Vicki
Trust – Vicki escapes
Distrust – Commander kills employee who let Vicki escape
Distrust – Vicki is shot and wounded by the Commander
Vicki/Red
Trust – Vicki meets Red in the tunnel, he points her in the right direction
Distrust – she ends up in the room with captives – and is caught herself
Trust – Red sticks up for Vicki
Distrust – he tells the Commander where he found her
Trust – he opens Vicki’s lock so she can escape.
Distrust – Red sends specialized drones to hunt Vicki down
Vicki/Camper Bob
Trust – Vicki finds Camper Bob held captive with 3 other humans
Distrust – Camper Bob says he speaks for the other campers. The other campers shake their head no.
Trust – Camper Bob saves Vicki from an attack drone
Distrust – for promised freedom, he gives up her position to the Commander
Trust – Camper Bob explains his plan to Vicki – how he’ll rescue her and the rest of the campers
Vicki/Karen
Distrust – Karen lies to Vicki about her new truck – and Vicki knows it
Trust – Karen helps Vicki with a Girl Scout troop presentation
Distrust – Karen makes judgmental comments to Vicki
Trust – Vicki finds Karen locked up with other prisoners
Distrust – Vicki does not believe Karen’s explanation
Trust – Karen creates a smokescreen allowing Vicki to escape detection
Trust – Karen shares information about how to escape
5. Give us the new version of your Thriller Map
Thriller Map
OPENING: Lure us into the story and introduces the lead character in action.
A bruised, exhausted Vicki collapses at the feet of a robotic animal.
Mystery #1 – Are aliens real?
– What’s the source of UFO sightings?
– Sightings have occurred the past few weeks
– Videos on the internet
Villain’s Plan #1 – Ensure the project operates in anonymity.
Twist 1
INCITING INCIDENT: An event that propels the Hero on the Journey.
Was that a UFO? Driving home, Vicki crashes her jeep interacting with a flying object.
Mystery #2 – Flashing Lights in the sky
Twist 2
LT #1 – Vicki momentarily blinded by light/lazar from flying object.
LT #2 – Spooked deer flee into the road, Vicki crashes jeep avoiding.
Twist 3
Mystery #3 – Systems affected
– Cell phone doesn’t work
– Car computer systems malfunction
Twist 4, 5
LT #3 – Vicki chased by wolves.
Mystery # 4 – Aberrant animal behavior
– Unnatural sounds
Villain’s Plan – #2 – Shut the project down and make it disappear in 24 hours.
Twist 6, 7
Villain’s Plan #3 – Dispose of all unwanted equipment.
– Moved to area of deepest shaft
– Explosive device wired.
Twist 8
TURNING POINT 1: A major twist that locks the hero into the conflict. Point of no return.
Vicki watches a drone fly into an abandoned mine shaft – and follows.
Mystery #5 – Who is piloting the drone?’
– Who/what is in the abandoned mine?
LT #4 – Vicki climbs down a rotted ladder, it breaks and she’s barely able to hang on.
Vicki/Red
Trust – Vicki meets Red in the tunnel, he points her in the right direction
Distrust – she ends up in the room with captives – and is caught herself
Trust – Red sticks up for Vicki
Distrust – he tells the Commander where he found her
Trust – he opens Vicki’s lock so she can escape.
Distrust – Red sends specialized drones to hunt Vicki down
Mystery #6 – Who are these men?
– Why are they chasing Vicki?
– Why are they firing at her?
Twist 9
LT #5 – Vicki evades an armed security team pursuing her.
Twist 10
Mystery #7 – The Commander – who is this pesky intruder?
– Who is she?
– Who sent her?
– Why is she here?
– Is this the one who escaped detection/security?
Villain Plan #4 – Assess all witnesses
– Captured campers
– Disgruntled employees
– Forest Ranger
Vicki/Commander
Trust – The Commander puts Vicki at ease representing himself as the new guy who’s going to clean up this mess
Distrust – The Commander sends his security team after Vicki.
Trust – Vicki is rescued from being pursued by robotic animals.
Distrust – The Commander interrogates Vicki
Trust – Vicki escapes
Distrust – Commander kills employee who let Vicki escape
Distrust – Vicki is shot and wounded by the Commander
MIDPOINT: A major revelation. The opposition is 10 times worse than thought.
Vicki finds prisoners – people and animals in cages.
Mystery #8 – Why are there prisoners?
– Why are these people (campers) locked up?
– Why are animals in cages?
Vicki/Camper Bob
Trust – Vicki finds Camper Bob held captive with 3 other humans
Distrust – Camper Bob says he speaks for the other campers. The other campers shake their head no.
Trust – Camper Bob saves Vicki from an attack drone
Distrust – for promised freedom, he gives up her position to the Commander
Trust – Camper Bob explains his plan to Vicki – how he’ll rescue her and the rest of the campers
LT #6 – Shocked to find prisoners. Vicki can only free one before her pursuers. They escape.
LT #7 – The pursuers fire and the camper is killed/wounded.
Twist 11
LT #8 – Fleeing down a tunnel, Vicki can’t quite make the leap and tumbles down a hole and is hurt.
LT #9 – A bruised, exhausted Vicki collapses at the feet of a robotic animal.
Mystery #9 – Who is responsible for this operation?
– Vicki meets the man in charge, the real Commander.
LT #10 – Vicki is brutally interrogated by the Commander.
LT #11 – A sympathetic techie allows Vicki to escape. The Commander shoots the techie on the spot.
Villain Plan #5 – Dispose all witnesses
TURNING POINT 2: Major setback. The lowest of the low.
Vicki’s is shot and seriously wounded.
LT #12 – LT frees the rest of the campers under fire.
LT #13 – Vicki releases all the caged animals.
Mystery #10 – What is it about the exotic cat?
LT #14 – As security approaches, Vicki wraps herself around the exotic cat to protect – and Vicki’s shot.
Villain Plan #6 – Time to wrap it up and make it disappear.
Twist 12
Vicki/Karen
Distrust – Karen lies to Vicki about her new truck – and Vicki knows it
Trust – Karen helps Vicki with a Girl Scout troop presentation
Distrust – Karen makes judgmental comments to Vicki
Trust – Vicki finds Karen locked up with other prisoners
Distrust – Vicki does not believe Karen’s explanation
Trust – Karen creates a smokescreen allowing Vicki to escape detection
Trust – Karen shares information about how to escape
CLIMAX: The ultimate expression of the main conflict.
Aliens are real! The new iteration Vicki makes the Commander disappear.
Twist 13
LT #15 – The alien restores Vicki’s life with a few modifications.
Mystery #11 – What makes Vicki different?
– Will there be differences?
– Will they be easy to decipher?
Mystery #12 – What will this iteration of Vicki do to the Commander?
– Vicki approves aliens taking the Commander and the rest of his team with them – make them disappear.
RESOLUTION: The end of the journey in an emotionally satisfying way.
The escaped campers tell a story of Forest Ranger Vicki.
Mystery #13 – What happened to Vicki?
– Her life was restored – her flesh as well as her spirit. She is one ‘person’, but easily exists as two separate ‘people’/entities.
– Her physical self has been altered – aged, wiser yet with a younger walk.
– Known as the animal’s friend who’s always watching.
-
What I learned doing this assignment is that (once again) it’s hard to have two timelines, because it means your hero doesn’t always come into direct contact with another character, which makes it hard to create a trust/distrust sequence. But it did make me realize I need to build up a stronger red herring in the modern-day timeline (Franco), in addition to the red herring in the 1987 timeline (Vero), so that I can create more of that push and pull with Skye, our trusty hero.
1. Make a list of the main characters.
✴Hero: Skye
✴Villain: Lorna
✴Red Herring Character: Vero
✴Trusted, but shouldn’t be: Poppy
✴Isn’t trusted, but should be: Franco
2. With each character, ask these questions:
✴SKYE✴
A) Trustable
B) Well he was drunk when the landlady died, so he’s not the most reliable narrator—even if he seems sublimely trustable, he might be guilty. He also has A Secret he’s holding close.
C) Dunno. If his secret were about to come out, I guess.
✴LORNA✴
A) Un/Trustable
B) She’s actually a good person, in a desperate situation.
C) Protecting her daughter at all cost.
✴VERO✴
A) Trustable
B) When she’s lying to her mom, brother, best friend, etc. Or when she’s having an affair with the married man—so she doesn’t appear trustable, but in fact she is.
C) Abortion/baby/affair/complicated relationship with brother and mother
✴POPPY✴
A) Untrustable
B) She’s a kid. Kids seem innocent… until proven guilty.
C) Sleepwalking, anger—maybe SHE was actually trying to protect her mom.
✴FRANCO✴
A) Trustable
B) He seems like the obvious killer—but just because he’s broody doesn’t mean he did it.
C) I guess he could get aggressive if his back were up against the wall.
3. With each character relationship, brainstorm how trust or distrust might show up between them.
✴Hero / Villain: Skye/Lorna. At first it seems like they’re on the same side, but then they begin to suspect each other (of course, Lorna is only pretending to suspect).
✴Hero / Red Herring Character: Since these are two different timelines, they don’t quite intersect—but another red herring is Franco (see below).
✴Hero / Trusted, but shouldn’t be: Skye/Poppy. Maybe Skye has an interaction with Poppy and thinks she’s really adorable? He could be the one person Poppy smiles at and opens up to!
✴Hero / Isn’t trusted, but should be: Skye/Franco. Skye mistrusts Franco from the start (which means I might not be able to make him quite so buffoonish). If Franco dodges questions about where he was that night… Skye mistrusts him more and more, as Franco gets more evasive…
New Version of Thriller Map
OPENING: Francesca’s body in the flowers.
(L) Mystery 1: Who killed Francesca? (Lorna “sees” her fall to her death.)
INCITING INCIDENT: We meet Skye as he discovers the body. He decides to crowdsource the mystery, fast-tracking his way to fame. He’s going to be the one to solve it. In so doing, he paints a target on his back.
(S) Life Threatening 1: Something falls and almost hits him: a flower pot. It’s just a fluke, he thinks, but he can’t help but feel unnerved.
(V) Mystery 2: We meet Vero, who’s hiding something. What is her secret? Build in tension with her mom Francesca… she doesn’t like her mom, but her brother Franco seems to hate her mom even more…
(L) Villain’s Plan 1: Lorna tries to leave with her kids—but the bridge is blocked by carabinieri. And there’s no other way in or out of Montefiori. She should run into Skye here, and Poppy brightens up immediately, to Lorna’s surprise. Skye takes quite a shine to her, too. Calls her his “English Rose.”
(S) Life Threatening 2: Skye makes his murder map… has an unsettling conversation with the British hotel guest across the street. Is he being watched?
(V) Mystery 3: What is Vero’s relationship with the British hotel guest?
(S) Mystery: What is Skye hiding? He’s always getting calls from an unknown number, never answers. if I can make it vague—he knows he hurt someone. That it’s his fault. So maybe he’s not as innocent as he appears. Something is weighing on his conscience, for sure.
(L) Villain’s Plan 2: Conversation with Skye. Lorna tries to dissuade him from investigating the murder. Then plants a seed that there was someone else there that night. (She is “suspicious” of Skye—or is playing suspicious.) But Poppy is really charmed by him, and the feeling is mutual.
(S) Mystery 4: Did Francesca’s son kill her? Skye interviews Franco. Doesn’t seem like a killer, but he’s vague about his sister and her whereabouts.
(V) Life Threatening 3: Vero tries to get her abortion—plan is discovered by her brother. He is furious and dangerously angry.
(S) Mystery 5: He befriends Alessandro, a carabinieri, who’s going to get him in—because Skye promised to collaborate with him on Flik. Alessandro promises to get Skye into Francesca’s apartment. What will they find there?
(V) Life Threatening 4: Vero’s best friend abandons her; now she has to find a way to get to Milan on her own.
(S) Mystery: What does the carabinieri know about Francesca and Alessandro’s relationship? Skye takes him out for a beer that night. Shadows of his secret; a number calls on his phone and he doesn’t answer. Alessandro presses him, but Skye is elusive and vague.
(L) Villain’s Plan 3: Lorna befriends the local carabinieri. Whispers some stuff into his ear about Skye. Maybe Skye has been keeping a secret? Or Lorna “overheard” a strange sound coming from his hotel room? “He seems like a decent chap (lad?), but I’m not sure about the company he keeps…” Lorna carries diphenhydramine/Nytol, basically British benadryl, to help her insomniac daughter sleep—but in large doses, a person can lose consciousness. She sneaks quite a large dose into Alessandro’s espresso, though of course we don’t learn this till later…
(S) Life Threatening: Skye goes to where he’s supposed to meet the carabinieri—and the guy doesn’t show. S breaks into the apartment himself (using skills he saw… on Flik). He doesn’t really find anything, but takes some stuff that might have meaning later. At the end of his break-in, he runs into another carabinieri officer and thinks he’s busted, but actually the guy is only there to tell him what happened to Alessandro: he suddenly took ill and was taken to the hospital on the mainland.
(S) Villain’s Plan 4: Skye’s fans begin attacking him after a vicious rumor spreads. His account gets suspended, and Skye gets canceled. (Mystery: Who reported him? And also… do they know the other thing he did?) He loses his followers—and also his eyes on the ground, since he can no longer crowdsource the mystery. He’s on his own.
(S) Life Threatening 5: The NOTE appears.
TURNING POINT 1: Someone is coming after Skye now: he can no longer deny it. Now he has to solve the case, because his life is on the line, too.
(S) Life Threatening 6: scalding shower/little things different in his hotel room. Someone has access to his room and belongings. Maybe someone texts obscene things on his phone? Or posts things and deletes them? Could be why his account got canceled…
(V) Life Threatening 7: V is attacked outside the abortion clinic. She wonders if her brother sent him. Her brother can’t forgive her mother for doing nothing while their father died, and he can’t forgive Vero that she’s going to leave him stuck in Montefiori.
(S) Mystery: What happened to Franco’s sister? Skye corners him—and finds out Franco lied. Skye starts to suspect that Franco may have killed his mom and his sister.
(L) Villain’s Plan 5: This needs to be an innocuous Lorna scene that we only fully understand later, after the reveal. So maybe she goes to the library to “keep the kids entertained”? La Biblioteca del Santo Bonaventura.” But really she’s there to scour Skye’s profile and look up dirt on him. Since Terra wrote some scathing thought piece about her brother, Lorna finds her easily. (And has Terra been posting vague things all along about how her brother is not the nice guy people think he is? “A Former Flik Dick is still more of a dick than you could ever imagine.”) I think I can position this scene as Lorna is “learning about Skye” because she suspects him of having something to do with the murder… but actually she is trying to find his weaknesses, and she creates an anonymous account so she can scare/threaten Terra.
(S) Life Threatening 8: Just as Skye gets a call from his sobbing sister, telling him she’s been threatened. “Of course one of your stupid fans would do this. They’re trash humans.” He tries to calm her, it’s NBD, fans say all sorts of shit online. But then, as he’s getting back to his hotel room with Terra still on the phone, he realizes someone has broken in. Blood, dead animal, thorny rose… something that links specifically to the threat Terra got. So he realizes it’s someone in Italy who’s doing this. The same person who’s after him.
(V) Life Threatening 9: V tells William, expecting sympathy—gets cold fury. Scene with William’s wife. Seems like Margaret is going to hurt Vero… but in fact, she warns her.
(S) Mystery 6: Who is Lorna, really? Skye finds something in her apartment. A birth certificate where the dates don’t match… so maybe he needs to chat with Lorna earlier, about her birthday. He’s a Pisces, she’s a Gemini. She’s all, “I never felt particularly interesting. Or particularly two-faced.” But oddly, the birth certificate in Francesca’s room says end of December. She’s actually a Capricorn…
*MIDPOINT*: Maybe Skye gets a lead and is sure it’s VERO? The lurking sister, hiding in the shadows? Then we get our red herring mystery… but also, maybe the bridge COLLAPSES. Terramoto! This should ramp up the tension, since that bridge is the only way in or out of Montefiori—and now everyone is trapped. Including the murderer. Tourists are flipping out.
(L) Did someone sabotage the bridge? Lorna tries to escape with her kids—”it’s not safe for them here”—and something happens, it starts to collapse or something (would have to be a coincidence, I think); they almost get killed. Basically Lorna tries to do something to deflect attention, and ends up drawing more of it. Suddenly she’s on the news and her.her kids’ faces are plastered everywhere. Enough to warrant a call from her dad. “I told you not to go over there. Bad things happen in that place. They call it The Dying Village for a reason. There’s nothing there for you but death.”
(S) Life Threatening 10: Chase scene. Skye gets to the bridge, and now it’s collapsed. He’s at the edge of the precipice. Skye thinks it’s the murderer… but it’s just a crazed fan. Maybe this is also where we get Skye’s confession—to someone? Maybe to Lorna? (Could be awkward, but it should be someone surprising. Maybe it’s Terra. Or maybe it goes back to Terra’s friend, who he just saw over Christmas break or something. Now that she’s of age… he got her pregnant… and when he told her he didn’t want to move back to Ohio and raise a family, she had an abortion.)
(L) Villain’s Plan 6: Lorna with kids out in the world, doing something we can’t know what she’s doing yet but it’s a part of her plan. Maybe they run into someone, and Ollie starts running his mouth? There’s some kind of discrepancy. He’s like, “No, my mom was awake that night!” or whatever. We get an eerie sense of the cracks in her story.
(L) Lorna lets her darker side peek out, not the sweet docile British mum. Maybe in an interaction with some random person where her rage boils over? Or maybe when she’s trying to leave Montefiori and she can’t? She could get tearful, telling them her son needs medical assistance…”airlift us out” or whatever. The carabinieri refuse.
(S) Life Threatening: Skye’s mom calls him in tears. Someone has mailed them a death certificate (or maybe they just got an email about coming to identify a body…)
(V) Need a Vero scene here… maybe if it seemed like Franco was the one fantasizing about killing his mom, but then it’s Vero. Or vice versa—we suspect it’s Vero, but then we get a conversation Franco had with Vero, or one she overhears, and he’s the new prime suspect. (Also feels out of place.)
(L) Flashback scene? (I know Hal says we’re not allowed to do flashbacks, but this is a novel, people!) We see Lorna reflecting on when she fucked Franco a few days earlier, revealing her severely pent-up sexual side… and of course she’s felt sick about it ever since (for reasons the reader won’t understand until later… hi, Game of Thrones!).
(S) Life Threatening 12: Alessandro dies in hospital. Mom hears about it on the news… knows Skye has lied to her. She senses he’s in danger but what can she do about it?
(S) Life Threatening 11: Carabinieri brings Skye in for questioning, accuses him of having something to do with Alessandro’s death.
TURNING POINT 2: Skye is captured, thrown into the catacombs to die.
(L) Villain’s Plan 7: She abducts Skye—uses her knowledge of the catacombs to lure him down there.
(S) Life Threatening 13: Skye is imprisoned in the catacombs beneath the nunnery.
(L) Villain’s Plan 8: She’s panicking… not sure what to do next…
(S) Life Threatening 14: Skye attempts an escape—and ALMOST succeeds. Is caught by Lorna.
(V) Mystery 6: Who was Francesca, really? And who was she to Lorna?
CLIMAX: The truth comes out about everything—Vero, Lorna. Or, well. The almost truth.
(W)
(V)
(L) Mystery 7: Did Lorna kill Francesca? No! It was actually… dun dun dun… her daughter.
(S) Life Threatening 15: Skye understands everything now—including why Lorna has to kill him.
(C or K) MIDWESTERN MOM SAVES THE DAY
RESOLUTION: I’m not sure yet. I think Poppy is going to get away with it, either because Lorna takes the fall… or possibly because… Skye lets them get away with it? But somehow Skye has to emerge victorious. Does that mean Skye goes to Italian jail for the murder? I’m afraid this won’t feel like a satisfying ending. But maybe if he gets his fame, which is what he wanted anyway, that will be enough…
(S) Still don’t know what happens here. Getting closer, though.
Log in to reply.