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Lesson 4
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Module One – Lesson 4 – assignment 1
What I learned from this assignment is that there are multiple layers to character development. To create really engaging characters, there is a simple formula to use, and fill in the blanks, thus creating very engaging characters for my show.
TV Show: Game of Thrones
This show is stuffed to the gills with intrigues, conspiracies, agendas both hidden and out in the open, among two main circles of characters. Previously, I looked at Lord Stark, but this assignment, I looked at a previously overlooked main character, Daenerys Targaryen.
Lord Stark rides into the King’s domain which is loaded with the typical court intrigues, conspiracies to kill his youngest son, who killed the previous Hand of the King, dilemmas like making sure the treasury is sufficient to run the court, much less hold tournaments.
Role: Meek concubine/wife of Dothraki horde Khal Drogo
Hidden agendas: Usurp her brother in claiming the crown of the Seven Kingdoms
Competition: Her brother, and Khal Drogo
Conspiracies: Doreah to win Khal’s heart, Ser Jorah Mormont in questioning her brother’s ability to lead an invading army,
Secrets: Those dragon’s eggs
Deception: Pretending to love Khal, playing the role of submissive wife
Wound: Possibly some sexual abuse by her brother – definitely being raped by Khal.
Secret Identity: Warrior Queen
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Module One – Lesson 4 – assignment 2
What I learned during this part of the assignment is that, even though I have already created these characters for my novels, they contain a lot of hidden traits I need to uncover, essentially rethinking each main character.
So, for this assignment, I look at the central circle and I go with the mortal, Dan Lanahan.
Role: A detective, to investigate crimes that occur in his small town.
Hidden agendas: Hide his alcoholism, just get through the day and get home to drink.
Competition: There’s serious competition from these Furies over finding the serial killer. Dan needs to get to the killer first, to solve a lot of unsolved cases.
Conspiracies: Later on, Dan wants to keep his relationship with Megarea secret, due to her being a goddess and
Secrets: Fears he’s well out of his depth dealing with this serial killer in his town, and is REALLY out of his depth in dealing with Megaera and her sisters.
Deception: Openly covering up the existence of supernatural beings in this small town.
Wound: The loss of a daughter while in Dallas, because his ex was an alcoholic and crashed while driving drunk.
Secret Identity: He’s really descended from a goddess and has the powers of a demigod.
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David Wickenden Intriguing Layers
Lesson 4 Layers of Character Intrigue Assignments
What I have learned doing this assignment is: the more interesting and in-depth a character is, the more it will cause the audience to become fixated on their journey.
Assignment 1
Mr. Robot
1. List of previous character intrigue from previous episodes.
· Role – computer engineer working with computer security business who contacts out to E Corp.
· Hidden Agenda – by night a vigilante that uses his computer hacking skills to hurt evil people.
· Competition – Tyrell from ECorp
· Conspiracy – Evil Corp controls people through debt and business with no regard to safety. Elliot works with fsociety to take down ECorp.
· Secrets – hacker, morphine, love of Angela
· Wound–abused as a child, death of his father, social anxiety disorder.
· Secret Identity–Hacker name–Sam Sepiol. Alternative personalities.
2. Next episode and how character intrigue create the need to watch more.
· Elliot figures out how to take down ECorp but time is limited.
· He is going through withdrawals, and this creates a major conflict with the team.
· Angela is on her own journey after finding out about Ollie’s sexual obsession. We need to see her journey.
· Darlene plans on meeting with notorious Chinese hackers even though they are a threat to her and everyone else as they have their own agenda.
Assignment 2
Laura
· Name: Laura Amour
· Role: PTSD councillor/vigilante
· Hidden agendas–Attacking child abusers who have skirted the law or whose crimes are notorious.
· Competition—the police who investigate these crimes.
· Conspiracies—government decides that due to public support of vigilante, Laura must die rather than go on trial.
· Secrets—that she is the vigilante and has been using her job to mask her movements.
· Deception—she betrays her best friend’s trust by secretly stealing police investigation information on child abusers.
· Wound—Her sister committed suicide due to date rape, many of her clients have committed suicide because of seeing children being harmed, watched as Janice has suffered because of her own abuse which still affects her.
· Secret Identity—vigilante
Janice
· Name: Janice Williams.
· Role: Head of RCMP Sex Crime division.
· Hidden agendas–Keeping her past secret so she continue investigating pedophiles.
· Competition—investigating child abusers only to have vigilante kill them before she can arrest them.
· Conspiracies—When things go south, government wants to use her as a scapegoat.
· Secrets—abused as a child and still suffers from the trauma.
· Deception—she betrays her best friend’s trust by secretly stealing police investigation information on child abusers.
· Wound—Having been molested for months by an abuser that was never caught. Still affects her and if the force finds out how much she is affected, she might find herself sidelined. This is also what drives her to investigate criminals now that she has the power of the law.
· Secret Identity—None
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AG’s Module 1, Lesson 4 Layers of Character Intrigue Assignments
What I learned doing Assignment 1: The layers of intrigue continue to emerge from one show to the next, multiplying the intrigue.
Assignment 1
BW Series: UNORTHODOX
Hidden Agendas: Esty says she is going to visit in-laws when in fact she is escaping.
Competition: She competes with her mother-in-law for Yanky’s loyalty.
Conspiracy: A woman helps Esty get a plane ticket to Berlin
Secrets: Esty’s mother gives her papers proving her entitlement to German citizenship
Deception: Esty goes to Berlin to find her mother
Wound: Her grandmother calls Esty an orphan and disparages her mother
Secret Identity: Esty tells Yanky she is “different from other girls.”
In another episode, more intrigue emerges:
Hidden Agendas: Grandfather’s tenant cannot pay rent but will teach Esty to play piano
Competition: Esty wants to win a scholarship to music school, but is not ready on piano
Conspiracy: Grandfather promises Moishe, the rabbi will reinstate him if he brings Esty back;
Esty’s new friend helps her prepare for the competition.
Secrets: Moshe has a gun.
Deception: Moshe takes Yanky to a brothel and asks his underworld friend to set up a poker game.
Wound: Esty’s mother reveals that she did not abandon Esty, but could not compete in court.
Secret Identity: Esty trusts her new friends in Berlin and discards her Hasidic wig
What I learned doing Assignment 2: Though I have already written a memoir, these levels of intrigue help me identify layered qualities in many of the characters. These examples of intrigue remind me of stories left out of my manuscript that need to be added to show (not tell) intrigue in a TV series.
Assignment 2:
Characters: Anne, activist minister, nonprofit director; Phil, Anne’s spouse, mentor, activist minister, government reformer
Hidden Agenda: From her childhood as a fundamentalist Pentecostal Christian, Anne has believed she is seeking God’s plan and purpose for her life. When she revealed this to her high school teacher, he laughed. Since then, she has rarely mentioned it to others except Phil, but she continues to pursue it throughout their careers. A change comes in retirement.
Competition: Phil is a knowledgable competitor and high achiever, a natural leader in most situations. Anne accepts events, believing they are God’s will.
Conspiracy: This emerges most after 1988, when Anne becomes executive director of a nonprofit serving victims of domestic violence; Anne leads a support group of “Mothers on Trial,” as abusers and their lawyers conspire against them. The wife of a prostitution kingpin volunteers to raise funds for the shelter.
Secrets: When a 16-year-old calls the hotline for help because her father rapes her every weekend, shelter directors confer. Some are afraid to accept her, knowing it is against the law, but if they call DCYF, that agency may put her at greater risk.
Deception: Refugees from war and others trying to survive in an unfamiliar place have a different standard of truth-telling. Anne and Phil often sense they are being lied to — but for understandable reasons.
Wound: Many of the mothers on trial were abused by their own mothers, and they are now determined to protect their children from abuse. But they cannot afford lawyers, and family court becomes abusively coercive, stretching cases over years of torture. Adults and children alike are deeply wounded. Psychologists become an abusive part of the court process.
Secret Identity: After they retire, Anne and Phil discover they no longer believe supernatural doctrines, but they do not want to hurt people who have come to trust them as spiritual leaders.
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Module 1 – Lesson 4: Layers of Character Intrigue – Assignments
Mike – Intriguing Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is that without layers and depth, your character will be flat, predictable, and your audience will become bored with him/her and by extension the show. It is the characters in a show that make or break a TV series, not the plot! Characters must have layers like an onion.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
1. Think about your Example Show, “White Collar.” Make a list of the places you’ve already seen Character Intrigue in the previous episodes.
Character Name: Neil
Role: FBI Consultant
Hidden agendas: find his girlfriend,
Competition: with all the at-large white-collar criminals, other FBI agents in the field
Conspiracies: ?
Secrets: his relationship with Mozzie, underground, underworld person
Deception: ?
Wound: loss of his girlfriend, crooked cop for a father.
Secret Identity: world best thief
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Character Name: Peter
Role: FBI Agent, Neil’s handler
Hidden agendas: make points with the upper FBI brass w/ his arrest record via Neil.
Competition: other FBI agents across the country working white collar crime division
Conspiracies: Neil is still in touch and working with the criminals
Secrets: Information on Neil’s girlfriend
Deception: pretends ignorant around Neil
Wound: imagined loss of face if his pilot program with Neil fails.
Secret Identity: ?
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ASSIGNMENT 2
1. For your Inner Circle characters, fill in any of the Intrigue items that apply.
Character Name: Caleb Sutherland
Role: Protagonist – fated to become the leader of the good guys
[1] Hidden agendas: find Raquel in Shangra – La & be w/ her || Save Rick & gain his respect
[2] Competition: for leadership of the Riders, for Victoria’s affections
[3] Conspiracies: US Government is after them, paranoid thanks to his mother’s fears
[4] Secrets: his psychic abilities: teleportation, telekinesis, reading minds
[5] Deception: deceiving Victoria on ‘why’ he is going to Shangra La
[6] Wound: death of Raquel & the subsequent death of his father
[7] Secret Identity: Sylvan Park Robin Hood | The Savior
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Character Name: Charles Stewart
Role: Mentor – teacher and protector of Caleb and Rick
[1] Hidden agendas: Return to 1850s and be w/ Subira, his woman
[2] Competition: Alexander for Subira, a slave back in 1850
[3] Conspiracies: He and Natalie…
[4] Secrets: his immortality, his search for a way to return to Subira and the 1850s
[5] Deception: tricks Caleb into using his power to bring memories into reality so he can leave
[6] Wound: Death of Subira, outliving his whole family
[7] Secret Identity: Standforts bodyguard/mentor
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Character Name: Rick Sutherland
Role: shepherd – leader of the crossovers
[1] Hidden agendas:
[2] Competition: Ultra-competitive at everything, win-at-all-costs kind of guy.
[3] Conspiracies: He and Caleb….
[4] Secrets: ??
[5] Deception: ??
[6] Wound: Death of his wife and daughter
[7] Secret Identity: Shepherd
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Character Name: Tarek Swaine
Role: Riders 2<sup>nd</sup> in command
[1] Hidden agendas:
[2] Competition: ??
[3] Conspiracies: He and Caleb…
[4] Secrets: his past
[5] Deception: tricks the Riders into thinking he fought for the Union
[6] Wound: pregnant wife killed in the Civil War
[7] Secret Identity: One of Quantrill’s raiders in the Civil War
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Character Name: Shuri
Role: Council of Elder member
[1] Hidden agendas: 1. recreate a reality so the good guys win; 2. bring Shangra – La and Earth together w/out Feeders or Necros
[2] Competition: other members on the Council of Elders
[3] Conspiracies: with Victoria against Council of Elders
[4] Secrets: she is ascending
[5] Deception: tricks the Council of Elders…
[6] Wound: ??
[7] Secret Identity: Quorum member
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Character Name: Victoria
Role: Love Interest of Caleb
[1] Hidden agendas: Marry Caleb and become a mother; she wants a family
[2] Competition: the other women in Caleb’s life || his role as leader of the Riders
[3] Conspiracies: with Shuri against the Elders…
[4] Secrets: thanks to Shuri, being able to return to earth for week at a time
[5] Deception: ??
[6] Wound: her mother’s death and the boy who filmed her without her knowledge
[7] Secret Identity: A person living in/confined to Shangra La
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Module 1 – Lesson 4: Layers of Character Intrigue
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
ASSIGNMENT 1:
1. Think about Mr. Robot TV Show. Make a list of the places you’ve already seen Character Intrigue in the previous episodes.
Episode 1
Hidden Agendas –Elliot goes to Ron’s restaurant and introduces himself to the owner at the coffee table. He reveals Ron’s secrets including porn on the dark web. Elliot provides evidence and tells Ron the Police who are on the way to arrest him.
Competition – Tyrell Wellick is competing for Terry Colby’s job.
Conspiracy – the fsociety involves Elliot in a conspiracy to bring down Evil Corp.
Secrets – Elliot is on drugs and he has sex with a drug dealer. Gideon is gay.
Deception – Elliot deceives the cab company to get to the address.
Wound – Elliot lost his father to leukemia because of a company.
Secret Identity – Mr. Robot
Episode 2
Hidden Agendas:
Competition:
Conspiracy:
Secrets: Wellick is violent. He pays someone
to take a beating from him.
Deception:
Wound:
Secret Identity:Episode 3
Hidden Agendas:
Competition:
Conspiracy:
Secrets: Wellick is a homosexual. He is too
tired to have sex with his pregnant wife.
Deception: Angela’s boyfriend has been
deceiving her
Wound:
Secret Identity:2. Watch Episode 4 and see how Character Intrigue is being used to create the need to see more episodes.
Episode 4
Hidden Agendas;
Competition:
Conspiracy:
Secrets:
Deception:
Wound:
Secret Identity:ASSIGNMENT 2
1. For your Inner Circle characters, fill in any of the Intrigue items that apply.
Character Name: Ishey Garfunk
Role: A security officer who wants to contribute to
the funeral of Old Tom Johnny Banko.
Hidden Agendas: Ishey suspects the group
and wants to find out what money comes into the GoFundMe account, what goes out, and what discrepancies.
Competition: competes with Gill for the
power to revamp, run the group, and create money.
Conspiracies:
Secrets:
Deception:
Wound: Ishey is aggrieved his origin country governs
badly. They did not invest further in his education.
Secret Identity:Character Name: Jay Van Pee
Role: Pastor
and Fundraiser
Hidden Agendas: The Old Tom wants to use
his status to make money from the GoFundMe account.
Competition: competes with Gill for the
power to run the group.
Conspiracies: Van Pee planned with three
Old Toms to withhold vital information about the death of Johnny Banko from
Ishey. When it was five days to the burial the trio asked Frank Bibio to
release the proper information to Ishey.
Secrets: He did not pay for his journey to the UK. His
elder sister who was a resident, remitted £1000 to enable Pee to travel to
the UK.
Deception:
Wound:
Secret Identity:Character Name: Gilly alias G Selor
Role: Creator of the Old Toms GoFundMe group on
Whatsapp
Hidden Agendas: To make money from the fund
Competition:
Conspiracies:
Secrets:
Deception:
Wound: The military junta in his origin country
executed his beloved uncle. The
uncle was a Major in the Armed Forces and was charged with taking a 50,000
loan, in local currency from the bank.
Secret Identity:Character Name: Felix Senakey
Role: Dance Champion and Antagonist
Hidden Agendas: To prod, Ishey to pay up.
Competition: A champion who wants to
remain undisputed
Conspiracies:
Secrets:
Deception:
Wound:
Secret Identity: -
For Assignment one, I decided to change up my show and instead watched the first few episodes of Peaky Blinder since its a premise much closer to the show I’m working on.
As the show is going on I’m definitely noticing more layers to the character such as Thomas’ mental scars from WWI an obvious yet often overlooked character flaw. Grace Burgess is also very intriguing being an undercover barmaid spy cop. I also didn’t realize that Thomas was hiding the guns from the rest of the family which adds a nice conspiracy. However I think the mental scars from war was probably the most enlightening thing from this assignment.
Assignment 2: a show centered around a man in the late 19th century building a criminal empire amongst America.
Role: Adam Grant
Hidden agenda: Though he is currently falling in line under his boss Madam Mendelstein, he doesn’t want to answer to anyone. He’s ambitious and his father chastised him from childhood to never let someone get the better of him.
Competition: His greatest competitor at this point would be mendelstein, even if she doesn’t fully realize it. He is also however in constant competition with the cops. As well as a fellow Robber (brand new revelation right now) a quirky architect turned bank robber known to be almost as talented as Adam himself.
Conspiracy: Adam is currently in the middle of a conspiracy to take down his boss Mendelstein by amassing enough contacts and wealth for a coup.
Secrets: Adam Worth is a conman and therefore his backstory is full of secrets, from the man he fought with in the civil war that he may have stolen the identity of, to the bank in his childhood town that bankrupted his father and therefore became one of Adams early first targets.
Deception: Adam Worth is a conman, he’s charming but we never know if its real. He has a need to stay ahead of people and therefore its important to him to maintain a certain level of mental control over those around him, possibly to the cost of his own relationships.
Wound: Adam was a bond-jumper in the civil war when he was barely 18. He would take peoples bond to fight for them and then he would bail. Some times though he wouldn’t be able to bail quick enough and he wound up fighting and being wounded in a the battle of bull run. He’s still haunted by the combat he faced in the civil war.
Secret Identity: Adam Grant is not a young hellion born to wealthy parents who just wants to watch the world burn. T<font face=”inherit”>he young wealthy Adam Grant died in the war and </font>Adam<font face=”inherit”> Gantz stole his identity when he himself was wounded. It’s a public identity he now keeps though not without some internal conflict. They fought together nearly died together and Adam Grant saved Adam Gantz. To those who know him he’s a ruthless conman who will exploit anyone, and yet he has an aversion to any kind of violence.</font>
<font face=”inherit”>Madam Mendelstein</font>
<font face=”inherit”>Hidden agenda: Crime in the 1900s is lawless, Mendelstein wants to structure it. She runs a highly successful school for pickpockets </font>and<font face=”inherit”> thieves and takes in all the orphans as her children (sometimes whether they like it or not). She </font>fences for all of the thieves amasses wealth and is simply trying to structure the criminal element.
Competition: Everyone. Everyone wants a piece of Mendelstein as much as they want to work with her. Her ability to amass talent is impressive and she’s becoming a growing presence to the early mafia and the O’Grady gang.
Conspiracy: Mendelstein has ingratiated herself amongst those of power always in the back, never in the spotlight, but always near if theres a cluster of high society.
Secret: Mendelstein is doing whatever she can to amass power in high society so that she has legitimacy to sell her “goods”. Even so far as using many types of stolen goods to enhance her own status in high society. If she lacks status she lacks customers and then everyone lacks money so of course its very important to skim a little off the top.
Deception: Mendelstein is somewhat obsessed with deception, she’s the one who helped Adam learn the art of the con. Her public portrayals (caricatures essentially) are only out because she allows them. Charm and Beauty can be a great weapon when no one is expecting it.
Wound: Mendelstein was one of the women who helped run these damn cities while the men were off fighting each other, and yet still she gets nothing, for all her power its only a fraction of a mans worth.
Secret Identity: Mendelstein is called the bear, most people think its her appearance, and are shocked to find her large yet strikingly beautiful. She’s called the bear because she can kill a man with her bare hands.
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Syd’s Intriguing Character Layers M1_L4 (Assignments 1 & 2)
2. What I learned doing this assignment is some of my characters’ dirty secrets.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Think about your Example Show. Make a list of the places you’ve already seen Character Intrigue in the previous episodes.
Hidden agendas: Ned tries to covertly investigate — Who killed Jon Arryn?
Competition: Sansa & Arya; Arya with her brothers / men; Littlefinger vs. Varys
Conspiracies: J&C conspiring to keep their relationship secret; who sent the assassin after crippled Bran
Secrets: Ned’s hiding a secret about Jon; J&C having incestuous sex; everyone at King’s Landing has secrets — Littlefinger, Varys, J&C, Ned’s holding the biggest secret; King Robert seems to be the only open book
Deception: Catelyn secretly travels to Kings landing to warn Ned of Lannister treachery, assassination attempt on Bran
Wound: Jon’s bastard status is wound, as is his discovery (betrayal) that The Night’s Watch for rejects and criminals; Theon Greyjoy is constantly reminded that he is practically a slave as the result that his Father lost a rebellion; Daenerys is traded like cattle by her brother
Secret Identity: Sansa quickly discovers that Joffrey’s persona of bravery and affection is a lie, he’s a sadist
2. Watch the next episode and see how Character Intrigue is being used to create the need to see more episodes.
Hidden agendas: Jorah spying on Daenerys for King Baratheon;
Competition: Viserys in competition with his sister, Daenerys, over her rising power; Lannisters vs. Starks; Littlefinger vs. Varys
Conspiracies: Tyrion appears to have been set up to take the fall for Bran’s assassination attempt; Ned investigates Jon Arryn’s death
Secrets: Ned wants to leave King’s Landing because Catelyn arrested Tyrion, but is pretending that he’s resigning because Robert wants to kill Daenerys — a 15-year-old pregnant girl across the sea
Deception: Littlefinger appears to be playing both the Lannisters and the Starks, supposedly leading Ned to uncover Robert’s bastards
Wound: Samwell Tarly’s rejection by his father is worse than Jon’s bastard status
Secret Identity: Gendry, the blacksmith apprentice, is actually one of King Robert’s true heirs
ASSIGNMENT 2
For your Inner Circle characters, fill in any of the Intrigue items that apply.
Character Name: Charita
Role: Educated young woman seeking autonomy, self-expression and employment in the Mughal Empire, while fighting the usurper of her infant brother’s throne.
Hidden agendas: She’s spying for the Mughal Amir, but is using her position/contacts to secretly search for her lover, Jagger.
Competition: With her mother Vanhi, to be as free to make her own choices / navigate court politics; with male counterparts, to be an effective, respected and powerful a spy
Conspiracies: Conspiring with her mother, Vanhi, and the Amir to regain the Golden City throne for her infant brother. Meanwhile the usurper, Rajendra is making friends in Mughal court.
Secrets: She takes a job as a spy, pretending to be a tawaif, in order to spy. She’s engaged / betrothed to Jagger, her employer doesn’t know this. Her fiancé doesn’t know she’s a spy.
Deception: The Amir wants her to spy on the Portuguese so to give the Mughals an advantage in battle; she secretly wants peace in order to protect her fiancé, Jagger — who could end up on the front lines.
Wound: She was an oddball in the village because she was educated — educated women are either nobility or tawaif (courtesans). She’s neither. Does she fit in this world? Or will she always feel outcast.
Secret Identity: There are many — she’s a spy; what will happen when her spying, disguised as a tawaif, brings her into contact with Jagger
Character Name: Veer
Role: Former general for the assassinated king. Now out for justice / vengeance.
Hidden agendas: He plans to assassinate Rajendra — counter to his own code / integrity; his spy network rivals Bhadrabahu’s
Competition: Rajendra, Bhadrabahu
Conspiracies: Funding his covert war by helping Portuguese and Chinese traders, avoid taxes collected by both the Mughals and Golden City
Secrets: He’s a bastard member of the royal family
Deception: He’s hidden his true parentage from everybody, Bhadrabahu is digging into his past
Wound: His king and friend was assassinated on his watch; he is a bastard
Secret Identity: Rajendra’s half brother or is he the king’s half-brother (which could give him a claim to the throne in competition with Charita’s infant brother)
Character Name: Rajendra
Role: Usurper
Hidden agendas: On the surface, he’s trying to develop good diplomatic relations with the Mughals, while searching for Charita, Vanhi and the infant king in order to kill them.
Competition: With the infant king, with Veer (the assassinated king’s former general), with Bharabahu
Conspiracies: He’s courting the Mughals, but giving the position of their armies to the Portuguese
Secrets: He knows there are bastards who could challenge him for the GC throne
Deception: He plays the Mughals and the Portuguese against each other
Wound: His father always manipulated him, intended to rule Golden City through him; when his father tried to set him up to take a fall, he turned the tables — the student became the master
Secret Identity: Jewel thief — he’s actually very good. He steals Mughal treasures and sets up others to take the fall.
Character Name: Bhadrabahu
Role: Bon vivant in Mughal court, manger of entertainment, liaison for Charita to the Mughal Amir
Hidden agendas: Runs a huge spy network throughout the kingdom for the Amir; secretly in love with Vanhi, Charita’s mother — therefore, wants to undermine Charita’s mission to reinstall her brother to the throne of the Golden City as that would put Vanhi out of his reach / control;
Competition: Competing for Vanhi with her other love interest — the Amir, others? Competing with Vanhi for influence over the Amir, they have competing agendas
Conspiracies: Infiltrates the Portuguese posts as a provider of entertainment, working to undermine them
Secrets: His own father id an anti-Mughal zealot and has disowned him, though he secretly conspires to keep his father out of jail
Deception: Broad stroke — he actually holds a lot power in the Mughal empire, though he pretends to be focused on parties and entertainment; he’s in love with Vanhi though pretends to be the playboy
Wound: His father’s rejection, Vanhi’s rejection
Secret Identity: There are many that he assumes in the Amir’s service; chiefly, he plays the bon vivant while running the Amir’s spy ring
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Leona Heraty’s Intriguing Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is…adding layers of intrigue to my characters is fun and makes them so much more interesting! Even secondary support characters can have lots of intrigue!
ASSIGNMENT 1
1. Think about your Example Show. Make a list of the places you’ve already seen Character Intrigue in the previous episodes.
Example Show: LOST | Season 1 | Episodes 1-4
Jack: Main Character/Hero
Intrigue: Jack was injured in the crash, has a drinking problem and doesn’t want to join the others during the memorial service for the crash victims.
Kate: Main Character/Jack’s love interest & helper
Intrigue: Kate was a prisoner of a U.S. Marshal on the flight that crashed into the island. She is also very brave and knows how to climb high trees and use guns and knives.
2. Watch the next episode and see how Character Intrigue is being used to create the need to see more episodes.
Example Show: LOST | Season 1 | Episode 5Character Name: Jack
Intrigue: Why is he so haunted?
Role: Hero/Leader/surgeon
Hidden Agenda: To find his dead father’s ghost, whose body was traveling on the plane when it crashed on the island
Competition: ?
Conspiracies: ?
Secrets: His father’s body was onboard the plane when it crashed, he has a drinking problem, like his father and is haunted from his childhood
Deception: He hasn’t told anyone that he sees his dead father’s ghost on the island.
Wound: Not being able to fight off a bully when he was a kid and stop another bully from beating up his friend.
Secret Identity: He doesn’t believe he’s the leader that the group thinks he is.Character Name: Kate: Jack’s love interest & helper
Intrigue: What is she on the run from the law?
Role: Jack’s helper & love interest
Hidden Agenda: ?
Competition: She fights with Sawyer on how things should be done on the island
Conspiracies: She and Sayer have a secret past together…he says it’s been four years since they’ve been together.
Secrets: She’s a fugitive from the U.S. Marshals and she was arrested by the Marshal who died after the crash
Deception: By omission—the other passengers think she’s wholesome but she’s got a dark past and she’s a fugitive from justice
Wound: Something from her past made her leave Canada and go to Australia to go on the road.
Secret Identity: She’s a fugitive from justice, on the runASSIGNMENT 2
1. For your Inner Circle characters, fill in any of the Intrigue items that apply.
Character Name: Genesis
Role: Hero/Leader/Property Manager
Hidden agendas: She’s really there to look for hidden treasure, she plans to quit her new property manager job as soon as she finds it.
Competition: ?
Conspiracies: ?
Secrets: She has a gambling problem and was fired from her accounting job for stealing from the firm; she took the new job as property manager because she’s broke and wants to look for hidden treasure
Deception: She tells the tenants she’s wealthy and took the job to give her sister, the former property manager, a break from the job for one year to travel the world, but her sister got her the job as a favor from their old boss.
Wound: Her husband left her because of her gambling problem
Secret Identity: She thinks of herself as the new middle-aged female Indiana Jones and lives in a fantasy world.Character Name: Jake
Role: Genesis’s teenage helper/Morgan’s younger brother
Hidden agendas: ?
Competition: With Morgan, his older sister, on how to do things, who’s better at doing things and who their parents love more
Conspiracies: ?
Secrets: Hidden drug problem, OCD
Deception: Hiding drugs, kicked out of school recently for cheating
Wound: His parents left him with Morgan, his older sister, when they left for the summer to travel the world, because they’re sick of dealing with him.
Secret Identity: ?Character Name: Pete
Role: Genesis’s helper/Handyman/Love interest
Hidden agendas: He’s also looking for the same lost treasure that Genesis is looking for on the island
Competition: With Genesis on how to do things
Conspiracies: ?
Secrets: He’s a former cop who got kicked off the force for dealing drugs to other cops and being “on the take” with local drug dealers
Deception: He tries to lead the group away from the buried treasure, so they won’t find it and he can look for it on his own
Wound: His wife left him and took their kids when he got kicked oft the force for dealing drugs to other cops and being “on the take” with local drug dealers.
Secret Identity: The Dealer of Davenport LaneCharacter Name: Morgan
Role: Genesis’s helper/nurse/Jake’s older sister and guardian
Hidden agendas: Get her parents to move back and take responsibility for Jake so she can leave him and get off the island and on with her life.
Competition: With Wallis, who tries to boss her around, and who their parents love more
Conspiracies: ?
Secrets: She got accepted to medical school in Australia and she’s moving there in the fall but Jake and their parents don’t know it yet.
Deception: Jake and their parents think she’s staying on the island forever because she just got a promotion as an ICU charge nurse, but she’s really leaving to go to medical school in Australia
Wound: She was kicked off the Olympic Ski Team for taking performance enhancing drugs seven years before, at age 20, and has never forgiven herself.
Secret Identity: She’s living in the past, she is an Olympic gold medalist in her own mind.Character Name: Wallis
Role: Genesis’s helper & guide and wise sage/retired Air Force Officer
Hidden agendas: Wants to fix up the apartment complex and sell it.
Competition: ?
Conspiracies:?
Secrets: She is the new owner of the apartment complex and she plans to fix it up and sell it.
Deception: She acts like just another renter, like the rest of them, but she is the new owner of the complex
Wound: She never married and is bitter and lonely because she was dumped by an officer when she served as an officer in Viet Nam
Secret Identity: New owner of apartment complex-
This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Leona Heraty.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
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Wayne’s Intriguing Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is how to build layered characters, with interwoven desires, agenda, roles, and secrets that cause an obsession to watch them.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Character Intrigue in the previous episodes of LOST:
The biggest intrigue is that Kate was the prisoner on the flight, but only Jack & Kate know.Next episode, Character Intrigue creating a need to watch more:
In the next episode, Jake tries to get her to talk about it but she doesn’t, she’s just curious about how long the Fed Marshal has to live and if it will be painful. She holds the gun and we’re led to believe she’s going to kill the agonizing Marshal with it, but she walks out of the tent before we hear a gunshot. It seems she’s talked Sawyer into killing him. Sawyer says he begged him to kill him.
ASSIGNMENT 2
ASTRONOMICAL ATTRACTIONS Characters, fill in any of the Intrigue items that apply.
• Character Name: Mike
• Role: Protagonist astronaut stranded w/out possible return to earth
• Hidden agendas: Always wanted to be a family guy when he got back to earth.
• Competition: With Desae, must continue to out whit government authority searching for him..
• Conspiracies: Mike and Desae conspire together (eventually with Yardas the neighbor) to steal the onboard computer from the Alien Invader Museum.
• Secrets: He finds Desae funny looking at first but falls in love with her.
• Deception: Hiding, evading & fooling government authority.
• Wound: Depressed, lonely, fearful because he will never see earth again and may be captured.
• Secret Identity: At one point he’s disguised as an elderly humanoid form the planet and wheeled into the “Alien Invader Museum.• Character Name: Desae
• Role: Protagonist savior of Mike who nurses him to health and harbors him from authporities.
• Hidden agendas: The love her life (Nome’s father) was killed by authorities for believing in Logar (God) and believes that Mike was sent from Logar for her to have a helpmate.
• Competition: Dease outsmarts the Authority searching for Mike despite his strong suspicions.
• Conspiracies: Mike, Desae, and Yardas steal the onboard computer from the Museum.
• Secrets: That she’s falling in love with Mike.
• Deception: She disguises Mike and wheels him through security at the Musieum, etc.
• Wound: The love of her life and farther to her son was killed by the atheistic government for believing in their God.
• Secret Identity: She’s been exciled from her society for having a son out of wedlock.• Character Name: Nome
• Role: 2-year-old son of Desae.
• Hidden agendas: Wants Mike to become the dad he never had.
• Competition: Hides Mike from authorities.
• Conspiracies: None (he’s 2)
• Secrets: Wants Mike to live with them forever.
• Deception: None (he’s 2)
• Wound: Never met his natural father.
• Secret Identity: He must keep Mike a secret from other kids he meets.• Character Name: Yardas
• Role: Eccentric neighbor, confidant, flighty foil of Desae.
• Hidden agendas: Wishes her husband wasn’t so boring.
• Competition: Helps them evade all authorities, etc.
• Conspiracies: Helps steal the onboard computer from the Museum.
• Secrets: Is jealous of Mike and Desae’s love of life (because her husband is a dullard).
• Deception: Helps them deceive authorities.
• Wound: Was not attractive and ignored by males until Dabier came along.
• Secret Identity: None (WYSIWYG).• Character Name: Dabier
• Role: Yardas’ husband.
• Hidden agendas: (eventually we discover) he is keeping an eye on Desae
• Competition: He has dropped out of society and his once prestigious position
• Conspiracies: He secretly helps Desae & Mike.
• Secrets: He was the government agent who had killed Desae’s lover.
• Deception: He married Yardas to keep an eye on Desae because of the guilt he felt from killing her lover, father of her son, Nome.
• Wound: Guilt for doing his assignment of killing Desae’s betrothed.
• Secret Identity: He’s formally a government security agent. -
Karen Tolliver: Intriguing Layers
Module 1 Lesson 4 Assignments 1 & 2
What I learned doing this assignment is how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. A character hidden agenda, their wound, secrets, etc. all intertwine to reveal the master make-up of the character.
Assignment #1: Character Intrigue for “Lost”
1. Jack secretly puts alcohol bottle in pocket before plane crash.
2. Jack’s wound on his back Kate sews it up.
3. Shannon and Boone (Brother and Sister) competition always fighting.
4. Jack, Kate, and Charlie keeps secret of the plane being off course.
5. Charlie secret of using drugs.
6. Shannon’s wound of trauma makes her cope by tanning.
7. Walt finds hand cuffs in the jungle.
8. Sayid and Sawyer in competition while fighting.
9. Jim-Sookwon makes seafood and gives to Claire making her baby move.
10. Mr. Locke secret that he couldn’t walk before the plane crash.
11. Sawyer secret he carries a gun on the transmitter mission and kills Bear.
12. Hurley secret that he faints at the site of blood.
13. Everyone on transmitter mission keeps secret about French voice on receiver playing for 16 years.
14. Wounded Marshall secret about Kate being a prisoner on plane.
15. Kate’s secret about Farmer Ray.
Character Intrigue being used to create the need to see more episodes:
1. Rose tells Jack her husband is not dead even though he was in back of plane.
2. Jack sees a man in suit, and he vanishes.
3. Sayid needs to make another transmitter for signal off Island.
4. Mr. Locke appears out of jungle with a dead wild boar.
5. Michael asks Mr. Locke did he see the big animal in the jungle, Kate said it was headed towards him. He says No.
Assignment #2: Character Intrigue for my show.
1. Character Name: Aailyah Williams
2. Role: Paralegal who fighting to save her imprisoned husband.
3. Hidden Agenda: To pretend wanting to free her husband from wrong imprisonment.
4. Competition: With James her boss for who knows more about the law.
5. Conspiracies: With her husband to gain evidence of him being framed.
6. Secrets: Her secret love affair with James in the past.
7. Deception: lies about evidence she finds from her husband’s job.
8. Wound: Being adopted at the age of 2 years old.
9. Secret Identity: Able to have Visions from Spirits.
1. Character Name: James Donovan.
2. Role: Partner in the Law Firm helps to save Aailyah’s husband.
3. Hidden Agenda: To get Aailyah back in love with him.
4. Competition: With Aailyah’s husband for her affection.
5. Conspiracies: With his mother to help win Aailyah’s heart.
6. Secret: Having sex with the Judge appointed to Cameron’s case.
7. Deception: Lies about his affair with Aailyah’s best friend Susan.
8. Wound: abusive father before he passed away.
9. Secret Identity: The son of a famous Lawyer.
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Assignment 1:
1. Character Name: Dean Winchester.
2. Role: Brother to Sam, Hunter.
3. Hidden Agenda: To drag Sam back into the Family Business.
4. Competition: With Sam for dad’s approval and who’s better at hunting. And at being a cool dude, generally.
5. Conspiracies: Nothing yet.
6. Secrets: Nothing yet.
7. Deception: Nothing yet.
8: Wound: The loss of his mother. The subsequent loss of his childhood. The way his dad gets so emotional about Sam… but just acts sort of businesslike with him.
9: Secret Identity: A wannabe Dad. Thinks he’s too messed up. (Having seen the series… he has no clue yet LOL poor thing.)
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Assignment 2:
Tully’s Intriguing Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is that there’s plenty still to discover about my three most compelling characters. And so far it’s still fun!
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>TESSA: Main character. Recently cut off rich kid. New to the world of professional fundraising.
1. Hidden agendas
a. I could see her thinking people are gonna do stuff for her. Her rich bitch mentality that she hasn’t actually shaken. Hasn’t tried, she’s too busy still comparing herself to rich actual active assholes and being better than them, she thinks of herself as a good person. By default. So she thinks she’s gonna breeze through this and others will just fill in the gaps for her, coz… she’s just special.
2. Competition
a. Tessa is naturally competitive, especially if combined with joy. Combined with stress and an upheaval to her self-identity, it’s a MESS. Obvious targets are everyone at this new job, that she’s wildly underestimating. The job itself very much encourages competition, so that’s rife for comedy. Also, by the end of season one she’ll be focused on a different kind of competition, with her parents, for who’s “winning” in a weird social way. They want to not have a daughter who’s helping gross homeless people. She wants to shame them in any way she can, and also feel a little bit of that old self-righteousness that she kind of relied on in the past. I mean… she IS right.
3. Conspiracy
a. No idea here, I’ll brainstorm. She could conspire for housing. She could conspire to sneak back into the old house to get some stuff. She could conspire with Dana to play hooky one day. She could conspire with something to do with food. She’d definitely jump into any conspiracy or any other way of getting to go have a good time like she used to do.
4. Secrets
a. I think she’s been downright awful to poor people before, specifically homeless people. Said or did something horrible, that isn’t coming to me right now. It’s shocking because her veneer is that it’s not her fault her parents are wealthy, she’s a good person who shouldn’t be judged!
5. Deception
a. I think these would be discreet and punchy, with her. Like, at first she deceives her old friends and tries to pretend that nothing happened. She might go on a deception campaign about her job performance. Stuff like that, where she tries and kind of quickly fails. She just keeps thinking she’ll be able to outsmart/best people, and it’s not so.
6. Wound
a. Tessa was never good enough for her parents. Her childhood intentions were 100% pure: to love, and be loved. To have fun, with her loved ones. It never flew. Everything was weird, and hierarchical, and distant. And sometimes it was like her goodness in particular is what wasn’t good enough. And when people call her a rich bitch, she just thinks about how lonely she used to be. She, as a child, would absolutely have traded all that money for a hug – and now, as an adult, she kind of wouldn’t, and that’s a wound too. She lost that innocence, and there’s cognitive dissonance where she wants to be treated like a good person but hasn’t DONE anything to earn that title. That title isn’t the default, but she wants it to be FOR HER.
7. Secret Identity
a. Rich Bitch. That mentality is a giant comfort blanket and moral fallback, and she has not yet seen a reason to let it go. Everything’s someone else’s fault, and people are “just being mean” to her. Easy peasy, moral squeezy.
AVA: Sister of Tessa. Connection to the family unit. The go-between, a spy.
1. Hidden agendas
a. She is essentially spying on her sister Tessa. Trying to influence her this way or that, based on what Hugo and Miranda want. Oooh, and… some new character that just occurred to me… some kind of family business manager slash clean up expert… yeah, I wanna write that person!!!
2. Competition
a. She sees herself as always winning against Tessa, but only just, and not in the ways that she can’t look at. Tessa sometimes captures joy, and Ava is intensely jealous of that. And the fact that people tend to like Tessa, even though she ain’t shit. Meanwhile Ava is smarter, works harder, is pulling more weight, and still has to practically die to get a little bit of parental approval.
3. Conspiracy
a. She’s conspiring all over the place, that’s like her main function LOL. Her parents tell her to go and she goes, and it doesn’t matter if she has to lie or cheat or whatever.
4. Secrets
a. Aside from all the secrets she keeps from Tessa, I think she needs a secret hobby or obsession or love or something that’s not coming to me right now. Or she might know something about someone else in the family… I will have to think on this. Something that haunts her.
5. Deception
a. A ton. But… she’s missing some kind of overarching thread of this. Will do a lot of thinking here.
6. Wound
a. Ava was never good enough for her parents either, she can FEEL that they’re all just pretending she is, it’s only because she’s proven useful many times. She can feel it, but she can’t acknowledge it. She’s built her life on this, and it’s all sunk cost fallacy with her. And Tessa seems to have gotten to do whatever the fuck she wanted, without consequence. So what’s wrong with Ava? She doesn’t know, and she’s terrified to find out that there is Some Actual Answer to that.
7. Secret Identity
a. Rage. People even know her as a somewhat hard and even angry person, but they have no idea. She could go on a killing spree and feel 20% bad, 80% catharsis.
DANA: Weird new mother figure to Tessa. A coworker, fellow fundraiser.
1. Hidden agendas
a. She’s really protective of her rights to do whatever the fuck she wants. Bullish about it. Her secret agenda is to attack with surprising force anyone who tries to change her.
2. Competition
a. This comes and goes for Dana. ADHD means most things come and go for her. She’s a lateral thinker, though – if she’s in a competition, she’ll be acting in VERY unpredictable (and very funny, and very cheat-adjacent) ways, with glee.
3. Conspiracy
a. If it’s fun, and she cares about the end goal that minute, she’s an EXCELLENT conspirator.
4. Secrets
a. Oh, a ton. Her life is a patchwork quilt of randomness that she mostly doesn’t share.
5. Deception
a. Not really. This one’s insecurity-based, and she just doesn’t fuck with it. She’d rather confess and move onto the next thing that let anything fester, and an ongoing deception campaign is a big fester. It’s a lot of WORK.
6. Wound
a. School was hell for her. She’s in her early 50’s, ADHD wasn’t a thing back then, she was just a shit child and everyone agreed. So now her fastest reaction is YOU’RE shit and I’m gonna do exactly what the fuck I want JUST to rub it in your face that you’re not better than me!
7. Secret Identity
a. Nurturing. Which is a long term gig, which is why she feels (wound-ily) that it’s “not for her”. She can’t take care of plants, let alone animals, let alone a child. Which is why, when she realizes that she’s somehow wound up in the mother figure role for Tessa, she’s secretly very deeply pleased.
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