Day 10 Assignments

[Eric Humble]

Eric Humble’s Counterexamples

What I learned is: This was a great lesson in that it gave me another tool to vary the ways in which my protagonist has the Old Ways challenged. It has also given me a few breakthroughs as to some of the scenes involving the Change Agent and the antagonist which I was still hazy on. My story keeps getting stronger with each step of this course!

Old Ways:

-Hyperfocused on success

Question Challenge:

He questions the cook who is a hero in his homeland but a pauper here; the cook challenges him: The men who leveraged their valiant actions for fortune are the ones who threaten to overtake my country. They can’t help it. You can never be content when you have power. You never have enough. I have enough.

Counterexample:

-Joseph betrays him because he cowers to the powerful men. He can’t make the change that Raf is on the cusp of making.

-He uses his cooking to get the NATO head of security at ease enough to start talking… and it works – his “interference” got him what he needed. The man is still just a man, after all.

-Refuses to take sides – only out for himself

Question Challenge:

Natalia learns that he saw the Russian President beat one of his aides and possibly kill him. Raf defends walking away: I wasn’t the one who hit him! Natalia: You weren’t the one who helped him, either. Because of that, maybe no one was.

Counterexample:

-He later sees the other Russian aides removing the dead body of the man he saw beaten. It’s too late for him to do anything to help him.

–Won’t propose to his pregnant girlfriend

Question Challenge:

She calls him out: I was always afraid my dad would walk out and never come back. I’d rather this child grow up without a father than live with the uncertainty that one day he might just up and decide there’s something better out there for him than her. Or me.

Counterexample:

-Sees POTUS, the most powerful man in the world, weeping with stress and embracing his wife, who holds him tenderly. Delivers a drink to him… then sees him take an insulin shot before drinking it.

-Intimidated by the successful people he cooks for

Question Challenge:

Natalia details all the underhanded things POTUS has probably done to get to where he is. This is someone to be envied? To be revered? To be feared? A person only has power if you give it to them.

Counterexample:

Leiiber is powerful – but acts like a friend, even an equal.

-Powerless in the big things — you can’t change their minds. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.

Question Challenge:

-Natalia challenges him: What about Joseph? And the cooks and chefs who look up to him? Can they change your mind? Are you going to do what you’re going to do to them?

Counterexample:

-Natalia rallies the cookstaff to get an extra hour to prepare one of the dishes in order to avoid contamination. They stand up to Leiber… and get the extra time.

-Only looks out for himself.

Counterexample:

-NATO head of security is looking for Natalia to question her about the irregularities of her application… and Raf shields her. It works… and he finds himself questioning his outlook.

-Backstabs, betrays, whatever it takes to get ahead

Counterexample:

-He has backstabbed Natalia in the past… but she doesn’t throw him under the bus when Leiber presses them on the next course—instead, she rallies the cookstaff behind him and gets Leiber to back off. Proving that democracy can work on a small scale… and showing him a world where it isn’t so cut-throat.