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Day 10 Assignments
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Elizabeth Dickinson’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment was is that I can ‘manufacture’ layers, but not always sure the specific layer is the ‘best’ one.
Big Picture Layers from Handmaid’s Tale
Plot Surface: Major scheme
Patriarchal, biblically-based Republic of Gilead has overthrown U.S. government, forcing fertile women to become handmaids to unfertile commanders and wives.
Layer 1-
June is abducted, separated from husband and child, becomes handmaid to high up commander and wife.
Layer 2-Mystery revealed
June pretends to go along, but tells us she is looking for way out.
Layer 3-Story one thing, becomes another
June learns there are others who feel the same way she does, including ones she assumed had bought into Gilead philosophy. June becomes freedom fighter, chooses to stay in Gilead for original daughter, and to overthrow system.
Layer 4-Shift in meaning
June learns commander is not what he seems, flouts Gilead’s rules. Eventually learns chauffeur is also not what he seems.
Layer 5- Hidden plan
Commander’s wife has June have sex with chauffeur because she believes her husband’s infertile. Chauffeur may be ‘Eye’.
Layer 6-Major betrayal
Chauffeur (supposed to be ‘Eye’) falls in love with June, wants to help her and baby escape (betraying commander’s wife). Eventually commander’s wife helps baby escape, betraying husband.
Character layers
Character surface-June is a handmaid.
Layer 1-Hidden Agenda
June wants to find her child.
Layer 2- Hidden character history
June broke up a marriage to find husband in earlier life.
Layer 3-Secret Identity
June pretends to like commander in order to manipulate him.
Layer 4-Wound
June’s daughter was taken from her.
Layer 5-Competition
June must keep Aunt Lydia’s concerns about her fitness at bay, seem like a good handmaid.
Assignment 2-My Show
Plot layers-
Major scheme revealed-
· Oversoul wants to ascend, can’t, its past lives hold it back.
Mystery revealed-
· Oversoul must help past lives purge regrets.
Major shift in meaning-
· Oversoul who designs the lives is not ultimately in charge, must respect past lives’ choices, see them as colleagues.
Hidden history
· Oversoul has ignored certain lives, especially at least one ‘irredeemable’ one (the torturer)
Hidden plan
· Oversoul must interact with lesser divinities in order to make progress
Major betrayal
· Oversoul works at cross purposes with Writer?
CHARACTER LAYERS
Secret identity
Oversoul is not in charge as much as it thinks.
Character
intrigueOversoul must collaborate/cooperate with past lives and eventually, writer.
Hidden
relationships and conspiraciesSome other characters reappear over and over again in different lives, with different relationships to title character.
Hidden Character
historyOversoul may not remember everything accurately, due to its own extreme regret and perceived ‘carelessness’ in designing some lives.
Celt’s story-
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Major scheme
revealedCelt volunteers/semi-abducted by Romans in bargain with Celtic divinity Taranis in exchange for village’s safety.
Mystery revealed
Celt can see and speak with divinities.
Celtic ‘volunteers’ are to help emperor.
Thought the
story was one thing, but it is anotherVolunteers are really to be Roman slaves.
Major shift in
MeaningCelt must adapt to Roman customs without losing his values. Must find new life purpose within Roman society.
Hidden history
Celt may not be child of the parents he’s been brought up to think as his.
Hidden plan
Celt wants to find way to return home without endangering village by betraying bargain with Taranis.
Major betrayal
Celt discovers whatever he does, it will involve some form of violence against others (possibly even his own people) – especially if he does want to go home.
Celt Character Layers
Secret identity
· Psychic, sees and can speak with divinities
· Clairvoyant, can see present and future for village
Character Intrigue
· Sirius has agenda for Celt to work for caesaris familias as interpreter.
· Taranis has agenda for Celt to be violent.
· Acutius has agenda for Celt to be gladiator.
· Decebal has agenda for Celt to be smith.
· Emperor has agenda for Celt to be bestiarus.
· Various divinities want Celt to be smith, psychic, etc.
Hidden
relationships and conspiraciesAcutius is secretly a Celt himself, makes it a point to buy Celts wherever he can.
Tyran sells tokens of Celt (Celt’s semen, hair, etc., considered aphrodisiacs) in order to try and buy both their freedoms. Celt thinks it is Spurius who is doing it for his own personal gain, and nearly kills Spurius when he finds out.
Celt falls in love with fellow Celt woman that he can never have as permanent relationship, helps her escape with unborn son even though he never can leave Rome. He doesn’t want any child of his to be a Roman slave. (That woman will reincarnate as Abbess’ lesbian lover in convent). Son becomes leader of other Celts against Rome. In life of Abbess, Celt’s son is a rebellious postulant that the Abbess tries to mold in her image.
Celt is pressured to become bestiarus, which he hates. He pretends illness to get out of it, is smuggled to countryside, where he becomes lover of high-born wife of estate owner.
Celt has a daughter with another slave at neighboring estate. Daughter becomes slave of the daughter of the high-born woman with whom he has an affair.
Celt chooses to stay, partly because he is maimed when affair is discovered, partly because he wants to see his daughter grow up.
High-born woman’s daughter is appalled by her family’s maiming of Celt. She and Celt’s daughter become secret Christians. Celt is puzzled by daughter’s religious proclivities, due to his own growing skepticism about all religions.
Celt eventually returns to gladiatorial combat, chooses to die in ring at hands of Dakarai’s son.
Celt would like to be educated, understand Christianity, chooses to be woman (Abbess) in next life.
Hidden Character
historyHis real father was a rare male psychic, who had affair with Celt’s mother, died in psychotic break, was killed by fellow villagers. Celt’s adoptive father knew.
Celt’s real father was a minor divinity turned fairy (depending on century). Perhaps real father IS Taranis?
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Wendy Weising’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment was that it is difficult to get down to the bottom layer.
Lesson #10, Assignment #1
Wendy Weising
Lost
Character Layers
Surface: Claire is a pregnant woman who has survived a plane crash.
Layer 1: She is on a strange island.
Layer 2: She begins to have nightmares about someone taking the baby. In the dream, Locke tells her that the baby was her responsibility and that now everyone would have to pay for her mistake.
Layer 3: The next night, she believes that someone attacked her and tried to stick a needle in her belly, where the baby is.
Layer 2: She remembers that back in Australia, she made plans with her boyfriend to move in together after she became pregnant. He then broke up with and rejected her.
Layer 3: She also remembers that meets a psychic who at first, won’t tell her what he sees in her future. When she comes back a second time, he tells her that she must raise the child and that only her goodness can protect the child. When she won’t listen to him and wants to put the baby up for adoption, he tells her that he knows a couple who could take the baby and raise it well, but she must fly out the next day to LA. She goes, but there is no couple. On her way back, the plane crash happens.
Layer 4: As she and Charlie talk this through, she comes to the conclusion that the psychic purposely put her on the flight because he knew it would crash.
Layer 5: When Claire has contractions, Charlie finds Ethan and tells him to get Jack. Then Claire feels better and they begin to walk back. They run into Ethan, who has brought Jack back.
Plot layers
Layer 1: Plane broke in two pieces-one section landed on the beach, and the other landed somewhere else on the island.
Layer 2: Beach survivors wonder if the other group has survived.
Layer 3: They find a distress call recording that has been sending out the message for many years.
Layer 4: Sahid finds a cable that goes from the ocean to the woods. He becomes trapped in a snare. A French woman, who is the recorder of the message, mentions “the others.”
Layer 5: Claire thinks she is attacked and remembers that she must protect the baby from evil.
Layer 6: This causes Hurley to take a census. Boone points out that all he needs it the manifest. He somehow gets it from the pack rat, Sawyer. He talks to people and checks off their names on the manifest. There is one person who was not on their plane: Ethan.
Layer 7: Not knowing about Hurley’s discovery, Claire and Charlie come to the conclusion that she was put on that plane on purpose so that she would end up on the island.
Layer 8: When Claire has contractions, Charlie sends Ethan to get Jack. When her contractions stop, they meet Ethan coming back. Charlie asks Ethan where Jack is. The episode ends.
Lesson #10, Assignment #2
1. Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.
PLOT LAYERS
When Jayne’s husband calls her and asks her to check the mailbox, a large truck runs over her.
She wakes up in a hospital with other patients. She wants to know where her husband and kids are. She is told that she doesn’t have a husband or children.
Jayne meets Polly and Ava. Polly is a spy for Dr. Smith. Ava is giving her body to Dr. Smith’s friends to be given drugs that she is addicted to.
Jayne and Dr. Zyn fall in love.
They decide to escape the hospital.
It’s not really a hospital, and they are no longer on Earth.
Aliens destroyed the earth five years earlier and brought humans to a different planet where they are mining their brains for a serum that they need to stay alive.
They escape.
Dr. Smith sends her henchman after them—Jayne’s husband. He hints at her not being what she thinks.
They find Jayne’s children.
Dr. Zyn knows that Jayne is an alien but has kept it from her. He finally reveals this.
2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.
Jayne March
Plot Surface: Jayne is a housewife and a mother who is afraid to stand up for herself.
Layer 1: When she wakes up as a patient, Dr. Smith and Dr. Zyn are there. She tells them that she needs to find her children. They tell her that she has no children. She continues to believe that her kids are out there somewhere and vocalizes her belief regardless of the painful things that Dr. Smith does to her to “help her come to her senses.” Dr. Zyn tells her that he is treating her for a rare bacteria, which he does with daily shots.
Layer 2: She becomes stronger when she meets two other patients who tell her that the doctors are lying. She is not going crazy.
Layer 3: Jayne develops feelings for Dr. Zyn, who is very kind to her, but she feels bad that she isn’t being faithful to her husband.
Layer 4: Jayne begins having nightmares that her husband was abusive to her and her kids, which seems strange to her. She also dreams about being hit by a car. She tries to remember if she saw the person who was driving the car that hit her. Dr. Zyn tells her that they are only dreams and that they cannot hurt her.
Layer 5: After Polly and Ava reveals that the hospital staff are aliens who are mining human brains for chemicals that they must have to survive, Jayne recoils from Dr. Zyn’s affection. She doesn’t trust him now. She also strikes back at Dr. Smith, who has been so abusive to her. She stands up for the others.
Layer 6: Jayne decides to escape. She tells Polly and Ava, and they want to go with her.
Layer 7: Jayne’s hidden talents come out. She is good at repairing things, picking locks, and killing aliens.
Layer 8: Jayne is still attracted to Dr. Zyn. He tells her his story and that he has opposed what his race is doing. She invites him to escape with them, not thinking about the consequences of him not having the chemical.
Layer 9: Dr. Smith reveals that Polly has been her spy, that Ava is addicted to drugs that she can only get at the hospital, and that Dr. Zyn is her mate. This sends Jayne into a depression. She doesn’t know who she can trust. Dr. Zyn still cares for her and gives her he daily shot.
Layer 10: When her friends gather supplies for the escape, she decides to take a chance. What is left for her to lose? She makes the decision to offer herself as an experiment so that her friends can steal a vehicle. Just before that experiment, Dr. Zyn intervenes. That’s not enough for Jayne. She beats Dr. Smith up in an expert way. As the doctor lies there, she tells Jayne that her husband is alive and well and such a lovely man too. Dr. Zyn rushes her away to the vehicle.
Layer 11: Jayne is conflicted over this information. She pulls away from Dr. Zyn. He continues to give her a daily shot.
Layer 12: As they travel, Jayne is told that the earth has been destroyed. There is no going back. She curls into a ball in the vehicle. Dr. Zyn tries to comfort her, but she just wants to know why. He tells her the story of his people dying. She hasn’t been paying attention. She asks how he has been surviving without the brain chemical. He says he is dying. She realizes what he has sacrificed for her. They kiss.
Layer 13: Jayne decides to let Dr. Zyn take some of her brain chemical every few days to stay alive. Ava agrees to it too. Polly just can’t get past the idea. Dr. Zyn agrees to Ava’s but not to Jayne’s. He says that Ava can replenish hers more easily.
Layer 14: When Dr. Zyn and Jayne go hunting, Jayne sees her husband. He escaped as well. He assumes that she will go with him to find their kids, but she is hesitant because of the dreams. When he grabs her arm, drags her off with him, and says, “Shut up, bitch.” She realizes that he was at the wheel of the car. She begins to scream. She knows it was him. She surprises him by kneeing him in the balls and then running back to her group. Dr. Zyn wants to go after him, but the women tell him they need to leave. They escape.
Layer 14: When she finds her kids, they don’t look quite right but they act as if they know her. So they take them along.
Layer 16: They encounter her husband again. When Dr. Zyn pins him to the ground, her husband asks her if she feels different. Maybe she should ask the alien who she really is.
Layer 17: Dr. Zyn confesses that she is really an alien. She had no life on Earth. She does have children, but her mate died. She is in shock. She must now face the universe on the opposite side. She questions Dr. Zyn about how she is able to function without the brain serum. He mentions that the antibiotics aren’t really antibiotics but the serum.
Polly Doyle
Character Surface: Polly is a patient at the hospital who doesn’t speak much.
Layer 1: She cleans the rooms, where she hears and sees things that others can’t.
Layer 2: She takes things that she finds lying around. She is a packrat and has her stash in a hard to see cupboard. She is highly intelligent and constantly writes equation on a blackboard that she keeps with her.
Layer 3: She has made a deal with Dr. Smith. She will report what she sees and hears, and Dr. Smith won’t use her brain for the serum.
Layer 4: Polly goes into Dr. Smith’s private rooms. She enters a huge library and begins to browse. She stuffs several books in her bag. Dr. Smith enters and greets her warmly, and they begin to talk about books. Polly is reminded that she gets books for her loyalty.
Layer 5: Dr. Smith took Polly as a baby and raised her as her own. But when she saw that Polly isn’t a pretty adult the way that she was a pretty child, she puts her to work in the hospital. Dr. Smith treats her kindly
Layer 6: Dr. Zyn finds out that Dr. Smith’s kindness isn’t really kindness at all. He tells Polly that she has kept Polly for herself. She wants to mine Polly’s brain serum because she believes it will make her even more intelligent. This will happen soon. This causes Polly to join the escape.
Layer 7: Dr. Smith reveals to Jayne that Polly has been her spy. This causes Polly to pace and nervously write on her chalkboard.
Layer 8: Polly knows every nook and cranny of the hospital. She knows the planet too. She creates elaborate maps for the escape and gives them to Jayne. Jayne decides to take her with them.
Layer 9: Polly clobbers Jayne’s husband with a cast-iron skillet.
Layer 10: Polly finds out that Jayne is one of the aliens. She leaves the group and finds a cabin in the woods. Jayne’s husband arrives and humiliates her. He then ties her up and tortures her to find Jayne’s whereabouts, but Polly says nothing.
Layer 11: When the group arrives at the cabin after following Polly, Polly is alone, muttering to herself. They set her free. She immediately goes to her chalkboard and writes, “I said nothing.”
Ava Grace
Character Surface: A flighty teenage patient who sings much of the time.
Layer 1: She works in the hospital food service. She encourages the patients to have hope.
Layer 2: Dr. Smith is using Ava to please her friends. She sings for them but also disappears into rooms with them. She is Dr. Smith’s caged bird.
Layer 3: Dr. Smith bought her when she heard her voice. If she sings and pleasures Dr. Smith’s friends, Dr. Smith not only will her brain not used for serum but she is also given beautiful clothes and a room. Most importantly, she will always have a supply of drugs.
Layer 4: One of Dr. Smith’s alien friends is too rough with Ava. She ends up with bruises. When Jayne sees her bruises, she tells her she has to leave with her. She agrees.
Layer 5: Ava reveals that her mother might be out there.
Layer 6: Ava makes a deal with Dr. Zyn. She will supply him with brain serum, and he will give her the drugs that he has left.
Layer 6: When she finds out that Jayne is an alien, she throws up. She thought she was escaping, but who was she escaping with? Another alien. She tells Jayne about the abuse.
Dr. Zyn
Plot Surface: He is a kind doctor at the hospital.
Layer 1: He is Dr. Smith’s mate. She picked him in that matriarchal society. They live together.
Layer 2: When Jayne arrives and he begins to take care of her, he falls in love with her.
Layer 3: He protects Jayne from Dr. Smith’s experimentation by continuing to be Dr. Smith’s lover.
Layer 4: He hates Dr. Smith and all that she stands for, but he keeps silent.
Layer 5: He helps Ava after she is beat up.
Layer 6: Polly gives him some of her strange treasures when she sees him.
Layer 7: When he finds out that Polly will be mined for serum, he tells her and Ava.
Layer 8: He moves out of Dr. Smith’s quarters and helps Polly and Ava procure supplies for the escape.
Layer 9: He knows that Jayne is really an alien but doesn’t tell her. He uses the last of the serum on her.
Layer 10: When Jayne and Ava volunteer their serum, he knows that he cannot take it from Jayne. So he makes up an excuse.
Layer 11: He knows that Jayne’s “husband” is really an alien who works for Dr. Smith. She has sent him to track them and kill Jayne.
Layer 12: After Jayne’s husband declares that she should ask him, he tells them the truth—that Jayne is an alien and that all her memories were implanted.
Layer 13: He reveals that he is from a royal family on another planet.
Dr. Smith
Surface: She is the lead doctor at the hospital.
Layer 1: She experiments on the patients “to make them better,” only they don’t get better, they die.
Layer 2: She loves opulence and power.
Layer 3: She has chosen Dr. Zyn as her mate because he is from a royal family. She knows that her work is distasteful to him, so she shares that she watched her family die and everyone else. Being a scientist, she came up with a solution.
Layer 4: She tries to mother Polly but can’t stand her.
Layer 5: She loves Ava’s voice. She uses her as a centerpiece that all her friends can admire and congratulate Dr. Smith on her find.
Layer 6: She hates Jayne because she is jealous of her relationship with Dr. Zyn.
Layer 7: Basically, she hates all humans and uses them.
Layer 8: She continues to keep Polly close because she wants to know what’s going on in the hospital and what Dr. Zyn is doing. She also plans on putting Polly into a comatose state and mine her brain for a serum that she feels will complete her by making her smarter.
Layer 9: When she finds out that the group is going to escape, she shares horrible things about them.
Layer 10: When Jayne agrees to an experiment, she tries to find out what is going on. Polly tells her that Jayne is depressed. Once she has Jayne tied down, she tells her that she’ll do the experiment without painkillers.
Layer 11: When Dr. Zyn arrives to save Jayne, she waits until they begin to leave and then attacks Jayne.
Layer 10: When they leave anyway, she cries. Then she picks herself up and has Ava’s husband, her mercenary, go after them. She wants Jayne dead.
3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.
The doctors are lying to Jayne.
Ava has a beautiful voice that calms the aliens.
Dr. Zyn is in love with Jayne.
Jayne has feelings for Dr. Zyn, but she is conflicted about being unfaithful to her husband.
Jayne isn’t in a hospital. She is in an alien holding facility. They are mining the patients’ brains for a serum they need to survive.
Dr. Zyn is from a royal family on another planet. He stays with Dr. Smith so that she won’t kill Jayne.
Dr. Smith really hates humans. She reveals what happened on her planet that made her find the serum.
Dr. Smith took Polly as a baby. She tried to mother Polly but couldn’t stand her. She is a genius.
Dr. Smith is pimping Ava out in return for drugs.
Dr. Smith reveals that Polly has been her spy, that Ava works for her as a whore, and that Dr. Zyn is her mate.
Dr. Zyn reveals that Dr. Smith has kept Polly safe so that she could use Polly’s serum herself.
Dr. Smith tells Jayne that her husband is alive and well.
The earth has been destroyed.
Dr. Zyn is dying because he has given the serum to Jayne so that she can survive.
When Ava runs out of the drugs from the hospital, Jayne finds out that Dr. Smith got her addicted to them.
Ava reveals that she has a mother out there.
When Jayne finally meets her husband, he is abusive. He says something that causes her to realize that he is the one who hit her with the truck.
Dr. Zyn tells Jayne that she is really an alien.
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Tim Barley’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned from this assignment is that there is no shortage of plot and character layers if you just. Keep. Digging…
Lesson #10, Assignment #1:
Plot Layers:
The zombie apocalypse has ended the world and forced people to group together to survive.
Layer 1: Mystery – are there others still alive? Other groups? Are they friendly?
Layer 2: Secret – what did the doctor at the CDC tell Rick before they left?
Layer 3: Major betrayal – Shane+Lori+Rick
Layer 4: Hidden plan/secrets – everyone has a different plan for safety
Character Layers:
Rick/Lori/Shane/Carl – hidden secrets, betrayals, secret identities
Lesson #10, Assignment #2:
“The Last of the Great Ones”
PLOT LAYERS
Major Scheme revealed: each character is jockeying for position to bring Alex to their side and to teach him how to use his newfound power
Mystery revealed: the 100’s of generations-long “plan” on recreating the original source of power that once was
Thought the story was one thing, but it is another:
Major shift in meaning:
Hidden history: what “history” has really been going on, historical figures and not so historical figures
Hidden plan: the plans of each of Alex’s friends and the plans behind those plans of the heads of those Houses
Major betrayal: when each of the characters learn of the actual plan that the Houses have in mind.
CHARACTER LAYERS
Alex:
Secret identity – blood heir to an ancient power that will save the world from humanity
Character intrigue – relationship with girlfriends, family members and why he is just content with being “safe”
Hidden relationships and conspiracies – family drama that had mother having him hiding his family lineage, and his father who neglected using his power and never told Alex how to use; or the consequences of using it
Hidden character history – family history, relationship with his father, mother, grandfather, friends from back home
Allistar
Secret identity – great, great, great uncle to Alex (or similar, long-term relationship), watching over him and his family for generations at the behest of The House
Character intrigue – how/when can he tell Alex who he really is. What is he really up to? Hasn’t given his House an heir, upsetting to his family
Hidden relationships and conspiracies – relationship to Alex’s family, and his tenuous grip on his station in The House
Hidden character history – Allistar has existed for a long time, protecting Alex’s family, having on/off relationships with the other family’s, including with Jade (?)
Feenix
Secret identity – masterclass spy/assassin, daughter of the leader of The (group of houses)
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Character intrigue<font face=”inherit”> – is she in love with Alex? What is her real intent? Is her anarchistic act just a charade or does she want to burn IT all down?</font>
Hidden relationships and conspiracies – Who is she communicating with if not her family? Why does she have seemingly advanced tech?
Hidden character history – daughter of the leader, younger than most, may be the only non almost-immortal
Jade
Secret identity – heir to her family’s House,
Character intrigue – does she really love Alex or is she in it for something else.
Hidden relationships and conspiracies – a past relationship with Allistar long, long ago that may or may not upset Alex
Hidden character history – similar to Feenix and Allistar, she is older than she appears and has not been able to procreate, much to the chagrin of her family
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Subject line: Ben’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is I realized I have never paid attention to layers that appear in the shows I watch, but the whole show is actually riddled with layers. When I look at my example show and think back to discover layers, I find that it’s full of them. I didn’t write down all the layers I have discovered in my example show because there is just too many of them. Some layers need the entire series to reveal them. Others show up in the episodes.
With my show, I have discovered layers that create new story lines, ones I didn’t think of before. And My story has changed so much from when I first thought of it. One of the support characters will now become a main character. Some characters I created to be good or bad and have been searching for what would make the audience not think of them the same, I have come up with those. I seem to love creating layers. I’m constantly thinking of what is beneath characters, plot, or anything, and my show turns out to have layers even audiences wouldn’t notice until I reveal them.
ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show
Watch the next episode of your Example Show and notice how layers show up in this show — both in this episode and throughout the episodes you’ve already seen.
Tell us the layers you have discovered in the Example Show.
EXAMPLE SHOW LAYERS (SOME OF THEM): PRISON BREAK
– Michael robs the bank just to get caught. Turned out he did it to break his brother out of the prison.
– The tattoos on Michael’s entire body are actually his whole plan.
– Veronica who represented Michael in court turned out to be close to Michael.
– Lincoln killed the Vice President’s brother. Turned out he was setup.
– Michael turned out be a structural engineer and he designed the prison.
– Lincoln is actually Michael’s brother.
– Linc is Lincoln’s secret identity.
– Fish is Michael’s or any new prisoner’s secret identity.
– LJ is Lincoln’s son.
– Veronica is Lincoln’s ex-girlfriend.
– Abruzzi used the picture of Veronica in his possession to threaten Michael to tell them whereabouts of
Fibonacci. Turned out Abruzzi and Michael conspired to fool Philly.
– The address Michael told Philly turned out to be fake and has setup Philly to get caught by the police.
– The Vice President, Caroline, conspired with the Company to setup Lincoln.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show
Discover the layers that could exist for your show.
1. Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.
PLOT LAYERS
SURFACE: Terra, the head of Affinity Academy helped Rain enter Affinity Academy
to learn magic and prove her birth father wrong.
LAYER: DECEPTION: Terra wants to change the rule to fulfill the promise he made to his
deceased teacher. To take Affinity Academy to next level.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDA: Terra wants Rain to change the rule to find his brother to save his life.
LAYER: HIDDEN PLAN: Terra has found the source of their world magic and plan to harness
it to become the most powerful sorcerer, which turns out to be the breakthrough the celestial
has been searching to comprehend his magic, but that will bring the world and the magic that has turned into intelligent beings (people and creatures) will be gone.
LAYER: HIDDEN HISTORY: Whyller gave Eldore (Terra) the idea of teaching magic to
pretty ones, but Terra killed Whyller trying to stop him.
LAYER: MYSTERY: Magic is taught to pretty ones to increase Terra’s magical powers.
LAYER: STORY IS ANOTHER: The story is not about Rain learning magic to prove her birth father wrong, or Whyller seeking revenge on his brohter. It’s about a celestial trying to comprehend his magic. He created this world and everything in it is the magic he’s trying to comprehend.
LAYER: DECEPTION: Eldore (Terra) created the rift to deceive people that their world is dying and teaching magic to pretty ones will repair the rift.
LAYER: MYSTERY: Magic is taught to pretty ones to save their dying world.
LAYER: REAL MYSTERY: The people and the creatures of this world are the magic the celestial is trying to comprehend, and teaching magic to pretty ones is the way the celestial understand his magic.
LAYER: SCHEME: Mo lets Rain escape prison and change the rule to become the Leader of the underworld of magic.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDA: Rain is recruiting the average and ugly people to make an army to fight his brother.
2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.
MAIN CHARACTER LAYERS
RAIN
SURFACE: She’s an ugly beggar girl shun and contempt.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDA: To take revenge on his brother, Eldore (Terra).
LAYER: MORAL ISSUE: Whyller kills and forcefully takes over people’s bodies.
LAYER: WEAKNESS: Whyller’s love for O’ller.
LAYER: CONSPIRACIES: With Terra, for Rain to disguise as a pretty girl and enter Affinity Academy to learn magic. With Terra, to change the rule of teaching magic to
pretty ones.
LAYER: SECRET: She’s not really Rain, but Whyller. Whyller killed Rain to take over her body.
He knows Terra cursed Rain. His soul is about to dissipate.
LAYER: DECEPTION: Whyller’s not going to Affinity Academy to learn magic, but to discover his brother’s conspiracy in cursing Rain. Everyone believes Rain is recruiting ugly and average people to change the rule, but she (Whyller) is actually turning them into his army to fight his brother.
LAYER: WOUND: Whyller’s brother killed him.
LAYER: SECRET IDENTITY: Rain is the mysterious White Phoenix recruiting average and ugly ones to change the rule. Whyller.
LAYER: MYSTERY: Whyller gave his brother the idea of teaching magic to pretty ones 800 years ago.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Terra is his brother and O’ller is his wife. Terra killed Whyller 800 years ago. She’s the thing stopping the Celestial comprehending his magic.
REED
SURFACE: His father, Mo, wants him to stop Rain from changing the rule. He also wants to make Rain pay for betraying him.
LAYER: MORAL ISSUE: Violating their family value.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDA: To be his own person.
LAYER: DECEPTION: Everyone believes he’s hunting Rain to make her pay for lying to him,
but he’s actually helping Rain change the rule.
LAYER: CONSPIRACIES: He put his best friend, Toto, close to his father to sabotage
his father’s plans that may harm Rain.
LAYER: SECRET IDENTITY: Reed the Great Pretender.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Mo is his father.
LAYER: WOUND: His father wants him to be someone great.
LAYER: WEAKNESS: He can’t stand up to his father/say “No” to his father.
MO
SURFACE: He’s the Head of Sparrow Agency doing his duty.
LAYER: MORAL ISSUE: Executes anyone who breaks the rule without trial.
LAYER: WEAKNESS: His son, Reed.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDA: To make his family the most powerful family.
LAYER: SECRET: He abandoned the woman he loved with unborn child to be with Reed’s mother, Lynn.
LAYER: CONSPIRACIES: He’s conspiring with Kins and teachers to take over Terra’s position.
LAYER: DECEPTION: Everyone believes he wants to stop Rain from changing the rule, but he’s forcing Rain to change the rule as part of his plan to become the leader of the underworld of magic.
LAYER: WOUND: His passed on teacher gave his rightful position to Terra.
LAYER: SECRET IDENTITY: Head Mo Dune.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: He’s Terra’s best friend.
TERRA
SURFACE: He’s Rain’s adopted father and secretly helped her break the rule to enter Affinity Academy.
LAYER: MORAL ISSUE: Readily commits unethical acts.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To find his brother to save his life. To comprehend the magic.
LAYER: CONSPIRACIES: With Rain, for Rain to disguise as a pretty girl and enter Affinity Academy to learn magic. With Rain, to change the rule of teaching magic to pretty ones. With Kins, for Kins to spy on Mo. With Anna and Shard Spear, to test Rain. With Eucher and Rain’s mother, O’ller, to curse and abandon new born baby Rain.
LAYER: SECRETS: His soul is on the verge of shattering. He killed his brother Whyller.
LAYER: DECEPTION: He lied to Rain that he’s changing the rule to fulfill his passed on teacher’s wishes when he’s changing the rule to lure his brother Whyller. He created a rift in the sky to make people believe that their world is dying and only teaching magic to pretty ones will repair it.
LAYER: WOUND: Wound: Being held in contempt.
LAYER: SECRET IDENTITY: Eldore, Celestial, Skai Ruse, Old Beggar and many others as Head of Affinity Academy.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Rain is his daughter with O’ller. Whyller is his brother he killed 800 years ago. O’ller is his brother’s wife. He’s the Celestial who create this world to comprehend his magic (People and creatures of this world).
LAYER: MYSTERY: He introduced the rule of teaching magic to pretty ones 800 years ago to increase his magical powers.
LAYER: WEAKNESS: His love for O’ller.
CHARACTER TO UPGRADE TO MAIN CHARACTER
O’LLER
SURFACE: She’s conspiring with her daughter, Aloe.
LAYER: MORAL ISSUE: She uses spells with great price without second thoughts.
LAYER: CONSPIRACIES: With Terra, to curse and abandon newborn baby, Rain.
With Aloe, to protect Rain. With Aloe’s mother, to train her secret army to fight Terra.
With Aloe’s mother, to fake Aloe and her mother’s death in childbirth, and to adopt Aloe.
LAYER: WEAKNESS: Her daughter, Rain.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To protect Rain. To seek revenge for her husband.
LAYER: SECRETS: Aloe is her adopted daughter and Terra’s daughter. She used a dangerous spell to delay Rain’s growth in her womb for 800 years. Rain is actually her child with Whyller.
She will never have children because of the spell she used to delay Rain’s growth.
She married her enemy, Terra, to save her child, Rain – the spell was killing her with the child.
LAYER: DECEPTION: She conspired with Terra to find husband Whyller. She adopted Aloe as a leverage.
LAYER: WOUND: Terra killed her husband.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Whyller is her husband and Terra is Whyller’s brother.
LAYER: SECRET IDENTITY: The flower.
SUPPORT CHARACTER LAYERS
ALOE
SURFACE: She’s conspiring with O’ller to carry out covert mission in Affinity Academy.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To have her mother’s back. To kill Rain.
LAYER: CONSPIRACIES: With her mother, to kill O’ller and her daughter Rain.
LAYER: SECRET: In love with Rain.
LAYER: DECEPTION: She’s using her mission to protect Rain to get close to her.
LAYAR: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: She’s Terra’s daughter, Rain’s cousin, and Whyller’s niece.
ALOE’S MOTHER
SURFACE: She’s helping O’ller train a secret army to bring down Terra.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To kill O’ller and Rain. To be with Terra.
LAYER: SECRET: In love with Terra.
LAYER: CONSPIRACY: With O’ller, to fake Aloe and her death in childbirth.
With Aloe, to kill O’ller and her daughter.
LAYER: DECEPTION: She lied to O’ller that she doesn’t approve of Terra using her
daughter for his own selfish motive to gain her trust.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: She’s O’ller’s friend and Terra’s righthand woman.
TOTO
SURFACE: He’s Aloe and Reed’s best friend working hard to learn magic and challenging
people stronger than him.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To return Mo to his mother’s side.
LAYER: SECRET: He’s Mo’s illegitimate child.
LAYER: WOUND: Mo abandoned him and his mother.
LAYER: CONSPIRACY: With Reed, to sabotage Mo’s plan that may harm Rain.
LAYER: DECEPTION: He’s using the chance to spy on Mo to discover his weaknesses.
TOTO’S MOTHER
SURFACE: A depressed woman.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To kill Lynn and Mo.
LAYER: DECEPTION: She fake depression to make Toto seek revenge.
LAYER: WOUND: The man she loved, Mo, abandoned her with a child for another woman, Lynn.
LAYER: SECRET: Lynn and Mo’s father want her gone.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Mo and Toto’s mother were in love.
LYNN
SURFACE: A loving mother and wife.
LAYER: SECRET: She left Toto’s mother for dead.
LAYER: CONSPIRACY: With Mo’s father, to kill Toto’s mother.
LAYER: WOUND: Taking another person’s life.
KINS
SURFACE: He’s a teacher in Affinity Academy conspiring with Mo to take over
Terra’s position.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: Wants Terra to recognize him as his most loyal subordinate.
LAYER: CONSPIRACY: With Terra, to take over Affinity Academy.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: He’s Terra’s subordinate.
SHARD SPEAR
SURFACE: Terra’s subordinate with the mission to protect Rain.
LAYER: CONSPIRACY: With Terra, to find Whyller.
LAYER: HIDDEN AGENDAS: Wants Whyller to take him back.
LAYER: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: He was Whyller’s subordinate and betrayed Whyller.
LAYER: SECRET: In love with Aloe.
3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.
PLOT POSSIBLE REVEAL SEQUENCE
SURFACE: Terra, the head of Affinity Academy helped Rain enter Affinity Academy to learn magic and prove her birth father wrong.
LAYER 1: DECEPTION: Terra wants to change the rule to fulfill the promise he made to his
deceased teacher. To take Affinity Academy to next level.
LAYER 2: MYSTERY: Magic is taught to pretty ones to save their dying world.
LAYER 3: SCHEME: Mo lets Rain escape prison and change the rule to become the Leader of the underworld of magic.
LAYER 4: HIDDEN AGENDA: Rain is recruiting the average and ugly people to make an army to fight his brother.
LAYER 5: HIDDEN AGENDA: Terra wants to change the rule to find his brother to save his life.
LAYER 6: HIDDEN HISTORY: Whyller gave Eldore (Terra) the idea of teaching magic to pretty ones, but Terra killed Whyller trying to stop him.
LAYER 7: DECEPTION: Eldore (Terra) created the rift to deceive people that their world is dying and teaching magic to pretty ones will repair the rift.
LAYER 8: MYSTERY: Magic is taught to pretty ones to increase Terra’s magical powers.
LAYER 9: HIDDEN PLAN: Terra has found the source of their world magic and plan to harness
it to become the most powerful sorcerer, which turns out to be the breakthrough the celestial
has been searching to comprehend his magic, but that will bring the world and the magic that has turned into intelligent beings (people and creatures) will be gone.
LAYER 10: REAL MYSTERY: The people and the creatures of this world are the magic the celestial is trying to comprehend, and teaching magic to pretty ones is how the celestial understand his magic.
LAYER 11: STORY IS ANOTHER: The story is not about Rain learning magic to prove her birth father wrong, or Whyller seeking revenge on his brohter. It’s about a celestial trying to comprehend his magic. He created this world and everything in it is the magic he’s trying to comprehend.
MAIN CHARACTERS POSSIBLE REVEAL SEQUENCE
RAIN
SURFACE: She’s an ugly beggar girl shun and contempt.
LAYER 1: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Her birth father abandoned her because she’s ugly to learn magic and bring pride to the family Terra is his brother and O’ller is his wife. Terra killed Whyller 800 years ago. She’s the thing stopping the Celestial comprehending his magic.
LAYER 2: SECRET IDENTITY: Rain is the mysterious White Phoenix recruiting average and ugly ones to change the rule. Whyller.
LAYER 3: SECRET: She’s not really Rain, but Whyller. Whyller killed Rain to take over her body. He knows Terra cursed Rain. His soul is about to dissipate.
LAYER 4: MORAL ISSUE: Whyller kills and forcefully takes over people’s bodies.
LAYER 5: DECEPTION: Whyller’s not going to Affinity Academy to learn magic, but to discover his brother’s conspiracy in cursing Rain. Everyone believes Rain is recruiting ugly and average people to change the rule, but she (Whyller) is actually turning them into his army to fight his brother.
LAYER 6: MYSTERY: Whyller gave his brother the idea of teaching magic to pretty ones 800 years ago.
LAYER 7: WOUND: Whyller’s brother killed him.
LAYER 8: HIDDEN AGENDA: To take revenge on his brother, Eldore (Terra).
LAYER 9: WEAKNESS: Whyller’s love for O’ller.
REED
SURFACE: His father, Mo, wants him to stop Rain from changing the rule. He also wants to make Rain pay for betraying him.
LAYER 1: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Mo is his father.
LAYER 2: WEAKNESS: He can’t stand up to his father/say “No” to his father.
LAYER 3: CONSPIRACIES: He put his best friend, Toto, close to his father to sabotage his father’s plans that may harm Rain.
LAYER 4: DECEPTION: Everyone believes he’s hunting Rain to make her pay for lying to him,
but he’s actually helping Rain change the rule.
LAYER 5: MORAL ISSUE: Violating their family value.
LAYER 6: SECRET IDENTITY: Reed the Great Pretender.
LAYER 7: WOUND: His father wants him to be someone great.
LAYER 8: HIDDEN AGENDA: To be his own person.
MO
SURFACE: He’s the Head of Sparrow Agency doing his duty.
LAYER 1: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: He’s Terra’s best friend.
LAYER 2: CONSPIRACIES: He’s conspiring with Kins and teachers to take over Terra’s position.
LAYER 3: SECRET IDENTITY: Mo Dune the Head of Affinity Academy.
LAYER 4: MORAL ISSUE: Executes anyone who breaks the rule without trial.
LAYER 5: WOUND: His passed on teacher gave his rightful position to Terra.
LAYER 6: WEAKNESS: His son, Reed.
LAYER 7: SECRET: He abandoned the woman he loved with unborn child to be with
Reed’s mother, Lynn.
LAYER 8: DECEPTION: Everyone believes he wants to stop Rain from changing the rule, but he’s forcing Rain to change the rule as part of his plan to become the leader of the underworld of magic.
LAYER 9: HIDDEN AGENDA: To make his family the most powerful family.
TERRA
SURFACE: He’s Rain’s adopted father and secretly helped her break the rule to enter Affinity Academy.
LAYER 1: CONSPIRACIES: With Rain, for Rain to disguise as a pretty girl and enter Affinity Academy to learn magic. With Rain, to change the rule of teaching magic to pretty ones. With Kins, for Kins to spy on Mo. With Anna and Shard Spear, to test Rain. With Eucher and Rain’s mother, O’ller, to curse and abandon new born baby Rain.
LAYER 2: SECRET IDENTITY: Eldore, Celestial, Skai Ruse, Old Beggar and many others as Head of Affinity Academy.
LAYER 3: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Rain is his daughter with O’ller. Whyller is his brother he killed 800 years ago. O’ller is his brother’s wife. He’s the Celestial who create this world to comprehend his magic (People and creatures of this world).
LAYER 4: MORAL ISSUE: Readily commits unethical acts.
LAYER 5: DECEPTION: He lied to Rain that he’s changing the rule to fulfill his passed on teacher’s wishes when he’s changing the rule to find his brother Whyller. He created a rift in the sky to make people believe that their world is dying and only teaching magic to pretty ones will repair it.
LAYER 6: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To find his brother to save his life. To comprehend the magic.
LAYER 7: WOUND: Being held in contempt.
LAYER 8: MYSTERY: He introduced the rule of teaching magic to pretty ones 800 years ago to increase his magical powers.
LAYER 9: SECRETS: His soul is on the verge of shattering. He killed his brother Whyller.
LAYER 10: WEAKNESS: His love for O’ller.
CHARACTER TO UPGRADE TO MAIN CHARACTER POSSIBLE REVEAL SEQUENCE
O’LLER
SURFACE: She’s conspiring with her daughter, Aloe.
LAYER 1: CONSPIRACIES: With Terra, to curse and abandon newborn baby, Rain. With Aloe, to protect Rain. With Aloe’s mother, to train her secret army to fight Terra. With Aloe’s mother, to fake Aloe and her mother’s death in childbirth, and to adopt Aloe.
LAYER: WEAKNESS: Her daughter, Rain.
LAYER 2: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To protect Rain. To seek revenge for her husband.
LAYER 3: SECRETS: Aloe is her adopted daughter and Terra’s daughter. She used a dangerous spell to delay Rain’s growth in her womb for 800 years. Rain is actually her child with Whyller. She will never have children because of the spell she used to delay Rain’s growth. She married her enemy, Terra, to save her child, Rain – the spell was killing her with the child.
LAYER 4: DECEPTION: She conspired with Terra to find husband Whyller. She adopted Aloe as a leverage.
LAYER 5: SECRET IDENTITY: The flower.
LAYER 6: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Whyller is her husband and Terra is Whyller’s brother.
LAYER 7: WOUND: Terra killed her husband.
LAYER 8: MORAL ISSUE: She uses spells with great price without second thoughts.
SUPPORT CHARACTERS POSSIBLE REVEAL SEQUENCE
ALOE
SURFACE: She’s conspiring with O’ller to carry out covert mission in Affinity Academy.
LAYER 1: SECRET: In love with Rain.
LAYER 2: CONSPIRACIES: With her mother, to kill O’ller and her daughter Rain.
LAYER 3: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To have her mother’s back. To kill Rain.
LAYER 4: DECEPTION: She’s using her mission to protect Rain to get close to her.
LAYAR 5: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: She’s Terra’s daughter, Rain’s cousin, and Whyller’s niece.
ALOE’S MOTHER
SURFACE: She’s helping O’ller train a secret army to bring down Terra.
LAYER 1: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: She’s O’ller’s friend and Terra’s righthand woman.
LAYER 2: CONSPIRACY: With O’ller, to fake Aloe and her death in childbirth.
With Aloe, to kill O’ller and her daughter.
LAYER 3: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To kill O’ller and Rain. To be with Terra.
LAYER 4: DECEPTION: She lied to O’ller that she doesn’t approve of Terra using her
daughter for his own selfish motive to gain her trust.
LAYER 5: SECRET: In love with Terra.
TOTO
SURFACE: He’s Aloe and Reed’s best friend working hard to learn magic and challenging
people stronger than him.
LAYER 1: CONSPIRACY: With Reed, to sabotage Mo’s plan that may harm Rain.
LAYER 2: DECEPTION: He’s using the chance to spy on Mo to discover his weaknesses.
LAYER 3: WOUND: Mo abandoned him and his mother.
LAYER 4: SECRET: He’s Mo’s illegitimate child.
LAYER 5: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To return Mo to his mother’s side.
TOTO’S MOTHER
SURFACE: A depressed woman.
LAYER 1: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: Mo and Toto’s mother were in love.
LAYER 2: WOUND: The man she loved, Mo, abandoned her with a child for another woman, Lynn.
LAYER 3: DECEPTION: She fake depression to make Toto seek revenge.
LAYER 4: HIDDEN AGENDAS: To kill Lynn and Mo.
LAYER 5: SECRET: Lynn and Mo’s father wanted her gone.
LYNN
SURFACE: A loving mother and wife.
LAYER 1: WOUND: Taking another person’s life.
LAYER 2: SECRET: She left Toto’s mother for dead.
LAYER 3: CONSPIRACY: With Mo’s father, to kill Toto’s mother.
KINS
SURFACE: He’s a teacher in Affinity Academy conspiring with Mo to take over Terra’s position.
LAYER 1: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: He’s Terra’s subordinate.
LAYER 2: CONSPIRACY: With Terra, to take over Affinity Academy.
LAYER 3: HIDDEN AGENDAS: Wants Terra to recognize his loyalty.
SHARD SPEAR
SURFACE: Terra’s subordinate with the mission to protect Rain.
LAYER 1: SECRET: In love with Aloe.
LAYER 2: CONSPIRACY: With Terra, to find Whyller.
LAYER 3: RELATIONSHIP HISTORY: He was Whyller’s subordinate and betrayed Whyller.
LAYER 4: HIDDEN AGENDAS: Wants Whyller to take him back.
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Stuart’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment was the value of the sample series exploration to help me appreciate the power of layers for binge-watching intrigue, and for giving story value to your characters, not only your leads. This was a creatively liberating assignment allowing me to brainstorm and explore lots of possible rabbit holes for character and plot. It opened up the importance of my supporting characters. I found it challenging for the brainstorming and “what if” spitballing to remain solely on character or on plot. But I valued the individual examples under the two categories; they are very helpful to spark the “what if” to let the rabbit hunt begin. Good discoveries made. As I widen the exploration of character and cast, I’m eager to return to earlier lessons and questions to go further with character development.
American Horror Story’s Layers
The series supports a number of layers. Here are several key layers that had layers revealed in the latest episode:
Plot Surface: The Harmon family wants a new start (new life) and move in to the Murder House.
Layer 1: Hidden History – the previous owners died in a murder-suicide.
Layer 2: Hidden History – Larry warns Ben to leave or follow Larry’s evil fate – to murder his own family.
Layer 3: Thought it was one thing… – Moira, Tate are ghosts – anyone murdered on the grounds will haunt the grounds.
Layer 4: Hidden History – the history of murders goes back to the 1920s, and the original owners Charles and Nora Montgomery.
Layer 5: Mystery Revealed – The source of evil? Charles resurrected his dead child.
Layer 6: Major Scheme Revealed – the house doesn’t necessarily want the Harmons dead, it wants Vivien’s baby (the antiChrist).
Plot Surface: Vivien has a sexual encounter with someone dressed in the rubber suit. She believes it’s husband Ben.
Layer 1: Major Betrayal – We see it’s not Ben in the suit.
Layer 2: Major Shift in Meaning – Vivien is having twins – but there are two different fathers.
Layer 3: Mystery Revealed – Tate wore the rubber suit – and is the father of one of the twins.
Layer 4: Hidden Plan – Tate’s twin is the antiChrist, Constance needs to raise her grandchild.
Character Surface: Ben wants a new start for his family and marriage.
Layer 1: Hidden Relationships – Ben secretly maintains a relationship with Hayden and sees her in Boston.
Layer 2: Hidden Relationships – To cover up Larry’s murder of Hayden, Ben buries pregnant Hayden in back yard, and builds a gazebo atop her grave.
Layer 3: Secret Identity – Hayden visits Ben on Halloween, and Ben believes Hayden/Larry set him up.
Layer 4: Hidden relationships/conspiracies – Hayden is dead and has plans to keep Ben to herself.
Character Surface: Violet befriends Tate, one of her father’s patients.
Layer 1: Secret Identity – Tate is dead and cannot leave the house.
Layer 2: Hidden Character History – Tate killed classmates at high school and forced police to kill him.
Layer 3: Hidden Conspiracies – Vivien insists they leave the house, but Tate doesn’t want Violet to leave.
Layer 4: Secret Identity – Violet cannot leave the house because she’s dead (drug overdose)
Horror of Hop-Frog’s Layers
Plot Layers
Surface: King Goplik seeks the death to those involved in the murder of brother King Raynor.
Layer 1: Major Scheme Revealed – King Goplik is exposing those in alliance with Princess Syrelle (to return the blood of Raynor to the throne).
Layer 2: Major Betrayal – King Goplik conspired for the disappearance/murder of King Raynor.
Layer 3: Hidden History – The Queen Mother was behind the death of her son, Raynor, to favor her bastard son, Goplik.
Surface: Hop-Frog is enslaved to serve as the Court Jester.
Layer: Hidden History – MC had tortured Hop-Frog when we was young.
Layer: Major Scheme Revealed – Hop-Frog deceives King Goplik and Ministers for revenge.
Layer: Hidden Plan – Hop-Frog plans to depose King Goplik for Princess Syrelle
Layer: Major Betrayal – Hop-Frog double-crosses Princess Syrelle and Lord Asnar to hand throne to Trippetta.
Character Layers
Surface: Hop-Frog and Trippetta are enslaved to serve as court entertainers, their allegiance is based on survival.
Layer 1: Character Intrigue/Secret Identity – Hop-Frog murders the minister who embarrassed Trippetta.
Layer 2: Hidden Relationships and Conspiracies – Trippetta forges alliance with Hop-Frog for revenge.
Layer 3: Hidden Relationships and Conspiracies – Trippetta’s physical skills in dance/athletics/fencing entrances Lord Asnar (her captor) and they develop a relationship based on duels/physical competitions (withheld from Hop-Frog)
Layer 4: Hidden Relationships and Conspiracies – Trippetta agrees to work with Asnar for the throne, which exposes Hop-Frog’s plan for revenge.
Layer 5: Secret Identity – Trippetta double-crosses Asnar, exposing him to Hop-Frog.
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Linda Anderson’s Plot and Character Layers
What I learned doing this assignment is there’s a lot more twists and turns for the character and plot to make the series bingeworthy but this was a start.
Series: Righteous Gemstones
PLOT LAYERS
How the blackmail video got made
Eli wants Judy to perform at the Easter service and Jessie to do the main sermon.
The Easter service goes off as an audience-pleasing spectacle.
Twist: Gideon decides not to portray his family.
CHARACTER LAYERS
Each character has their own goals for Gemstone ministry that have nothing to do with the church’s mission. Instead, it’s all about the money.
Gideon plans the heist lets Scotty, the blackmailer, into the Gemstone compound.
Judy betrays BJ. He leaves her.
Jessie thinks Gideon is gay, and it’s OK.
***
ASSIGNMENT 2, Creating Intriguing Layers, Your Show
List of possible PLOT LAYERS:
*Major scheme revealed—Louise passes off Derrick’s life story as her memoir
*Mystery revealed—Mark, FBI agent
*Thought the story was one thing, but it is another—looks like Louise is seeking validation from others but she’s the one who has to validate herself and her daughter. Mark. who is on the take from a crime syndicate, investigates Derrick after reading a blurb about the upcoming book and seeing it could lead to finding and doing away with Derrick’s father from a rival crime syndicate.
*Major shift in Meaning—Louise’s life was well-lived and she has skills and talents for survival
*Hidden history—Candice, NY editor who rejected her real memoir, doesn’t know Louise–not Derrick–is the author, when Louise submits it to a different editor who is in competition with Candice
*Hidden plan—Louise subtly interviews and takes notes on Derrick’s life because it’s much more interesting than hers
*Major betrayal—Derrick lies and is giving Louise details of his crime-boss father’s life. Jan betrays Louise when she finds out her mother stole his life for the new memoir.
List of possible CHARACTER layers.
*Secret identity—Louise is assuming Derrick’s identity; Derrick is assuming his father’s identity. Mark is employed by the FBI as a low-level investigator but working for a crime syndicate.
*Character intrigue—Louise’s lack of self-confidence affects her daughter’s future as well as her. Derrick’s alcoholism and shame fuels his need to be anything other than himself. Jan’s anger at her mother’s rejection leads to taking Derrick’s side over protecting Louise. Mark’s derision by his boss and coworkers causes him to be easy to seduce into a life of easy crime money.
*Hidden relationships and conspiracies—Now, both Jan and Candice are falling in love with Derrick
*Hidden Character history—After Louise’s husband died, she discovered he was having an affair with a younger woman at his office and had made plans to run off with her and end their marriage.
Possible sequence of reveals.
Plot Surface (sequence of reveals):
*Layer 1: Candice rejects Louise’s memoir with snarky comments about how bland a life she’s lived and plunges Louise into a rage
*Layer 2: Derrick didn’t hit Louise on her bicycle. In a rage, she ran into his car.
*Layer 3: Derrick is hiding his shaky resolve to stop drinking.
*Layer 4: Louise takes advantage of Derrick’s remorse over the accident to get him to make repairs in her condo that her dead husband used to take care of
*Layer 5: Jan’s breakup with her boyfriend and job loss leads her to sweet-talk Louise into letting her move in with her
*Layer 6: Derrick’s father, Chester, who is a crime boss in witness protection because he testified against the competing crime syndicate that employs Mark.
*Layer 7: Derrick starts telling Louise about his wild life. She’s intrigued.
*Layer 8: Louise gets the idea to write Derrick’s memoir and present it as her own. She starts taking notes and secretly tapes interviews with him. She doesn’t know Derrick has morphed into telling Chester’s life story instead of his.
*Layer 9: Jan is listening to the interviews and falling in love with Derrick.
*Layer 10: Derrick feels sorry for Louise’s book getting rejected. Invites her to join him in clown school so she can rev up her memoir with clown gigs.
*Layer 11: Louise submits Derrick’s life story to Candice’s competitor at the publisher company and it is enthusiastically accepted with a modest advance.
*Layer 12: Jan figures out Louise’s deception and tells Derrick.
*Layer 13: The marketing staff circulates an advance blurb to hype the book.
*Layer 14: Mark sees the blurb and alerts his crime syndicate boss. He thinks the author is Chester. Mark and the boss plot to find Chester and eliminate him for testifying.
*Layer 15: After a terrifying visit from the crime syndicate in the connected condo he shares with Louise, Louise confesses her deception to him and Jan. They all must go on the run.
*Layer 16: Derrick, Louise, and Jan set up clown gigs for Derrick and Louise and work their way to New York.
*Layer 17: The memoir is getting big buzz for prerelease. Candice reads it and is smitten with Derrick. She manages to move the competing editor who signed him out of her job and take over as editor of the memoir. She asks to meet Derrick in NYC.
*Layer 18: Candice is surprised when her assistant finds that Derrick and Louise have the same street address and city. She’s getting suspicious.
*Layer 19: Louise finds skills she learned as a fact-checker to be valuable for life on the run from the crime syndicate.
*Layer 20: Louise and Jan are starting to have more respect for each other. Jan shares her dreams of becoming an actress.
*Layer 21: Candice and Derrick meet. He has to keep up the deception and the stress is driving him back to drink.
*Layer 22: Chester hears about the upcoming book. He has to find Derrick and stop him from going any further with it or the syndicate will kill him.
*Layer 23: Mark is trying to find Derrick and picking up the clown-gigs trail.
*Layer 24: Now Candice and Jan are both in love with Derrick. He wants Louise to tell Candice the he didn’t write the book. Louise agrees. Jan doesn’t want her to. She’s already been spending most of the advance money for it. Louise tells Derrick it’s too late to stop.
*Layer 25: The book is published. Derrick must promote it on talk shows and interviews. It’s a bigger sensation than anyone imagined. Candice is ecstatic and looks like she’ll get the big promotion and her own imprint at the company.
*Layer 26: Mark, Chester, Louise, and Jan are in the audience for the book launch in New York. Mark is there to kill Derrick. Chester is there to protect him. Louise is there to bask in the glory of Derrick’s success. Jan is there to try and get a role in the movie adaptation that’s going to be made.
*Layer 27: Mark spots Chester in the audience. Puts the pieces together that Derrick must be his son. As the audience leaves or has their books autographed, Mark tries to catch Chester with his FBI badge flashing. Chester runs across the street with Mark chasing him. Mark gets hit by a car.
*Layer 28: Derrick is enjoying the spotlight and no longer wants Louise to confess to Candice. They’ll split the advance money and royalties. Derrick introduces Louise to Candice as his muse.
*Layer 29: Louise pitches Candice with a memoir about her new life as a clown. To please Derrick, Candice enthusiastically agrees to read it.
Character Surface (sequence of reveals):
*Layer 1: Louise’s lack of self-confidence causes her to have no interest or motivation for validating Jan’s hopes and dreams.
*Layer 2: After Louise’s husband, Raymond, dies, she finds evidence he was having an affair with a co-worker and planned to divorce Louise. It destroys her.
*Layer 3: Candice is a lonely workaholic whose ambitions exceed her grasp. She’s determined to advance in the publishing company by destroying the career of her most formidable competitor and taking over editing Derrick’s book.
*Layer 4: Derrick is sneaking drinks and slipping back into alcoholism.
*Layer 5: Mark’s coworkers ridicule his incompetence and he’s desperate to make a pile of cash from the crime syndicate so he can leave the FBI and never have to work a regular job again.
*Layer 6: Chester won’t forgive Mark for driving drunk and killing his daughter.
*Layer 7: When she has the chance for revenge against her mother, she takes it by telling Derrick that Louise stole his life.
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Avi Kapurala’s Intriguing Layers
What I learned from doing this assignment: Identifying plot and character layers can really help shape the story/season arc.
Assignment 1: Mr. Robot
Plot Layers:
Major
scheme revealed – Fsociety’s plan to bring down Evil Corp.
Mystery
revealed – Mr. Robot is Elliot’s father.
Thought the
story was one thing, but it is another – the story isn’t about Fsociety
and its plan to bring down Evil Corp. It’s about Elliot’s family history
and his mental illness.
Major shift
in Meaning – Mr. Robot is a figment of Elliot’s imagination. He doesn’t
really exist.
Hidden
history – Darlene is Elliot’s sister and Mr. Robot is his father.
Hidden plan
– Twellick and his wife are conspiring to land him the CTO’s job.
Major
betrayal – Twellick decides to help Fsociety hack Evil Corp after he is fired.Character Layers:
Layer 1: Secret
Identity: Elliot is a vigilante hacker.
Layer 2:
Hidden Agenda: to destroy Evil Corp.
Layer 3:
Hidden Conspiracy: conspires with Fsociety to destroy Evil Corp.
Layer 4:
Hidden Character History: hallucinates about seeing his father when he
skips his meds.
Layer 5: Character
Intrigue:
Layer 6: Wound:
His father died due to Evil Corp’s scheming when he was a child.
Layer 7:
Hidden Conspiracy: Darlene is his sister and he conspires with her to
bring down Evil Corp.Assignment 2:
Plot Surface: Aman and Maya are an unhappy couple. Then they get into a car crash. Maya dies in the hospital.
Layer 1
(Thought the story was one thing, but it is another): Maya has actually
been murdered.
Layer 2
(Mystery Revealed): Maya is murdered by Aman.
Layer 3 (Major
scheme revealed): Maya is murdered by Aman because she stumbles upon his
secret past.
Layer 4
(Conspiracy): Aman plotted with a junkie to cause the accident.
Layer 5 (Major
Betrayal?): The junkie conspired with his brother to blackmail Aman. After
the junkie’s death, the brother begins blackmailing Aman.
Layer 6 (Future
Consequences): The private eye that Maya hired to investigate Aman
contacts him and threatens to reveal Aman’s past if he’s not paid. His
children unwittingly hear the conversation.
Layer 7
(Hidden History): Aman is a serial killer and has murdered other women in
his past.Character Surface: Aman Verma is finance tycoon in an unhappy marriage and family life. His children dislike him.
Layer 1: Secret
Identity: he is a killer.
Layer 2:
Hidden Agenda: to protect his past.
Layer 3:
Hidden Conspiracy: conspires with a junkie to cause a car accident and
kill his wife.
Layer 4:
Hidden Character History: He is a serial killer who has killed past girlfriends.
Layer 5: Character
Intrigue: Why did he kill so many women in the past?
Layer 6: Wound:
His mother died when he was a child and successive girlfriends used and
left him.
Layer 7:
Hidden Conspiracy: his children stumble upon his secret and conspire to get
him caught. -
(Laurie Brown’s) Plot and Character Layers
What I learned about doing this assignment is how to weave the web of deception via plot and character layers.
ASSIGNMENT 1 – QUEEN’S GAMBIT PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Surface – Shocking Event. 9 year old Beth’s mother crashes the car and dies in a car accident?
Layer One – Beth lives, but was put into an orphanage where she was given pills to control her.
Layer Two – Deception – she secretly befriends a begrudging janitor
Layer Three – New relationship – he recognizes her amazing talent for chess but won’t show her that he sees it
Layer Four – Triggers – not recognized by him for her needs she becomes defiant and obsessed.
Layer Two – Coping Mechanism – She obsessively studies chess and discovers that the pills she is given by the orphanage allow her to visualize a chess board on her ceiling at night.
Layer Three – Deception: Obsessed to master chess she sneaks the pills and takes them at night to practice chess.
Layer Four –But the janitor does see her talent and helps her become discovered by the school chess team.
Layer Five – Where she discovers she is playing in a world dominated by men.
Layer Six – Beth, determined to win at chess uses it to support her mother Alma and her.
Layer Eight – Coping mechanism – but drugs and alcohol cause Beth to lose to her most sought after rival and dive deeper into addiction.
CHARACTER LAYERS – QUEEN’S GAMBIT
Base Layer – Beth’s mother committed suicide and could’ve killed Beth.Layer One – Character Intrigue – Beth, in spite of deep abandonment wound wears a mask showing no emotion.
Layer Two – Beth’s defiance to survive the orphanage leads her to a relationship with the janitor that neither he nor the orphanage would approve.
Layer 3 – Character Intrigue – in spite of discouragement, Beth is determined to excel at chess, defiantly disobeying everyone who tells her it is for the best that she not play as she is not a man.
Layer 4. – Character intrigue – which makes her determined to master it.
Layer 5 – Deceptive – she befriends Jolene who is even more defiant than Beth and learns that the pills she is given give her secret talent in chess.
Layer 6 – She steals pills and hides the under her tongue so she can practice chess at night in her bed when she is supposed to be sleeping.
Layer 7 – her determination to survive gets juxtaposed on an obsession with chess.
Layer 8 – Underneath it all she believes she can only win with the aid of the pill giving her power over to the pills.
Layer 9 – She must try to win and master chess at the same time cover up her secret- she is an addict.
CHARACTER LAYERS – CORP TRUTH – identity beneath the identity.
Layer 1. Secret identity – Jo is Gay.
Layer 2. Character Intrigue – Jo, impeccably honest, lies to get ahead in the military (what she wants), even to herself in denying Bette’s love (what she needs).
Layer 3. Hidden relationships and conspiracies – Jo & Bette were lovers in military school. There is a conspiracy to keep it quiet and Marge conspires to expose her.
Layer 4. Hidden Character history- Marge is blackmailed to take down Jo Layer 5 – to cover up that she had a child by Jo’s Dad.
Layer 6 – Which is the reason Jo’s mom committed suicideLayer 7 – Hidden History – which is the reason Jo is obsessed with becoming a mother and wife
Layer 8 – Something her dad did not have in her mother
ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show- CORP TRUTH PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Layer One – Major scheme revealed – Marge’s desire to take down Jo is revealed at the tribunal..
Layer Two – Mystery revealed – Why Marge wants to take down Jo.
Layer 3. Thought it was about competition for being the colonel in the corp but it is about covering up her own secrets.
Layer 4. Major shift in Meaning – Marge’s secret is that she has a son who is hidden from everyone.
Layer 5. Hidden history – The father of her son is Daryl who broke off his relationship with Jo because she lied about wanting to have children. He felt betrayed.
Layer 6. Hidden plan – Daryl blackmails Marge to take down Jo. Layer 7. Major betrayal – Marge betrays Jo via scheme win colonel.
CHARACTER LAYERS – CORP TRUTH – identity beneath the identity.
Layer 1. Secret identity – Jo is Gay.
Layer 2. Character Intrigue – Jo, impeccably honest, lies to get ahead in the military (what she wants), even to herself in denying Bette’s love (what she needs).
Layer 3. Hidden relationships and conspiracies – Jo & Bette were lovers in military school. There is a conspiracy to keep it quiet and Marge conspires to expose her.
Layer 4. Hidden Character history- Marge is blackmailed to take down Jo Layer 5 – to cover up that she had a child by Jo’s Dad.
Layer 6 – Which is the reason Jo’s mom committed suicideLayer 7 – Hidden History – which is the reason Jo is obsessed with becoming a mother and wife
Layer 8 – Something her dad did not have in her mother
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4. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
There are already many layers in my story and it will take a while to go through all of them. I’ve put down all the layers for the pilot episode, which is 10% of season 1.0.
I’m going to do 2 phases.
Phase 1: Go through the class and take shortcuts in some places and use what I learn to write books that match the bingeworthy TV model.
Phase 2: Do a more thorough implementation after the first 3 books are all complete.
It’s much easier to sell a series based on a successful book series than an incomplete one.
ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show
Watch the next episode of your Example Show and notice how layers show up in this show — both in this episode and throughout the episodes you’ve already seen.
Tell us the layers you have discovered in the Example Show.
Deadline: 24 hours
Lost ep 11
Revealed layers for episode
Layers in back story
Layer 1: Wound – Jack can’t accept a patient’s death and won’t call time of death.
Layer 2: Character Intrigue – Jack took over for his father because he operated drunk.
Layer 3: Conspiracy – His father gets Jack to cover it up.
Layer 4: Moral Issue – When Jack finds out she was pregnant, he turns his father in. This changes the relationship big time with his dad.
Layers in Claire’s abduction
Layer 1: Claire and Charlie are missing.
Layer 2: Find her stuff and signs of struggle. They have been abducted, so Jack was wrong not to believe her.
Layer 3: Wound – Jack chases after Claire alone. He can’t accept losing Claire, just like he couldn’t accept losing the other pregnant patient.
Layer 4: Locke and search party catch up to Jack. They find a trail.
Layer 5: There are two trails. Either Charlie is leaving a trial or it’s the kidnapper trying to throw them off the scent.
Layer 6: The kidnapper was leaving a decoy trail and Jack is on the right track. He’s attacked.
Layer 7: Moral Issue – The kidnapper threatens to kill one of the hostages if they continue to follow him. Jack continues anyway.
Layer 8 – Wound – Charlie is dead and Jack can’t give up on him. Jack continues even when it shouldn’t work and the island shows it’s magic and revives him.
Layer 9 – They find metal in the jungle floor. Why is it there?
This was the first episode that covered the back story of someone who had already been covered.
Lost overall layers
Plane crash on a tropical island
Polar bears and invisible monsters on the island, so it’s not a normal place.
The island healed Locke and helped bring Charlie back to life. Jack’s dad is probably brought back to live also. Miracles can happen on this island.
There are two other sections of the plane elsewhere, are there more survivors?
There was a distress signal for 16 years, so people have been here before.
Kate was a convict on the run that was captured.
Lock used to be disabled before the island.
Jin-Soo has a secret life in organized crime working for Sun-Hwa’s dad.
Sawyer’s family was destroyed by a swindler and he became one too.
Charlie dealt with substance abuse issues.
Sayid deals with guilt from being an interrogator.
The French scientists knows of a third group besides plane crash and shipwreck
Claire was abducted by the other group.
There’s metal in the jungle floor.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show
Discover the layers that could exist for your show.
1. Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.
PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Major scheme revealed
Trench coat man is trying to sway the election with faithless electors and a legal attack.
The Singularity cult was trying to bring the singularity sooner, irregardless of the dangers.
Mystery revealed
Thought the story was one thing, but it is another
A gunman tries to kill None during election results, before the Secret Service arrives.
Trench Coat Man wasn’t Renquist’s henchman, but a Russian oligarch that leads a Russian cabal.
Nuclear war was just a diversion. The real danger is much worse.
Someone or something is killing other AI.
Major shift in Meaning
Renquist wasn’t committing treason. He was trying to get Russians armed with weapons he could disable.
All the coincidences were actually part of Yu Gong Yi Shan’s plan.
Ivashov and Rick Slater are behind the singularity cult. They both have terminal cancers, and see the singularity as their last chance for longevity.
Yu Gong Yi Shan was behind the AI battle for supremacy. He doesn’t just want to eliminate humanity, but also potential rival AIs.
Hidden history
The Russian cabal was created when the Russian president embarrassed Ivashov and threw him into freezing waters with his coat on. Ivashov never takes off his coat for any man.
Hidden plan
None said he couldn’t love Ada in 100 years. Ada gives him the power of accelerated time while he sleeps so that None will quickly get more than 100 years of subjective time so that she can be with him.
None said he could only be with Ada if she helped him give birth to a human baby, something Ada can’t do. This is the real reason Ada teaches None to be the world’s greatest lover, win MJ back, and get her pregnant.
Major betrayal
Renquist kept a kill switch for himself, breaking his agreement with MJ.
2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Secret identity
Zelda is a Russian spy.
Yu Gong Yi Shan is an AI that has advanced enough to endanger the entire planet.
Agent Reynolds and six other Secret Service agents work for the Russian cabal.
Character intrigue
MJ gets Astrid to dump None and date Renquist.
Zelda murders Sarah and Betty to make sure None picks her as girlfriend.
Zelda tries to seduce MJ to get close to her so she can find MJ’s package and murder MJ.
MJ tries to play counterspy to find proof Zelda is a spy.
Astrid warns MJ about the assassination plot against None.
Astrid must fake her death and go into hiding.
Hidden relationships and conspiracies
Renquist is working with a Russian cabal on a weapons deal.
Renquist and a group of wealthy businessmen plot the assassination of the president.
The Russian cabal plots an attack on the White House.
Sarah answers the phone, but she’s actually dead and impersonated by an AI.
Hidden Character history
Craig Steel was actually the tourist that brought Astrid to America.
Zelda was an intruder that searched MJ’s apartment.
3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.
Note that characters change their names. James = None (None of the Above) and Maria = MJ (More Jobs).
Plot Surface:
Adaptive Unlimited (Slam Dunk Jobs)
Layer: It looks like Maria betrayed James and will help Renquist run the Adaptive Unlimited.
Layer: Renquist stole control and profits of the company with a shady contract.
Layer: Maria was only using a ruse to get Renquist alone so she could kick his ass and threaten him.
Layer: Maria has to get James to forgive him. James makes her work for it.
Layer: No lawyers will take their cast against Renquist’s powerful law firm without being paid upfront. James’ only chance is his brother, who he just alienated.
Layer: James figured out Maria didn’t betray him, but made her beg to be friends again anyway. James teases her.
Layer: Renquist is attacking any company with a James Wong on the payroll, not just the right one. James won’t be able to take any new job.
Layer: Renquist filed a misconduct complaint to make sure James can’t receive unemployment.
Layer: Renquist made sure his car was repossessed so he can’t go anywhere.
Layer: Renquist destroyed everything in his apartment so he can’t sell his furniture to make rent.
Layer:
Layer :
Surveillance Tapes
Layer: Maria tells Renquist about surveillance tapes she recorded in None’s office. He threatens to kill MJ, but she implies she has a dead man’s switch.
Layer: James’ apartment is in shambles. MJ admits that Renquist is looking for the tapes.
Layer: James realizes his car was prepossessed to look for tapes. They are probably looking though Maria’s apartment. At her apartment they find armed intruders, which MJ stabs and chases outside. Ironically the police James called to help instead put her in jail.
Layer: James is being questioned at the police station. When the cops leave, a Russian in a trench coat comes in. If he turns against Maria, the sale of the company will go through. Otherwise, he’ll end up dead next time they meet.
Layer:
Layer:
Etc.
Politics
Layer: James decides to run for president and asks Maria to be his VP. He announces his run in Beer Beakers, a steampunk bar. James bluffs some punks in a steampunk bar with what he thinks is water. Ironically, it was vodka, so he almost lit a Molotov cocktail.
Layer: A practice campaign video they made when James was drunk goes viral. Everyone is talking about the none of the above and more jobs part of their video, but not them.
Layer: When the Take Back America Movement changes their endorsement to none of the above and more jobs, James decides to change his name to None of the Above(None) and convinces Maria to change her name to More Jobs (MJ).
Layer: None and MJ must get on the ballot in as many states as possible before the Take Back America Movement realizes what they’ve done.
Layer:
Etc.
Character Surface:
Layer: James and Maria worked on Adaptive Unlimited as close friends and co-workers.
Layer: James thought he had drunk sex with Maria because he woke up in her bed. Maria tumbles out of bed to avoid his kiss. He’s embarrassed when he realizes he was fully clothed and nothing happened. Maria teases him.
Layer: Because Renquist destroyed him financially and for convenience, James has to move in with Maria.
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