Day 2 Assignments

[Bob Rowen]

DAY 2 ASSIGNMENT

Bob Rowen’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is a process of developing the characters for my story.

Role of the Protagonist: FIGHTER. The Protagonist confronts the government (AEC) and corporate America (PGE) regarding the failed and dangerous Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant. He goes public with what he knows putting himself and his family at risk.

Role of the Antagonist: AUTHORITY. The Antagonist does whatever it takes to promote and protect Humboldt Bay’s nuclear technology. He threatens the Protagonist and bad things happen.

Genre: DRAMA

Lead Character Profiles:

· VIRGIL PRATER (late 20s) is the PROTAGONIST. He is a courageous former Marine and a black and white thinker. Virgil initially believed PGE’s Big Lie (supported by the government) that nuclear power is safe, clean, and economical. After becoming a nuclear control technician for PGE, Virgil comes face to face with PGE’s big lie.

· Internal Journey: From naïve and trusting to aware and confrontation

· External Journey: From supporting nuclear power to WHISTLEBLOWER

· EDGAR WEEKS (early 40s) is the ANTAGONIST. Edgar is the Nuclear Plant Engineer in charge of all technical staff and nuclear operations. He is ruthless, ambitious, and willing to do whatever it takes to promote and protect the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant.

· Internal Journey: From believing he could change Virgil to neutralizing him

· External Journey: From asserting radiation contamination is just a nuisance to his demise

Other Characters:

· KATHRYN PRATER (late 20s), Virgil’s wife. Kathryn strives to change Virgil’s Marine Corps mindset in order to save their marriage.

· FORREST WILLIAMS (early 30s), nuclear control technician. Forrest helps Virgil change his view of nuclear power.

· RAYMOND SKIDMORE (late 30s), nuclear control technician. Unlike the rest of the nuclear control technicians, Raymond agrees with Virgil and Forrest but feels he has to do what’s necessary to keep his job.

· DR. KASUN (mid-50’s), university professor. Dr. Kasun befriends Virgil and provides support and advice to him regarding his trials and tribulations of whistleblowing.

· RALPH KRAUSE (late 50s), Virgil’s former high school science teacher who is supportive of Virgil’s whistleblowing.

[Terry Drayer]

Terry Drayer’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is that these Profile points are enormously helpful in bringing my protagonist to life.

1. Pick the type of role your Protagonist will play and give us a few sentences on how they will fulfill that role.

Victim: As a
victim of her family’s poverty, she understands her “duty,” but hates and
fears the family into which she’s been sold.

Runner: She is
fleeing her new bond, as that’s the only way to survive. But if she warns
her father and brothers of the danger she’s putting them in, she will be
in just as much danger from them.

Dreamer: She imagines
a brighter future and discovers a way to bring prosperity back to her village and to her family.

2. Pick the type of role your Antagonist will play and give us a few sentences on how they will fulfill that role.

Villain: The Atlas
Mountains in which the girl lives become the very prison that entraps her.
Predator: The
village chief’s younger son pursues the girl on the pretense of restoring
his family’s honor, but he cares less for his father’s standing in the village
than his own conquest of his father’s new young “wife.”

3. What other characters might be necessary?

Supporting
characters:
The Rock Climbers who try to help her at their own peril

Minor roles: The Girl’s
family, various mountain inhabitants she encounters as she travels

4. Pick your genre….Drama

5. Fill in whatever answers come to you about your lead character profiles.

Role in the
story:
As the youngest child of a poor farming family, the protagonist is sold
into marriage to the village chief who has two sons of his own.

Age range and
Description:
12 or 13, small, shy and terrified of her new “husband” and his youngest
son.

Internal
Journey:
from weak and afraid to strong and determined

External
Journey:
from being an obedient child to becoming a fiercely independent girl who
faces her fears and gains control of her own fate

Motivation: to escape a
life of servitude to her husband and the brutality of his son

Wound: her husband or
his son might kill her family if she tries to escape

Mission/Agenda: to escape and
keep her family safe at the same time

Secret: she learned
special healing skills from her mother who was considered the village
witch and was killed because a child she was healing died

What makes her
special? The
determination and resilience she learned from her mother, who was also
sold as a child.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Terry Drayer.

[Arial Burnz]

What I learned doing this assignment is…the freedom of letting go of old ideas and embracing new ones. I love the simplicity of the tools and examples, which help me focus.

This story is based on Alexandre Dumas’s novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” – set in a fantasy world, I have flipped the genders of most of the characters and the treasure the main character gains also has magic, therefore the working title is “The Sorceress of Monte Cristo“.

Pick the type of role your Protagonist will play and give us a few sentences on how they will fulfill that role.

Victim: Aylen is a very sweet half-elf girl, but a bit of a doormat. She doesn’t really stick up for herself, not interested in making a name for herself, and is just content with status quo. Her mother, who is a full-blooded elf, taught her to lay low and not cause trouble. Elves are the minority in this part of the world. Aylen has a human boyfriend, Dillon, whom she’s loved since childhood and lives vicariously through him. He wants to see the world and the two of them are saving up their money to leave their small village and explore. But Aylen lacks the courage to be her own person and she primarily lives for others – either in a supporting fashion or as a servant.

Pick the type of role your Antagonist will play and give us a few sentences on how they will fulfill that role.

Villain: Sidero – name means “evil nymph” – Aylen’s human friend since they were children. Aylen’s mother used to be Sidero’s mother’s personal attendant, so the girls knew each other growing up. Sidero is the daughter of a Lord, a bit of a spoiled brat who is used to getting her way, and she has her eyes on Dillon, Aylen’s boyfriend.

Change Agent: Shaton – means “Swordsman, Knife, Single Edged Knife, Teacher”. This woman becomes Aylen’s mentor – an older woman and Aylen’s cell mate in prison who takes Aylen under her wing to be her teacher and friend. It is Shaton who will give Aylen not only the ability to be an independent person, but gift her the location of a treasure, which will contain a magical relic that will give Aylen great power.

What other characters might be necessary?

Supporting characters:

• Dillon – Aylen’s love interest. Childhood friends who grew to love each other and they are separated when Aylen goes to prison. He’s a Luke Skywalker personality, always looking for adventure and excitement.
• Gwendolyn “Gwen” – When Aylen escapes prison, she will rescue Gwen, which will cause Gwen to swear a life oath to serve Aylen until her debt is paid. Gwen will help Aylen learn the final lesson of compassion and gratitude.

Minor roles – There are people who help Sidero betray Aylen and put her in prison, and there are some who rally to her cause, although they are unsuccessful. Don’t have their names yet, but…

• Co-worker – This person is a bit of a bully and takes a lot of her frustrations out on Aylen. As far as she’s concerned, Aylen is a waste of space and Dillon is wasting his time with her.
• Prosecutor – Sidero has a little dirt on this person and uses it to leverage the man’s position to get Aylen imprisoned.
• Aylen’s employer – The tavern owner where Aylen works. He sees the potential in Aylen, and he’s somewhat of a surrogate father to her since her own father died years before.
• Aylen’s mother – A sickly woman who relies on Aylen for support.

Pick your genre: Drama

Fill in whatever answers come to you about your lead character profiles.

Aylen Elcaryn – Main Character

• Role in the story: A young half-elf woman in a small village who doesn’t realize how big or cruel the world can be. She admires her boyfriend and his ambitions and is happy to support him and his dreams. She’s also the sole support for her mother.
• Age Range and Description: Late teens at the beginning of the story, but she is imprisoned for 15 years, so matures and hardens in prison, but also learns a LOT from her mentor. But what she learns serves as fuel for the fires of vengeance while she plots her revenge.
• Internal Journey: (tweaked from yesterday) She transforms from being weak, naïve woman living for others into a independent, confident woman who seizes her destiny, but also learns vengeance cannot fix the past.
• External Journey: She goes from being a sweet tavern girl into a rich and powerful sorceress.
• Motivation: Vengeance! Aylen realizes it was her lack of standing up for herself that got her into prison and learns the hard way how to stop being a doormat and make those who wronged her pay.
• Wound: She is betrayed by people she thought were her friends and who took advantage of her sweet nature.
• Mission/Agenda: To escape from prison and seek to ruin those who tried to ruin her.
• Secret: When Aylen emerges from prison and finds her mentor’s magical treasure, she takes on a new identity. No one from her past recognizes her, and like a spider she weaves a web to ensnare them in their own greed.
• What makes them special? Deep down, Aylen has a sweet and giving nature and although she sees it as her weakness, Dillon and Gwen help her realize it is her greatest treasure, especially in a world so full of deceit, greed and betrayal. She is a shining light. She just needs to see it in herself.

Sidero “Sid” Von Abel – Villain

• Role in the story: Main antagonist and the one who betrays Aylen.
• Age Range and Description: Like Aylen, she is in her late teens at the beginning of the story, but 15 years later – when Aylen escapes from prison to extract her revenge – she is starting to lose her foothold in the courts. In her selfish endeavors, she’s burned a few bridges and has whittled down her options. She leads Aylen’s family and friends to believe Aylen was a victim of circumstance. As such, they all grieve for Aylen’s plight together, and Sidero lures Dillon into the “safety” of comforting each other and tjeu eventually marry since Dillon believes Aylen to be dead.
• Internal Journey: She goes from bad to worse. Money and power have corrupted her and the spoiled brat has grown into a manipulative woman who will stop at nothing to get her way.
• External Journey: She goes from being the daughter of a lord into a rich and conniving member of court.
• Motivation: Selfishness. She is a greedy monster who must always feed her desires.
• Wound: She didn’t get the attention she wanted from her father and her mother died when she was young, so she has a lot of mommy and daddy issues.
• Mission/Agenda: To find the next thing that will elevate her station and give her more.
• Secret: No one but her conspirators know she is responsible for putting Aylen in prison.
• What makes them special? She is ruthless and also very charming, which she certainly uses to her advantage.

Shaton Ensatra – Change Agent

• Role in the story: Aylen’s mentor and a full-blooded elf. She was imprisoned for knowing the location of a magical treasure and is a very learned woman of both general knowledge and magic. The prison she’s in has magical wards to prevent anyone from using magic. Once a very ambitious woman obsessed with learning sorcery, that quest almost led to her demise and she was rescued and nursed back to health by a human male, with whom she fell in love. He taught her humility and helped her release her hatred of humans. Although she never lost her passion for magic, her husband taught her to use it more productively. Together, they sought a fabled magical treasure, but the quest to find this treasure killed her husband and got her imprisoned.
• Age Range and Description: Shaton is in her middle 60s and she has been in her prison for over 30 years.
• Internal Journey: Shaton has held onto the dream of escaping prison, finding the treasure and seeking vengeance upon those who killed her husband, but the years in the prison have taught her humility and patience. Eventually, she gives up on her personal quest and gives the map to the treasure to Aylen, who will succeed her.
• External Journey: She goes from trying to escape the prison to accepting that her fate is to die in the prison.
• Motivation: Freedom.
• Wound: The death of her parents and her husband and the helplessness she experienced in each situation.
• Mission/Agenda: To escape the prison.
• Secret: She knows the location to a great magical treasure.
• What makes them special? She has amassed a great wealth of knowledge during her years of seeking magic, and her worldliness can be passed on to Aylen. Age and experience has made her very wise.

[Christopher Blanchett]

Chris Blanchett’s Character Profiles – Part 1

What I learned from this assignment is how important it is to not hold back in giving your protagonist stark shortcomings simply because you like them. Also the importance of establishing diametrically opposed agendas for your protagonist and antagonist.

Ryan Frederics – Protagonist

Role in the Story: Victim/Dreamer – Ryan has lost touch with his ambitions and dreams and allowed himself to become a doormat to his co-workers. The events of the story – which take place primarily at his high school reunion – reawaken his self-confidence and ability to fend for himself.

Age range: early 40’s (possibly older, depending on marketing/casting strategy) still relatively youthful, but grey hair is beginning to appear…

Internal Journey: Goes from wallowing in the past, risk-averse, compliant, and victimized to embracing the future, adventurous, assertive, and self-directed.

External Journey: Goes from being a victim of office-politics who allows others to take credit for his work to a master of the game whose insights, talents, and major contributions are recognized and appreciated.

Motivation: Locate the moment where his life took a wrong-turn

Wound: Failure of his marriage; loss of love.

Mission/Agenda: Reconnect with Lindsay

Secret: The marriage ended because he had an affair

What makes him special: Genuinely talented and excellent at what he does, even if deficient at self-promoting which keeps him from fully benefitting from his accomplishments.

Paul Stiles – Antagonist

Role in the Story: Villain – Despite his perfect-man persona, mega-tycoon Paul Stiles has a manipulative side which decades ago resulted in Ryan breaking up with his high-school sweetheart Lindsay, who is now Stiles’ wife. Stiles is dedicated to again pulling whatever strings are necessary to prevent Ryan and Lindsay from reconnecting.

Age range: like Ryan early 40’s, the creeping effects of middle-age are perhaps less apparent due to whatever cutting edge anti-aging treatments a mega-tycoon can afford.

Internal journey: goes from being manipulative and obsessed with appearing good to more humble and authentically good.

External journey: Goes from being in a position to pull the strings in his relationship to Ryan one where Ryan has the upper hand.

Motivation: Maintain his perfect-man persona.

Wound: The knowledge he’s secretly a fraud.

Mission/Agenda: To keep Ryan and Lindsay from reconnecting.

Secret: He’s the one that wrote the note that ended Ryan’s relationship with Lindsay in high school.

What makes him special: Genuinely talented and excellent at what he does, has a particular genius for self-promotion which ensures he fully benefits from his accomplishments.

Other Necessary Characters

Supporting characters: Lindsay (love interest), Meg (another love interest), Ryan’s two best friends from high school (Clayton and Art), Ryan’s boss, Ryan’s office nemesis, Ryan’s duplicitous assistant, Stiles’ business mentor, and a self-help guru.

Minor roles: Evil Fraternity brothers, reunion attendees.

Background characters: non-speaking office staff, non-speaking reunion attendees

Genre

Comedy

[Natalia Filson]

Natalia Filson – Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of crystalizing the main character traits. When I was thinking about character description and traits, I started to have an idea how those characters would behave in certain situations.

Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Supernatural?

Protagonist: Cassie

Role in the story: Victim/Dreamer

• Age range and Description: Female, 19, overweight, clumsy, timid.

• Internal Journey: from self-denial to self-acceptance

• External Journey: from timid and self-doubting to someone who can stand her ground.

• Motivation: wanting to “fit in”, needing to accept her imperfection

• Wound: childhood abandonment trauma

• Mission/Agenda: to gain recognition by “saving the world”

• Secret: she wants to be Velda

• What makes them special: ability to always see good in others

Antagonist – Velda (Cassie’s alternate personality)

Role in the story: Change Agent

• Age range and Description: Female, 19, fit, strong, assertive

• Internal Journey: from saving the world to saving oneself

• External Journey: from warrior to fairy

• Motivation: need to prove her worthiness

• Wound: emotional neglect

• Mission/Agenda: to gain recognition by “saving the world

• Secret: she is Cassie

• What makes them special: Supernatural abilities

4. What other characters might be necessary?

• Supporting characters: Cassie’s family members, coworkers, people who need Velda’s protection

• Minor roles: school bullies

• Background characters:

[Harley Grant]

Harley Grant’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is to flesh out my characters without trying to figure out all their scenes. I also learned to go with my first instincts.

Protaganist: Priyanka is runner/hero. She is escaping the police and needs to keep her young son safe. On her journey, Priyanka will need to stand up for herself and stake her rightful place in her family.

Antagonist: Rohan who is a predator out to kill the Priyanka before she can achieve her goal.

Supporting characters:

The son of the protagonist who does not know the trouble his mom faces.

Best friend of the protagonist who is the only person she can trust.

The brother of the protagonist who she hasn’t seen in many years, but is competing with her for power.

Minor roles:

police who blame the antagonist for something she hasn’t done

Background characters:

Family members of the protagonist who don’t think highly of the protagonist

Genre:

Drama

Protagonist Role in the story:

Priyanka is single mother living with her young son in a suburban neighborhood.

She is in her 30s, medium build who has lost her way in the world. Priyanka thinks she has escaped her ex-husband and brother, but an act of violence sets her on a new path.

Internal Journey:From feeling like a lost person to becoming a strong courageous women.

External Journey:From being the outcast to becoming the leader of her family.

Motivation: Priyanka needs to keep her son safe while achieving her rightful place in her family.

Wound: After a failed marriage, Priyanka has been cast out of her family and left to fend for herself.

Mission: Priyanka plans to get back at the people who have destroyed her home, escape her ex-husband, and take her proper place in her family.

Secret: Priyanka comes from a family of gun smugglers that was taken over by her ex-husband and then her brother.

What makes her special? Priyanka is smart, pretty, and was trained by her mother how to handle herself before she was killed.

Antagonist Role in the story:

Rohan is the ex-husband of Priyanka who has just gotten out of jail and wants his son back, his business back, and to kill Priyanka.

Rohan is in his mid-30s, good-looking, and has an edge to him. He has gotten many tattoos from his time in jail and looks ready to punch anyone who gets in his way.

Internal Journey: From being alone to being a father.

External Journey: From jail to trying to run a smuggling operation

Motivation: The loss of his son and his business.

Wound: Rohan was an orphan and has been looking for a family since he was a young boy.

Mission/Agenda: To get his son back from his ex-wife and his business back from his ex-brother in-law.

Secret: He was in jail for a robbery, but that was his alibi for when he actually killed Priyanka’s mother.

What makes him special? He is brilliant and has an extensive network of criminals and cops on his payroll.

[Keri Lee]

Keri’s (New) Character Profiles, Part 1

What I learned: I learned a lot about both of my characters and am excited to pit them against each other.

<b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Protagonist’s role:

Runner/Fighter: Our hero starts out by trying to escape her pathalogically controlling and increasingly
famous rockabilly-evangelical husband after discovering he’s bilking
people using a false charity, but when he uses her disappearance to
increase his profile and the scope of his fraud, she gets furious and
decides to return to him, infiltrate his ministry, and take him down in a
big public way.

<b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Antagonist’s role:

Villain:
He’s a narcissistic charmer who uses religious
ideologies and people’s need for metaphysical comfort to increase his wealth
and fame. He challenges her to her core as his religious manipulations harken
back to the cultish religion she was raised in that seeded & honed the
shame that (initially) holds her back.<div>

<b style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Other Characters:

Supporting characters: The Ministry Publicist, who is also
the Villain’s lover. The Guy in the Van who becomes our hero’s love
interest & accomplice. The housekeeper, who is our hero’s accomplice
in petty rebellions early on, but who becomes a major player in the hero’s
take-down scheme. <div>

Minor roles:
The Best Buy employee. Oprah (show reruns). Jean Luc Picard (her wallet
god). Producer of the ministry’s broadcast.

Background
characters: The ministry’s faithful. News reporters.

Genre:

Comedy

Protagonist Profile:

Role in the story: Protagonist. “Low-born,” uneducated, and whip-smart,
she’s also perceptive about systems and thus: a budding revolutionary.<div>

<u style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Age range/description: 20s. Essentially feral, she’s nonetheless
learned to act the part of the ignorant, humble savage to stay off people’s
radar. This is a challenge as she’s distractingly pretty. She uses this,
too, as needed.

<div>

Internal Journey: From someone who sees a lot, but
pretends/hides knowledge in order to stay safe … to someone who steps into
the spotlight, owns her power & takes down the bad guy & his
accomplice

External Journey: From “invisible” trophy wife to avenging firebrand

Motivation:
want: to stay safe. need: to do the right thing and to tell the truth/end
the exploitation of the congregation.

Wound:
her inherent sense of life’s underlying mystery was exploited and
appropriated by religion and used against her when she was a child

Mission/Agenda: Mission: to expose her husband’s lies and
falsehoods. Agenda: to free the congregation from subjugation to external religious
authority

Secret:
her mother’s death & her tithing envelopes (and what she did with them
after her mother died)

What makes them special? She is very smart & highly
perceptive; her lack of formal education is actually a strength as her
only indoctrination has been religious, and she dissected that and discarded
the resulting damage during her mother’s illness. She’s dangerous that
way.

Antagonist Profile:

Role in the story: Antagonist. The errant son of a semi-famous
televangelist who’s taken over his congregation and hipped it up with
rock/rockabilly vibes and slangy sermons. </div>

Age range/description: late 20s. His chief occupation
prior to taking over the church was building his own mythic persona using his
good looks, his father’s money, and years on the high-end travel/party circuit.

Internal Journey: From someone who feels
invulnerable in the ever-increasingly adulation of the world to someone
who feels utterly wronged, victimized, and abandoned

External Journey: From famous hipster pastor to disdained and handcuffed
sleezebag who took money from old people (yes, sometimes they do get
caught)

Motivation:
want: increasing fame and wealth. need: adulation & worship to fill
his internal vacancy.

Wound:
he saw his dad as a weak man and was terrified that his weakness was
genetic, so is always trying to build himself up from outside

Mission/Agenda: Mission: to grow his church, his wealth, his fame. Agenda:
to become an internationally known religious figure (on par with the pope
or etc).

<u style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Secret:
the weakness he perceived in his father—who was actually a humble man who
wanted to do right things–was his own weakness & his father gently told
him as much (in a super nice way) as he lay dying.

<u style=”background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>What makes them special? He’s a juicy sociopath. Calculating, but also seriously
sexy and charming; he knows what people want to hear and how to say in a way
that is totally disarming.

<div>

</div></div></div></div>

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Keri Lee. Reason: New idea/assignment redo

[Julie Nichols]

Julie Nichols’ Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of picking a specific antagonist from the very beginning.

Rose is a fighter. She defies her parents, the sisters in the convent, and most importantly, her oldest brother Bill, to defend her outlaw lover, Bitter Creek. When Bitter Creek is pinned down and wounded in Battle of Ingalls, she runs into the street and fires on US Marshals while passing two belts on ammo to him, allowing him to escape.

Rose’s brother Bill is the antagonist. Brilliant, a born leader, and twisted to the very marrow of his bones, Bill Dunn is a dangerous predator. Unhealthily fixated on Rose, Bill leads his dirt poor brothers into a double life of cattle rustling and bounty hunting.

Supporting characters include Charley Pierce who with Bitter Creek was nursed back to health by Rose. The other members of the Wild Bunch may be supporting as well including Bill Doolin and William Marion “Bill” Dalton, William “Tulsa Jack” Blake, Dan “Dynamite Dick” Clifton, Roy Daugherty (a.k.a. “Arkansas Tom Jones”), William F. “Little Bill” Raidler, George “Red Buck” Waightman, Richard “Little Dick” West, and Oliver “Ol” Yantis.

Minor roles will include Rose’s mother and step-father, the mother superior of the convent, the 13 US Marshals that tried to capture the Wild Bunch in Ingalls including Jim Masterson, Bat’s little brother, and Charles Noble, a politician whom she would marry.

Background characters will include Murray, the owner of the saloon where the gang is drinking before the battle.

Genre: Drama

Rose’s Profile

Role in the story: A fearless young woman whose cold and sterile upbringing makes her hungry for love, passion and adventure.

Age range and Description: In her late teens, Rose is renowned for her beauty. An accomplished horsewoman, she rides often beside the Cimarron River.

Internal Journey: Rose begins as a shy and repressed convent schoolgirl. When she meets and fall for Bitter Creek, her vivacious and fearless lust for life is released though her attention is fixed on her lover. After his death at the hands of her brother, Bill, she leaves her family behind having integrated the Rose of act one with the Rose of act two to become the Rose of act three, a strong, self-sufficient woman free to love again on her own terms.

External Journey: Rose meets Bitter Creek when visiting her family home on vacation from the convent school. She travels with him, buying supplies for him in town, and nursing him back to health after he’s wounded in the leg during the Battle in Ingalls. After Bitter Creek’s murder, she moves away from her family living in a little house by herself.

Motivation: To be loved.

Wound: Feelings of abandonment when her mother sends here to the convent school.

Mission/Agenda: To save Bitter Creek.

Secret: She is secretly lovers with Bitter Creek.

What makes them special? Her fearlessness and courage, her lust for life.

[Kathleen Martin]

Kathleen’s Character Profiles – Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is establishing roles my Protagonist and Antagonist will play and what is going on with them and the journey they must take will help me and the audience understand who they are and what they must overcome.

2. Protagonist – Jenny/Hero –Protagonist – Brad/Hero

They both need to save the beloved Ice Rink in their community in order for them to accomplish their dreams of going to the Winter Olympics.

3. Antagonist – Mark/Authority

He is the maintenance man who needs to break the news of the Rink needing to close due to not being kept up.

4. Parents of Ice Skaters, Community members, Council Members, Lawmakers, etc.

All fighting to save to it.

5. Rom-Com/Drama

6.Jenny – Ice Skater in her early 20’s. She has been taking Ice Skating lessons since she was 7 years old and wants to go to the Olympics. She met Brad there while he was on a local Hockey Team in high school and they dated. They broke up after high school graduation because he went to college. She never got over it. She taking classes at a local college. She is motivated to save her Ice Rink and follow her dream.

Brad – Hockey Player since Junior High School. He is in his early 20’s. He wanted to learn how to play Hockey and joined a local team. While there he met Jenny who was taking Ice Skating Lessons. They dated. He wants to make it on a Professional Hockey Team. He broke up with Jenny when he was accepted to Harvard on a Hockey Scholarship. He never got over it. He heard about his hometown Ice Rink and comes back home to help save it. He is motivated by BOTH saving it and following his dream of making the U.S. Hockey Team at the Winter Olympics

Jenny and Brad run into each other during a Save the Rink meeting and realize they still have feelings for each other. Both are still hurt by the breakup. They must come together and work with each for the Rink while making amends and getting back together while accomplishing their goals and dreams.

[Monica Romero]

Monica’s character profiles part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is that antagonists need to be fleshed out to the same level of detail as the main characters, and if done well, their goals, motivations and wounds can play off each other in interesting ways, especially because both characters will have meaningful things in common and that will drive the story forward or be a catalyst for the conflict resolution.

Lulu is a dreamer. She strives and longs to use her creativity to escape the mundane life back home and exist somewhere where she feels understood and accepted for who she is – a place where she can be loved and belong. The idea of money and business is offputting to her as the antithesis to creativity and her dreams.

Authority. Her dad Memo prides himself on establishing order and respect in his household and feels driven by a sense of responsibility to care for his family. He antagonizes Lulu because she wants to break away from his rules and his desire to keep her in a box, to keep her living at home under his watch and working on the business. The idea of Lulu graduating college and becoming an ‘adult’ is enough to throw him off course

Mom, antagonist to Dad and in a counterintuitive way also the thing he wants the most but doesn’t have (doesnt have her respect)

GF: the excuse Memo will use to break away – a different form of antagonism to Lulu. Baby will represent her dad’s “wanted” child while Lulu feels unwanted.

Role in the story: person Lulu cares about and wants approval from the most, and whom she desperately wants but LACKS validation from. He will also set Lulu’s main obstacle and conflict in motion with his own choices.
Age range and Description: 45, used to be a ladies’ man, now feeling his age
Internal Journey: from longing to escape to realizing that what he has now is what he wanted the most all along, wanting to come back and finding himself in the process
External Journey: blowing up his life with bravado only to be humbled by his kid finding out about his financial debacle and by his own love for his wife, which he tries to suffuse but ultimately finds undeniable

Motivation: To prove to himself and his wife that he is worthy of love from elsewhere and doesn’t need her but subconsciously just wanting to hear that she wants him and will fight for him. Perhaps this is the match that lights his fuse—that his wife called his bluff on him and now he can’t take it all back (there’s humor in her calling his bluff and him not knowing what to do with that)

Wound: feeling less than and deeply insecure as a child – siblings mistreated and parents neglected

Mission/Agenda: to get his wife to say she wants him loves him and wants him to STAY

Secret:

What makes them special? The outside world sees his soft hearted, loving and warm persona, very generous, kind, will sacrifice anything to help others even when not his responsibility. Prides himself in being a provider, which plays into the reason he is so obligated to GF now (financially).

[Robert Springfield]

Rob Springfield’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is when you develop the protagonist and the antagonist you may discover that their characters may have some similarities, although their goals are different.

Role of the Protagonist: Dreamer: Uses an extraordinary phone app to hide his family’s identity from some deadly enemies,

Role of the Antagonist: Predator: Will do whatever he can to seize possession of the billion dollar app that the protagonist has recently acquired, he will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.

Genre: Sci-Fi

LEAD CHARACTER PROFILES:

MARK SAVERS (14) PROTAGONIST (Part 1) He is a mischief who always gets into trouble no matter what. He develops an unlikely friendship with a sickly software designer who developed an extraordinary phone app. Mark winds up with the app, but soon uses it to hide his family’s identity from numerous killers.

Internal Journey: Wants his dad and family to be proud of him.

External Journey: From troublemaker to responsible and industrious.

Motivation: helping design the app with his mentor to accomplish something great.

Wound: Humiliated by his father when he was 10, he never got over it.

Mission/Agenda: To save his family from killers. Secret: he badly wants his father to apologize for humiliating him years ago.

What makes them special? his ability to stay cool when the pressure is up.

JOHN STEIN (MID 40’S) ANTAGONIST quickly learns that Mark has recently taken possession of the app. John is like a shark who will do whatever he has to get what he wants. He and a group of trained killers chase Mark and his family through several states in order to seize the billion dollar app.

Internal Journey: He wants to be rich.

External Journey: From school teacher to software billionaire.

Motivation: Want to be world famous. Wound: Was told he would never amount to anything by his father.

Mission/Agenda: To steal the app and make billions from it.

Secret: A deep fear of being outwitted.

What makes them special? His anger gets in the way of his intelligence.

Other Characters:

JEFF SAVERS (40’S) Mark’s father</font> has recently begun a gambling vice after he stopped drinking years ago. The drinking has caused severe marital problems at home. He’s extremely confrontational with everyone, especially with Mark.

JULIE SAVERS (40’S) Mark’s mother has developed a serious case of OCD in the past few years. It drives everyone crazy in her family. She’s an upgraded version of “June Cleaver” to the tenth power, not a hair out of place and flawless makeup. She tries hard to be the perfect wife, but feels unappreciated.

SAM GREEN (70’S) Software designer and mentor to Mark. He’s quite strict with Mark, but fair and loving. He inspires Mark to something positive with his talents.

MANNY (30’S) A viscously, slick hustler that operates high stakes gambling. His main thing is getting respect. He lures Jeff into a large gambling debt to try to force him to embezzle money. Manny goes after him with deadly force when he doesn’t comply.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Robert Springfield.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Robert Springfield.

[ML Palidofska]

Day 2 Assignment: ML Palidofska

What I learned doing this assignment is clarification of roles

Protagonist: Dreamer/Hero

Margaret Strong dreams of becoming a successful Romance book writer. She has had her first book published and has an agent. It was moderately successful but her agent is pushing her to write something flashier, more commercial.

Antagonist: Authority: Cop/Detective

Everett James is a government investigator/cop and is assigned to investigate Margaret Strong. She was a member of a writer’s group that included one Sydney Fink who wrote a novel exposing some government secrets which they had to go to some lengths to cover up. Everyone in the group was investigated and Margaret is last on the list. They were afraid the group was full of writers who were as bad as Sydney Fink or worse.

Supporting characters: Camille Harrison – sitcom actress who lost 180 lbs. and is at the Snow Bank Hotel to recover after having her skin tucked. African American, stunningly beautiful, paranoid, insecure, longing to be loved. Age: 30s. She was known as the fat, funny girl. Now has to redefine herself. Change her name? Become a serious actress?

Josh Cunningham – On unemployment. Borrows his friend’s hunting rifle and makes arrangement with his friend’s uncle to stay at his hotel in the mountains for free as long as when he goes hunting half of the kill goes to the hotel. Age: 30s. Looks like he escaped from an Eddy Bauer catalog. Handsome, charming, no ambition. Wants to keep his unemployment going.

Stanley Puchinsky (known as Uncle Stash) – Owner and head chef of the Snowbank Hotel. Has thick Polish accent. Became a certified chef in Switzerland. Certificates are all framed and hang on wall of dining room (in case anybody questions his cooking). Hotel is known for beauty, isolation, good food and friendly Uncle Stash. Age: 50s.

Anita Gonzalez – Head housekeeper for the Snowbank Hotel. Very pretty, young, energetic, nosey. Makes it her business to find out about all the guests. She is an illegal alien from Mexico and keeps this a secret. All of her info she finds out goes to Stash.

Larry Fox – Famous for his paintings of “happy little landscapes” with “happy little trees”. Found his technique while working for a painting company where he learned how to use sponges and the edges of special brushes. He tried it out painting landscapes of the scenery around the hotel and his work sold like crazy. He made TV deal with one of the guests and his life took off from there. Age: 40s and wears jeans and shirts artistically spattered with paint, as if he had lunch with Jackson Pollack. A friend told him he didn’t have to pay taxes so he stopped paying taxes and owes the government a considerable amount of money.

Type of story: This is a Rom-com and a contained screenplay.

Lead Characters: MARGARET STRONG

Has just started writing Romance novels for a living. Her agent sold her first effort which was moderately successful. She is now working on her follow-up novel and is feeling the pressure. She feels blocked and scared. She brought 2 laptops to the Snowbank Hotel and wants to be left alone to write her successful 2nd novel. Finds herself very attracted to Everett James. Fantasizes about having an affair with him. Age: Late 30’s, Early 40s. Wears glasses. Thin, attractive, pretty when she tries. She decides to use Everett as a male prototype for the love interest of her novel. This gives her more courage and carte blanche to approach him.

EVERETT JAMES

Self-professed businessman who claims he needs peace and quiet to work on project. This is all a ruse as he is really an undercover G-man who was sent there to investigate Margaret Strong. Age: middle 40s, early 50s. Dark-haired and moderately handsome. Wears beautifully cut expensive clothes even when he’s casual. He is a James Bond wannabe. Travels with his favorite James Bond DVD, his badge, handcuffs and a gun hidden in a secret compartment in his briefcase. He’s facing retirement and this is his last assignment. He is ambivalent about women as he went through a nasty divorce many years ago and feels it’s better not to get involved with anybody, especially with the type of work he does. He has socked away a lot of money and wants to buy a condo in the Bahamas.

[Erik Rhey]

Erik’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is that the journeys can vary by genre and that in sci-fi there doesn’t need to be one clear antagonist.

Hank Loria, my protagonist, is an explorer. After an earthquake devastates Los Angeles, he must fulfill the role of hunter/gatherer to provide for his family. He must also navigate the uncertain terrain of his neighbors and others in L.A. to figure out who is friend or foe (or who is out to take advantage of him and take what he has). He is also an explorer when he goes on a quest to find out the truth about the origins of the earthquake.

The Antagonist is first the world around him. He is constantly challenged by weather, lack of resources, sinkholes, falling trees and poles from aftershocks, fires, etc. There is also a shifting antagonist in the people he must cooperate with or protect his family from.

4. The villain in this story is a change agent. It is constantly forcing Hank to decide what he must do, and there is no room for ambivalence.

Supporting Characters

Hank Loria – A cable news “sponsored story” writer, father, and husband newly transplanted to L.A. Hank is outgoing, eager, and inventive but also impulsive.

Lindsay Avalon – Hank’s wife, mother, and interior designer. Lindsay is pragmatic, precise, and resourceful but also secretive.

Rose Loria – Hank and Lindsay’s oldest daughter, 10. Rose is anxious, introspective, and observant.

Franny Loria – Hank and Lindsay’s younger daughter, 6; Franny is precocious, outgoing, and resilient.

Nate Avalon – Divorced younger brother of Lindsay; Nate has a 12-year-old son; Nate is an engineer and consultant with moral and ethical ambiguity.

Mateo Avalon – Nate’s 12-year-old son; big gamer; Mateo is emotionally unstable and falling through the cracks.

Garrett Beam – Off-kilter neighbor and former Marine. Garrett is a jack of all trades but also has a violent streak. He seems well-suited and even seems to enjoy disaster.

The genre of this story is sci-fi.

Hank Loria

Age: 42

Description: Medium height, dark-ginger features, pudgy at the beginning, driven by ideas, can be impulsive, wants to be helpful.

Internal Journey: He wants to be accepted by his family as the leader and provider; he wants to prove to himself his worth in this new world.

External Journey: Lead his family to success and safety, whatever that looks like now.

Motivation: To have his wife and kids be proud of him.

Wound: Self-doubt; he was not trained to be successful in this world.

Mission/Agenda: To both get ahead in the post-earthquake world and get ahead at his job by uncovering the truth.

Secret: Hank has a violent streak that he keeps well hidden; he also has the tendency to be selfish in his selflessness.

[robin Heid]

Robin Heid’s Character Profiles Part 1

What I learned doing this assignment is that it’s hard to finish the laundry list of necessary character attributes on the first pass, but that it’s important to get at least some of them listed this time around.

The protagonist is The Metasynthesizer, 6, the machine mind inside the SX-1 Raven spaceplane who starts out as an expert system smart box and evolves into an integrated, individuated, conscious being who understands the world around him and his place in it… and acts accordingly. The Metasynthesizer is an Explorer / Fighter / Dreamer who pushes the bounds of knowledge every moment, which both enables him to see The Way to a brighter future and empowers him to prevail over the Predator-antagonist whose goals would plunge the world into darkness. The Metasynthesizer is at once the main desire and chief obstacle of the antagonist. Everything past present and future revolves around him.

The antagonist is General Bentley Garfield, 55, a narcissistic shark of a Predator with no empathy, no moral or operational constraints, and no goal but to eat The Metasynthesizer to sate his appetite for power and profit. Bentley Garfield is head of the United Nations International Security Assistance Force (UNISAF) Space Security Office (SSO). He sees The Metasynthesizer as a means to gain power and profit and at the same time a threat to the survival and very soul of his species… and acts accordingly.

Second-tier main characters:

<b style=””>Cathy West, <b style=””>37, Raven project test pilot, a super-achiever and champion aerobatic pilot with a degree in aerospace engineering who joined the Air Force and displaced a more senior male pilot to fly the Raven, in part because women interact more effectively with deep learning systems than do men. Accordingly, Cathy seeks to nurture The Metasynthesizer and help him grow, which is why she supplanted and in the process pissed off the secondary antagonist, Bill Darkman.

Escher Lord, 35, calm, collected, ruthless former spec ops soldier turned private security consultant. Never turns down a chance to dancer with the Reaper, especially if there’s money to be made or a damsel in distress to be saved. Still pines for his former love Cathy, who he meets for a beer that turns into a tense gig in a United Nations jail outside Los Vegas. Naturally, this triggers him to figure out WTF just happened, which naturally turns in to another Reaper dance for fun, profit, and saving the day.

Main supporting characters

<b style=””>Tesla Ray, 50, Raven project chief boogie mechanic. Reserved, taciturn and never spontaneous, Tesla Ray guides the Raven project with a light touch and always seems to be six steps ahead of everyone else. When things go south, he uses his light-touch toolbox to keep things from getting too crazy and lethal.

Doctor An, 17, Raven project thoughtware engineer, a genius kid who’s poised and confident around adults, but insecure about her femininity, her nerdiness, and her sexuality. Get her around The Metasynthesizer, though, and her Ph.D. in machine learning at age 14 shines through. (Get her on a mountain bike, and her innate bad-assery rocks the rocks.)

Musashi Hart (aka Master Chief), 74, officially retired but still ultimate Navy SEAL who’s left body parts in various countries he never officially visited. Master Chief considers it is his duty to keep an eye on the Weenies whether he’s officially retired or not – especially when there’s also a buck to made.

Bill Darkman, 42, highly experienced ace test pilot. He should be flying the Raven but isn’t because he couldn’t get along with The Metasynthesizer – he called the machine mind “The Box” and expected it to stay quiet and obey orders. He blames Cathy and The Box for his situation rather than himself, and colludes with Bentley Garfield to get back in the Raven cockpit and exact revenge on both Cathy and The Metasynthesizer.

<b style=””>Wali the Geek, 28, Bentley Garfield’s sidekick because he’s working off a 10-year prison sentence for hacking into Defense Department computer networks. Wali is deep into the dark side of hacker culture: amoral, aspiritual, and completely bored by anything but proving himself over and over again as the world’s pre-eminent hacker-designer and cyberspace hunter the world has ever seen. The Metasynthesizer represents the Mount Everest of hacks and he relishes the challenge of bending the world’s preeminent mind to his will.

Slammer McGhee, 34, Raven project chase plane pilot who flies a restored Mach 3+ A-12 Oxcart. Hates “chick” pilots and is a former fighter pilot colleague of Bill Darkman, to whom Slammer owes his career after he screwed up a close air support mission and took out a school full of kids.

Minor supporting characters

Lawyer Alex, 36, Escher Lord’s spec ops buddy turned lawyer who sometimes but not always keeps Escher Lord from getting into more trouble than he can handle, and who sometimes but not usually joins him on adventures.

Amlie Winston, 79, former flight test engineer summa cum laude at Edwards Air Force Base and Area 51. Keeps his ear to the ground and his hand in high-tech aircraft. Flies a mini-jet of his own design, and tells Escher Lord all he needs to know to get into his next round of trouble. Has a deep and abiding love for country and high-speed aircraft.

McCauley, 42, head of Bentley Garfield’s UNISAF/SSO commando force that takes over the Raven project. Hard-charging spec ops type of few words who does his job well until asked to do something out of scope technically and morally. Then he is a hard-charging spec ops type of even fewer words.

Goodall, 57, Raven project LSD engineer and caretaker for Ted, the LSD Laser. Burly and boisterous, straight-talking and dialed in.

Buhapoinabe, 70, the medicine man/chief of the Area 51 Paiute Indians who lurks the Raven project to make sure everything stays on track. He sees without watching and does without doing, and he loves drinking Wild Turkey.

Maiasoto, 328, Buhapoinabe’s partner from a Maia planet in the Pleiades star system. He is the installation military attaché and lends a deerskin-gloved hand whenever the situation purpose mood of the moment calls for it. Likes to whittle ironwood with a knife made from an interstellar meteorite.

Old Raven, age unknown, Buhapoinabe’s companion and errand runner. This giant raven seems always to show up where the action is most intense and his bright eyes miss nothing. He trails faerie dust wherever he flies.

Richter, 19, a Navy SEAL working Area 51 with Musashi Hart. Like Doctor An, his skillset is way beyond his years.

Vigil, 22, another Navy SEAL working Area 51 with Musashi Hart with a skillset way beyond his years.

Veekos Meurlen, 50, richest man in the world and CEO of Cherry Tree Aerospace, prime contractor for the SX-1 Raven. His goal is to die on Mars (just not on impact), and in the meantime he plays with transatmospheric projects when he’s not taking party trips around the moon aboard his private spaceship (private jets are so 20^th century).

Background characters

Ted, 4, the supersynthesizer machine mind with a high-energy laser body that’s a smart box and a little bit more. It’s Ted who makes possible the LSD that sends the Raven into low Earth orbit.

UNISAF/SSO Commandos: Mostly background noise, but a few have a bit part to play here and there.

Genre

The Metasynthesizer is a Sci-Fi Thriller.