Day 3 Assignments

[Bob Rowen]

Bob Rowen’s Character Profiles Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is how to fully develop two of my lead characters.

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.

Fill in Part 2 of the character Profile for your two lead characters.

LEAD CHARACTER PROFILES:

VIRGIL PRATER (late 20s) PROTAGONIST (Part 1). 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
• Motivation: To protect people and the environment from harm
• Wound: Has emotional scars from his abusive father
• Mission/Agenda: Truth teller about what is happening at Humboldt Bay’s nuke
• Secret: A guilt complex because he remained silent following a fatality in the Marines that should never have happened
• What makes him special? His warrior mentality
• What draws us to this character: Virgil Prater (Part 2)?He is a fighter for a just cause
• Traits: Courageous, headstrong, combative, honest, intelligent
• Subtext: Is constantly at odds with his coworkers over their willingness to blindly accept whatever PGE and the AEC says in order to collect a paycheck
• Flaw: His headstrong, black and white view of the world
• Values: Truth, honor, duty
• Irony: He’s been conditioned to follow orders even when he disagrees with them and then resorts to doing the right thing often resulting in negative consequences
• What makes this the right character for this role? Virgil was trained in ABC Warfare and fully realizes PGE and the AEC are lying about the health hazards of radiation exposure

EDGAR WEEKS (mid 40s) ANTAGONIST (Part 1). 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
• Motivation: To do whatever it takes to make the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant a success
• Mission/Agenda: To convince the public that nuclear power is safe, clean, and economical
• Secret: Knowingly placed false information in PGE’s radiation protection training manual
• What makes him special? Edgar has strong connections in corporate headquarters
• What draws us to this character: Edgar Weeks (Part 2)? Edgar is a good company man who strives to make his nuclear facility a success at all costs. His behavior is unpredictable
• Traits: Ruthless, cunning, ambitious, intelligent
• Subtext: Edgar relies on the false premise that no harm is immediately realized when exposed to radiation and therefore constitutes his absolute proof that nuclear employees have nothing to worry about
• Flaw: Selected an unqualified manager as Humboldt Bay’s Radiation Protection Engineer
• Values: Dishonest, fraudulent, devious
• Irony: Edgar knows he’s confronted with indisputable evidence regarding the health hazards of radiation exposure but clings to his denial of any problems associated with AEC approved occupational exposure limits
• What makes this the right character for this role? Edgar does whatever is necessary to advance the big lie that nuclear power is safe, clean, and economical

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Bob Rowen.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Bob Rowen.

[Terry Drayer]

Terry Drayer’s Character Profiles Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that while she is still unnamed, my character is becoming more defined.

What draws us to this character? This happy child on the verge of becoming a young woman is sold into marriage to save her father and brothers from starvation.

Traits: Vulnerable, fearful, but very, very determined

Subtext: Obedience and subjugation are her disguise as she learns her new surroundings and the habits of her new masters

Flaw: her faith that her father will realize his mistake and return for her

Values: Safety and security for herself and her family

Irony: If she stays and accepts her fate, her family might be safe. But if she runs, her family will be in danger…and if she warns them, they might kill her for putting them in danger.

What makes this the right character for this role? For every girl in a similar situation who catches the media’s attention, there are hundreds more who are forced to live a life of abuse and neglect at the hands of their “husbands.” This girl is willing to risk all to take control of her own fate.

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.

[Harley Grant]

Subject line: Harley’s Character Profile Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that my characters are now becoming real people with wants and dreams. Instead of getting ahead of myself, I am taking the time to get to know them and their motivations.

Priyanka

What draws us to this character? Priyanka is an outsider who is on the run. She is a mom fighting for the safety of her daughter. Priyanka struggles in a man’s world while trying to find her place in her family.

Traits: Naïve, pretty, smart, caring, determined

Subtext: She uses comedy to avoid confrontation and connection.

Flaw: She expects that being a good person will lead to a good life.

Values: Motherhood, honor, family, respect

Irony: Will resort to violence if it means protecting her child.

What makes this the right character for this role?

Pryinka is the daughter of gun smugglers who knows how to fight when needed. She will put her life in danger to protect her daughter.

Protagonist Role in the story:

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.

Priyanka is single mother living with her young daughter 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 daughter 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.

Rohan

What draws us to this character?

Rohan is attractive, charming, and witty despite being extremely violent. He deeply cares for his daughter, but will kill to be connected to her. Rohan also craves power and wants to be back on top.

Traits: Brilliant, violent, and dedicated

Subtext: Everything Rohan does is related to his need for power and to be a father.

Flaw: If he feels disrespected, Rohan will snap and kill.

Values: Power, strength, dedication, and fatherhood.

Irony: Even thought he is power hungry, Rohan is deeply committed to being a father.

What makes him the right character for this role?

Rohan is an orphan who wants to be a father and serve as the head of a family business (despite being an outsider) at all costs.

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

Antagonist Role in the story:

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

Rohan is in his mid-30s, good-looking but, he 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 daughter 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 daughter 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.

[Christopher Blanchett]

Chris Blanchett’s Character Profile Part 2

What I learned from this assignment is the necessity of clearing defining your protagonist and antagonist and their complementarily conflicting character traits.

Ryan Frederics – Protagonist

What draws us to this character?

Ryan is good at what he does professionally. He’s funny. Idealistic and ultimately, still has a romantic vision of life – however hidden. He is kindhearted (perhaps to a fault?). His good nature is taken advantage of by more unscrupulous co-workers (sympathy vote).

Traits: Funny, intelligent, schemer, creative problem solver.

Subtext: Uses humor to convey unpleasant truths.

Flaw: A well-concealed streak of narcissism. Defines (to himself) character flaws (allowing others to claim credit for his work) as strengths (office politics are below me).

Values: Do the right thing. Love. Achievement (credited or otherwise). Humor.

Irony: his grandiose plans and ambitions conflict with his (subconscious) sense of undeserving-ness.

What makes this the right character for this role?

Ryan has behavior patterns from the past controlling his present. Good fit for a character in a story about regressing to past personas.

Paul Stiles – Antagonist

What draws us to this character?

An “aw shucks” charm coupled with massive business success and power.

Traits: Ernest, intelligent, visionary.

Subtext: Poster-boy for passive-aggression.

Flaw: An acute case of impostor syndrome

Values: Success. Authority. Keeping up his “perfect-man” persona.

Irony: He lives in mortal fear the edifice of his success is built on a foundation of lies.

What makes this the right character for this role?

Stiles is the inverse version of Ryan.

Elements from Character Profile Part 1:

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

[Arial Burnz]

Subject line: Arial Burnz’s Character Profile – Part 1 revised & Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is…

Woot! Okay, this wonderful process is not only organized and feeds the OCD part of my left brain, it gives me the creative juices to feed my right brain. I’m super jazzed about the way these characters are getting flushed out and coming to life!

Aylen Elcaryn – Main Character

Part 1 – Refined

• Role in the story: Main character, a young woman in a small village who is a victim of racism. She is a half-elf in an elven region. As such, her family has been shunned and she was teased a lot as a child. This has caused her to put up with a lot of cruelty. Her mother is a pure-blood elf, but her father was human. Craving to be more accepted in this elven region, she is attracted to a pure-blood elven boy, Dillon, who comes from a wealthy family. He fancies her because of her sweetness and down-to-earth personality. She admires Dillon and his ambitions to travel the world and seek adventure, and she 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 captivity, but also learns a LOT from her mentor. What she learns, however, serves as fuel for the fires of vengeance while she plots her revenge.
• Internal Journey: She transforms from being a weak, naïve woman living for others into an 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 inherits her mentor’s magical treasure, she takes on a new identity. No one from her past recognizes her as Aylen, 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. Aylen also has magical gifts she has never been taught to use because her parents weren’t magical and couldn’t afford training.

Part 2 – Traits

What draws us to this character? Underdog – She is sweet, naïve, and is always thinking of others. Aylen is very empathetic because she is a product of the teasing and bullying she’s endured her whole childhood. She knows what it’s like to be in pain and doesn’t wish that upon anyone, but she’s also been intimidated to the point of meekness. Aylen doesn’t want to cause problems or make things worse for herself or her family, who have taken the approach that if you don’t cause trouble, no trouble will come to you. Unfortunately, that’s not reality.

• Traits: Shy, keeps to herself with strangers, but opens up to those she knows well.
• Subtext: Pretends she doesn’t hear people when they try to be confrontational, agrees with whatever the bully is saying so she can avoid confrontation, swallows her pride a LOT, avoids eye contact.
• Flaw: Her fear outweighs everything else
• Values: Peace, family, survival
• Irony: Although Aylen wants peace – almost at all costs – she has a ton of built-up anger, which she unleashes once she gains the power to do so. Her fears cause her to allow a lot of injustice to happen around her because she feels there’s nothing she can do about it, but she will turn the tables on those who have wronged her.
• What makes this the right character for this role? Aylen is complacent and willing to let others tell her what to do for the sake of peace and to avoid confrontation. This is taken to the extreme when her fear becomes the weapon her enemies wield against her. In order for her to hit rock bottom and finally defend herself, everything must be taken away from her. She has to want to defend herself more than she wants peace. Being nice and empathetic isn’t enough to keep the peace. Sometimes wars must be fought to defend the weak and persecuted, and she will finally gain the strength to wage her own war.

Kylantha “Key” Von Abel (Changed name) – Villain

Part 1 – Refined

• Role in the story: The one who betrays Aylen and puts her in prison.
• Age Range and Description: She is a pure-blood elf and daughter of a Baron. 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. She leads Aylen’s family and friends to believe Aylen was a victim of circumstance, which is what got her into prison. As such, they all grieve for Aylen’s plight together, and Key and Dillon find comfort in each other’s arms. With Aylen gone and presumed dead, Dillon gives in to his family’s pressure to marry Key. Key’s father was the Baron of Elion and upon his death, she inherited his wealth and title upon his death. In her selfish endeavors, she’s burned a few bridges and has whittled down her options, so she’s desperate by the time Aylen returns to seek revenge.
• Internal Journey: She goes from bad to worse. Money and power has 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 baron into a rich baroness who is a conniving member of the Elven Court of Radario.
• 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 knows she is responsible for putting Aylen in prison.
• What makes them special? She is ruthless but also very charming, which she certainly uses to her advantage.

Part 2 – Traits

What draws us to this character? She seems very sincere on the surface, very charismatic. We even sympathize with her over the way her father treats her, which is buy her whatever she wants to shut her up, but doesn’t give the girl the affection she craves. She admires her father, but resents him at the same time. She encourages Aylen to be more like her (see traits) and we can see a softness to the girl when she’s around Aylen.

• Traits: Opposite of Aylen – flirtatious, outgoing, charming and talkative.
• Subtext: Kylantha is a bullshit artist. If she’s smiling, you can’t trust what she says. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree – her father is the same way and she’s learned how to use charm as a weapon from him.
• Flaw: Her needs always come before others’.
• Values: Selfishness, self-importance, being the center of attention.
• Irony: She despises Aylen’s weakness, but feels sorry enough for the half-elf girl to give her gifts. She pities Aylen, yet there is a friendship between the girls, and she is kind to Aylen as long as Kylantha doesn’t feel threatened by Aylen.
• What makes this the right character for this role? Despite her selfish nature, she is Aylen’s best friend and Aylen trusts her. Key does get something out of the relationship – Aylen not only makes Key feel important, but Aylen truly loves her and Aylen’s the only person from whom she receives genuine affection. But what Key wants always comes first, and Dillon will come between the girls, driving Kylantha to betray her friend to have him.

Syndra Ara’Daenora, the Sorceress of Amon Fae (changed her name) – Change Agent

I’m including Syndra in this assignment because she plays such a huge part in Aylen’s growth, and I’ve made a lot of changes since yesterday.

Part 1 – Refined

1. Role in the story: Aylen’s mentor and a full-blooded elf. She was imprisoned for her magical treasure, and when she is unable to escape the Fortress of Valna alive, she passes on her wealth to Aylen as her sole heir. During their time in prison, though, she teaches Aylen everything she knows about magic.
2. Age Range and Description: Syndra is in her mid-60s and has been in the Fortress of Valna for over 20 years.
3. Internal Journey: Syndra has held onto the dream of escaping prison and seeking vengeance upon the man who imprisoned her. She dies escaping the prison, but not before making Aylen her heir and passing on her final lesson that vengeance will not fix the past.
4. External Journey: She goes from trying to escape the prison to dying the day she escapes and is forced to surrender her quest. But Aylen picks up the baton for her.
5. Motivation: Freedom and revenge.
6. Wound: She was betrayed by the man she loved.
7. Mission/Agenda: To escape the prison and seek vengeance.
8. Secret: She knows the location to her wealth and a great magical treasure.
9. What makes them special? She has amassed a great wealth of knowledge during her years of seeking magic, and her worldliness and wisdom can be passed on to Aylen.

Part 2 – Traits

What draws us to this character? Her wisdom and passion for magic. She will empower our heroine with the tools she needs to claim justice, and together, they can even find justice for herself.

• Traits: She’s a passionate woman, very enthusiastic about knowledge and the art and science of magic. She’s surprisingly humble and very self-aware. She tells it like it is, so she can be brutally honest, with others and herself.
• Subtext: Syndra hides her meanings behind lessons. When she teaches, the lesson is always deeper than what appears to be on the surface. Some of the stories about lessons are her stories, but she passes them off as someone else’s.
• Flaw: Pride.
• Values: Magic. The fact that she has been unable to wield it for 35 years has been torture. Vengeance. Her legacy.
• Irony: After all those years in prison, when she finally escapes, she dies within a few days – long enough to feel the ecstasy of freedom, but unable to enjoy it. AND the ability to wield magic at last is the very thing that kills her.
• What makes this the right character for this role? Aylen is a young girl in dire circumstances and a woman with the knowledge Syndra has not only fulfills the role of surrogate mother, but is able to empower Aylen in ways her own mother never could. Syndra is just the remedy Aylen needs to grow into a strong and powerful woman and break free from the bonds of not only her physical prison, but the prison of her cowardice upbringing. Unfortunately, her pride is her undoing, and on her deathbed, she is able to pass this final lesson on to Aylen.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by  Arial Burnz.

[Julie Nichols]

Julie Nichols’ Character Profile Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that I don’t have to build characters all at once. It was great to break up the character profiles into two parts. My principal characters already have more depth from thinking about them between the days.

Protagonist Rose Dunn

Rose’s Profile

Role in the story: A fearless young woman whose difficult relationship with her step-father makes her hungry for love, passion, and adventure.

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

Internal Journey: Rose begins as a wild young woman who is taught to ride and shoot by her nine brothers. When a new step-father arrives on the scene, he convinces her weak and dependent mother to send Rose to study at a local convent school where she becomes emotionally repressed and withdrawn. During one of her visits home, she meets and falls for Bitter Creek, her emotions become liberated even as she fixates on her lover. After his death at her the hands of her brother, Bill, she leaves her family, emotionally mature beyond her years, 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 during the Battle of Ingalls. After Bitter Creek’s murder, she moves away from her family.

Motivation: To experience a man’s love.

Wound: Feelings of abandonment when her mother allows her stepfather to send her to the convent school, far from her brothers and her beloved Cimarron River.

Mission/Agenda: To save Bitter Creek.

Secret: She is secretly lovers with Bitter Creek.

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

What draws us to this character? Rose is vivacious and alive. A force to be reckoned with. She holds nothing back.

Traits: Courageous, passionate, loving, naïve

Subtext: Prevaricates with all the authority figures in her life, especially the Reverend Mother and her own mother. Rose is excellent at redirecting their attention away from the truth while not actually lying.

Flaw: For all her grit and strength, Rose is still a teenager. She is innocent, trusting, and easily swayed.

Values: Rose values romantic love above all.

Irony: Rose is a deeply caring and ethical person. It is this caring that causes her to nurse and defend the outlaw Bitter Creek.

What makes this the right character for the role? There is no quit in Rose. She demonstrates the fearless disregard of death that only the very young experience. Open and vulnerable, she loves Bitter Creek, a man who does not deserve her, with her whole heart.

Antagonist Bill Dunn

Role in the story: A ruthless leader of his gang of brothers, Bill has an unnatural attraction to his sister, the teenage Rose.

Age range and description: Bill is in his mid-twenties, the eldest of eight brothers and one sister, Rose. He is attractive, an alpha male, though his mannerisms are a little—off.

Internal Journey: Bill begins as Rose’s mentor, teaching her to ride and shoot, until he realizes she’s matured into a woman. He lusts after her and rejects her when she is sent away to the convent school. When Rose falls for Bitter Creek – an outlaw that he brought to the family home when she is there—he becomes jealous. He punishes her by killing Bitter Creek for the bounty.

External Journey: Bill transitions from ranch hand on his mother’s land to cattle rustler to bounty hunter during the film.

Motivation: To punish Rose.

Wound: Ten years older than Rose, he feels no brotherly feelings for her. He is hurt by her perceive choice of Bitter Creek over him.

Mission/Agenda: To get Rose away from the outlaws so he can have her.

Secret: He’s a psychopath who hides his lack of empathy.

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

What draws us to this character? Bill is handsome and charismatic. He is a natural leader who leads his brothers into a life rustling cattle without remorse.

Traits: Charming, intelligent, ruthless, a killer.

Subtext: A master manipulator, Bill doesn’t even know when he’s lying.

Flaw: Hubris. He thinks he’s invincible and untouchable by the law.

Values: Money. The respect of his brothers.

Irony: Bill loves Rose though he expresses that love in truly disturbing ways.

[Natalia Filson]

Natalia Filson’s Character Profile Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is as soon as I start thinking about the characters in depth, they take the life of their own. They seem to evoke certain traits and characteristics that might contradict my original ideas.

What makes this the right character for this role?

CASSIE

• WHAT DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? A sensitive, introverted, empathetic girl who seems not find her place in fast-paced world of go-getters.

• TRAITS: Sensitive, creative, empathetic, kind.

• SUBTEXT: Hides her kindness and sensitivity behind the mask of false toughness and pretending to be strong.

• FLAW: Hard time making decisions

• VALUES: Kindness, empathy, creativity.

• IRONY: As soft as she is, when facing the adversity, she ends up being the one standing up to the evil forces.

• WHAT MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? She stands by her principles, and has capacity for sacrifice

Velda

• What draws us to this character? Strength, courage, determination.

• Trait: Ability to make decisions quickly and stand by them

• Subtext: As strong as she appears, she has her own doubts

• Flaw: she has no empathy

• Values: Power, determination

• Irony: She longs for her more feminine side

• What makes him the right character for this role? She is the opposite of Cassie and serves as a counterbalance.

[Robert Springfield]

Rob Springfield’s Character Profiles Part 2

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.
What draws us to this character? Through no fault of his own he becomes a loner as a result of deep emotional scars caused by his dad. This is something in which most of us can relate.

What draws us to this character? He has the whole bad boy thing down, he’s not afraid to say what’s on his mind, except to his dad at times. If he wants to know or do something he goes right ahead and explores, not thinking of the danger or consequences.
Traits: Extremely quick-witted with a smart a_ _ comment almost every time he’s around. He’s very crafty/mischievous (i.e. destroying property, using an app to unlock his dad’s car, hiding in his dad’s trunk to follow him).
Subtext: When he’s angry or frustrated he finds something to throw (i.e. rock, rubber ball, etc.), his eyes become watery when he hears something sincere, but tries to hide it.
Flaw: His temper
Values: Strong father figure, skill sets, honesty, praise, love
Irony: He has to deal with his family who he knows can’t stand him, but he has to save them although he wants them to be proud of him and appreciate him.
What makes this the right character for this role? He is a trouble-making mischievous teenager with a delinquent past, but those same traits make him fearless and resilient when facing dangerous villains.

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: Wants to be world famous.

Wound: Was told he would never amount to anything by his father/uncle.

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

Secret: Has stolen money from his uncle/cousin

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

What draws us to this character? He’s the type of enemy that you love to hate, because he is so smart, mean, and evil that at times it’s comical. He never gives up, which keeps the intrigue of the story moving.

Traits: Smart, Quick tempered, Calculating, Makes poor choices when angry
Subtext: Eyes become beady and dark when thinking, clenches fist when determined
Flaw: underestimates everyone’s capabilities
Values: determined, intelligence, giving orders
Irony: Although he hates Mark he’s going to need him to save his life.
What makes this the right character for this role? He is a determined foe who will not stop until he gets what he wants. He has total allegiance from his crew of hoods who follow all of his orders.

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.

[Keri Lee]

Keri’s Character Profiles, Part 2

What I learned: That taking the time / finding the patience to figure this stuff out before I dive into writing is going to make the writing (and rewriting!) a lot easier….

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>

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.

Internal Journey: From someone who is smart but
pretends/hides herself & her knowledge in order to stay safe/maintain luxe
life … 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: wants to stay safe & keep
nice things / needs 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 so she became cynical (and has deep-rooted
shame)

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.

What draws us to this character? She’s smart & funny &
unedited…. until her husband’s around: then her light goes out and she’s guarded
and hides herself … and is beginning to seethe a bit.

Traits:
smart. observant. sometimes insecure; other times: funny & uncensored.

Subtext:
sarcasm delivered deadpan so she can wide-eye it off.

Flaw:
shame.

Values:
truth/justice. freedom. nice things.

Irony:
she values truth and freedom but has basically accepted a luxurious prison
for herself and hides who she is around her husband/the church people
because she’s afraid of having nothing again.

What makes this the right character for this role? she’s someone who’s been at the
bottom and subject to religious manipulation, so once she sees the larger
truth of what’s going on, she’ll bring a boatload of anger to the task at hand.

Antagonist Profile:

Role in the story: Antagonist. The errant son of a mildly
famous televangelist who’s taken over his father’s 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-increasing 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 and poor
people and naive people

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

Wound: he saw his dad as weak and
irrelevant and was terrified that it 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).

Secret: the weakness and irrelevance he
perceived in his father—who was at heart a decent man–was his own
weakness & his father gently told him as much (in a super nice way) as
he lay dying.

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.

What draws us to this character? He’s sexy, eloquent, and charismatic.

Traits: charming. deceptive. merciless.

Subtext: charm/manipulation

Flaw:
he needs the adulation of other people to feel strong/relevant as (like
the hero) he feels worthless/weak deep down.

Values:
money. power. adoration. constant expansion of all three.

Irony:
he talks a lot about how god wants everyone to be affluent while he bilks people
out of money and is part of the reason they’re poor.

What makes this the right character for this role? He’s excellent at reading people
and telling them what they want to hear (& twisting it just enough to get
what he wants: their money. their adoration. their compliance).

[Monica Romero]

Monica’s character profiles part 2

What I learned from this assignment is taking the time up front to flesh out all these various aspects of a profile can help create a believable, more three dimensional character and also inform the specific choices they will make.

Lulu –

What draws us to this character? We see she makes choices out of passion and deep conviction but also can get herself into trouble. We want to see her realize her ideals and admire her drive but also can’t look away from the potential train wreck. We want to see if she succeeds.
Traits: idealistic, perfectionist, loves words, overly independent, won’t ask for help, insecure, not identified deeply with her roots
Subtext: disdain for her upbringing and the life her parents created for her. she resents having to ask for anything and will avoid it like the plague
Flaw: IDEALISTIC perfectionist like her mom, prideful like her dad, too idealistic
Values: creativity, believing money is evil, self reliance
Irony: Worst suited person to run a business will end up being the one to do it. Feels least like she belongs among her family and at home, and the place she wants most desperately to escape is where she’ll be stuck.
What makes this the right character for this role? She has enough drive and passion to move the story forward and we want to see if she succeeds or falls flat on her face. she is the worst person for the task ahead which is essentially to keep her family together and afloat in the midst of impending financial ruin.

Memo:

What draws us to this character? He has a soft side under his rigid demeanor and he prides himself on being a provider; noble. We empathize with him because we see he reacts and behaves out of hurt.
Traits: serious on the outside, sense of humor, noble, generous, moral conservative, traditional views, loves deeply, insecure
Subtext: often defensive, can wall up to protect his emotions or hide them, constantly watching others’ behavior for disrespect, passive aggressive
Flaw: insecure, needy? Wounded? He too won’t ask for help when needed? Prideful? PRIDEFUL
Values: family, fatherhood, work ethic, machismo
Irony: He values family but is breaking up his marriage and is unfaithful to his wife, whom he deeply loves. He prides himself in being a good businessman but is terrible at managing the business and bad at his finances. Harsh at home but warm with strangers
What makes this the right character for this role? He will offer up resistance but ultimately is both the person who can give Lulu the acceptance and validation she needs and the person who is causing her the most pain by being authoritarian, putting her through the paces. He is also the person who will mentor her despite his own flaws.

[Kathleen Martin]

Kathleen’s Character Profiles – Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is establishing who my characters are and what makes them drive in a story makes the story more interesting.

JENNY – Protagonist

Role in Story – She is an Ice Skater hoping to compete at The Winter Olympics.

Description – She is in her early twenties, about 5’2 and good looking. She has dark hair. She’s also athletic.

Traits – Loving, caring, compassionate, hard worker.

Subtext – Sarcastic

Flaw – She hides her feelings.

Values – She wants to do the right thing. She has integrity.

Irony – She falls in love with Brad after dating him back in high school not knowing he feels the same way about her.

Internal Journey – She wants to be loved.

External Journey – She wants to save her Ice Rink, get back with Brad, and go on to compete at The Winter Olympics.

Motivation – She is determined to save her Ice Rink.

Wound – She broke up with Brad when he went back east to college and she never got over it.

Mission/Agenda – She hopes to save her beloved Ice Rink, go on the Olympics and get back with Brad.

Secret – She still has feelings for Brad but feels she is not good enough for him since he is a “Harvard Man” now. She feels inadequate around him.

Everyone likes her.

BRAD – Protagonist

Role in Story – He is a Hockey Player who learned and played Hockey in the hometown where his beloved Ice Rink is scheduled to close. He returns home to help save it.

Description – He is in his early twenties, good looking, medium built, has dark hair, and athletic.

Traits – Subborn, hard worker, caring, feeler

Subtext – Sarcastic

Flaw – Hiding his feelings. Harvard isn’t what he expected. He is basically a down to earth man.

Values – He cares about people and community. He has integrity.

Irony – He doesn’t like Harvard and doesn’t want to go back after seeing Jenny again. Feelings come back and he doesn’t realize Jenny feels the same way about him.

Internal Journey – He wants Jenny back. He feels bad they broke up.

External Journey – He wants to save his Ice Rink, get back with Jenny and make The US Hockey Team competing at The Olympics.

Motivation – Seeing Jenny again and working with her to save their beloved Ice Rink.

Wound – He still has feelings for Jenny. He never got over the break up.

Mission/Agenda – Saving the Ice Rink, getting Jenny back and staying home while attending a a local college and competing at The Olympics.

Secret – Harvard isn’t what he expected. He feels out of place there. He is hometown boy at heart. He doesn’t want to go back. He wants stay home with Jenny.

Both characters are likeable. They have the same goals and dreams. They dated in high school but broke up when Brad received a Scholarship to play Hockey at Harvard. Neither one got over it and after seeing each other again feelings come back. Jenny thinks he is around educated and sophisticated people and she doesn’t fit in with him anymore. Brad isn’t happy there and wants to come back home. Both are hiding their feelings.

[ML Palidofska]

Lesson 3: ML Palidofska

What I learned…Creating texture with characters…seeing similarities and opposite traits

Margaret Strong

What draws us to this character? Humble, likeable, could be your sister or the girl next door.

Insightful, good listener, feels like an instant friend, someone you could trust

Subtext: She is willing to step out of her box and try things that maybe she shouldn’t

Flaw: Not enough belief in herself

Values: Clear sense of right and wrong, the over all power of love and hard work

Irony: Her innocence makes her wise

What makes her right for role? Innocent, looking for love and driven to be successful

Antagonist: Everett James

What draws us to this character? Handsome, obviously empowered as he has the government behind him. Has had a long career as an investigator and we’re wondering if he will honestly investigate Margaret or set her up.

Traits: Distant, contained, sophisticated, more so than any of the other characters

Subtext: Everything he says or does has the underlying intent of discovering information that people offer or unwittingly expose about themselves

Flaw: Would like to go into retirement with a splashy, solved case

Irony: Would never be involved with any of these “characters” if he had a choice. Finds himself liking them and enjoying their company even if they’re what he considers nuts.

What makes him the right character for this role? His conservatism and role of authority makes a good contrast to the others.

[Erik Rhey]

Erik Rhey’s Character Profile Part 2

Character Profile, Part 2

Traits: Resourceful, inventive, kind, curious

Subtext: Hank hides his fear and ambivalence behind false confidence, pretending to have all the answers.

Flaw: He can be impulsive and selfish.

Values: Loyalty to family, taking care of his “tribe,” honesty and integrity.

Irony: The opposing forces of Hank’s selflessness and selfishness end up serving a greater good than just his family’s.

What makes this the right character for this role?

Instead of an action film–style sci-fi protagonist–Captain Kirk, Han Solo, Dutch Schaefer, Flash Gordon, Hank is molded from the “other type” of sci-fi protagonist, the one who is heady, thrust into a world he doesn’t yet understand (and is often ill-prepared for), but must navigate to survive or achieve his goal.

[robin Heid]

Robin Heid’s Character Profiles Part 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that, as Hal says, the more you know about your characters, the easier it is to write. As I further fleshed out my characters, it brought to mind something Warren Beatty said in an interview with David Frost 30+ years ago: “Show me a character and I’ll tell you a story.”

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.

WHAT
DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER?
The Metasynthesizer engages
the audience both emotionally and through wondering about what he’ll do because:
a) instead of a humanoid body he is a 100-foot-long spaceplane that flies
17,000 miles per hour; and b) he is 6 chronological years and 80 million
memories old.

TRAITS: The three or four main characteristics of the
character. They are expressed in both action and dialogue. Most important,
they show up every time the character shows up.

The Metasynthesizer is inquisitive always, intuitive sometimes, logical to an extreme, and powerful beyond measure… all of which are in play almost every time he appears.

SUBTEXT: The Metasynthesizer hides his secret passively, aggressively – and passive-aggressively, depending on the situation purpose mood of the moment.

FLAW: The Metasynthesizer has trouble processing apparent contradictions because he remains at his core a machine being based on logic and that causes problems for him when what’s going on around him transcends logic.

VALUES: The Metasynthesizer’s foundation is the relentless pursuit of knowledge, and the scrupulous application of logic and history to all situations, but mostly he tries to learn everything he can from everything that happens to him every moment. He is constitutionally incapable of lying but equally capable of truthful subterfuge.

IRONY: The Metasynthesizer’s devotion to logic results in a deep understanding of emotion and intuition and instinct; complications ensue because these two modes of processing the world appear at time to be mutually exclusive.

WHAT MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? The Metasynthesizer is the ONLY character who can do this role because
The Metasynthesizer is unique not only within the world of this story but
in the annals of all intelligent machine stories because he seeks not to
be humanity’s worst nightmare but its most cherished dream.<div>

<div>

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.

WHAT
DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? Bentley Garfield engages the audience emotionally because while he is clearly a bad guy with evil intentions, he also has legitimate concerns about The Metasynthesizer that many in the audience share – and causes the audience to wonder how he’s going to act in terms of those shared concerns.

TRAITS: Bentley Garfield is focused, ruthless, arrogant, and disciplined.

SUBTEXT: Bentley Garfield pulls the pipe from his mouth and a thin strand of spittle always bridges the gap, then breaks and sticks to his upper or lower lip, depending on the context.

FLAW: Bentley Garfield’s arrogance and hubris blinds him to the nature and scope of the challenge he faces in dealing with The Metasynthesizer.

VALUES: Bentley Garfield is driven by will to power; all else
is subordinate. </div><div>

IRONY: Bentley Garfield supremely values The Metasynthesizer and at the same time existentially fears him, which leads to some interesting decision making.

WHAT
MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? Bentley Garfield’s combination of ignorant informed arrogance and ontological certainty makes him the right fit for this role.</div><div>

Second-tier main characters:

Cathy West, 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.

WHAT
DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? Cathy West engages the audience because she is open mentally and spiritually to everything that comes her way through her association with The Metasynthesizer, and we look forward to seeing how she handles the curveballs that association sends her way.

TRAITS: Cathy West is brave, bold, capable, and caring.

SUBTEXT: She fingers the careworn jet-black onyx heart pendant she always wears.

FLAW: Cathy West is intellectually and operationally honest, and she seeks understanding and achievement more than power – and she assumes everyone else is that way, too, so she gets caught off-guard and ends up behind the power curve when others deviate from her personal standard.

VALUES: Cathy West is honest, brave, proficient, professional, with a wild streak that makes her unpredictable.

IRONY: Cathy West’s sober professionalism and inherent wildness combine in weird and wonderful ways that sometimes even surprise The Metasynthesizer.

WHAT
MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? Cathy West is the right character because women interact better than men with deep learning systems, and her combination of seriousness and wildness amplify her ability to help The Metasynthesizer be the best being he can be.</div><div>

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.

WHAT
DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? Escher Lord engages the audience because he is casually intense and we wonder what crazy creative way he surmounts the obstacles that little his path to accomplishing his mission.

TRAITS: Escher Lord is brave, irreverent, loyal, lethal, loving.

SUBTEXT: Escher Lord makes a joke.

FLAW: Escher Lord’s default position is to always distrust authority, which periodically bites him in the ass because authority is not always wrong.

VALUES: Escher Lord cares so deeply about those he loves and respects that he will give his life to defend and protect them – and he’ll do his best to make sure he has fun doing it.

IRONY: Escher Lord’s irreverence and courage cause him to do wild and crazy and dangerous stuff as often for fun as to accomplish some serious purpose.

WHAT
MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? Escher Lord is the right character for this role because it requires a seriously fun guy to pull it off, someone who follows the old adage: “The style is the man. If he conducts himself with inner humor, then it must be with outer seriousness: If he conducts himself with inner seriousness, then it must be with outer humor.”</div><div>

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Main supporting characters

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.

WHAT
DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? Tesla Ray is enigmatic because he sees everything but sees little, and when he does say something it contributes to moving the process forward. We wonder always what his next tidbit of wisdom will be.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>TRAITS: Tesla Ray is taciturn, measured, perceptive, process-oriented.

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>SUBTEXT: Tesla Ray strokes his fire-red beard.

FLAW: Tesla Ray sometimes thinks so much in terms of process that he misses process-wrecking details.

VALUES: Tesla Ray’s principal value is that consciousness is a passive observer; it waits until something it needs to act upon hops down the process trail and then it acts. His secondary value is religious devotion to the Boogie Mechanic’s Creed: Preserve process by doing always what the situation purpose mood of the moment needs.
WHAT
MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? Tesla Ray is the right character for this role because he’s the perfect boogie mechanic.</div><div>

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.)

WHAT
DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? Doctor An engages the audience with her teenage vulnerabilities and drama while at the same time being the genius prodigy most responsible for helping The Metasynthesizer to become the most powerful being on and above Earth.

TRAITS: Doctor An is brave and bold and totally confident when it comes to AI and mountain biking, and insecure and almost timid about every other part of her life.

SUBTEXT: Doctor An chews gun with proportional intensity to her mental activity.

FLAW: Doctor An has no confidence and little courage when it comes to her place in the world outside of her work and her mountan biking, which colors her soul and affects her perceptions.
IRONY: Doctor An is a badass beyond compare in AI and mountain biking, timid child in the rest of her life; one seeps into the other by the end of the story.

WHAT
MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? Nothing
like a child prodigy to steal an audience’s heart.</div><div>

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.

WHAT
DRAWS US TO THIS CHARACTER? Master Chief engages the audience emotionally because he’s in-your-face outrageous and socio-politically incorrect that you love him or hate him and we watch him in fascination because we never know WTF he’s going to do next.

TRAITS: Master Chief is honest to a fault, straight talking to a fault, straight shooter par excellence, better read than most Ph.Ds, and the best friend or worst enemy you could ever have. Loves brave people, despises poseurs.

SUBTEXT: Master Chief offers bloody black death observations about the world.

FLAW: Master Chief never backs down from a fight, even if doing so is the better course of action. This leads him into unnecessary risks and adventures – except they’re not because fighting feeds his soul.

VALUES: Master Chief holds loyalty to God, family, friends, and country above all else, which also means keep his word, and accomplishing his mission without caring who gets the credit.

IRONY: Master Chief may be a trained killer but he has a broad streak of kindness through his soul so not only knows how to kill, he knows when not to kill – and when to break out his inner teddy bear.

WHAT
MAKES THIS THE RIGHT CHARACTER FOR THIS ROLE? No other character but Master Chief could be right for this role.</div></div>