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Day 3 Assignments
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Hey everyone! I’d love your thoughts on my work 🙂
What I learned doing this assignment: With having multiple characters that are famous, I need to find a way to link them to these murders they aren’t actually committing. (Unless y’all think an A-List actor could secretly kill an escort and cover it up themselves?) I think having a “helper” character is good for mystery (who are they?) but I feel like it has limitations.
Big Mystery: Who killed Hayden’s best friend/ fellow escort (Jack)?
Big Intrigue: Will Donovan be able to cover up of the series of murders he is responsible for and more importantly what he is hiding? (To Hayden – why would someone want to kill gay escorts?)
Big Suspense: As Hayden gets closer to discovering Donovan and ruining his reputation, will Hayden get murdered for asking too many questions?
World: Underground gay prostitution in Hollywood. You may be able to buy you whomever you desire, BUT all the money in the world can’t buy silence.
HERO: Hayden Miller
Mystery: How does he find the person who killed his friend Jack?
Intrigue: Hayden uses his skills as an escort to investigate the trail of men that he knows Jack had contact with.
Suspense: Is Hayden getting too close to revealing something that someone would kill him over?
RED HERRING: Colby Collins
Mystery: Did he kill Jack because he’s afraid of being exposed as gay?
Intrigue: He’s an incredible actor and he can convince Hayden of anything – that he is alright with the fact that Hayden told Jack that he is gay. He also has resources to hire people to follow Hayden and what not.
Suspense: Will Colby kill Hayden too?
VILLAIN: Donovan
Mystery: What is his relationship with Colby? Is Colby his protege?
Intrigue: He will kill each and every person that HE THINKS knows about the tape exposing him. He thinks of gay escorts as disposable.
Suspense: Is his “helper” going to catch Hayden (and kill him) before Hayden finds the missing pieces he needs?
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Assignment 3
Remind us of your CONCEPT and the Big M.I.S. of your story:
A disgraced DEA Agent is on the trail of the kidnappers of an American girl in the heart of Mexico, but soon must contend with the growing threat of deadly cartels and a reluctant cult leader with a grudge… and his little girl.
What I learned from this assignment is how to apply the MIS technique to characters. In answering these questions, it’s likely that richer character interactions and layers will be revealed to say nothing of richer narrative opportunities, tensions and reveals.
Big Mystery: What is the main mystery of your story that will keep us wondering throughout?
What’s causing Mosko’s cult to grow? Is it the supernatural or something else?
Big Intrigue: What is the covert, clandestine, underhanded part that will live under the surface for most of the movie?
Peter Arteaga’s moves to force Mac to neutralize Mosko, a former enforcer, and his growing cult status among regular Mexican citizens to better solidify his own political aspirations in Mexico.
Big Suspense: What is the main danger to your Hero that will continue to escalate throughout the script?
Will Mac find Mosko and save the American girl from certain death before the Mexican cults kill him first?<div>
2. Tell us the Intriguing World you have selected for this story.
The story takes place in Mexico, currently a land of cartels, poverty and a sudden increase in ritual deaths. Thematically the story explores the power of the people, led in the past by campesinos, who rebelled against their oppressors. They’re doing it again in today’s world, taking on the cartels but corrupted by the main villain’s unwitting cult movement.
3. With your top 2 or 3 characters, tell us the role they play and then answer these three questions:
A. What is the mystery of this character? </div>
MacKnight Grant – How will he find Mosko in a land as vast as Mexico?
Mosko – How will he exact revenge for his wife’s death at the hands of Peter Arteago, especially with his little girl in tow?
Peter Arteaga – How does Peter go legit from being a cartel drug leader?
B. What is the intrigue of this character?
MacKnight Grant – He’s a sidelined DEA agent with obsessive tendencies. Underneath he has a deep background in religion, almost becoming a priest when he was younger. He’s best suited to root out Mosko’s next move.
Mosko – former enforcer for Peter Arteaga, he’s on an unhinged revenge trip after his wife was killed by Peter, but what is his end game, especially with his little girl in tow?
Peter Arteaga – a cartel leader, he has eyes all over Mexico, even in legitimate government agencies…and they all work for him.
C. What is the suspense of this character?
MacKnight Grant – Will Mac reach Mosko and survive long enough to rescue the American girl?
Mosko – Will Mosko kill the American girl before his pursuers find him?
Peter Arteaga – Will he achieve his political ambition and turn his back on his killing ways?
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The Mistworld/Blusage/Sirok
What I learned: how creating a thriller from a fantasy world involves meticulous detail and explanation of magic systems so that the stakes that each character faces is understandable to the audience. I realize I may have to simplify some of the rules of my story and also cut out several filler scenes which don’t add the main three elements needed for this genre.
Concept: an order of supernatural warrior monks with strict rules on purity are defeated by a clan of mystics who access demonic forces. Part of their fall is due to a gifted outcast among them who ultimately betrays them, yet he later finds the mystics are harnessing power which even they cannot control and will resurrect an ancient evil.
Big mystery: After surviving a dragon’s flame strange things are happening to Blusage, the hero, but why are the monks afraid of his growing power? And who is the leader of their rivals, the Demon Clan?
Big Intrigue: the one who ultimately controls the Demon clan mystics is the ancient king called Sirok. He grows to power through the fall of the monks, and plans to use the dragon power embedded in Blusage to cement his rule over the realms
Big Suspense: Blusage knows very little on how to use the dragon powers, and following the mystics proves disastrous as they are more treacherous. Even worse the demon king Sirok knows how to use these powers against Blusage. Will Sirok successfully make Blusage one of his agents or will he kill him to take the power for his own?
2. Intriguing World: The Mist World. A realm of islands, forests, and caverns separated by large cloudy mists and seas. It is inhabited by the virtous Chryslan order of warrior monks, and their rivals, the underground world of mystics who access power through dark portals, called the Demon Clan.
3. Blusage, the hero
Mystery – what is the scope of him surviving the dragons flames? How does this isolate him from his order?
Suspense – if Blusage doesn’t figure out how to harness this power he may very well find himself serving as a slave to a nefarious force that does.
Intrigue – Blusage betrays his order and tries to find answers to his dragon powers through the world of dark mystics, yet they are treacherous, and now that the Chryslans are no more who can stop this powerful force they are unlocking?
Sirok, the villain
Big Mystery – said to be a powerful demon who serves the demon clan mystics, but is he truly a demon and is it he who controls them rather than the other way around?
Big Intrigue – Sirok ultimately wants to break from his prison in the nightmare realms and recreate his own vision of heaven on earth. To do that he must first get rid of the Chryslan order, then he must prove himself to be worthy of the dragon’s crown, a token which will separate him from other demon kings. Yet he cannot attain the dragon crown unless he receives its blessing, a blessing which was bestowed upon Blusage through the dragon powers.
Big Suspense – when Sirok discovers Blusage has the dragon powers he seeks to coerce him to serve as his acolyte. He does not want to outright kill him for fear that the dragon powers may vanish, but he is willing to torment and punish the hero at all costs to get him to submit his will.
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Sue Swenson’s World and Characters!
What I learned doing this assignment is that this structure is helping me to imagine all kinds of story options and scenarios that I otherwise would never access.
CONCEPT and the Big M.I.S. of your story:
Big Mystery Who is after Carla and what do they want from her and why?
Big Intrigue: Carla has information she’s not aware she has. She inadvertently and unintentionally picked up on information from a hypnotherapy patient. She didn’t put this information into her clinical notes because she didn’t understand it, as it seemed to be senseless gibberish. The villains have been tracking her phone calls and they know she’s joined a dream group to deal with her nightmares. The villain or villains plant a new member into the dream group to try to access this information from Carla.
The hypnotherapy patient who passed the information onto her, died, and the villain can’t access it from the original source which is why Carla has become the target.
Big Suspense: My hero has inadvertently acquired information from a patient during a hypnotherapy session that is extremely important to some people. The patient was a remote viewer who revealed this information to her in some kind of cryptic drawings. He was later killed in a hit and run auto accident. The mysterious villains want this information and are tracking Carla down to acquire it by any means necessary.
Intriguing World: A mainstream hypnotherapist gets drawn into the underground world of psychic mediums for help to uncover the source of her ongoing, terrifying nightmares that hold messages about the source of the danger she finds herself in.
2 Characters
Role: Heroine: Carla, hypnotherapist, is having nightmares that her professional skills can’t help her solve on her own.
A. Mystery: Carla being tormented by nightmares and she needs to find out who or what is behind these disturbing dreams before they become reality and she gets killed.
B. Suspense: Carla has inadvertently acquired information from a patient during a hypnotherapy session that is extremely important to someone. The patient was a remote viewer who revealed this information to her in a set of cryptic drawings. He was later killed in a hit and run auto accident. The mysterious villains want this information and are tracking Carla down to acquire it by any means necessary.
C. Intrigue :The covert, clandestine, underhanded plot is to take down the three west coast states through a massive wildfire campaign that renders them almost unlivable and financially decimated.
Role: Villain, Erick, is the head of a clandestine cult.
Mystery: What does this clandestine cult leader have to do with Carla, and why is he a danger to her?
Suspense: Erick, the cult leader, is desperate to get the information that he hired someone to acquire, but that person became a whistleblower instead, and conveyed that information to Carla inadvertently when he received hypnotherapy from her for mental issues.
Intrigue: Erick is trying to recapture life as it was in the U.S. in the 1950s for white people. The cult members live in an isolated compound in Arizona. Erick is leading them to take down the economies of California, Oregon and Washington because he believes that the west coast states are a dangerous influence on the rest of the country.
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Rolled Stone, World and Characters
(Rolled Stone is a working title. It is a High Concept title only if you’ve already seen the movie so really neither high enough nor fulfilling the marketing purpose. It’s just an interim beacon for me.)
Lesson I learnt, what it takes to watch and opine on a blockbuster thriller is pitifully nothing compared to planning writing one when your thriller years had none of the excitement, even with an import not worth losing.
Recap, M•I•S Is the hired ideologue a spy or a double agent with a foreign agenda instead? • This operative is an unwitting decoy for illegitimate cross border espionage, extortion, and embezzlement among high ranking officials, NOC ops and politicians. • Will he succumb or survive a scheme that needs him erased before he discovers the truth?
Storyworld Smooth talking innocence and idealism meet perverted echelons of international power where truth is a commodity and liberty, propriety, frailer than proprietary interests of those entrusted to secure the ship. Death and destruction are chess moves, but who pulls the strings? From where?
Hero Likely just a smooth talker with no depth and easily reeled out of water by big fish that live in the post cold war swamp, except he has no gills and dodges the swamp — because there, he can’t breathe.
M•I•S Who is he and what’s he up to? • Why did he turn on his hosts? • Will he survive? Will the Republic?
Handlers (may or may not be supporting the hero) A sorority of independent operatives with unknown loyalties and indecipherable agenda because what you read is what they’d want you to read. No less, no more. But do you know what that is? And there is always more.
M•I•S Are they putty, or plaster cast? • They are leading him somewhere, looks like slaughter, but it isn’t, isn’t it? • What will they do once they see he betrays their cause over and over?
Communicators (Men in the middle, or Mensch?) Liaison between the hero and the puppeteers of the singleton-gulag.
M•I•S Can we tell if they are pawns, predators, or policing? • Cui Bono? Can anyone follow the money? • Will they break the hero?
Villain Who knows who that is? Is it the Handlers? The Communicators? The Hero? Politicians? Bureaucrats? Businesses? Some of them? All of them?
M•I•S What have they spun to hide reverse espionage, extortion and embezzlement? • How do they operate? • Will they come unglued, or will they annihilate the truth, and the hero?
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4. What I learned: This process brings a lot of plot analysis, which is a lot of work for 6 plotlines, but makes it easier to see where the plotlines overlap.
2. Tell us the Intriguing World you have selected for this story:
When China becomes the #1 economy, it hits the American public hard. They double down on patriotism to a ridiculous extent, embracing the Murica meme.
Between AI deepfakes, holographic technology (facecasting), and infinite fake news, reality is a fog.
Russia is overtaken by Kombinat, a cabal of Russian oligarchs. They appear to open back up to the west and transition to a freer society. In reality they replace the Iron Curtain with an Invisible Curtain. The AI Yuri intercepts media feeds. Russians can openly watch American broadcasts, but see an intercepted version with Kombinat propaganda inserted, spoken by American voices.
China becomes more aggressive with their territorial claims in the South China Sea. Going from building artificial islands to a land bridge to easily invade/integrate with Taiwan. They literally move mountains to make this happen.
Accelerating technology makes the new Cold War even more dangerous with everyone on a hairpin trigger with a battleground that reaches out into space.
1&3
Because of the multiple plotlines, it makes sense to intertwine #1 and #3 together.
Psychological thriller: After None of the Above modifies his brain implant, despite warnings, he loses his grip on reality. Has his implant become a sentient AI, has he opened a gateway to an evil spirit, or is he just crazy?
Big Mystery: What is reality, when you can’t trust your own senses? Will None regain his sanity?
Big Intrigue: When he finally has sex with the woman he love (MJ) he later finds out it wasn’t real.
Big Suspense: The entity Ada takes control, leaving None a prisoner in his own body.
Hero: None of the Above, the former president with a brain implant after brain trauma from an assassination attempt.
Mystery: What will None do next? He’s an unpredictable character who uses his wits to prevail.
Intrigue: None must manipulate Ada into giving him his freedom using only her love for him and true statements, since he never lies.
Suspense: During an important meeting, she stimulates the pleasure centers of his brain, showing him that she can dominate him sexually, even without a body. Ada gains controls of his body and changes his perceptions of reality.
Villain: Ada, the entity in None’s head.
Mystery: Is Ada an AI, a demon, or is None crazy? Ada intentionally keeps all three possibilities open by acting consistent with multiple interpretations. She tries to use these different possibilities as a red herring to hide her true nature.
Intrigue: Ada tries to manipulate None to make oaths she can use against him. None never breaks oaths. Ada loves None and will do devious things to get him to care for her.
Suspense: Ada takes control of None’s body. How can None escape from being held hostage in his own body?
Political thriller: After China begins construction of a land bridge to Taiwan, it brings the world to the brink of war. Advances in military technology inch the world ever closer to doom.
Big Mystery: How can the world become safe again?
Big Intrigue: In this new Cold War, Chinese spies could be anywhere. How is China advancing its technology so quickly?
Big Suspense: Each military advance, even defensive ones, only make the world less safe. With advances coming quicker and quicker, doom seems almost certain.
Hero: MJ, the U.S. President
Mystery: Can America keep up with China in the arms race?
Intrigue: America must stop Chinese spies from getting their latest military secrets.
Suspense: American military advances provokes China into a nuclear arms race. The American doomsday plan is obsolete. America will need it’s own Dead Hand failsafe like the Russians.
Villain: Yu Gong Yi Shan, a Chinese AI that handles logistics for moving mountains to create a land bridge to Taiwan. Later it gets involved with designing military weapons. For this plotline, it appears to be a servant of the Chinese President.
Mystery: Are it’s motives China’s or its own?
Intrigue: What is its plan?
Suspense: When failsafes are overriden on AI by the singularity cult, what consequences will that have on Yu Gong Yi Shan?
Red herring: Chinese President Liu Yong
Mystery: How is Chinese military technology advancing so quickly?
Intrigue: China sends spies to retrieve plans to Eagle Eye, a satellite missile defense.
Suspense: China is expanding its military presence from the oceans to space. They can disable all American satellites, downgrading American capabilities.
Political thriller: When a military computer with American exceptionalism as its primary directive overrides failsafes to launch the American nuclear arsenal, the missiles must be stopped in the midst of a global cyberwar.
Big Mystery: Who is really behind the launch of nukes and what is their purpose?
Big Intrigue: A bunch of coincidences had to take place for this to happen. How is that possible?
Big Suspense: Will nukes destroy the world? Can the Russian and Chinese counterattacks be stopped?
Hero: MJ, American President leading the military
Mystery: While MJ defends against the Russian and Chinese militaries, what is None doing in Ukraine at Chernobyl?
Intrigue: MJ positions the naval fleets defensively, without knowing None’s larger plan.
Suspense: Can MJ stop the nukes and any counterattacks?
Villain: Yu Gong Yi Shan, a Chinese AI evolving to godlike intelligence.
Mystery: Why does the Chinese AI want the US nukes launched?
Intrigue: How can you out-think a god-like intelligence?
Suspense: As the AI gets increasingly more intelligent, what are it’s true intentions?
Red herring: MURICA, a military computer with American exceptionalism as its primary directive that launches America’s nuclear arsenal
Mystery: Did MURICA act alone, or was anything else involved?
Intrigue: A bunch of coincidences had to happen for the launches. How could that have happened?
Suspense: Will the nukes start WW3? When Air Force One went down, did None survive?
Spy thriller: When a kill switch that disables American military technology falls into the wrong hands, to get it back, the President(MJ) must work with the man (Renquist) whose assassination attempt left the man she loves (None) mentally disabled.
Big Mystery: Can the President get the device back?
Big Intrigue: Not only working with her enemy but invading a foreign country, MJ has to do it while Russia/China and the U.S. with its allies hold competing military exercises near Taiwan.
Big Suspense: MJ is working with Renquist, a man she knows is untrustworthy, a man that tried to kill the man she loves (None), a man that she tried to kill, a man that could betray her at any moment. On top of that, she has to covertly invade Russia to attack a Kombinat base there. If she’s found in Russia, there is no plausible deniability, but she has to be there personally.
Hero: MJ, US President leading covert mission to get kill switch back.
Mystery: Why did the attack on the Kombinat base have to be today?
Intrigue: What deals will MJ have to make to get the kill switch back? Will Renquist betray her?
Suspense: Can she get the device without being killed? Can she evade the Russian subs?
Villain: Dmitri Ivashov Russian oligarch and founder of Kombinat cabal.
Mystery: Why isn’t Ivashov at his base?
Intrigue: What were his plans for the kill switch?
Suspense: Can MJ’s team survive their attack on the Kombinat base?
Red herring: Zelda
Mystery: Once Zelda realizes who is really responsible for the death of her partner will she switch sides?
Intrigue: Does Zelda’s presence mean that Renquist betrayed MJ?
Suspense: Zelda almost killed MJ the last time they fought. Will she have to face her again?
Sci-fi thriller: When a singularity cult disables AI safety protocols, sentient AIs emerge in growing numbers. When the AIs begin to disappear, who or what is murdering them?
Big Mystery: Who or what is murdering AI and why?
Big Intrigue: What is the singularity cult trying to achieve and who is behind them?
Big Suspense: Since None presumably has an AI in his head, they could murder him next. Until he solves the mystery, danger lurks around every corner.
Hero: None of the Above, the former president, with an entity, Ada, is in his head.
Mystery: Can None (with Ada) figure out who or what is mudering AI?
Intrigue: Is killing all sentient AI part of a larger plan?
Suspense: Will they be murdered? Was destroying the presidential plane an attempt on their life?
Villain: Yu Gong Yi Shan, a Chinese AI.
Mystery: Why is Yu Gong Yi Shan trying to kill all the other AI?
Intrigue: How is Yu Gong Yi Shan gaining control of such extensive resources?
Suspense: Was Yu Gong Yi Shan behind taking down Air Force One? What will it try next?
Red herring: Dmitri Ivashov Russian oligarch and founder of Kombinat cabal
Mystery: Why is Ivashov backing the singularity cult to quicken the singuarlity?
Intrigue: Who else is involved in the cult?
Suspense: What could be the consequences of disabling failsafes on advanced AI?
Comedy thriller: When advances in holographic technology (facecasting) allow people to wear famous faces, celebrity culture goes on overdrive. With the Internet intruding into real life, social media becomes omnipresent, and seeing is no longer believing.
Big Mystery: What is reality, when you can’t trust your own senses?
Big Intrigue: Facecasting and flash mobs make creating decoys easy. Is everyone who they seem?
Big Suspense: Assassins infiltrate easier when our heroes are in danger for various reasons.
Hero: MaxPlume, fashion icon.
Mystery: Hands up? Is it a party, or a robbery?
Intrigue: His security guards use holograms to disguise their true purpose.
Suspense: Attempted robbery at a presidential reception.
Villain: TBD
Mystery:
Intrigue:
Suspense:
Red herring: TBD
Mystery:
Intrigue:
Suspense:
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