Lesson 10

[Rebecca Sukle]

Rebecca’s Trust Relationships

What I learned: Using the Trust and Distrust exercise adds a whole new layer of intrigue to the story. I enjoyed integrating trust and distrust into a new growing Thriller Map as the story builds.

Opening: A young female singing star, JADE OLIVER, escapes an important concert just before a world tour and hides in the garden of a security systems technician, JACOB ADANICH.

Life-threatening – is Jade’s life in danger?

Mystery 1: What prompted her escape before a world tour?

Inciting incident: Jade begs JACOB for asylum from her abusive boyfriend and he agrees.

Trust: Jacob believes her original story and offers asylum.

Twist: Jade hides that she is a singing star and the abuser is her Manager.

Mystery 2: What else is she hiding when she pleads for Jacob to hide her?

Twist and Distrust: Jacob learns from local news that she is a singing star suffering a breakdown and not just a girl hiding from her abusive boyfriend. Police are conducting a search around the convention center.

Trust: After threatening to turn her in, Jade tells him that her manager keeps her captive and she will die if forced to perform on a world tour. She is anorexic, just skin and bones.

Trust: Martz hires Jacob to help him view the security camera videos at the convention center. He convinces him that the girl is a vegetarian nut job who reneged on her obligations by faking a breakdown.

Distrust: Jake is unsure about Jade’s honesty.

Trust: Jade denies the manager’s claims and shares about her situation and her parent’s exploitation.

TURNING POINT 1:

Distrust: Martz changes his story and gives a ransom note to the FBI, now claiming the girl was kidnapped.

Twist: The girl’s Manager, Louis Martz, appears on national television, claiming to receive a ransom note for 10 million dollars.

Danger: The Technician, now branded a kidnapper. The FBI joins the search.

Distrust: Jacob learns about Jade’s kidnapping on the news and that the FBI has a ransom note.

Distrust: Did Jade write it?

Twist and Trust: Jacob threatens to turn her in if she is not more truthful. She tells him more about the world tour and that it has a financial backer. She fears she will die on tour.

Twist: She learns Jacob is a former burned-out but talented musician, and they share the same gift of perfect pitch.

Life-threatening: the Technician could get life in prison for kidnapping.

Mystery 3: Why did the singer’s Manager lie, and what other means will he take to find her?

Midpoint: Armed men dressed in black conduct a door-to-door search in the Technician’s neighborhood, show fake detective badges and search warrants, and carry big guns. They search the house but do not find the cleverly hidden singer.

Twist: The armed men were CIA agents. New Mystery: Why is the CIA involved?

Life-threatening: Would they kill him if they found the girl?

The Jacob and Jade, in disquise, load into the work panel truck, drive into the Virginia mountains and stay in a secluded tourist cabin near a mountaintop.

Distrust: While on the run from their pursuers, Jade calls her manager, putting their hiding place at risk. Jacob destroys the phone.

Life-threatening: Jacob’s security cameras show activity, too late. Two armed Bounty Hunters capture them before they escape. The Technician disarms both using hand-to-hand combat.

New Mystery: Where did he learn his skills?

The bound-up bounty hunters tell him about $100K bounty on their heads.

Twist: Jacob uses the bounty hunter’s phone and calls Martz to come to the cabin to pick up the Jade.

New Mystery: How did the bounty hunters know their location?

Distrust: Jacob frightens Jade when he disables two bounty hunters using hand to hand combat.

Jacob and Jade leave.

Turning point 2: Jake and Jade evade government agents, bounty hunters, and assassins. He takes her to a secure paramilitary training center.

Mystery 3: What is the fundamental importance of the singer that causes government agents, bounty hunters, and trained assassins to hunt them down?

Life Threatening: The assassins killed anyone the couple met along their journey or any they spoke with.

Life-threatening: Will the hunters kill both him and the singer to silence them? How do they keep finding their hiding places?

Twist: They discover a tracking chip embedded in the girl’s earlobe. Suspense: Did they find it too late to protect their new hiding place?

Mystery 4: Jacob manages to outwit and disarm trained assassins; where did he learn his combat skills?

Climax: The Martz and two burley guards with guns capture the Technician at a grocery store. They drive him to the training center at gunpoint.

Trust: Martz promises he won’t harm couple if Jacob allows him to meet with Jade.

Distrust: Martz’s two bodyguards pull guns and aim at Jacobs’s head while he leads them to the training camp.

Mystery 5: Why didn’t Jacob take them out?

The Manager tells the couple that he just follows orders and only a tiny part of a more significant threat.

Mystery 6: Who is the true Villain?

Life Threatening: Will they kill him and take the girl?

Will they target the girl’s family next?

Will they kill the singer at the tour’s end if she complies?

Resolution: The Hero expects the worse and pulls a bluff that armed soldiers surround them.

Mystery 6: Is it really a bluff?

Twist: Instead of shooting the Technician, the Manager strikes a deal for joint survival.

Twist: The Manager is a lackey of George Sarnoff, a billionaire arms dealer. Distrust: Martz agreed with using private detectives but not the bounty hunters and assains.

Villain’s Plan: The Villain, George Sarnoff, planned to use the singer’s world tour as a cover to put his players in place in each country. Distrust: Sarnoff threatened to put Martz on his death list when he appeared uncomfortable about the bigger diabolical plan.

Twist: The Hero’s business partner shows up armed, followed by several men in military gear. The Manager joins forces with them to trap the arm’s dealer and reveal his identity, the politicians he controls.

Using a secure but recorded line, Martz calls Sarnoff and tells him he will bring the girl. He tricks Sarnoff.

Trust: Sarnoff discloses the diabolic reason for the world singing tour, to put his players in place to incite multiple simultaneous revolutions around the globe and to sell Jade at the end of the tour.

Distrust: Sarnoff notices Martz’s discomfort and reminds him he will be replaced.

Trust: Martz assures Sarnoff he will go along with the plan but wants a bigger payoff.

Distrust: The militia covertly works against the deep state under the Senate majority leader along with a General and former joint chief of staff, a holdover from the previous administration.

They secure the girl and any family member willing to go into witness protection and assume new identities in an undisclosed location. The tape is released on national television and worldwide, along with photos and communications between Sarnoff and the President of the United States and other politicians he controlled.

Mystery: Sarnoff and the President disappear.

[Michelle]

Michelle’s Trust Relationships

I learned that some of the trust/distrusts overlap the twists, and I need to remove redundancies.

OPENING: From inside a department store, the Other Woman (OW) stalks Peter who sees Nora off in a cab. He enters.

· Mystery 1: Who is looking for Peter?

· Secret 1: The Elegant Man (EM) has a son.

Cover up: EM withdraws inheritance from sole stepdaughter heir unless she finds someone.

· Villain’s Plan 1: Disinherit stepdaughter if she fails to find Peter.

· Trust: Peter proposes to Nora.

· Distrust: Peter is having an affair with Beth.

· Distrust: Leo offers to help the OW find Peter.

· Secret 9: Leo’s grandfather died as a result of Peter’s grandfather’s treason.

Cover up: Leo offers to help find Peter.

· Trust: Peter has a pleasant interaction with the OW.

· Distrust: She pretends to be a salesperson.

· Twist 1:

Current direction: The OW confirms she found the person the EM is looking for.

Twist: Instead of leaving, she impersonates a salesperson and flirts with Peter.

· Twist 2:

Current direction: She has Leo tail Peter hoping to later rob his home.

Twist: The EM tails Leo.

· Secret 2: EM knows Leo.

Cover up: They have prior business interactions abroad.

· Distrust: Leo follows him and she shows up at the same bar that night.

· Trust: Peter and the OW talk over friendly drinks.

· Twist 3:

Current direction: After around-the-clock surveillance, she enters the back door of a bar Peter frequents. She drugs his drink.

Twist: Given drink preferences, Peter switches glasses and she is drugged instead.

· Distrust: She drugs his drink.

· Distrust: He swaps drinks preferring her order.

· Distrust: Leo waits in the ally.

· Trust: Peter carries her out through the ally. and takes her to his penthouse so she can sleep it off.

· Twist 4:

Current direction: Leo waits for her signal.

Twist: Peter drags her out through the ally and hails a cab.

· Twist 5:

Current direction: Leo follows intent on retrieving her and robbing him.

Twist: Given war atrocities, Leo deems long-term blackmail a better option.

· Distrust: Leo puts an extortion plan in motion after the original goes awry.

· Life threatening event 1: Peter awakens to a badly beaten OW. Is he capable of violence?

· Twist 6:

Current direction: Neither remembers previous night events. Peter wants her out and pays her off in cash.

Twist: She acts pitiful and seduces him. He is a willing participant. She takes the money.

· Trust: Peter tells Nora the truth about the OW but she doesn’t believe him.

· Distrust: Peter continues the affair with the OW since he’s already being extorted.

· Distrust: Peter hides the extortion from Nora.

· Trust: Peter meets Beth at a café to call off the affair.

· Twist 7

· Current direction: Full of guilt, Peter meets Beth at a café to break off their affair.

· Twist: Beth breaks off the affair.

· Distrust: Beth calls off the affair.

INCITING INCIDENT: Nora suspects cheating and breaks the engagement. She flees with Beth who dies.

· Twist 13

Current direction: Leo flies to Europe for business with the EM.

Twist: The OW tags along.

· Life threatening event 4: Given alleged infidelity, Nora meets Beth at a hotel. While Beth chooses the EM over Nora, Leo drugs Nora at the bar.

· Twist 8:

Current direction: Nora and Beth book dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Twist: After a lust-at-first sight lobby encounter, Beth dines with the EM.

· Twist 9:

Current direction: Leo drugs Nora at the bar with the hopes of date rape.

Twist: The bartender pours Nora a fresh iced drink (she declined a copper cup).

· Distrust: He drugs her in a failed date rape ploy and shows up opportunistically.

· Life threatening event 5: Nora returns to the apartment where she witnesses Beth’s murder.

· Distrust: Leo kills Beth to get back at the EM.

· Trust: Nora tells Peter Beth is dead.

· Trust: Peter flies to Europe to support Nora.

· Mystery 2: Who killed Beth?

· Secret 3: Leo kills Beth.

Cover up: The EM erases all traces of their encounter.

· Villain’s Plan 2: Remove evidence of a murder in the room where it occurred.

· Twist 11 (viewed from Nora’s window):

Current direction: The EM calls room service for ice.

Twist: Given the late hour and lack of staff, the attendant says the EM himself needs to get it from the restaurant. When he returns, Beth is dead.

· Twist 12 (viewed from Nora’s window):

Current direction: The EM calls henchmen to clean the murder scene and leaves.

Twist: While he’s away, they plant evidence implicating him.

TURNING POINT 1: Peter’s extortion begins.

· Life threatening event 2: Peter and the OW continue the affair.

· Twist 10:

Current direction: Leo launches the extortion plan hoping to end the affair.

Twist: The OW continues the affair and acts like she’s not part of Leo’s plan.

· Life threatening event 3: Leo stalks and extorts Peter.

· Life threatening event 6: Peter’s business takes him to Europe to court an investor and mentions he needs help with a minor complication.

· Trust: Peter accepts a meeting/meets with the EM to discuss investment in his start up.

· Distrust: Peter lies to the EM about engagement in front of Nora to win her back.

MIDPOINT: Several attempts are made to silence Nora.

· Mystery 4: Will someone kill Nora too?

· Secret 4: Someone puts a hit on Nora.

Cover up: The EM pretends not to know Nora when introduced by Peter.

· Villain’s Plan 3: Open a contract on Nora

· Life threatening event 7: Nora agrees to meet Peter and they head to the countryside where a tour guide spooks her underground and someone tries to kill her in the sauna.

· Trust: Peter takes Nora to the countryside intent on reconciling.

· Distrust: Peter locks Nora in the sauna to save her.

· Distrust: Leo is the hotel provided historian Peter hires at the Forest house.

· Twist 14:

Current direction: Peter is intent on reconciling.

Twist: He locks Nora in the sauna and rescues her to stay in her good graces.

· Life threatening event 8: Nora tells Peter she’s the only witness to a crime he suggests she stop pursuing. He confesses his tragic past and parents’ deaths.

· Trust: Nora tells Peter she witnessed the EM kill Beth.

· Trust: Peter recaps his conversation about his past including the EM being his father.

· Twist 15:

Current direction: Peter reveals his family history and hires a guide from the hotel to illustrate the rest.

Twist: The guide is Leo.

· Life threatening event 15: Once back, she revisits the cellar collecting clues (something red) and finds herself in a labyrinth as Leo gives chase.

· Distrust: Leo tries to kill Nora again.

· Distrust: Leo attempts to kill Nora after he suspects she’s on to him.

TURNING POINT 2: The EM is Peter’s father whose stepdaughter is the extortionist and the OW.

· Mystery 3: Who is the Elegant Man?

· Secret 5: Peter’s father is not dead.

Cover: Investor in Peter’s company

· Villain’s Plan 4: Fund Peter’s start up with dirty money.

· Life threatening event 10: Peter confronts the EM after seeing him with the OW who turns out to be his stepdaughter. The EM assures him he can make her go away since she isn’t blood related.

· Distrust: The EM is sitting with the OW when Peter joins him for a meeting.

· Distrust: The OW is introduced as his stepdaughter.

· Life threatening event 11: Nora watches the EM, OW and Leo chummily talking from her window. Leo catches her watching. She tells Peter to use the murder card to force him to stop the extortion and restore funds to his business.

· Secret 6: He is helping the extortionist.

Cover up: He offers to help Peter find his extortionist.

· Trust: The EM says he can get rid of the extortionist because she is not blood related.

· Villain’s Plan 5: Divert all of Peter’s money to support opposing war effort.

· Villain’s Plan 6: Lie (continuously) to extortionist and Peter.

· Secret 7: His father was a traitor.

Cover up: Company profits provide restitution to war victims and fund the same separatist movements Leo funds.

· Life threatening event 12: EM tells him Peter he is his father and devised the extortion scheme to control him. Peter blurts out he has a witness to the murder, putting the EM’s ploy and Nora’s life at risk.

· Distrust: Peter tells the EM Nora witnessed him murder Beth.

· Distrust: EM puts a hit on Nora so Peter doesn’t have to choose her or family.

· Secret 8: Peter knows the EM and Leo are killers.

Cover up: He preys on Peter’s biggest weakness to win him over by telling him he is his father.

· Villain’s Plan 7: Confess he’s Peter’s father.

· Distrust: EM preys on Peter’s orphan complex by telling him he is his father.

· Trust: The EM confides in Peter about his past.

· Trust: Peter asks EM to stop the extortion. EM agrees.

· Distrust: The EM is colluding with the extortionists and diverting Peter’s money to opposing factions.

· Trust: The EM tells Peter his extorted funds are being diverted but can help.

· Trust: Peter and Nora use the murder card to plan their exit.

CLIMAX: Peter/Leo/EM/Super kills Nora.

· Life threatening event 13: Nora and Peter decide to leave. As she packs, a killer waits in the shadows and a violent struggle ensues.

· Life threatening event 14: From a hotel window the OW sees Nora struggle.

· Twist 1:

Direction: The OW sees Nora about to be murdered.

Twist: Nora sees the OW about to be murdered. The murders happen simultaneously.

· Trust: The EM kills the OW.

· Distrust: The OW is pregnant with Peter’s child.

· Twist 16:

Current direction: The EM plans to kill the OW.

Twist: The OW is pregnant with Peter’s child.

· Distrust: Leo kills Nora.

· Villain’s Plan 8: Kill Nora.

RESOLUTION: In a hospital, Peter sits next to a bandaged Beth.

· Life threatening event 15: The ending where conforming Peter sits bedside in a hospital room, the EM rests a hand on his shoulder, beside a bedridden bandaged woman. When Peter reaches for her hand, her red fingernail is missing.

· Twist 19:

Current direction: Peter thinks the bandaged woman is Nora.

Twist: He removes the red object from his pocket Nora gave him for safe keeping and lines it up with the missing fingernail and realizes the patient is Beth.

[Carmen Radtke]

Carmen’s trust relationships:

What I learned – the strongest twists come from a shift in trust or distrust. And the more I know about these earlier, the better I can brainstorm possibilities before I become too attracted to my concept.

Opening

In her waitress job, Laney demonstrates her impressive acting and improv skills, in front of Wyatt. He hires her to do a job for the government.

Mystery: why does Wyatt need an actor?

He has promised and agent and close friend to come up with a way to gain access to a private safe room without using anyone in the CIA.

Life-threatening: Laney doesn’t really know what she’s hired for.

Trust: Laney believes Wyatt’s made-up cover story

Distrust: Laney finds out Wyatt lied to her and put her in danger

Mystery 2: Why doesn’t the agent trust anyone but Wyatt?

Villain’s plan: Have an agent steal the drive

Twist: The inclusion of Wyatt, Laney and her sidekick was not foreseen

Inciting incident:

Using intel gained by Laney, Wyatt’s agent friend steals an encrypted drive

Twist: it’s 24 hours earlier than planned. He mails the drive to Wyatt (another deviation) just before he is murdered by Turner.

Mystery: why does he change the schedule?

Mystery 2: how does Turner know about the change?

Villain’s plan: Use the drive to see who all comes after it

Trust: Wyatt informs the boss he’s got the drive and is warned against coming in, or trusting anyone

Twist: the change in the schedule causes the boss and Turner to scramble

Turning point 1:

In fear for his life, Wyatt goes on the run with Laney and her sidekick.

Trust: Wyatt feels responsible for Laney and her sidekick’s safety, so tells them what they need to know

Distrust: He’s holding back information and keeps on lying about other things

Mystery:

Why doesn’t he go to his boss?

Why do Laney and sidekick need to go with him?

How can they cover their tracks?

Where can they run to?

Life-threatening sequence: A killer is after them, and he knows who they are

Twist: the boss allowed Turner to find out about them

Trust: Wyatt believes that Laney and her sidekick understand the danger and will follow his instructions to not interact with anyone

Twist/Distrust: Laney secretly contacts her agent, and gives away her location

Villain’s plan:

Use Laney’s message to stealthily guide both Wyatt and Turner’s steps

Trust: Wyatt gets in touch with the boss, using a burner phone. Receives instructions where to go.

Distrust: The Boss enables Turner to intercept the message

Midpoint: Turner catches up with them and kidnaps Wyatt

Mystery: why doesn’t he kill Wyatt?

Will he find Laney and sidekick?

Life-threatening sequence: Turner and helpers have tracked down Wyatt, Laney, and sidekick

Twist: Laney and sidekick create a diversion and disappear into a crowd

Trust: Wyatt helps them escape

Wyatt almost gets away, but is taken and put in a car boot

Laney and sidekick chase the car on e-scooters

Villain’s plan: Making sure he will be able to secure the drive and to get rid of Wyatt if he knows too much.

Turning point 2:

Laney and her sidekick free Wyatt and decide to turn the tables.

Mystery: How could Turner could always catch up with them?

Mystery: How can they go on the attack?

Trust: Wyatt promises them no more lies

Twist: They use a library computer to google the owner of the safe room house and find a picture of him and Wyatt’s boss

Distrust: Wyatt is sure the boss is a traitor. But there’s also the problem of Turner …

Laney and sidekick use their own knowledge to create their own misinformation campaign designed to flush out whoever set them all up

Life-threatening situation: Sidekick picks the boot lock. Laney distracts the two helpers, and she and her sidekick take them down, using stage fight skills

Villain’s plan

Boss used surveillance devices and enabled Turner to hack into information network

Twist: Wyatt informs boss of his planned visit to the decryption guy

Distrust: It’s a set-up, and also intended to keep them safe from Turner

Climax:

Wyatt and Laney walk into a trap.

Life-threatening: They are held at gunpoint. They’re going to die.

Mystery: How can they survive?

Twist: They use this moment to get incriminating evidence from the mastermind, Wyatt’s own boss, streaming it live to Laney’s sidekick.

The villain has no choice but to let them go.

Resolution:

Mystery: what will the villain do?

He dies in an “accident”.

Twist: Wyatt sends all the information to half a dozen people, and lets them know that the media will receive a copy if anything happens to him or Laney and sidekick

Distrust: Because Wyatt no longer can be sure who to trust, he decides to treat everyone with suspicion

Mystery: what comes next for Laney and her sidekick?

They can go back to struggling in the world of showbusiness or keep on using their skills for clandestine operations.

The twists and turns

Direction: Agent is tasked with stealing an encrypted drive Twist: Because he is uneasy, he asks his analyst friend Wyatt for help

Direction: Wyatt promises to come up with ideas

Twist: He hires actor Laney and her screenwriting sidekick

Direction: Laney and sidekick “infiltrate” the house a promised and deliver info to Wyatt

Twist: Although nobody else should know about them, there’s now a payment linking them to the case

Direction: agent dutifully acts on the intel and steals the drive

Twist: He moves the schedule forward

Direction: Turner gets wind of the theft and kills the agent to get hold of the drive

Twist: The agent already sent the drive to Wyatt, together with carefully coded messages

Direction: Wyatt can’t reach the agent and instead contacts his boss

Twist: the boss tells him not to come in – it’s too dangerous. Plants the idea of going on the run

Direction: Wyatt prepares to leave

Twist: He’s afraid for Laney and her sidekick and needs to convince them to join him

Direction: He is going to do this by the book and expects them to ditch their phones

Twist: Laney and her sidekick need their phones, so they use the tinfoil trick

Direction: the boss tries to track Wyatt

Twist: He needs to find them to keep Turner on their tail

Direction: Wyatt remembers what his dead friend told him about the man who created the encryption, halfway across the country

Twist: Laney secretly uses her phone to send a message to her agent – now the boss now where they’re heading

Direction: Halfway through, Turner and two henchmen catch up with them in a city and pull their guns

Twist: Laney and sidekick create a diversion that sends a crowd between them and the bad guys

Direction: Wyatt is kidnapped and stowed away in a boot

Twist: Laney and sidekick chase the car unnoticed on e-scooters – nobody pays attention to them

Direction: Turner parks the car outside a motel and enters

Twist: Laney and sidekick free Wyatt

Direction: They need help. Wyatt is going to contact the boss

Twist: Laney stops him. They need to figure out what’s going on. When they google the owner of the house where it all began, they find a picture of him and the boss

Direction: Wyatt lets boss know where he’s headed

Twist: the boss allows Turner to intercept the message

Direction: Turner and his henchmen are already waiting when Wyatt appears

Twist: So is the boss who kills them

Direction: Wyatt meets the man he’s supposed to give the drive to

Twist: Wyatt, Laney and sidekick have finally deciphered cage dead agent’s messages and have been warned not to trust the man

Direction: Wyatt hands over the drive

Twist: it’s the wrong one – and the man doesn’t know

Direction: the boss enters the scene, with Laney as hostage, and demands the real drive

Twist: she’s rigged up with a spy camera Direction: If Wyatt doesn’t produce the real drive, the boss will shoot Laney

Twist: the camera transmits everything to her sidekick (one of their old script scenarios)

Direction: Wyatt tells the boss he knows they’ve all been set up and gives him a good guess of the reasons

Twist: the boss is flattered – he needed a way to get the information on the drive to the man, without anything connecting him to the drive. That’s why he set up a rogue agent scenario

Direction: Laney hands over the drive. They’re about to die

Twist: Her phone comes alive, and to hear is the boss’s confession. If he doesn’t let them go, it’ll be broadcast everywhere online. Wyatt destroys the drive

Direction: Wyatt doesn’t know who to trust anymore, so he sends a report to half a dozen people and let’s them know that there is a copy the media will be able to access if anything happens to him

Twist: The boss and the man are killed by their shady overlords , so there are no lose ends

Direction: in a scene resembling the opening, Laney is back waiting tables

Twist: she’s doing this following her sidekick’s script, on another job for Wyatt

[Agnes McCourt]

Subject Line: Agnes’s Trust Relationships

“What I learned doing this assignment is that there are many trust and distrusts in this particular relationship especially between the three main characters, the Hero, Villain, and Red-Herring. It also shows the betrayal that the hero faces from both the Villain and the Red Herring. There’s still more to be fleshed out as the story progresses, and some repetitions will need to be removed.”

Twist #1:

Direction: Wife Helen Deans pushes for quick marriage with high school sweetheart, John Roberts, even though he is not ready for marriage.

Twist: She arranges a job for him at her father’s bank. But within 3 months she is tired of his “beastly” behaviour of wanting relations and not happy with married life at all.

TRUST: Hero (John Roberts trusts his girlfriend Helen Deans plans to marry and work for her father.

DISTRUST: Wife is quickly unhappy with marriage.

OPENING: A troubled wife goes missing suddenly during a daytime picnic.

Twist #2:

Direction: Helen Roberts disappears suddenly without a trace.

Twist: No one sees her disappear.

TRUST: Hero trusts wife and father-in-law.

DISTRUST: Father-in-law is quick to blame hero once his daughter disappears mysteriously.

Life Threatening Sequence #1: Helen faces a life threatening situation and as to what made her go missing. No one can remember seeing her go missing from the picnic, least of all her own husband, who worked late at the bank. Helen vanished into thin air.

TRUST: John trusted his wife and father-in-law.

DISTRUST: John no longer trusts his father-in-law and has no idea what happened to his wife.

Mystery Sequence #1: Is Helen mentally ill? Does she suffer from the same mental illness her mother suffers from? Why is no one able to help her find out her identity?

Twist #3:

Direction: Helen is mentally ill like her mother.

Twist: Is Helen mentally ill or faking it?

TRUST: Hero trusted wife but she suddenly disappears and he is blamed for her disappearance.

DISTRUST: Hero loses trust in his father-in-law and the justice system that quickly condemns him for her disappearance.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #1: Why is her father not searching for her immediately knowing she has done this on two previous occasions. He is more intent on removing the unwanted and unpopular son-in-law, John Roberts from his business forever, whatever it takes.

Twist #4:

Direction: Mike Deans is hiding a big secret he does not want revealed that could destroy his career and standing in the community.

Twist: How far is Mike Deans willing to go to cover up his secret?

TRUST: Father-in-law (villain) trusts son-in-law, lets him marry his daughter and gives him a job.

DISTRUST: Villain father-in-law knows of his daughters’ disappearing acts, but lets his son-in-law take the blame for his daughter’s sudden disappearance.

INCITING INCIDENT: Hero’s arrested for murder and causing her body to disappear as she is never found.

TRUST: Hero trusts the system as he knows that he did not murder or hurt his wife.

DISTRUST: Hero loses faith in the system once he is found guilty with no evidence and he is sentenced to 20 years for her murder.

Twist #5:

Direction: Mike Deans is quick to conclude that John Roberts, his son-in-law, somehow murdered and hid his daughter’s body, when he knows she has disappeared before.

Twist: What secret is Mike Deans hiding from the authorities and the townspeople?

TRUST: Hero trusts townspeople and jury to find him innocent.

DISTRUST: Hero loses all trust in townspeople and system once he is found guilty and sentenced without evidence.

Life Threatening Sequence #2: Mike Roberts felt guilty that their marriage was not working out after all the effort he had put into that relationship.

Mystery Sequence #2: Why is her father (Mike Deans) not actively looking for her? Why does he prefer to let everyone believe she is dead?

Twist #6:

Direction: Mike Deans suspects his daughter suffers from the same mental illness as his wife and that she has disappeared on two previous occasions and returned.

Twist: Mike Deans allows John Roberts to be blamed for her disappearance this time.

TRUST: The Villain, Mike Deans, is sure that they will find his son-in-law guilty and lock him up, despite knowing that his daughter has disappeared on previous occasions on her own.

DISTRUST: His dislike for his son-in-law makes him want to have him take the blame for her sudden disappearance and to get him out of his life.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #2: John Deans is quick to accuse John Roberts of murdering and burying his daughter’s body in the nearby woods near the picnic area. He has a lot of sway with the authorities in the town.

Twist #7:

Direction: No one listens to John Roberts when he proclaims his innocence and they quickly judge him as guilty.

Twist: John can find no allies to help him in his case and he is immediately judged as guilty.

TRUST: Deep down the Villain, Mike Deans knows that his daughter is safe and has just disappeared on her own.

DISTRUST: His hatred of his son-in-law, allows him to let his son-in-law take the blame instead of telling the truth about the family secret of mental illness.

TURNING POINT 1: John Roberts is quickly arrested, tried and convicted for the murder of his young new wife.

Twist #8:

Direction: John Roberts is judged quickly for the murder of his new wife, Mike Deans’ daughter, Helen.

Twist: The case against John Roberts is wrapped up very quickly.

TRUST: John trusts the system and the fact that there is no proof he did anything to his wife.

DISTRUST: John quickly realizes he has no allies to help prove his innocence and he is quickly found guilty with the help of his own father-in-law. John is betrayed by his own father-in-law and accused of murder.

Life Threatening Sequence #3: It’s more efficient to have John Roberts removed from his life permanently than for the town to find out that Mike Deans has some dark secrets that he doesn’t want anyone to know about his family and home life. If Mike Deans’ secret is revealed, it can affect both his reputation and his career in the small town.

Twist #9:

Direction: Mike Deans is hiding a secret from everyone that he wants this matter wrapped up quickly and John Roberts out of the way.

Twist: Mike Deans underestimates John Roberts’s resilience in fighting for justice.

TRUST: Mike Deans (Villain) feels secure that his secret will remain secret if his son-in-law is locked away for murder.

DISTRUST: He is not quite sure what he will do once his daughter resurfaces in the future.

Mystery Sequence #3: John Roberts is quickly arrested and accused and convicted for murder getting 20 years at a penitentiary.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #3: Mike Deans plans to keep John Roberts locked up for 20 years to get him out of his life.

He underestimates John Roberts’s ambition to achieve higher education and become a model prisoner and help other inmates successfully with their Appeals as he eventually gets all his qualifications as a lawyer.

Twist #10:

Direction: Incarceration does not destroy John Roberts.

Twist: He makes good use of his time in prison.

TRUST: John never gives up on his proclaiming his innocence and decides to work within the system to prove his innocence, via appeals.

DISTRUST: John no longer trusts his father-in-law and after a while he no longer trusts his own wife and starts to forget about her.

MIDPOINT: We discover that John Deans’ wife, has been suffering with a mental illness for years, and he has suspected that his own daughter is also suffering with the same mental illness, and she has disappeared before and then returned.

Threatening Sequence #4: Helen is lured away by a strange hitchhiker and seems to not remember her own name.

Helen leaving with a stranger can put her life in danger.

Her disappearance puts John Roberts in jail for murder, and in danger.

Twist #11:

Direction: Helen appears to be suffering from a mental illness.

Twist: Is it learned behaviour or is she really mentally ill?

TRUST: Helen takes off with a complete stranger.

DISTRUST: Helen is no longer happy with her new fellow and starts the same routine she had with her husband.

Mystery Sequence #4: Who is Helen writing to everyday in the asylum and why?

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #4: Mike Deans is taking his time in searching for his daughter till he’s retired and not sharing his previous experiences with authorities about his daughter’s previous disappearances.

Twist #12:

Direction: Mike Deans is in no rush to have his beloved daughter found.

Twist: Mike Deans loves his daughter and deep inside knows she just disappeared but is in no hurry to locate her.

TRUST: Mike Deans is satisfied that his daughter is probably fine and is glad to have his son-in-law locked away for a long time.

DISTRUST: He is more concerned with his position in town, than looking for his missing daughter and having his son-in-law released. He is concerned about what will happen once she does reappear and he is released.

TURNING POINT: Helen is alive but appears to be suffering from amnesia. She gets locked up in a state mental asylum far from home. She writes letters and envelopes every day and only one nurse assistant is interested in what she is doing. They do not know who she is.

Threatening Sequence #5: Mike Deans; knows that his daughter will resurface and then there will have to be explanations and possible consequences to face for having John wrongfully convicted.

Mike Deans works actively with the Chief of Police so that John is not released and the truth of the disappearance is never revealed as it would be bad for his reputation so he fights every appeal John makes, but worries what he will do if, and when, Helen surfaces.

Mystery Sequence #5: No one in the asylum is able to help her find out her identity.

Twist #13:

Direction: Mike Deans’ reaction once his daughter finally resurfaces.

Twist: John Roberts is released and reunited with his wife who has been missing for 8 years.

TRUST: John Deans faith in the law is renewed and further he is successful in suing for wrongful imprisonment.

DISTRUST: He is no longer treated badly by the townspeople, but he has lost all trust in his father-in-law and his wife when she reappears.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #5: Mike Deans believes his daughter is suffering from the same mental illness his wife has but has not shared that information with anyone.

CLIMAX: Mike Deans knows that his son-in-law is innocent because she has disappeared and reappeared later on previous occasions, but wants to keep the secret of the mental illness in the family quiet for his reputation and career.

Threatening Sequence #5: Mike worked hard to make John give up all his appeals and never be released to return to town.

Mystery Sequence #5: John Roberts becomes a model prisoner, and starts taking college studies to improve his chances for a better job later when he is released.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #5: Mike Deans continues the cover-up of his daughter’s disappearance and lets John Roberts rot in jail.

Twist #14:

Direction: John Roberts release and successful lawsuit against the state for wrongful imprisonment affects Mike Deans.

Twist: The changes in John Roberts’s financial situation once he receives a huge settlement for wrongful imprisonment.

TRUST: The hero regains his trust in the system and his life improves.

DISTRUST: He has no love for his father-in-law or his wife who has not changed at all. But he endures the situation for a few years.

RESOLUTION: Daughter is released and returns home to her small town.

John Roberts is released immediately from prison.

John Roberts is a now successful lawyer who sues the state successfully for being wrongfully incarcerated and wins a large amount of money to set up his small law practice and buys a beautiful home back in his home town across from the very park where the original picnic and woods are located.

The townspeople now welcome him back and see that they had misjudged him.

John appears to live happily ever after with Helen but there are changes in their marriage arrangement.

John seeks revenge for the years he lost for the false accusations of murder, but what action spurs him on?

Mike Deans’ reaction to John Roberts returns to his town and the family secret?

Threatening Sequence #6: Mike is working hard to make John give up all his appeals and never be released to return to town.

Helen is writing letters every day in the asylum.

Assistant nurse is the only one interested in figuring out what and to whom Helen is writing daily.

The truth is finally revealed; John is released after 8 years and successfully sues the state penitentiary.

If and when he is released, how will he face Mike Deans and the townspeople that had him convicted wrongfully?

TRUST: Helen (red-herring) keeps writing letters for some reason.

DISTRUST: Helen is not sure who she can trust in the asylum with her letters.

Mystery Sequence #6: How will John react if or when Helen resurfaces?

How will her father react if she returns, and John Roberts is freed?

What will it take for John Roberts to want to take revenge for losing 8 years of his life?

Twist #15:

Direction: John Roberts discovers in an argument that his wife was only “faking her mental illness” to get back at John for his “beastly behaviour” and that she has watched her mother’s behaviour since childhood and simply copied that behaviour.

Twist: John plans for over two years on how he will rid himself of this troublesome wife that took 8 years of his life away and has no remorse whatsoever for her behaviour.

TRUST: At first, John accepts his wife’s “mental illness” as the excuse for her disappearance.

DISTRUST: When she finally reveals that she had only been “faking it” to get away from him and that town, he loses all trust in her and starts planning his revenge.

Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #6: What is Mike Deans biggest fear once his daughter and John are reunited and how will he mitigate the situation?

John Deans keeps a close eye on his daughter daily and his son-in-law.

John Deans keeps waiting to see what John Roberts will do about his participation in having him incarcerated wrongfully.

What incident does it take for John Roberts to take his revenge successfully?

TRUST: Mike Deans continues to believe that his daughter has the same illness as his wife, but on occasion wonders about it.

DISTRUST: Mike Deans keeps a close eye on his son-in-law in case he finds out that his daughter has disappeared before and that she may not be suffering from any mental illness.

Twist #16:

Direction: John Roberts successfully rids himself of his lying and cheating wife once and for all without anyone being the wiser.

Twist: Incarceration has taught John patience and he plans his actions over the course of two years, as nothing has changed since his wife returned.

TRUST: John gains everyone’s’ trust after he is released and receives a nice sum of money to set up his own law firm and buy a nice new house near the park and woods.

DISTRUST: He quietly plots his successful revenge towards his cheating and lying wife who cost him 8 years of his life. He is also able to pay back his father-in-law at the same time he takes his revenge.

Twist #17:

Direction: Mike keeps daily tabs on both his daughter and his son-in-law

Twist: Mike Deans has no way of knowing whether Helen disappeared on her own, or not, and they will not charge him with the same crime again.

TRUST: Mike Deans trusts that all is going well now that his daughter has returned and living in good style with her husband who has been released for being wrongfully incarcerated for 8 years.

DISTRUST: His entire secret never surfaces, but he keeps close tabs on is daughter in case she gets the notion to disappear again.

He’s not sure if he can trust his son-in-law but has no choice at this stage.