Lesson 11

[Connie Hood]

Connie Hood – Lesson 11 – What I’m learning

The feelings are all about how the audience reacts to events in the story. I’ve been seeing everything from the character’s emotional perspective communicated by the actors. This is a huge paradigm shift for me.

The scene I’m narrating here is right at the climax of the story. It takes place between Borko (villain) and Clara (heroine.) The setting is a 1931 circus and the key event is the last weeks of Prohibition.

Set up: In an earlier scene, Johnny, a 14 year old trapeze flier and Clara had a discussion about her fear of heights. He talked about focusing on what’s up above and always moving ahead. Don’t look back, don’t look down.

Suspense: Borko has placed one of the show poodles on a high wire platform. Clara hears the yipping and comes into the BigTop. Borko forces her up the ladder to rescue the dog. She must cross the high wire and she is sweating (no rosin.) She overrides her fears to rescue the little poodle. Hands the dog to Borko when she climbs down.

Shock: Borko snaps the dogs neck, hands it to Clara and turns on his heel. She has a lethal enemy.

[Nat Melvin]

Natalie’s Level 2 Action Emotions — SURPRISE, SHOCK, SUSPENSE

WIL: My normal way of writing a high octane scene is by starting with a Suspense, then Surprise, then Shock, which becomes an impactful hook at the end of the scene. I tried to write a scene the way desribed in this lesson, and it worked. The suspense in the scene I selected can also serves as a hook.

Scene:

Setup: My protagonist accidentally stumbles upon her future stepfather conspiring against her Grandfather with the two henchmen involved to sabotage the grand opening of the Ferris Wheel.

Surprise: She follows one of the henchmen to an electrical maintenance room, who turns out to be her biological father, who used to work in the fairground.

Shock: Her father ties her up and locks her in the room without any possibility for escape. Now she can’t warn and save her family (Turning Point 2).

Suspense: She helps a maintenance guy who was electrocuted and left to die by her father, who knows the way out. Will she get out it in time to stop her father from creating massive life threatening disaster?