Lesson 3

[Lorraine Passchier]

Rain’s World and Characters!
What I learned doing this assignment is to stay focused on the nuts and bolts instead of going down rabbit holes and getting lost in research or details.

The Big Mystery:
Is the mysterious AI helping Keisha a force of good or evil? Is it being controlled by Zhang and deceiving her? Where will its following message lead her?

The Big Intrigue:
Zhang’s charisma attracts the world’s elite into his orbit. Who are the members of the secret society, and what information is Zhang using to blackmail them when they fall out of line?

The Big Suspense
Will Keisha succeed in penetrating the secret society to gain the irrefutable proof she needs to expose it? Will she fold due to past humiliation when she hits an obstacle, or will she risk death to continue?

The World
Zhang operates from his base on a private island. His secret society converges on Vesper Cove, where the main complex is located, to plot their next moves. Once Keisha uncovers Zhang’s identity, she infiltrates Vesper Cove as a domestic.

Keisha Sloane
What is the mystery of this character?
How does she find Zhang and expose his secret society?

What is the intrigue of this character?
She hides her past as a whistleblower who got it wrong by backpacking and waiting tables.

What is the suspense of this character?
Is Keisha going to be a victim of Zhang’s before she exposes him?

Boa Zhang
What is the mystery of this character?
Why is he going to such lengths to dominate on such a large scale?

What is the intrigue of this character?
A shows moments of kindness that are at odds with a ruthless villain who will sacrifice almost anything to achieve his end game.

What is the suspense of this character?
Will he win out and triumph? Can anything stop him?

[BG]

[Thriller] Day 3: Creating World/Characters with MIS

ASSIGNMENT

Subject line: BG’s World and Characters! (place in first line)

What I learned doing this assignment: I interpreted a character’s Mystery to be a question about him, OR, to which he’s trying to find the answer, his Intrigue is his covert or underhanded activities, and his Suspense is what’s going to happen to him, OR, what he will do. Hope that’s correct.

1. Remind us of your CONCEPT and the Big M.I.S. of your story.

CONCEPT: An undercover reporter with a broken heart and a beautiful German agent try to stop a group of billionaires planning to start a war to gain control of energy resources.

Big Mystery: What is the main mystery of your story that will keep us wondering throughout the story? Who wants Alex to investigate Viktor Varga? What is Viktor Varga up to? What would be valuable enough to start a war for?

Big Intrigue: What is the covert, clandestine, underhanded plot that will live under the surface for most of the movie? A group of billionaires is out to start a war to gain control of energy resources. Major intelligence agencies are aware of this and are supportive.

Big Suspense: What is the main danger to your Hero that will continue to escalate throughout the script? Are Alex and Will going to be tortured and killed by the conspirators or the intelligence agencies for continuing their investigation?

2. Tell us the Intriguing World you have selected for this story: The shadowy world of the mega-rich running the world and the major intelligence agencies covertly assisting them.

3. With your top 2 or 3 characters, tell us the role they play and then answer these three questions:

Unwitting but resourceful Hero: Alex Grant is an engineer-turned-reporter with a broken heart. In the midst of investigating a tip, he puts himself in the crosshairs of major intelligence agencies. Over time, he discovers that there is a deadly conspiracy to start a war for profit and must decide whether to try to stop it or continue nursing his broken heart.
Alex’s Mystery: Can he trust Lilly? Can he rise above his heartache and fight the conspiracy?
Alex’s Intrigue: He’s an undercover reporter pretending to be a waiter.
Alex’s Suspense: Will Alex’s cover be blown?

Dangerous Villain: Viktor Varga, billionaire philanthropist, has made it his mission in life to defend Western supremacy. His current project is fomenting a war in Malnia to gain control of European energy supplies.
Viktor Varga’s Mystery: Has he been betrayed? Who can he trust?
Viktor Varga’s Intrigue: The world thinks he’s a benevolent philanthropist, but he’s running covert ops that get people killed.
Viktor Varga’s Suspense: Will he succeed in fomenting war in Malnia? Will his conspiracy be exposed?

Lilly Dane: Manager at The Club. Plus-sized beauty. She hires Alex as personal waiter for Viktor Varga and important guests.
Lilly’s Mystery: She’s wondering if she chose wisely when she covertly tricked Alex to come to London.
Lilly’s Intrigue: She’s an undercover German agent, working as manager at The Club.
Lilly’s Suspense: Will Viktor Varga discover her betrayal? Will Alex rise to the occasion she chose him for?

Will Hastings: Alex’s sidekick and friend from grad school. Ace hacker and blogger, who lives in London and works odd jobs as contract programmer.
Will’s Mystery: Why does he live in the shadows instead of making oodles of money with all his talents?
Will’s Intrigue: He runs a blog, publishing information that governments want to keep hidden, and is already on the radar screen of major intelligence agencies.
Will’s Suspense: Will he survive his ‘interrogation’ at the safe house?

[Donna Donna Hoke Hoke]

Logline: Sasha and stepmom Maria plans an overdue catch-up at Maria’s oceanfront home, but when Sasha arrives, she finds her estranged father, Peter, standing over Maria’s dead body. Determined to uncover the reason for Maria’s murder, Sasha puts herself in the path of danger.

Big Mystery: Who killed Maria and what is someone still looking for?

Big Intrigue: Brendan gets close to Sasha hoping to find out who his father is

Big
Suspense: Brendan wants to use Sasha to get information
while keeping secret the fact that he killed Maria; to do this, he continues to
implicate other people, including Sasha’s father, Peter.

2. Tell us the Intriguing World you have selected for this story.

An exclusive oceanfront town that is the site of a high-end juried artshow.

3. With your top 2 or 3 characters, tell us the role they play and then answer these three questions:

Sasha:

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[Mary Sawyer]

Mary’s World and Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is…

I keep making my choices more specific.

1) Reminder: The Concept and the Big MIS of my story:

Concept: Aging Superhero vs Mutant villain

Mystery: What is the main mystery of the story that will keep the audience wondering throughout the story?

Who is this bad guy and why is he so hell bent on distruction?

Intrigue: What is the covert, clandestine, underhanded part that will live under the surface for most of the movie? Jennifer is dastardly.

Big Suspense: What is the main danger to the Hero that will continue to escalate throughout the story? Will SG get the villain before he gets her.

2) What is the Intriguing World for this story? Jennifer will do ANYTHING to keep her seat? Get her budget cuts? WHY? Who is actually running the show?

3) For the top 2-3 characters, what role do they play and a) what is the mystery of the character? What is the suspense of the character? What is the intrigue of the character?

SG: The Hero

Mystery: Will she win over her granddaughter?

Intrigue: The secret society to which she belongs and her daughter rejects

Suspense: Are her weaknesses overriding her strengths?

Praxis: the villain (hmm or is he actually the scape goat?)

M: what is he and who is he and what does he want?

I: His weird world.

S: Will he put an end to SG?

Jaqueline (SG’s Daughter): villain or at least internal antagonist

M: Are her politics more important than her family?

I: Her politics

S: Do her politics leads to her mother’s end?