Lesson 3

[Sophia Lee]

Sophia’s characters for horror

What I learned during this assignment — write down the first thoughts that come to mind knowing it can all be changed later, and let things build.

1. Concept – an elite group of philanthropists meet at an abandoned mansion under mysterious circumstances and one by one are killed off (just realized this sounds a lot like Clue)

2. since the mansion was used to blackmail other elites (think Epstein’s island/P. Diddy), every room is booby-trapped. As each person is uniquely killed off, they face their killer (which the audience won’t see until the very end). There is only one survivor.

3. Names for my characters have not been set yet – but an idea for each:
Eliza – out of control – the mistress who purposely sets her lover’s wife on fire thinking she killed her so she can take her place
Jonathan – the complainer – the uptight, wealthy husband whom Eliza controls with sex, so doesn’t know Eliza “killed” his wife. He complains about everything. He is the first to die.
Michelle – leader – she runs the group – raising funds for various charities. She was besties with Arcane, she also runs the blackmail ring which Arcane was in on as well
Barry – owned by Michelle. does whatever he is told. but likes to believe he is in charge
Frank – strong moral compass – doesn’t believe anyone is actually blackmailed, even though he is being blackmailed himself. Believes by going to the mansion, he can set everything straight
George – always loved Arcane, and wants to know why she disappeared from the scene. blames Jonathan for her missing. He lusts after Eliza, even though she detests him.
Alexandra – transitioned from Alexander. Her secret that only Eliza knew about. Did horrible things to be in a position of power. Wants to keep her secrets secret.

[Renee Miller]

Renee’s Characters for Horror

From this assignment, I learned how important it is to select the survivors and victims in a horror script that matches the concept. Before, I would pick characters based on nothing in particular. Now I see that you have to be deliberate in making sure you have characters that the audience can connect with so that the horror they are experiencing will feel real.

Concept: When a freak blizzard blankets Whittier, Alaska, in perpetual darkness, the town's residents are stalked by shadow creatures that manifest their deepest fears and grow stronger with each kill.

Dying Pattern: A

Character Group:

The Leader: Without hesitation, Stacy takes charge, determined to protect the group, but every decision weighs heavily on her, as the fear of failing yet another group of people gnaws at her resolve. (grieving mother)

The Rebel / Rule Breaker: Jack thrives on defiance, questioning every order and charging headfirst into danger, all to prove that no one—not even the shadows—can control him.

The Innocent: Eliza clings to hope, offering comfort and support to the group, even as the shadows twist her optimism into a crushing sense of futility.

The Complainer: Mark grumbles and second-guesses every decision, his paranoia driving him to hoard resources and accuse others of being the real threat. (former military officer)

The Carrier (The One Who Brings the Horror): Edmund knows he’s responsible for unleashing the darkness, but his guilt fuels his determination to find answers—even if it means uncovering truths no one wants to face. (reclusive historian)

The Sacrificial Lamb: Elias volunteers to check the power generator, his bravery a stark contrast to the terror that follows when the shadows claim him in the first horrific death.

[Barry Barry Durbin Durbin]

Barry’s Characters of Horror

ASSIGNMENT 3

What I learned from doing this assignment is how to create my characters that fit the concept.
1. Tell us your Concept and the Group you have chosen.
My concept is: When hunters mistakenly kill a young Bigfoot, an enraged Mama Bigfoot tracks them to an isolated village and terrorizes them seeking revenge. The group is hunters who killed the monster’s offspring

2. Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie.
6 to 8 people and kill them off one by on

3. Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.
Leader – Jack, seasoned hunter, takes action without others input.
Complainer – Toby, over-weight and only cares about his next meal.
Moral one – Chris, pleads to not take the dead baby back with them.
Rescuer – Meghann, the leader’s Mother, a local Game Warden.
Out-of-Control/Obnoxious – Scooter, a hell raiser without an once of control
Monster Bait – Teddy, a naive kid who has never been hunting.

[Ira Drower]

Lesson 3: Ira Drower’s Survivor and Victims

Title: The Garden of Evil – Night of the Blood Red Moon

Concept: A group of teens visiting their old summer camp relives the horrific events from dormant childhood memories as they fight for survival when the forest comes alive and tries to consume them.

Group Chosen: Social Group. These teens are former wards of the state (orphans) living together in a half-way house set up to help them transition to college or work.

Dying pattern: All die except three teens. After the final battle, one of them becomes possessed by the spirit of Miss Marie.

Identity of Group:
Tony: The protector of the group and its unofficial leader. Tries to escape the plants to get help for the group.
Skeeter: Rescuer – personable, well-liked, resourceful. He works with Leah to battle the plants.
Diane: Love interest – spoiled but loyal friend, trying to overcome her past. She becomes a warrior attacking the plants with an axe.
Becky: Introvert/Loner – temperamental, kicked off high school swim team for weird behavior, a heroin addict. First, she succumbs to the plants when she steps on one and it bites her foot off.
Jack: Out of Control/Obnoxious – Diane’s current boyfriend, jock, is only interested in Diane. He leaves after being humiliated but returns when he discovers the danger the group is in.
Grace: Moral one – paranoid but practical, seeks truths and not rumors. She pieces together their sketchy memories of camp before her possession by Miss Marie.
Rob: Monster Candy – came along due to fear of being alone. Kleptomaniac. Eaten by a giant stink plant.
Leah: Rebel/Rule Breaker – The Sensible One: – problem solver. Works with Skeeter to battle back against the plants.

[Pam Ewing]

Pam Ewing’s Characters for Horror

What I learned doing this assignment – that I have double assigned some people!

1. Tell us your Concept and the Group you have chosen.

Nanotech computer scientist inject bride with nanotech particles under the guise of getting matching tattoo while enjoying their honeymoon with vacationing friends at a resort

2. Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie.

A. Put 6 to 8 characters together and kill them off one by one.

This is the closet pattern as people at the resort and some of the friends will die

3. Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.

• Leader – The husband, Tom, who engineers situations to use his nanotech but acts like he’s just along for the ride

• Rescuer – Maggie, the bride’s best friend. Maggie starts to see Tom has secured nanotech from Susan’s lab when he promised a no-tech vacation/honeymoon

• Innocent – The bride, Annise “Bingo”, she doesn’t realize that she’s being used and is devoted to Tom

• Out of control / Obnoxious – Maggie’s boyfriend, Dale, a sort of rough acting drunk who is easy to pin her murder on

• Red Herring – Professor Susan engineered the nanotech and consulted with Tom but she doesn’t know that he stole and manipulated it. When nanotech is discovered they think she is behind it be then she becomes a victim

• Love Interest or lovers – Tom and Annise, Maggie and Dale, Trent and Susan

• Complainer – Trent, he really doesn’t like travel, change, or intrigue – he’s a homebody forced to come

• Rebel / Rule Breaker – The tattoo artist, thinks he’s part of a larger experiment, unfortunately he’s a loose end

• The Carrier: The one who brings the horror to the group – Tom

[Joan Butler]

Joan Butler Characters for Horror

I learned there are 2 sets of victims—the former students and the journalist.
I also learned that my story started to come to life when I had descriptions of the characters.

Concept: After a journalist discovers a severed limb in the forest, she falls in love with the killer she hunts.
Group: Adults who failed in high school.
Dying Pattern: A former teacher kills off his former failing students one by one.
Victims:
Leader:
• Name: Jason Carmichael
• Description: The charismatic owner of the largest logging company in the town, Jason failed his environmental science class and now represents everything the villain despises.
Innocent:
• Out of Control / Obnoxious:
• Name: Derek “DJ” Johnson
• Description: A loud, arrogant former football star who was expelled after failing his history class and is now a washed-up party boy stirring trouble in the town.
Red Herring:
• Name: Nate Rivers
• Description: A brooding ex-con who failed high school entirely and works as a logger, Nate seems suspicious because of his secretive nature and violent reputation.
Rebel / Rule Breaker:
• Name: Sam “Slick” Turner
• Description: A tattoo artist who failed his art class after rejecting traditional assignments and now lives as a free-spirited renegade.
Introvert / Loner:
• Moral One:
• Name: Grace Miller
• Description: A deeply religious homemaker who failed her ethics course but now volunteers at the church, believing in redemption for everyone—even the villain.
Monster Bait:
• Name: Charlie Woods
• Description: A thrill-seeking logger who failed his physics class and now recklessly tests his limits, ignoring the danger signs in both work and life.
Sacrificial Lamb:
• Name: Tommy Briggs
• Description: A sweet but gullible handyman who always tried to make the villain laugh in high school but failed due to a learning disability and dies early in the story to set the stakes.
Journalist:
• Name: Hope Freeman
• Description: A blogger new to the logging town who seeks a scoop. After photographing a severed limb, she believes she will have a scoop when she finds the killer and brings him to justice. However, she falls in love with him.

[Nick Walsh]

LESSON #3

Nick’s Characters for Horror

What I learnt: Identifying the characters is a good exercise that made me think harder about their personalities and how they will play off one another. I discovered two more characters in the process.

1. Concept and Group:
Concept:
Six twenty-something buddies go on a week-long mountain bike adventure in the Sierras and end up getting lost, only to become prey to a demented misanthrope who collects eyeballs.

Group:
Thrill Seekers/Outsiders

2. Dying Pattern:
Characters are killed off one by one.

3. Character Identities:
They all like to play a friendly, small bet, dice game called Ship, Captain, Crew, which they establish just before they take off, and which initiates their troubles with the monsters.

Leader/Moral One
—Joey Evans (26): Geologist. Organizer, He’s the oldest of the group and feels responsible for their well-being.

Rescuer
—Gene Harms (25): Screenwriter with a writer’s block. Getting away to clear his mind, maybe find something to write about.

Complainer
—Chet Harris (25): Computer geek. Feels naked because he can’t use his cell phone in the wilderness.

Out of control / Obnoxious
—Frank Gargano (25): The most privileged of the group. Doesn’t have to work. A worldly bum. Playboy.

Innocent
—Manny Gargano (20): Frank’s spoiled little brother. He’s a hotshot, master of the dirt bike.

Rebel / Rule Breaker
—Sammy Mills (19), best friend with Manny. They do everything together. He is usually the main culprit of the two.

The Carrier
—Buck (40s): NOT a member of the bike group, but the local who brings the horror to the group by getting the Broze gang angry and vengeful at him, and, as an extension, at the bikers. He’ll be the first to die.
xxx

[JD Oppen]

JDs Characters for Horror

What I learned doing this assignment is… how real of a group of classmates my group feels after creating them utilizing the universal characters list.

Concept: High school introvert on experimental meds for anxiety that unleash an evil entity from the character which terrorizes his bullies (classmates) in their dreams.

Group chosen: Social group / classmates

Dying Pattern: 6 to 8 characters are killed off one by one with only a couple survivors.

Character Identities:

ANGELO (*monster host): An introvert who is teased a lot and new experimental anti anxiety meds turn him into a monster who kills his bullies.
CANDACE: Complainer – cheerleader, cell phone junkie, always texting, oblivious but with the help of Jeff she survives
VIOLET: Complainer – approval seeker, Candace wannabe, and just as susceptible
DINA: Moral One – not a cheerleader, Angelo’s neighbor, always sticks up for him, but she’s the first to die, it’s an accident, and the monster is more furious because of it
JAZZ: Rescuer – school basketball captain, cocky but set straight by the monster, dies
JEFF: Leader – school football quarterback, smart about the situation and survives along with Candace
BULL: Out Of Control – roughian, school football linebacker, sarcastic, thinks he’s tough, bit no match for the monster, dies
SPIKE: Rescuer – Tracey’s BF, goth, will do anything to save Tracey, but no much for the monster, dies
TRACEY: Out Of Control – Spike’s GF, she’s actually turned on by the monster, but she dies

[Deborah Daughetee]

Debbie’s Characters for Horror

This assignment helped me quiet all the ideas roiling around in my head. It gave me a framework in which to start choosing my characters and their roles. It also made me think about what is bringing these people together. We call it the “why now” in short story writing. Focus is the name of the game here.

Group

Social Event – The event, unknown to most of the crew, is an auction of women to men for wives/sex slaves on a riverboat.

Main Characters

Lilith Moreau -Leader – Lilith is protective of her dancers. They are not prostitutes, and she makes sure they stay that way. She is also a witch, so very able to protect herself and her girls. She is the protector and the driving force behind solving the mystery.

Quincy “Quin” Booker – Reluctant Hero/Rebel Rule Breaker. Quin doesn’t care what it takes to win in high-stakes games. In other words, he is very good at sleight of hand. Some call it cheating. Quin calls it just one more skill a poker player needs. This penchant for breaking the rules grates on Lamar, but when it comes to uncovering the deep conspiracy on this boat, Cassius is the one you want on your side.

Cassius “Cash” Tate – The Carrier – Born into wealth that was built on the back of slaves and the trafficking of women. His father, who met a grisly end, first used The Revenant Queen riverboat to transport kidnapped women to sell to the miners in the gold fields at the northernmost part of the river. Cassius has upgraded and is selling high rollers. Resurrecting this business is what raises the Revenant Queen monster.

Harlan Graves – Obnoxious – He’s the boat’s captain and thinks that makes him a god. He is misogynistic and is complicit in the sale of these women, and terrible to his crew. He tries to be as classy as Cassius but is fooling himself.

Juliette “Jules” Deveraux – Innocent – The best can-can dancer. Her husband died, and her land was stolen. She was left destitute. She found Lamar, and they have been fast friends ever since. She’s dedicated to helping women who ended up like her to be able to make a living without selling their bodies.
Samson – Loner/Introvert – Samson is a black man (slave) and was so named because he is big and strong. He works on the riverboat loading and unloading cargo. He is deathly afraid of water and cannot swim. He’s a good guy.

Jonas Drake – Complainer – He suffers the captain’s abuse because there is a big payout at the end. So big, he plans on claiming one of the women for himself and disappearing into the gold fields to make his true fortune. But he hates everyone and everything and believes the world owes him.

Bonnie Lou Grayson – The Betrayer, Sacrificial Lamb, Red Herring – Bonnie is one of Lilith’s girls but is working with Cassius. She’s sleeping with him on the sly, thinking he will make her the madame on the ship when all is said and done. When she is killed, we won’t know about the betrayal, so it will make it look like the girls are being killed and muddy the mystery.

Ancillary Characters

There will be half a dozen men who have come on board for the auction. These men will be found dead in a room where the refurbishing has been destroyed. It is dripping with mud and detritus, the wallpaper is peeling, the fixtures are rusting, and all the men look like they downed. This happens in Act One, so they are considered Monster Bair or Sacrificial Lambs and establish the horror.

There are 4 can-can girls (including Juliette). They begin to disappear one by one in Act One. After the above is found, Cassius keeps the women locked up, even though his buyers are dead. They will be rescued toward the end of the film.

Dying Pattern

In Act One, there will be a mass event in which the buyers die. This establishes the horror and mystery because no one understands what has happened.
After the mass event, people will begin to die one by one until our protagonists are able to solve the mystery.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  Deborah Daughetee.

[David Zelitzky]

David Z’s Characters for Horror

What I learned doing this assignment is to try and let go of expectations, just name people and their characteristics and allow it to change and evolve over time.

CONCEPT: When a rebellious young woman brings her diverse group of queer friends to her family’s remote lake house, her fanatically strict father enforces his own twisted rules—punishing disobedience with brutal, ritualistic discipline

GROUP: A diverse group of queer friends who just wanted a fun weekend, only to realize their host’s father sees them as “broken” souls in need of discipline… or disposal

Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie.

Trying to escape the characters either die or are tortured one by one with only two surviving –
Escaping and booby trapped killed on the way out –
Avoiding the booby trap but killed by electric fence
Drugged and tyrapped in the dungeon, tortured
Monster maims and kills
Monster fights and kills
Monster gets beaten and revealed

Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.

1. Claire Redding (22, Protagonist) – A queer, independent-minded young woman estranged from her military father. Claire spent years resisting his rigid, authoritarian upbringing, choosing to forge her own life in the city. She invites her friends to the ranch as an act of defiance, hoping to show them she’s not afraid of her father. However, when the horrors begin, she’s forced to confront the deep scars he left on her psyche and fight back on his terms.

2. The Villain: Colonel Richard Redding ANTAGONIST: A 50-something ex-military survivalist who lives by strict discipline, structure, and control. He views modern society as weak and indulgent, believing that pleasure is the root of all corruption. What he cannot admit—to himself or anyone else—is that he once loved another man and has spent his life trying to erase that part of himself. His self-loathing fuels his cruelty, making him a brutal and calculating force.

His rules are clear: Do not disobey. Do as you’re told, follow orders without question, and accept your punishments if you step out of line. His punishments are worse than death—they are designed to humiliate, break, and condition his victims into compliance.

5. Jude (23, Nonbinary, Black) – Claire’s best friend and the heart of the group. Jude is a charismatic bartender with a sharp wit and an unshakable sense of loyalty. As the stakes rise, they become the moral center, constantly rallying the group and challenging the Colonel’s authority with unbreakable defiance.

6. Ryan (22, Gay, Latino) – A sarcastic, thrill-seeking college dropout who masks his insecurities with humor. Ryan is the first to recognize the Colonel’s abusive tendencies, but his reckless nature puts him at risk. He’s also the first to suspect the Colonel’s hidden past, piecing together his repression through small clues.

7. Tasha (21, Lesbian, Asian-American) – A fiercely intelligent pre-med student with a pragmatic approach to survival. Tasha is the one who recognizes the psychological warfare the Colonel is waging, quickly realizing that breaking his “rules” strategically might be the key to escaping. Her knowledge of medicine and anatomy proves vital.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by  David Zelitzky.

[Tom Wilson]

Tom’s Characters for Horror

Doing this assignment, I learned it’s fun to design characters to match the Concept.

Title: HORRORS ON HIGHWAY 66

Concept: Two guards on the brink of divorce transporting prisoners are forced to confront a shape-shifting unholy creature which claims their shackled prisoner victims one by one.

Characters:
Male Prison Guard (Caleb)
A gruff, jaded man whose marriage is disintegrating, Caleb is emotionally detached from the prisoners, but must confront his fears when they face a terrifying enemy.

Female Prison Guard (Jessica)
A tough, no-nonsense woman who must accept her marriage to Caleb is over. She questions her role as a guard when the terror unfolds.

Leader of the Prisoners (Tony)
A hardened, man with a notorious reputation, Tony manipulates people to get what he wants. He tries to control the other prisoners but fails miserably.

Rescuer Prisoner (Luis)
An intelligent man wrongly convicted, Luis risks his life to protect others. His deep sense of morality is at odds with the ruthless environment.

Complainer Prisoner (Eddie)
Obnoxious, self-centered inmate always complains about his life and grates on everyone’s patience. Facing death, he makes a desperate attempt to save himself.

Innocent Prisoner (Charlie)
An innocent man wrongly accused of murder, Charlie, constantly at the mercy of the inmates, is driven crazy by the horrors he must face.

Out of Control / Obnoxious Prisoner (Derek)
A violent, erratic inmate who knows only violence stirs up chaos. When he must face the creature, his erratic habits makes him extremely dangerous.

Red Herring Prisoner (Alfred)
A mysterious, inscrutable prisoner, his true nature and role are unclear until the end. Is he an partner or a treacherous player in a survival game?

Complainer Prisoner (Vince)
A cowardly inmate, he can’t continually whines about his fate. His egotism costs others their lives. As the deaths unfold, he panics and loses total control.

The Creature (Apex)
A malevolent, shape-shifting creature morphs into human forms, its true form is a grotesque abomination. It lures its victims with false hopes then consumes them in tiny tidbits.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by  Tom Wilson.