Lesson 3

[Harry Lauture]

Harry L’s Characters for Horror

What I learned doing this assignment is to outline the characters and their roles.

1. Concept: Last Reflection and the Group: Social Group

2. Dying pattern: 6 to 8 characters together, and killing them off one by one

3. The Carrier: Unbeknownst to Gabriel (Claire’s husband), he brings the horror to everyone.

Lovers: Zane and Laura (Zane is Gabriel’s best friend). Zane purchases Gabriel’s car and uses it to take Laura on a date. Zane’s and Laura’s actions draw unwanted attention.

Rebel/Rule breaker: Sasha has many vices. She takes Madison (Troy’s sister) under her wing. Her attitude will be her undoing, taking Miguel as a casualty.

Innocent: Madison looks up to Sasha. She will be the cause of her brother’s death.

Rescuer: Troy is the typical protective older brother. He rescues his sister, but pays the ultimate price.

Introvert: Miguel is a loner and likes Madison. He will do anything to win her heart, but it will cost him his life.

Moral One: Claire (Gabriel’s wife) notices the pattern and the common denominator. She has to decide how to deal with the cursed object.

[Amy Christine]

My concept is a group of teens board a plane for their spring break ski trip and discover a creepy old woman on board who puts everyone except the teens to sleep once the flight begins. Turns out the old woman is possessed by a supernatural being. Her body is failing so the creature needs a new body and wants the teens to pick one of their own to sacrifice or it’ll crash the plane and kill everyone on board.
The group I’ve chosen is social group. They know each other from school and their connections and secret sins against each other factor into who gets chosen for the creature to possess.

The dying pattern: the characters experience the terror together and survive with only a few of them dying.
Devon is the (reluctant) leader. Still getting over the tragic death of her sister in a hit and run, she is racked with guilt over because of what she said to her the last time they were together before she died and is actively searching for the person who hit and killed her.
Yara: cool girl with secrets and a connection to Devon’s sister.
Spencer and Billy: Obnoxious dumb jocks with a bromance–the comic relief.
Kiara: class president and overachiever who wants to lead.
Jack: Devon’s one time crush/love interest and suspect in her sister’s hit and run. He is the red herring.
Carter: Devon’s best friend who is crushing on Yara. Total sweatheart of a guy. Sacrificial lamb.
Andrew: Kiara’s boyfriend. Runs a hunger charity. Do-gooder with secrets.
Rebecca: Complainer and rival to Kiara. Tattle-tale, uptight. She is awful and is always stirring things up.

For this assignment I learned that keeping my group to 6-8 is a manageable number–something I didn’t do in my novel version of this story. I also liked the breakdown of potential types of characters.