Lesson 4

[margo meck]

Margo’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is…That the Change Agent might have to “go through Hell trying to change people.” This is a completely new thought to me and will require restructuring my story.

Transformational journey logline: The product of incest turns a death wish into a successful life as an extreme sport competitor.

Change Agent: Parachute surfing coach

Vision: To make protagonist international competitor

Past experience that fits that vision: He was also an outcast that became a successful competitor

Transformable Character: When the protagonist discovers she is the product of incest she wants to crawl in a hole and gives up on life. But she turns a death wish (jumping out of an airplane parachuting) into competing in an international sport (parasurfing).

Oppression: When the protagonist discovers she is the product of incest, her world collapses. Her fiancé cancels the wedding, people of her small town shun her, because of hatred of what her mother did she moves out of her mother’s home but totally unprepared to support herself. Surprisingly, she finds an untapped strength of character and with the support of her coach finds a new world where she is valued for who she is, not what her parents did.

Betraying Character: This might be the mother of the protagonist’s fiancé. As the story now stands, I don’t have a betraying character. There is the possibility that one of her primary parasurfing competitors betrays her.

[Lonnie Nichols]

What I learned doing this assignment is: This assignment really helped me define the characters and the roles they need to play. It helped me lay down a better “framework” for the plots and sub-plots.

Title: Rubytown

Genre: Feature/Sci-fi Drama

1.Tell us your transformational journey logline.

A troubled teenage track star is abducted by friendly ET’s, only to return with super powers. She must overcome strong resistance from everyone as she begins shutting down the drug lords in her small, “clickish” town.

2. Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role. Also, include: – Their vision: – Their past experience that fits that vision:

Highly advanced space aliens abduct troubled people of Earth, change their DNA, and give them a better perspective of Earth life through love and wisdom. Their culture has learned many lessons in which Earth citizens have yet to learn.

3. Tell us who you think might be
your Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that
character or characters fit the role.

Ruby, a star athlete with fatherless, troubled home life and resultant negative attitude. She finds herself succumbing to her peers’ drug use, and gets hooked. She needs guidance, and eventually becomes a leader in her small town.

4. Tell us who or what you think
might be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression
works in your story.

Her oppressor is her home life, then it is the drug addiction. One leads to the other. She eventually conquers both, through much resistance and trial and error.

5. Tell us who you think might be
your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character
fits the role.

The local mayor is actually a drug “kingpin” for the small town, and as Ruby attempts to clean up the town, he does everything he can to repress her, slander her, and stop her attempts at every turn

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by  Lonnie Nichols.

[Paul Penley]

1. Paul P’s Lead Characters.
2. What I learned doing this assignment: I was leaving out all of the gradient levels in my writting. This assignment was a big break through for me.
3. Transformational journey logline: Johnny Roper must face and overcome his horrific childhood trauma in order to reach the level of disciplin he will need to destroy his captors and escape from the Mission with his soul.
4. Change Agent: Lupo / Johnny Roper – Lupo ( a Hopi Skinwalker) becomes an ally to Billy and his gang. He has lived 1000 years for the moment he can destroy the Fallen Angels and free the world of their evil.
5. Johnny Roper ( Billy’s lost brother ) Has secretly become a Skinwalker and has recently taken the BITE and fallen in with the Angels. He gives Billy advice on how the Mission and the recruitment of the Angels works.
6. Lupo’s vision – He has faught his way into the Spanish Mission with one goal. Destroy the Angels and their Army of Demons before the magic of his people can no longer hold them back. Desperate he makes Skinwalkers out of Billy and Johnny and brings the fight to the Angels. Evil against Evil.
7. Johnny’s Vision – Find a way to get revenge on the Angel that killed his father.
8. Transformable Character: Billy Roper – Leader of the Outlaw gang. Billy must face his childhood trauma and do his best to live through the night and escape with his crew.
9. Oppressor: The Spanish Mission / 3 Fallen Angels determined to escape from the Magic of the Spanish Mission with their army of demons.
10. The Betraying Character: Red Proud Tree – Fiercest and most feared of Billy’s outlaws. After a disforming confrontation in a duel at the Spanish Mission, Red caves into the temptations of an Angel and sells his soul to reclaim his vision and heal his battle wounds.

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[AMIE WILLIAMS]

Amie’s Lead Characters

[Linda Anderson]

Linda Anderson’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is that it got me thinking in new ways about the story and profound truths it could convey.

Transformational journey logline.

An ambitious animal communicator (Samantha) must fall from positions of power in her personal and professional lives until she expands her understanding that animals are nuanced in consciousness, creativity, and free will—in other words, they know more than even she realizes.

Change Agent and how that character fits the role. Their vision: – Their past experience that fits that vision:

Ellie is Samantha’s best friend and confidante at work. She’s tried climbing the corporate ladder but has only been burned in the process. She sees Samantha being lured into power positions that don’t satisfy her emotionally or creatively. She wants to help her become truly fulfilled but Samantha will dump her if she tells her what she doesn’t want to hear.

Transformable Character(s) and how that character or characters fit the role.

Samantha is desperate for an outer power that she mistakes as a way to fulfill her inner feelings of powerlessness. She’s been able to communicate with animals since childhood—a natural talent. But until now, she didn’t realize this could be a way of gaining the power positions she craves.

Mellow is a highly conscious rescue dog Samantha has recently adopted. His heightened sensory abilities enable him to see people’s true hearts. He’s used this skill to stay alive but didn’t know it could also help him get things he really wants, even if he has to deceive Samantha.

The Oppression and how The it works in your story.

Samantha’s ambitions have turned into a need and a want that drive her to manipulate and do whatever it takes to get ahead. Her Oppression is a workplace that doesn’t advance women into the high power positions.

Betraying Character and how that character fits the role.

Daniel is Samantha’s and Ellie’s new coworker who is equally, if not more, ambitious than Samantha. He’s also a charming guy Samantha is both competing and falling in love with. But only Mellow has figured out that Daniel can’t be trusted.

[Mark Roeder]

Mark Roeder’s Lead Characters:

What I learned doing this assignment is to invent a change agent, Blaze, and a betraying character, a woman in the resistance who was experimented on by panda aliens and can’t get over her panda prejudice.

1. Transformational journey logline:

A veterinarian repulsed by the pandas she artificially inseminates gives birth to a panda, finds out it’s an alien creation and teams up with her panda to stop a hidden alien agenda.

2. Change Agent:

The change agent could be Blaze, a former documentary filmmaker who leads an army of women who have been abducted and experimented on by panda aliens. When Rosemary, the veterinarian, almost kills Kyo, her own panda son that she thinks is an abomination, giant pandas pounce on her and Blaze rescues her and takes her and Kyo with him.

Blaze’s vision: Rosemary’s panda, Kyo, is the Promised Panda, the first full panda born from a human. This promised panda, he believes, is the key to stopping the alien invasion.

His past experience that fits this vision:

Blaze’s wife was abducted by alien pandas. He went to rescue her. He saw and documented them experimenting on her. She gave birth to a hybrid: a half panda half human. His wife died during child birth. He tried to kill the hybrid, but kept it. It bit him. He had a hallucination that the hybrid talked to him with this message: that the first full panda born to a human would be the key to stopping the invasion.

3. Transformable Character:

Rosemary, the veterinarian who gives birth to Kyo the panda, is the transformable character.

Rosemary used to believe in the preservation of pandas and artificially inseminated them for a scientific zoo she works for. One time, she was bitten by a panda with rabies, went into a coma and almost died.

She now has a fear of pandas. She suspects something is up with them and knows they are not the cute, cuddly creatures people think they are. But she can’t get out of the contract she signed with the zoo, so she reluctantly continues her work. She’s scientific in a cold, heartless way.

Some say she’s paranoid. She believes that not only are they disgusting and sometimes lazy creatures, but that they are vicious and have a hidden agenda. She’s judgmental against all pandas now.

Rosemary gives birth to Kyo, a panda. She’s at first horrified, considers it an abomination and almost kills it.

By the end, she learns to love Kyo, her panda, fight for him and trust him even though he may trigger an alien invasion that could wipe out the human race.

She becomes an insightful, caring mother, part of a team, and she loves her panda with all her heart.

4. The Oppression:

The Oppression could be the alien agenda, the panda alien invasion.

Centuries ago, an alien ship crashed in Tibet mountains, and pandas came out. They slowly spread throughout Asia, thriving most in the bamboo forest of central china.

Pandas are not the cute, cuddly creatures people think they are. Far from it. They have a hidden agenda, to spread and take over our entire planet, artificially inseminating humans with pandas, using us to breed them.

Pandas are thought of as lazy, but they are resting, waiting, saving up their energy for the time to attack, which is now.

Occasionally they attacked hunters, but kept it secret.

One phase of their plan was to fool humans and get them to help us. The current one is to inseminate us. And with the birth of the first full panda from a human, a signal was sent to their species, and more pandas are coming with advanced tech to ensure their population of earth, and the total submission of humans.

5. Betraying Character:

The Betraying Character could be Lena Zu, one of the woman in the resistance who was experimented on by the panda aliens, so she also hates pandas. She can’t get over her panda prejudice, and doesn’t believe this so called “promised panda” is the key to stopping the invasion. She thinks it will only trigger the invasion and wipe them out, so she decides to kill Kyo and anyone who gets in her way, even her entire team including Rosemary and Blaze, their leader, if need be.<i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>

[margo meck]

ANALYZE DEAD POET SOCIETY

1. What
   is the change this movie is about?

Follow your own path. Become your own person.

What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?

The boys go from being molded by an oppressive environment, to being drunk on freedom, to making choices on how to live life on their own terms.

2. Lead
   characters:

<ul type=”circle”>

3. Who
   is the Change Agent (the one causing the change) and what makes this the right
   character to cause the change?

The teacher, John Keating. He was a former student himself at this school and knows how it operates.

<ul type=”circle”>
2. Who
   is the Transformable Character (the one who makes the change) and what
   makes them the right character to deliver this profound journey?

The five boys. They are all forced to follow the dictates of the school and their parents, but they recognize the spark of hope Keating offers.

<ul type=”circle”>
2. What
   is the Oppression?

Being forced into a mold that doesn’t suit them. The primary Oppression is the school, but it is also the home environment and peer pressure.

3. How
   are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with
   this story?

The stark contrast between how the boys are in public and how they are in private among themselves. What drew me into the story was that I resonated with encouragement to fight against what clearly would inhibit the boys’ developing their unique voice.

4. Looking
   at the character(s) who are changed the most, what is the profound
   journey? From “old ways” to “new way of being.” Identify their old way:
   Identify their new way at the conclusion:

Ethan Hawkes changed the most.

His “Old Ways” were to avoid interaction. He couldn’t speak in a group situation, not even among friends.

His “New Ways” were dramatically shown at the end of the movie when he was the first of the boys to stand on his desk and utter: “My Captain. My Captain.”

5. What
   is the gradient the change? What steps did the Transformational Character
   go through as they were changing?

The boys went from being obedient to being drunk on independence to the point of being irresponsible to claiming their unique voice.

6. How is
   the “old way” challenged? What beliefs are challenged that cause a main
   character(s) to shift their perspective…and make the change?

All the boys (except Cameron) make changes. Knox goes from being starstruck by Chris to being a persistent but more subtle suitor. Neil Perry goes against his father’s demands, something that would never have happened before Keating. When he sees his future life as condemned to the Waste Land, he takes the only road he sees as his option; a tragic choice, but a declaration of his escape from the oppression.

7. What
   are the most profound moments of the movie?

Neil’s suicide is pretty profound and its effect on the rest of the boys tempers their rash enthusiasm.

8. What
   are the most profound lines of the movie?

I especially remember Keating admonishing the boys to “suck the marrow of life, but don’t choke on the bone.” Freedom isn’t chaos and it demands responsibility.

9. How
   does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?

Keating got to witness that he had done some good (not all teachers get to see their efforts pay off). The boys’ rigid adherence to the school’s oppression is rejected powerfully at the end. Each of the boys travelled the full arc. Perhaps even Cameron recognized at the end what he would never have.

10. What
    is the Profound Truth of this movie?

The movie is not just about “seize the day.” For this “coming of age” story it’s about becoming who you were meant to be and not be forced into a mold that doesn’t fit.

[Paul Penley]

• Paul P’s Dead Poet’s Society
• What is the change this movie is about? To become your own person and break away from the norm.
• What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?
• Lead characters:
  • Who is the Change Agent (the one causing the change) and what makes this the right character to cause the change? Professor Keeting. He was once a student at the Prepschool and has experienced the academia.
  • Who is the Transformable Character (the one who makes the change) and what makes them the right character to deliver this profound journey? There are several charaters who are transformable. Mostly Todd, Knox, Charlie and Neil. But others take chances and sieze the day.
  • What is the Oppression? The School and it’s traditions as well as the boy’s parents. Authority.
• How are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with this story? We have all been to school and understand the intricate traditions and rules that are pressed upon it’s students.
• Looking at the character(s) who are changed the most, what is the profound journey? From “old ways” to “new way of being.” Identify their old way: Identify their new way at the conclusion:
• Niel goes from listening and obeying his father’s wishes to speaking his mind and doing what he wants.
• Todd begins his journey not really wanting to be involved in class or speaking. His arc takes him to someone who is the first to stand up for his beliefs and to do the right thing even if he faces consequences for his actions.
• What is the gradient the change? What steps did the Transformational Character go through as they were changing?
• Neil- oppression / frustration / anger / excitement / frustration / joy / pride / depressed / suicide
• Neil – The old way of doing what his father tells him is challenged. He breaks away and follws his dream gradually getting to the point where he takes a chance and stands up to his father and ultimately ends his life rather than continue on the path his father has set for him.
• Todd – lonely / accepted / unsure / involved / confident / depression / grief / defiance
• Todd – The old way of not making waves and doing as one is told. He is the child seen and not heard. He eventually grows in the trust of his friendships with his fellow students and by Keeting’s guidance. In the end, he is the first to stand unafraid and voice his opinion and admiration for Keeting.
• Most profound moments.
• 1. The first Keeting class. Held in the hallway where they students learn the term Carpe Diem.
• 2. Ripping the Pritchard’s poetry pages form the school book.
• 2. The students learning to walk their own walk in the courtyard.
• 3. Speaking to Keeting about the Dead Poet’s society.
• 3. Charlie publishing an article in the school paper by the Dead Poet’s society.
• 4. Knox taking a chance and going to the HIghschool party and getting beaten up.
• 5. Knox taking another chance and going to Cris’s school to read her a poem.
• 5. Each of the Dead Poet society meetings are profound.
• 6. Neil’s performance in the play.
• 7. Charlie becoming Newanda and bringing women to the Cave.
• What are the most profound lines of the movie?
• 1. Sieze The Day – Carpe Diem
• 2. Language was used to Woo Women.
• 3. Do indeed be a God.
• 4. I’m not going to be calm anymore.
• 5. She was thinking about me.
• 6. It’s God, He says we should have girls at Wilton.
• 7. Oh Captain, my Captain!
• How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?
• The students gradually become more bold exploring their boundries against their instructors and the norms of society until Neil chooses death over doing something that his father expects him to do.
• What is the Profound Truth of this movie?
• Take chances and live it to the fullest.

[Mark]

Subject line: Mark K.’s Lead Characters

Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
What I learned is that having a model can introduce new ideas that you might not have thought of, which can add more tension, emotion, and entertainment value to your story.

Tell us your transformational journey logline.
A disillusioned private investigator must confront her buried ideals while uncovering a conspiracy, transforming from a cynical loner to a passionate advocate for justice and unity.

Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role. Also, include: - Their vision: - Their past experience that fits that vision:
My Change Agent is a secret informant named “Shallow Gulp” who has infiltrated the powerful Cabal of the rich and powerful who are perpetrating the conspiracy against the American people, spreading misinformation and targeting activists to disillusion them and become apathetic. Shallow Gulp has seen the horrors that the powerful elite are capable of and, and she is looking for people who have the incentive to expose the Cabal and take them down. Her vision is to get Big Money out of politics and return the power to the people.

Shallow Gulp is the granddaughter of Deep Throat, and witnessed first-hand her grandfather’s takedown of the Nixon administration.

Tell us who you think might be your Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that character or characters fit the role.
Alice and Bob are the Transformable Characters. They are both self-employed private investigators, though they don’t meat until after the story starts. They were both active in politics and social causes when they were in college (at different schools), but Bob was a conservative and Alice was a liberal. Each had some very experiences with their activism that caused them to be disillusioned and drop their causes, retreating into jaded, cynical, solitary lives, increasingly feeling that there is not hope for politics or social change to make the lives of average citizens better, or even tolerable.

Tell us who or what you think might be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression works in your story.
The Oppression is the secret Cabal run by the rich and powerful, who keep the nation misinformed, disillusioned, and fighting each other, instead of the real enemy of the people–the Cabal itself. They go out of their way to do anything they can to target promising young activists to knock them out of the game.

Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.
The Betraying Character is a long-time chum of Bob named Foster who fell into the same path of being hopeless and cynical. Foster has helped Bob with his PI business over the years, doing somewhat shady things for him and is very tech-savvy and a life hacker. Foster is all in with taking down the Cabal in the beginning, but as the pressure from their minions grows, and starts to resemble the events that caused him to drop out of politics altogether when in college, the Cabal finally gets to Foster and pressures him to betray Bob and Alice.

[Gerard Tretton]

Gerard -Lead Characters

6. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” (place at top of your work).

That I already had these characters clearly defined before I started the class. I just hadn’t labeled them with the terms we use here in this lesson.
———-

1. Tell us your transformational journey logline.

This is the same logline I presented for Day 3.
I am currently working on a lengthy but capsulized “plot” for the story. I believe that, if I understand correctly, that in screenwriting it is called a “treatment”.

The protagonist Eliana America Sanchez, is a teenage Ecuadorian girl living in the Andes of Ecuador. She is conflicted and troubled, alternating between agonizing fear and joyful spurts of creativity that she is able to find with her novice songwriting and music.

As she matures to a young adult, she finds a way, guided at times along the way by her sage uncle Francisco Sanchez, of accessing a higher level of consciousness where she is able to transform from being disturbed almost immediately to having peace of mind and confident in knowing what to do. She evolves to be an internationally famous singer and creative artist, clear with her real purpose in life.

————-

2. Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent

Here is a brief character sketch of Francisco. The Change Agent.

Francisco Emilio Sánchez
Eliana América’s uncle, “tio”, her mother’s brother. He very much remains in the traditional campesino lifestyle, tending a farm and animals. He is Eliana America’s trusted person to seek counsel and emotional strength. He gives Eliana America the seed of wisdom that she takes throughout the story. After her house burns down and her mother dies in the fire, Eliana America lives with Franciso for almost a year as a new house is being built. Being a keen observer, she is able to begin to understand Francisco’s design for living. He counsels her through the story.

————

3. Tell us who you think might be your Transformable Character

Eliana America is the principal Transformable Character

I will elaborate that with a brief character sketch

Eliana América Sánchez
The female protagonist of the story. She has campesina roots in Ecuador, but emerging easily into the more contemporary life style.

Over the 13 years that the story is told, from age 12 to 25, she evolves to be incredible song writer, singer and entertainer, with worldwide fame. The story has 3 major timeframe elements: age 12-15, age 16-19, and age 20-25.

Her favorite way to communicate is through the lyrics and sound of her music. It is often the only way she can express her deep feelings. She writes about fear and conflict, unconditional love, intimacy, and tragedy and victories.
Resilient amidst the turmoil of life she becomes a teacher of forgiveness, an inspiring demonstration of how it is done. She finds a way to find peace of mind even when things are going terrible. Truly, the greatest gift.

4.Tell us who or what you think might be The Oppression

It is Elians America’s father Pablo Jose Sanchez.

Note – Mid way through the 13-year story he evolves as another Transformable Character. A miracle, that he finally accepts, transforms his life and recreates his relationship in a truly beautifully way with Elina America. Francisco, Eliana America’s uncle, is also the Change Agent here.

Pablo Jose Sanchez
He is a volatile alcoholic loving and caring when not drunk, explaining the conflict that Eliana America has with him as the Oppression. He is possessed by the sexual demon which plaques him. He is a sick man.

I will elaborate that with a brief character sketch.

He is an enterprising and newly well-to-do Ecuadorian campesino. City development is moving west into what has been an agricultural area for centuries. Land values have enormously increased and Pablo has gained handsomely selling off parcels of his large holdings of agricultural and grazing land. His life changes dramatically and his alcoholism picks up speed.

Pablo is an excellent guitar player and in his sober, loving moments, he teaches Eliana America to play the guitar. Seemingly having a natural talent, she quickly masters the guitar.

———–

5. Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character

This can only be Enrique Jose Castaneda a character who comes into the story about a third of the way through.
He is an entertainment producer and promoter who lives in Madrid, Spain. He travels to Ecuador on a vacation with a beautiful young Ecuadorian woman named Valeska who lives with him in Madrid.

He observes Eliana América singing at a huge public event, and is intrigued by her appearance, style and talent.

He meets with Eliana and her father with a proposal to bring her to Spain to finish her schooling in a top-rated school and to develop her career professionally.

I can only elaborate regarding betrayal by sharing a writing about Enrique that I did to portray him in developing this character. I titled the writing, “Duplicity

Duplicity
Enrique Jose Castañeda, her charismatic music career patron, comes to have an ulterior sexual desire.
Enrique is a very interesting man. He is middle-aged and quite handsome, and he has a warm, inviting personality. This manner of being is not false. He is authentic. A producer of film projects, television shows, and promoter or live events, he is also an astute businessman, seemingly with a natural ability to get things done and be successful. He has a knack for finding talent and creative ideas.

But like Eliana America’s father he has an inner struggle. He is not an alcoholic like her father, but he is essentially unsure of his motives and keeps a part of his mind secret when it comes to sexual desire.

Enrique provides enormous help for both Eliana America and Valesca Bernada, another principal character in the story. He is a sincerely open-hearted and resourceful person.
Eliana America settles in living in the mansion and attending the excellent school that she is enrolled in. At the same time, Enrique provides her with all the resources necessary to develop her song writing and singing career. There is a music room with a grand piano as well as an electronic keyboard, guitars and other instruments. The mansion also as a small but fully equipped sound studio. Eliana America spends much of her free time using and enjoying these resources. She is in paradise, as she calls it, and her creative development is flowing. She is so happy and is always thanking Enrique and giving him hugs.
Meanwhile Enrique is developing a lust for this beautiful young girl. At first, he tries to suppress his feelings, but when she turns 18-years old he can no longer restrain himself and moves forward in seducing Eliana America in his very talented suave manner. He is good at it, and she almost immediately responds to his loving advances. She is a young woman and her sexual zest is blooming. In little time he has enticed her to the bed and a fabulous intimacy enjoyed by both.

Betrayal

However eventually Joaquín Sebastian Vásquez, another very significant principal character, enters the story and Enrique becomes bitterly jealous. In a crazy jealous rage one late night he puts some explicit video of him and Eliana America on the internet. Her career is almost destroyed.
 

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by  Gerard Tretton.

[Margaret]

Margaret’s Lead Characters

What I learned: To incorporate a betraying character. New to me!

Transformational Journey Logline: A fearful grandmother, oppressed by the Nazi’s, joins the resistance and courageously relays messages through her rag dolls.

Change Agent: Helene Schmidt, a German born grandmother with impeccable German credentials and social connections. Her own son is a Nazi officer. She has passed secrets on to the resistance that she learns from overhearing her son or through her social connections. Her vision is to prove that being German doesn’t mean being Nazi, and that she wants to destroy the influence the Nazi’s have over her country and her son. Her successful role in transmitting secrets to the resistance and her societal connections set her up for success.

Transformable Characters: Margot Dufour – Seamstress who is recruited by Helene for her skill. She is fearful to take a risk but courageously accepts the role. Marie-Claude Benoit: Former Mathematics Professor & Code Creator. She is Brilliant but humble, and will appear absent-minded to protect herself from suspicion. She drops the facade of the bumbling grandmother in an act of defiance, leading to her death by the Nazi’s.

The Oppression: The Nazi regime in Lyon, France.

Betraying Character: Elisabeth “Lise” Weber – A widowed Toy Shop Owner. Her husband was tortured by the Nazi’s. She helps the resistance as revenge but then betrays the group because of her fear of torture. She is charismatic and charming and uses her grandmotherly warmth to cover her grief.

[Jennifer Quintenz-Berry]

Jenn’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is: I’d never considered the “betraying character” before, but the neuroscientist that is called in to consult on her case fits this role perfectly. They become close during her treatment, but when he believes she’s starting to lose touch with reality, he acts like a doctor rather than listening as a friend. It’s not that he’s a bad guy, he just cannot accept that what she’s telling him could be real.

Tell us your transformational journey logline.
A grieving woman suffers mysterious, life-threatening seizures during which she relives the traumatic events leading to her sister’s death—until she realizes that within these “memories” she has the power to rewrites history.

Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.
Carrie, an older patient in the medical facility, is the change agent – she’s brought in to try to get Taylor to re-engage with life after Taylor’s suicide attempt. She’s unstoppable, hilarious, and compassionate. She’s also dying from cancer, but she doesn’t stop that from letting her enjoy the life she has left.
Her vision: you can’t control what hand life deals you, but you can learn to play your cards. She’s learned to embrace the triumphs and losses and truly embrace what it means to be alive anyway.
Her past experience that fits that vision: She has found ways throughout her life to experience joy even after loss, to be deeply enmeshed in life, and she tries to help Taylor find the courage to go on.

Tell us who you think might be your Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that character or characters fit the role.
Taylor is the transformable character. She’s been at the medical facility for almost a year, with no answers regarding her condition. She’s had 11 seizures/hallucinations, each one getting a little more severe/dangerous. When she learns that her doctor is no closer to finding the root of her disorder than he was when she arrived, she hits her breaking point and gives up, attempting suicide. She has no idea the power she weilds yet, but over the course of her journey through grief, she starts to take an active role in her life for the first time.

Tell us who or what you think might be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression works in your story.
The oppression is the neurological disorder that strikes randomly, sending Taylor into emotionally wrenching and physically destructive episodes. Each one is more dangerous than the last, and if they can’t find a way to cure her or prevent more episodes, Taylor will die.

Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.
I think Riaz – the young specialist who is sent for to take over her case – might be the betraying character, only because when she starts to believe she has the power to change her past, he starts to fear she’s losing touch with reality. It’s not that he’s a bad guy, but he’s a medical doctor who’s ethically obligated to look out for her best interest, and he cannot accept that what she’s experiencing could be real.

~ end

[Kristina Zill]

KZs Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment:
I learned to clarify characters as Transformable, Change Agent, Betrayer. I especially found it interesting to think of the Betrayal character as someone who is afraid to move forward and embrace the future.

1. Transformational Journey Logline:
Two police officers who acted on their latent attraction under hypnosis must break the spell to defeat the ex-con turned hypnotist who is turning the police department into a criminal enterprise.

2. Change Agent:
Hypnotist Deacon “Deke” Dupont, a dirty copy who went to jail
Like many perps, he feels that he is the victim. In jail, he mastered hypnosis and now he’s out for revenge — to prove that the other cops are no better than he is, they just didn’t get caught.

3. Transformable Characters
Officer Ryan “Ry” Harper
Control Freak, By-the-book, Bitter misanthrope since his wife left him for another man.
Under hypnosis, his empathic side is activated.
Motivation: to restore order and prove that reason can overcome chaos

Officer Elena Cruz
Internal Affairs Officer, investigating a complaint against Ry.
She’s resourceful, cynical, lonely, with a dry sense of humor.
Wound: She lost her inheritance to crooks who fleeced her grandfather.
Motivation: To root out corruption wherever she finds it.

4. The Oppression
Lawlessness?

5. the Betraying Character
Marci Holloway
A Church Lady who comes to pray with the prisoners
She cannot accept that she has a shadow side and wants to return to the certainty she felt before

[Brent KINETZ]

Brent’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is:
Maybe I can have a more authentic, fresh and powerful transformation if I reverse which character (the mother instead of the father) transforms within my story. (However, I have written it below as though as it’s still Lionel, the father, who transforms.) I also learned more about my story’s Oppression and Change Agent by being forced to write it out.

Transformational Log Line:
When their teenage son goes away with friends for the weekend, two parents must face their anxiety and helplessness after they realize their only contact will be watching social media posts.

Change Agent:
On the surface, it’s the social media posts, but in reality (spoiler alert) it is their younger son (Billy) who feels left out and creates fake social media posts with the sole purpose of punishing his parents. Billy is tired of being overprotected by his parents, and mainly his father, Lionel. He feels like he’s being held back because of his parents’ fears, which he sees as largely irrational. And when his older brother is invited to a friend’s summer house, and Billy is invited to tag along, but his parents won’t let him, he’s had enough. And he decides to force them to face their fears.

Transformable Character:
Lionel, the dad. When the story begins, Lionel is reluctantly devoted to his wife Martha’s particular brand of fear-based “overprotective” parenting. Through a particularly tough weekend, he finds a voice for his own instinctive parenting method, one where he allows his children more risks and opportunities for growth. And in the end, he’s faced with a big decision where he must either ignore or take action against one of his child’s clear transgression.

The Oppression:
The Oppression in this story is the parent’s interpretation of the risks the world presents to their kids. This is general, and to bring to it more specificity, I can say that it is fueled by two main forces, the parents’ consumption of media’s (both news and social) narrative over what’s wrong in this world AND their perception of what exactly is successful parenting (i.e. the balance between NEVER making a mistake and reaching age 18 with a perfect score of your kid never being seriously “hurt” vs. the natural growth and learning a child experiences by giving them the freedom to experiment, take risks, and fail. The parents in this story lean much more to the former – wanting to reach 18 with a perfect score.

The Betraying Character:
Martha, the mother, the wife, goes through a stressful weekend that forces her to confront her worst fears about letting her children out on a longer leash. This pushes her and her husband Lionel to the brink of either trying to swoop in and save them, or letting the kids learn from the complication of real life, even if it means suffering some along the way. While Lionel takes the latter fork, Martha can’t abide and decides to take no more risks.

[Terrie Cooper Lee]

Terrie’s Lead Characters
What I learned from this assignment is that the betraying character and the opposition are critically important. I hadn’t even remembered those from the first time I took this course. I, again, used AI (irony here) to move through this assignment pretty quickly. I took what I’d come up with for the Action class, and created prompts to brainstorm. I tended to keep what was closest to things I’d already come up with, but chatgpt added details and that really sped things up.
1. Tell us your transformational journey logline.
In a dystopian near future, a duty-bound Texas Ranger investigating a brutal murder uncovers a far-reaching government conspiracy, forcing her to transform from a by-the-book enforcer into a fearless leader fighting to restore justice and freedom to her country.
2. Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role. Also, include: – Their vision: – Their past experience that fits that vision:
Colton – he’s a Disillusioned Mentor. He and Valerie served in the Army together. After sustaining severe injuries in the war, he was promised support (e.g., medical care, housing, or job placement) but the system was nearly impossible to work through. Now living off the grid, he’s spent years gathering evidence of the AI conspiracy. He’s something of a resistance figure. Valerie just figured he was nuts from his injuries but she comes around.
3. Tell us who you think might be your Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that character or characters fit the role.
Valerie – Texas Ranger. She fought and nearly died for her country. Possesses action skills from her years as a Calvery Scout (serving behind enemy lines). But, given all that she’s seen and experienced she’s just glad the war is over and putting in her time – do the job by the book. But when she was a scout she believed in her country believed the US democracy was worth dying for.

4. Tell us who or what you think might be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression works in your story.
The oppression is the AI that runs what’s left of the US government – but it’s actually the committee that runs the AI that is the true oppression. The murder that Valerie is investigating and what she finds in that process is what forces her to push against the oppressive force.
5. Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.
Doc who seems like an ally in the beginning as he’s the one that pushes her to investigate the murder even though the victim is classified as ‘not a citizen.’ But he can’t change – he’s a veterinarian at a state university – it’s about as good a gig as exists anymore. Without ‘the system’ his students can’t study and strive for a better life all that would be left is chaos. It’s a flawed system but he embedded in it and can’t see a way out.
Valerie’s superior at the Texas Rangers. What I envision is that early on he tells her to follow the rules and suppresses her efforts. Perhaps eventually he realizes Valerie has uncovered an important truth and comes around even at great cost to himself.

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by  Terrie Cooper Lee.

[Sharyn Grose]

Sharyn’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is that I may need to change who my transformable character(s) and change agent are. I originally thought of the teacher as the transformable character but I think it may serve the story more to make the teacher a change agent and the students the transformable characters. I think that falls in line with the message I want the story to give. I may need to revisit the transformational journey logline.

Transformational journey logline:
A burned-out teacher who transfers to a new school slated to close is challenged by an underperforming class to be grateful for the present and believe in them and herself.

Change Agent:
The teacher. She is a former award-winning teacher who believes all students have potential. At her old school she became burned out from school politics and students who don’t want to learn. She is transferred to this school on the verge of closure and assigned the underperforming class.

Transformable Character(s):
The underperforming students. They have been told by many that they are bad students, which has caused the to believe this for themselves. No one wants to take the time or effort to pour in to them so they live out what has been spoken over them.

The Oppression:
The school environment. The school, including administration, teachers, and students look down down on this underperforming class. They are not taken seriously so they get less than other students/classes including attention. Money is tight so it and it’s impact in the school is not distributed evenly and the underperforming class is always left out.

Betraying Character:
School Principal. Excited by the possibilities with the new teacher but shifts priority from saving school to saving self and abandoning the teacher in the process.

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by  Sharyn Grose.