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Lesson 6
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Rebecca’s Mystery Sequence
What I learned: I learned that this could be fun. Because I am writing this from a concept, this lesson lets the story unfold as I brainstorm each exercise.
1. What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up? The Villian, a billionaire arms dealer, plans to use the singer’s world tour to put his players in place to incite multiple revolutions around the globe.
2. How many ways can they cover that secret?
Mystery 1: What prompted the singer’s escape before the world tour, and why did the Manager use extreme measures to find her?
The Manager makes most of the music decisions and keeps the young singer on a tight leash.
She escapes from an essential private concert just before the world tour, and the Manager is tasked to find her.
Mystery 2: What is the singer hiding when she pleads with the Hero to grant her asylum?
The Hero finds a shivering, anorexic girl hiding in his garden during the pouring rain, and she begs refuge from her abusive rich boyfriend.
The Hero watches local tv news and learns of the search for a singing star suffering a nervous breakdown and wandering near the convention center.
He covers when the police arrive at the door, later quizzes the girl, and learns about her abusive Manager.
Mystery 3: Why does the Manger take extreme measures to find the girl and claim her kidnapped?
The next day the Manager involves the FBI in the search by showing them a ransom note asking for ten-million dollars, the kidnapping picked up by national news.
The Hero learns of the alleged kidnapping and is worried about the implication for him. Puzzled by Manager’s story change, he threatens to turn in the girl unless she’s more truthful? What else does the singer keep back from the Hero?
Things get dicey when the Hero tries to carry on his security camera business and is called by the girl’s Manager to privately help him check the camera footage at the convention center.
Mystery 4: Why did the Manager send bounty hunters and trained assassins to kill the Hero or anyone else she may have contacted or spoken to?
When the Hero’s house cameras show men in black doing a door-to-door search in his neighborhood, he hides the girl in a secret closet under the stairs within a wardrobe. The men flash fake badges and a search warrant, carry guns, and search his townhouse.
He and the disguised girl load the work panel truck, drive through rural southside Virginia, and into the mountains to hide in a secluded cabin.
When Hero and the girl manager to evade all pursuers, the Manager covertly involves bounty hunters to track her down and bring her back unscathed.
Mystery 5: If the Manager isn’t the Villain, who is?
Impatient, the Manager’s boss threatens him and sends out his mercenaries, professional assassins, to find and kill the singer’s accomplice and anyone else she may have contacted or spoken to.
When the Hero learns of the trail of deaths behind them, he moves her to a secured paramilitary training center in North Carolina and into a caretaker house.
Spotted by one of his clients in a grocery store, the Hero acts as usual and claims to be working a job in the area.
On the next trip to the store, The Manager and two burley guards confront the Hero.
The Hero leads them to the training center, and the two join forces to trap the billionaire arms dealer and reveal his diabolical plan on national television.
The Red Herring is the Manager.
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What I learned with this assignment – or what I realized – is that the Hero is not immediately engaged in solving the first mystery, but by proximity becomes the character in the movie most affected by the first mystery and is the one who has to confront it head on at the end.
What is the big secret the Villain is covering up?
– Revenge on the people who put him behind bars: the Judge who sentenced him and Richard Slater who he blames for getting caught in the first place.
How is the Villain covering up his plan?
– With stealth
Main Mystery 1: Who killed the Latvian judge?
Main Mystery 2: Where has Laura’s husband Richard gone and why?
Main Mystery 3: Why does Steve Garrett deceive Laura about who he is?
Main Mystery 4: Will Laura survive once she is left to defend herself?
Mystery Chain for Mystery 1:
– A Latvian judge has his throat slit by an unknown assailant
– Richard learns about it from a contact in Europe and also learns that Russian mob boss Vasily Kornikov has recently been released from prison
– Richard believes himself to be Kornikov’s next target
Mystery Chain for Mystery 2:
– Richard fears Laura could become collateral damage if Kornikov is not prevented from finding them in Canada
– Richard leaves Laura, deceiving her by telling her he has left her for another woman in order to buy time alone to try to deal with Kornikov
Mystery Chain for Mystery 3:
– If Steve had simply showed up at Laura’s house and told her everything about Richard’s criminal past and his present predicament with Kornikov she would have either simply not believed him or else called the authorities/law enforcement and reported everything he told her to them (which would endanger Richard.)
– Steve takes advantage of Laura’s goodwill to insinuate himself into her life and gain her trust before he reveals who he is (Richard’s best friend) and why (he’s there to protect her).
– Because of his duplicity and certain tactics he uses that make us fear for Laura, Steve is a Red Herring until we learn his real identity and motives.
Mystery Chain for Mystery 4:
– Steve is duty-bound to go to Russia to rescue Richard who has been caught by Kornikov.
– Steve has just killed a member of Kornikov’s gang on Laura’s property (but doesn’t tell her) and by doing so he hopes/believes he has thwarted Kornikov’s attempt to kidnap her and then kill her in front of Richard (which he learns about from the gang member’s cell phone).
– He teaches Laura how to use his gun and leaves it with her before he departs for Russia.
– When Laura finds a bullet casing on the lawn near the house after Steve leaves, she realizes he didn’t tell her how close danger already is. She realizes she must take her own measures to protect herself and invents her own ingenious plan before the next killer arrives.
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Michelle’s Mystery Sequence
I learned mystery sequencing is a work in progress.
1. What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?
He kills Beth.
He is Peter’s father.
He is funding separatist groups to compensate for the sins of his father (wartime traitor).
2. Mysteries
Go into hiding.
Erase his past.
Fake his death.
Move and set up shop overseas.
Hire someone to find his son.
Use business to fund repatriation and separatist efforts.
Use connections to stay above the law.
Blackmail, use wealth as a cover to gain trust/influence then divert funds to opposition war effort.
3. First mystery
He kills Beth.
4. Sequence
Secret: The Elegant Man has a son.
Cover up: He withdraws inheritance from sole stepdaughter heir until she finds someone for him.
Secret: He kills Beth.
Cover up: He erases all traces of their encounter.
Secret: He puts a hit on Nora.
Cover up: He pretends not to know who she is when introduced by Peter.
Secret: Peter’s father is not dead.
Cover: He invests in Peter’s company.
Secret: He is helping the extortionist.
Cover up: He offers to help Peter find his extortionist.
Secret: His father was a traitor.
Cover up: He donates profits from his business to fund separatist movements and provide restitution.
Secret: Peter knows he is the killer.
Cover up: He preys on Peter’s biggest weakness to win his loyalty by telling him he is his father.
RED HERRING
Secret: The stepdaughter’s lover’s grandfather died as a result of her step-grandfather’s treason.
Cover up: Leo offers to help find Peter.
5. Mystery Chain for each main mystery.
Who killed Beth?
The Elegant Man’s lobby intrigue turns into a dinner date with Beth.
He later takes her to his room where she falls.
Her head accidentally strikes a table.
He rapes her then calls a henchman and dials 112.
An ambulance arrives but goes to the wrong floor.
His henchman disposes the body and erases all traces of the crime.
Who is looking for Peter?
The Elegant Man will disinherit his sole heir stepdaughter unless she finds someone for him.
Her lover readily helps in the search.
They find him.
They extort him unbeknownst to the Elegant Man.
When funds dry up, her lover devises a new plan.
The Elegant Man meets Peter under the pretext of investing in his start up.
He gains trust by offering to find his extortionist and find out who is diverting his money.
He preys on Peter’s orphan complex to win his loyalty as his father.
Who is the Elegant Man?
Nora sees him with Beth at dinner.
Nora sees him with Beth in his room.
Nora sees him kill Beth.
Peter is meeting a potential investor in Europe.
It turns out he is the Elegant Man.
The bartender tells Nora he has no recollection seeing him with a woman.
Nora investigates but finds no history of this man.
Peter discovers he is his father.
Will he kill Nora too?
Someone locks Nora in the cellar.
The Bartender calls someone whenever Nora enters/exits the bar.
Someone chases Nora in the cellar.
Someone tries to kill Nora in the sauna.
Someone is behind the curtains in Nora’s apartment.
Someone is watching Nora from a courtyard apartment.
The Super tells someone Nora is a complication.
Someone is sitting on Nora’s apartment bed watching her and Peter in his hotel room.
Someone is in the room with Nora.
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Carmen’s mystery sequence
What I learned from this assignment: Secret and cover-up sound easy, but are hard to master. Mine is still much too convoluted and a work in progress (that’s what happens when you run with a vague idea …) No wonder Eszterhazy did the groundwork for BI for years.
What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?
He created a story about a valuable encrypted drive to flush out a corrupt agent and got the man he sent, killed.
How many ways can they cover that secret? Those become the mysteries.
The boss uses stealth, and his position. He artlessly mentions the drive and that he’s sending a man to steal it in a meeting with his main suspects, including Turner.
He directs Wyatt towards the one man who can decrypt the drive, thus knowing where Wyatt will go.
All Wyatt knows is that someone is on his track, he can’t go to his boss, and that he needs to deliver the drive or all is lost.
All Turner knows is that he has to get the drive if he wants the money.
The first mystery must engage the Hero into solving it.
Mystery 1
Who is after the drive?
The first agent, who got murdered by Turner, after sending the drive to Wyatt.
Turner, because he thinks the drive will give him access to a fortune.
The villain, because ultimately he needs the drive to be delivered to a crony.
Mystery 2:
Why does Wyatt have it?
Because the agent was aware of problems, he got his friend Wyatt to help him out (by bringing in Laney and One-Take) and then moved the timeline, so he could mail the drive to Wyatt before Turner kills him. He died because he let his boss know he was ready to act.
Mystery 3:
Why does he need to go on the run with Laney and One-Take Jake?
Once he has the drive and finds about the murder of his friend from the boss, he knows he is in danger, and so are his hired helpers. Although Wyatt didn’t tell his superiors about their involvement, the payment or interviews with the owners of the safe room might give them away.
Once they help Wyatt, they’re definitely targets.
Mystery 4:
How can Turner track them down?
The boss directs Wyatt towards the one man who can decrypt the drive, thus knowing where Wyatt will go. He allows Turner access to this information. Turner then uses his own network.
Mystery 5:
Why doesn’t the boss step in to stop Turner once he’s going after Wyatt?
He needs to find out who is in with Turner.
He also wants Wyatt to be killed, so he can’t cause problems over his friend’s death. He makes sure that Turner won’t lose the trail and keeps moving, with no chance to sit back and think.
Mystery 6: Who is the man who can decrypt the drive and why can he do it?
He is the man who originally created the code – for the villain.
Whoever delivers the drive to him, walks into a trap. The information itself is not the key to money, but to other valuable data – ostensibly stolen by a rogue agent. That way the villain is the hero and has gotten away with murder.
Turner is the red herring – he is being manipulated and used as well.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by Carmen Radtke.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
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Agnes’s Mystery Sequence
What I learned doing this assignment is that what may be something the Villain is covering up, presents as a mystery to us. It keeps us engaged as to what that mystery is and why the Villain is covering up something important. His actions not only affect the Hero but also his own daughter and wife. Is he selfish or just mean? What is his motive for misleading the law?
My Hero, John Roberts is jailed wrongfully, but is using his time to get his higher education and bettering himself, while also helping other inmates. He’s a model prisoner despite what the small town jury decided. Even the prison guards cannot understand how he was convicted on such flimsy evidence. Deep inside, John knows he is innocent, and is Appealing but he is facing roadblocks because the Villain is intent in keeping him locked up. He wonders less and less about what happened to his new wife as the marriage wasn’t working anyway. As the years pass, he hardly thinks about her at all.
Mike Deans, the Villain, is keeping his secrets to himself as it serves his own purpose. He doesn’t want the town to know his wife’s condition or his daughter’s possible condition, as well. But, he does wonder where she can be, and knows that she is not dead.
Meanwhile, we wonder about Helen’s mental state and will she ever get out of the mental asylum so that her husband can be freed. What is she writing all the time? Who is she addressing envelopes to? Why is only one new nurse assistant interested in her case?
1. What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?
The Villain, Mike Deans, keeps the fact that his wife has had debilitating mental health issues for years and never leaves the house. No one in town questions her existence. She is always just looking far away, and totally oblivious to anything going on around her.
Helen grew up observing her mother’s behaviour from childhood onwards.
Mike Deans has known that his daughter has disappeared without a trace for many months before and just turns up one day.
He just assumes it runs in the mother’s family. Because of his standing in town, he never discusses what goes on inside his house or with his family.
He had higher plans for Helen to marry better than John Roberts, but Helen was adamant that she wanted to marry John, so whatever his daughter wants, he gives her. Just as he has placated his own wife for years, as long as the secret is safe that they both suffer bouts of a mental health disorder.
Helen has a certain look, before she does her disappearing act, and he noticed that look on his daughter, but he doesn’t mention it to the Chief of Police.
He wants to be rid of John Roberts whatever it takes and achieves that goal.
The police and the towns agree that because John Roberts had a bad family background, he must be a bad person as well.
Mike Deans fails to discuss the fact that his daughter has disappeared and ran away before.
2. How many ways can they cover that secret? Those become the mysteries.
Mike Deans covers the secret by having John Roberts immediately accused of causing the disappearance of his daughter, so the police never search any further for any other suspects.
He manages to convince the town and the jury that John Roberts killed and buried his daughter’s body in the woods.
John is unable to say what happened with his wife, as he has no idea.
They had a quarrel over John being too amorous. Helen felt it was not right that John wanted so much sex. They’d only been married 3-months, so they were still newlyweds. Helen had not been adjusting to being a wife. John had no other explanation for her disappearance without her packing or taking any of her clothes.
John found he could not defend himself, so he was convicted by the jury and sentenced to 20 years for her murder to a state penitentiary.
Mike Deans was happy with the results, but still wondered when Helen would show up, as she has done this before.
But, now he had John Roberts out of his bank and out of his life forever.
Meanwhile, his wife Molly never even notices her daughter’s absence as she just keeps staring off into space.
Mike Deans goes about his banking and council duties in the small Midwestern town. He’s well respected and an upstanding model citizen of the town.
3. The First Mystery must engage the Hero into solving it.
John Roberts becomes a model prisoner, and starts taking college studies to improve his chances for a better job later when he is released.
He still wonders what really happened to Helen, but knows that he had nothing to do with her disappearance, let alone a murder.
As time passes, John Roberts is too busy with his future studies, to think too often about Helen and puts all his energy into being co-operative and learning as much as he can.
Time passes, and John decides to study the law since he’s incarcerated, he may as well learn about the law.
He becomes so good at the subject that before a few years, he is helping other inmates with their Appeals, as well as appealing his own case.
But because the Chief of Police and Mike Deans believe he is guilty they make every effort to keep John Roberts locked away for murder.
Her mother still has no idea that Helen is missing or that she may be dead. She just keeps staring at walls.
Mike Deans keeps her in the house and has her have no contact with outsiders, who soon forget that she even exists.
How will John react if Helen suddenly does return?
4. Sequence the mysteries so that each one leads us to the next one. Include ONE Red Herring mystery if you can.
Helen is the Red Herring
She is seen hitchhiking and picked up by a stranger. She ends up in Florida. She acts flaky and pretends to not really know her real name, so she gives him another name, Susan.
Next, we see that Helen is now living with this man that picked her up for some time now.
Again, Helen is not happy in domestic life after a few years. She does not adjust to being a partner.
She is often found staring off into space and out of it.
One day, she is in the park, and is talking to no one, but some older gentleman notice her, talking to herself and decide they should contact the police as she may need help.
When the police arrive, she cannot “remember” her name or her address.
Her boyfriend has her committed to an asylum, where Helen just stares into space all day, and writes the same letters, over and over and addresses envelopes.
A new nurse assistant takes an interest in her case and starts to want to follow her more closely.
None of the doctors can determine who she is, or where she came from or what is wrong with her.
5. Create a Mystery Chain for each main mystery.
Is Helen mentally ill?
Does she suffer from the same mental illness her mother suffers from?
Can she really not recall who she is?
Is there a reason she does not want to return to her own home town?
Who is she writing to everyday? Why?
What’s in those letters?
Who is she addressing those letters to?
Why is no one able to help her find out her identity?
Why is her father not actively looking for her?
Does she ever think about her husband John, and what happened to him?
Does she think of the boyfriend who picked her up on the road?
Does she wonder why she is in a mental asylum with other patients?
Does she even know that she is in a state mental asylum?
Is she interested in getting out of the asylum?
Will Helen every get out of the asylum and return home, so that John can be released from prison for a murder he did not commit?
How will John react if or when Helen resurfaces?
How will her father react if she returns, and John Roberts is freed?
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