Lesson 6

[Alfred Dunham]

Alfred Dunham’s Delivering Multiple Layers!

“What I learned doing this assignment is –

The layers reinforce each other if planned out right.

ASSIGNMENT 6

1. Brainstorm potential plot layers.

· Surface Layer: Four people, thrown together, struggle to understand their lives, why they’re there, and what will happen to them.

· Beneath That: Their future has already happened and is now a mere footnote in time.

· How Revealed: In the epilogue, where Albert says goodbye.

2. Brainstorm potential character layers.

Albert

· Surface Layer: Albert is a teenage boy with a death sentence written all over his body. He has a presumptive Dx of Systemic Lupus erythematosus (SLE)

· Beneath That: Albert is a beginning college student in physics.

· Beneath That: Albert, for some time, has been questioning the articles of his faith as being irrational.

· How Revealed: In bits and pieces via discussions with each of the other characters.

Helen

· Surface Layer: Helen is a staff nurse in a large, multi-tiered hospital. She shows up each morning, does her work with efficiency, and then goes home.

· Beneath That: She is a very lonely, lost soul.

· Beneath That: She became a Nurse to (a) pay the bills and (b) to fight her depression.

· Beneath That: She had a husband and son. Both died.

· Beneath That: She was a teenage runaway.

· How Revealed: In bits and pieces, talking to Albert.

Archie

· Surface Layer: Archie presents as an old guy with a crusty, malevolent attitude. He’s here because of a Dx of tertiary syphilis. He demonstrates the symptoms of personality change, hallucinations, and forgetfulness.

· Beneath That: Archie has a recent history of living on the street.

· Beneath That: Archie was a businessman with a questionable lifestyle.

· Beneath That: Archie had a friend he trusted who cheated him and left him destitute.

· How Revealed: He is a wanted man who was hiding out, but when his behavior gets out of control in the hospital, he is transferred to a prison hospital. In short, he was a con man in hiding out.

James

· Surface Layer: James presents as a spoiled rich kid who was in his third year of medical school before this place. He’s here because of his Dx of hairy cell leukemia (HCL).

· Beneath That: James was not a promising student. He hated medicine.

· Beneath That: James was bullied by his father into becoming a physician.

· Beneath That: James became passive because his mother had become passive to his father and would not stand up to him.

· How Revealed: James goes into a rant and reveals his desire to die – how he has considered suicide in the past.

3. Brainstorm potential location layers.

Surface Layer: The location is clearly a hospital unit or ward.

Beneath That: This hospital unit is a unique special needs ward for life-threatening illnesses. A kind of “hall of the doomed and the damned.” A “waiting for God” kind of place.

Beneath that: Except, the entire story is a memory of a pivotal time for Albert.

How revealed: Albert is 90 years old, in a cemetery, saying goodbye to his deceased surrogate mom, Nurse Helen, for what may be his last time..

[Mark Roeder]

Mark’s Delivering Multiple Layers!

What I learned doing this assignment is a new big reveal at the end.

Surface Layer: Magdalena and Ivy stroke Everest’s ego about his acting.

Beneath That: scheme between Magdalena and Ivy to cut Everest’s part down since his acting’s not that good.

How Revealed: Everest catches Ivy whispering to Magdalena as Magdalena’s cutting out Everest’s parts on her laptop.

Surface layer: Everest wrote the script.

Beneath that: Skylar wrote the script.

How Revealed. Skylar’s corpse attacks Magdalena accusing her of cutting his name out of credits. Magdalena says you didn’t write the script. My husband did. Ivy says Skylar wrote it.

Surface Layer: Ivy tried to stop Everest from stealing Skylar’s script.

Beneath that: Ivy gave Everest the script so he’d cast her in it.

How Revealed: Ivy tells Skylar she tried to stop Everest from stealing script. Everest says you gave it to me. Skylar attacks Ivy, sending flood on her. Ivy says that was the only way I could get the part.

Surface layer: Ivy, in her character, has supernatural powers.

Beneath that: Ivy doesn’t have supernatural powers, but Skylar does.

How Revealed: Ivy tries to use her powers on Skylar, but doesn’t have any. Skylar uses his supernatural ability to cause flood.

Surface layer: The movie they made is about a fictional evil spirit.

Beneath that: The evil spirit is real, and Skylar, while researching it writing the script, became obsessed with it and it possessed him.

How Revealed: Ivy tells Skylar if he wouldn’t have let the evil spirit the script was about possess him and wouldn’t have neglected her, she wouldn’t have brought the script to Everest and cheated on him.

And when Ivy’s dying, she tells Magdalena she sees the truth now that the evil spirit was real.

Surface layer: Skylar signed a contract to get credit for the writing.

Beneath that: Skylar sabotaged the deal and didn’t sign the contract for writing it, but did sign a contract with the evil spirit, which he himself wrote.

How Revealed: Everest tells Skylar he blew it by not signing the contract.

And Ivy, dying, tells Magdalena she saw a contract with the evil spirit. She thought he made it up for the script he was writing about the evil spirit, but now she sees the truth.

Surface Layer: Skyler’s corpse has trapped them in a graveyard.

Beneath that: The graveyard’s a set for a candid camera reality show Skylar’s in on to see who can escape the graveyard.

How Revealed: after Magdalena escapes and sees Skylar dissolve, she walks away and sees Skylar in human form, who congratulates her on being the sole survivor of the Who Can Escape reality show. She’s given a choice: she wins $200,000 or she can be on the next show trapped underneath an airport and if she escapes that, she wins one million dollars.

[Tom Carroll]

What I learned from doing this exercise is that I can come up with an appropriate hidden layer or secret for each of my characters. These hidden layers can lay dormant within the story until they move from being hidden to opening up the plot in an unexpected way. I thought this exercise was very rewarding

PILOT: CAPTAIN RACHEL “RAPTOR” DAVIS: Captain Davis’s struggle with imposter syndrome is a shadow that looms large over her every move, a relentless specter of self-doubt that threatens to engulf her. Her journey into the world of military aviation was marked by a series of trials and tribulations, each one a painful reminder of her perceived inadequacy. The scars of the bullying she endured during her training run deep, etching themselves into the fabric of her being and shaping her identity. Yet, despite her outward facade of confidence, Davis remains haunted by the fear that she will never live up to the towering legacy of her father. As Operation FUBAR pushes her to the brink, Davis must confront the demons of her past and find the courage to embrace her true worth, or risk being consumed by the darkness within.

CO-PILOT: MAJOR JACK “HAMMER” THOMPSON: Thompson harbors a remarkable eidetic memory and fluency in ten languages, including Chinese, a talent he discovered in childhood. However, his father’s exploitative behavior tainted this gift, leaving Thompson feeling used and diminished. Consequently, he conceals his abilities to avoid further exploitation and embarrassment, fearing they may distance him from his peers and exacerbate his sense of detachment. This inner conflict intensifies his feelings of isolation, hindering his ability to relate to his service mates. During Operation FUBAR, Thompson’s secret identity layer is inadvertently revealed when his knowledge of nuclear weaponry and proficiency in Chinese becomes crucial for the crew’s survival.

SYSTEMS OFFICER: LIEUTENANT MARK “G.S.” RODRIGUEZ: Rodriguez’s hidden expertise in AI systems goes beyond his technical role, stemming from a childhood fascination with computers. He’s secretly developed his own AI system, drawing on his extensive knowledge and experience. During Operation FUBAR, this clandestine knowledge becomes crucial as he navigates the aircraft’s systems, revealing both their capabilities and vulnerabilities. As the crew faces the rogue AI, Rodriguez’s expertise becomes evident, leading to admiration and concern among his comrades.

WEAPONS OFFICER: SERGEANT KYLE “JOKER” REYNOLDS: Reynolds guards a hidden layer of his personal life, concealing the existence of his wife and young child. Rooted in his comfort with his “Joker” persona, he initially shunned the idea of revealing his family’s presence to his crewmates. Throughout his time on the crew, this hidden aspect of his life impacts Reynolds’ interactions, keeping him emotionally guarded and detached. However, during Operation FUBAR, as the gravity of the situation weighs heavily on him, his suppressed emotions and thoughts about his family begin to surface. Despite his reluctance to reveal his personal life, Reynolds finds solace and strength in the thought of his loved ones, which ultimately empowers him to face the daunting task of defusing the bomb. Through subtle subtext, his hidden familial ties serve as a source of motivation and resilience, allowing him to navigate the mission’s challenges while staying true to himself.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Tom Carroll.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Tom Carroll.