Lesson 7

[Karen Angermayer]

Hi Hal, Cheryl and Clive,

I just wanted to leave a quick note here that due to a surgery I will finish the course in my time.

Clive, I wish you best of luck and success for your great story. Move on! 🙂

All best, Karen Christine

[Clive Morris]

Sorry to hear about surgery! Wish you speedy recovery.

[Karen Angermayer]

Thank you so much, Clive. And all best to you and your project as well 🙂 Karen

[Clive Morris]

Clive Morris Lesson 7 Story MAP
What I Learned Doing This Assignment
What I learned doing this assignment is that combining structure with clear narrative tracks helps me see the story from multiple angles — the hero’s goals, the villain’s schemes, and the action moments. This makes the plot tighter and more dynamic, and shows where the stakes can rise. Even as a rough draft, this map shows how all the pieces fit together.
OPENING
* V 1: Chief Keller visits Hank at the retirement home, dropping veiled threats. Hank hides his fear, but afterward secures the flash drive with the incriminating intel.
* A 1: Rick in a low-level underground fight, barely winning. His PTSD flares. He leaves the venue and rejects a manager’s offer to return to pro fighting.
* M 1: Rick reluctantly visits his estranged father Hank after a call from the nursing home. Marge mentions something strange about a recent visitor (Keller).
* M 2: Hank tries to reconnect, hands Rick a mysterious envelope, but doesn’t reveal everything. Says cryptically, “They’ll come for me — maybe for you too.”

INCITING INCIDENT
* A 2: Armed men raid the nursing home at night. Rick protects Hank and Marge using improvised weapons and military skill. First real fight sequence.
* V 2: Keller orders the kill — he’s now exposed since Hank may leak intel. Mendoza, a violent gang leader Keller helped escape prison, is told to “clean up.”
* M 3: Rick grabs Hank and Marge and escapes in Hank’s old truck. Hank finally confesses: the drive contains proof Keller’s working with a cartel inside the DEA.
* M 4: Rick and crew drive to Marge’s remote cabin, off-grid. Hank warns they need to contact a journalist, but they need help retrieving the real backup file.

END OF ACT 1 – FIRST TURNING POINT
* A 3: At the cabin, Rick teaches Marge how to use a shotgun. A drone spots them. A sniper opens fire. The gang arrives — Rick leads a brutal counterattack.
* V 3: Keller escalates. He leaks a false story to police that Rick abducted a federal witness (Hank) and killed two agents. Now Rick is wanted.
* M 5: Rick’s loser friend Johnny helps them hack into an old contact’s network to set up a meeting with the journalist. He brings comic relief but proves useful.

MIDPOINT
* A 4: Rick and Hank go to meet the journalist. It’s an ambush — Mendoza and gang intercept them. Car chase, brutal hand-to-hand fight on a train track.
* V 4: Mendoza spares Rick — “Not yet. Keller wants your head personally.” Hank is captured. Rick barely survives.
* M 6: Rick returns to Marge and Johnny, injured. He makes a choice: go full warrior. He buries his fear and PTSD. It’s time to fight smart — and go after Keller.

SECOND TURNING POINT – END OF ACT 2
* A 5: Rick attacks Mendoza’s hideout, rescues Hank in a bloody, stealth-filled siege. Real John Wick energy. Hank kills a henchman — his first violent act in years.
* M 7: Hank gives Rick the full video confession — Keller, in uniform, talking cartel business. They must leak it online and stop Keller’s next move.
* V 5: Keller prepares for a press conference to announce his appointment as CIA head. His men guard the venue. He knows the video might get out — orders shoot-to-kill.

CRISIS
* M 8: Rick doubts he can finish this. PTSD memories surface. Hank gives a stirring speech — “I didn’t teach you to hide. I taught you to stand your ground.”
* A 6: Rick suits up, raids the venue. Epic infiltration scene. Meanwhile, Marge and Johnny handle the upload of the video.

CLIMAX
* A 7: Rick confronts Keller in a one-on-one brawl — brutal, emotional, personal. Rick wins, but refuses to kill Keller — until Keller goes for his gun.
* V 6: Keller dies — poetic justice. His downfall is broadcast in real time. Mendoza is arrested during a parallel bust.

RESOLUTION
* M 9: Rick and Hank reunite with Marge and Johnny. The journalist publishes the full exposé. Rick is cleared.
* A 8 (epilogue-style): Rick returns to the fight world, but now runs a program for vets with PTSD. Hank is seen working on his memoir. Marge finally returns to her cabin.