Post Day 10 Assignment Here

[Meg Stout]

Meg Stout’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is that I’m happy not seeking perfection (for this, yet). I like to look up where things come from, and once tried to find the origin of the saying, “A job worth doing is worth doing well.” Except that isn’t the saying. The original saying comes from G. K. Chesterton and goes “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”

I will be doing this assignment with the others for my other two series over the next month, then will loop back to this and see if I want to revise anything.

ASSIGNMENT 1

Thirteen Reasons Why

The show starts off at a high school where a girl, Hannah Baker, has recently committed suicide. The POV character, Clay Jensen, is thinking about the girl a lot and the school is trying to be sensitive to the impact the suicide could be having on the students.

Ten minutes in we learn that Hannah made a series of tapes in anticipation of her suicide. Clay has received the tapes because he is one of the thirteen reasons Hannah decided to end her life.

Each of the thirteen sides of the tapes Hannah recorded contain new information about the factors that contributed to her decision to kill herself.

As each episode unfolds, we learn more about the chronological features Hannah identifies as contributing to her alienation from life:

– Justin Foley, a jock, takes Hannah out and kissed her, but the next day a picture Justin took starts circulating around school with the rumor that she is a slut.

– Jessica Davis was assigned to be Hannah’s friend, but their friendship cooled as Jessica became romantic with the third musketeer of their group, Alex. Jessica finally ends the friendship with Hannah, slapping her for supposedly causing Jessica’s breakup with Alex. Hannah now feels she has no friend.

– Alex Standell created a list of Best and Worse, listing Hannah as the best ass at their high school. Friendless, Hannah now finds herself objectified by male classmates, including random groping.

– Tyler Down is outed for stalking Hannah and taking pictures of her through her bedroom window.

– Courtney Crimson had been friendly with Hannah and agreed to help her uncover the identity of her stalker. But as they waited for the shutter-clicks to reveal the stalker, they end up kissing, which means a lot to Courtney. The stalker is discovered to have been Tyler Down. When Hannah refuses to go out with Tyler, he circulates a picture of Hannah and Courtney kissing. Courtney lies to protect herself, claiming the picture is of Hannah with a different female classmate.

– Marcus Cooley asks Hannah out to the diner based on a supposed Valentine’s Day match based on questionnaires sold by the cheerleaders. Marcus shows up an hour late with his jock friends. He sits next to Hannah and puts his hand up her skirt.

– Zach Dempsey, another jock, asks Hannah out. Scarred by the date with Marcus, Hannah refuses. Zach proceeds to steal notes from Hannah’s “compliments” bag, denying Hannah the small amount of shy support (bunny drawings and short notes from Clay) that had become Hannah’s sole friendly connection with peers.

– Ryan Shaver and Hannah started hanging out when Hannah decided she wanted to learn to write poetry. Hannah shares a poem expressing her pain and isolation at the poetry group. Ryan takes the poem and publishes it in the lit magazine he publishes and distributes on the high school campus. Hannah is further destroyed as classmates mock the poem when a teacher reads it aloud in class.

– Hannah describes a start of year party where she watches, petrified, as an unconscious Jessica is raped by the Football team captain, Bryce Walker. Later, Hannah gets a ride home from Sheri Holland, a cheerleader. Though Sheri isn’t drunk, Sheri runs over a stop sign and flees the scene after kicking Hannah out of the car. Hannah’s phone is dead, so she runs to a nearby store to call 911 and report the downed sign, only to learn there has been an accident, which resulted in the death of popular jock and really nice guy, Jeff. This is particularly impactful for Clay, as Jeff was his particular friend.

– Clay Jensen then hears his tape, where Hannah describes their brief attempt at intimacy at the party (which explains why she was in the room when Jessica passed out and was later raped). Though Clay himself isn’t blamed, Hannah describes how she was unable to be intimate with Clay because of the harassment she had received from others. The experience leaves Hannah feeling utterly broken. Meanwhile, Clay feels he is to blame for Hannah’s death.

– Hannah loses the entire bankroll fo her parents’ business. Other bad things happen, and Hannah goes out walking that evening. Happening on a party, Hannah walks in, hoping the chance to have fun with classmates will lift her spirits. Instead, Bryce Walker (the jock who raped Jessica), gets Hannah alone in the hot tub and rapes her.

– After recording the prior twelve tapes, Hannah decides to reach out for help. Mr. Porter, the school counselor, tries to get Hannah to tell him what happened and how she feels, but Hannah does not use the word rape or explicitly explain that she is contemplating suicide. Thinking it isn’t serious enough to warrant the response either rape or suicidal it’s would require, Mr. Porter tells Hannah the best thing is to “move on.” Hannah leaves, having recorded the interview with Mr. Porter. She delivers the set of tapes to Tony, who “owes her.” By the time Tony realizes the import of the tapes and runs to Hannah’s home, Hannah is already dead.

– In a final scene, Clay confronts Bryce Walker, secretly recording as Bryce admits that Hannah didn’t consent, that “if that was rape, I’ve raped a lot of girls.” Clay has Tony make a copy of this 14th side, then delivers the tapes to Mr. Porter. This ends Season 1. Additional seasons of this series did not receive good reviews. Though the additional seasons tried to maintain mystery, open loops, and layers, the second season, at least, was only able to do so by concocting implausible events (e.g., multiple threatening notes which aren’t reported to police) which lacked the useful conceit of the individual tapes that structured the first season.

Assignment #2

Children of Heaven

1. Possible PLOT layers.

Opening – Bennett promises to explain the depravity of the Mormons at a series of lectures in Boston (Sep 1842) that previews his forthcoming book, History of the Saints (pub Oct 1842)

– First episode will reveal that Bennett came to the Mormon city of Nauvoo saying he wanted to win strong protections for the Mormons, who had been persecuted and forced to flee Missouri, a slave state. We see the effects of this brutality through one of the women Bennett meets, who had been gang-raped during the persecutions

– From the Annie Cowles POV, we learn that Joseph Smith believes he has been under commandment to restore biblical marriage, including plurality of wives. But Annie is told the time is not yet right.

– Bennett lobbies for a strong charter. Upon his return, Bennett is elected Mayor of Nauvoo, made a General in the city’s militia, and asked to act on behalf of a high-ranking Church official who is ill.

– We learn that Bennett’s desire for sexual release leads Bennett to attempt to explain away his behavior as a new and secret doctrine.

– By the time Joseph Smith learns of the sexual heresy, it has become so widespread that Bennett is seen as one of many high-ranking people caught unawares in heresy. He is allowed to repent.

– Bennett learns that Joseph plans to take a secret second wife. Bennett presumes this is to be a fully-sexual liaison. From Annie’s POV, we see that the time is still not yet right for full restoration of plurality, so Joseph’s secret second wife will not be a conjugal wife.

– Meanwhile, the sexual heresy goes underground and Bennett is asked to continue his participation. He does so for his own purpose, which is to impregnate Annie to bind her to him, expecting Joseph will forgive them and allow Bennett to retain Annie as a secret second wife.

– Joseph, analyzing the confessions of those involved in the continued heresy, determines that Bennett was the originator of the heresy. Blame for all the wrongs is laid at Bennett’s feet and Bennett is ejected from office, the militia, and the church.

2. Possible CHARACTER layers (focus on Bennett)

Bennett is introduced as a loyal American, decrying a corrupt religious group

– Secret identity – Bennett is seeking to make a name and fame, seeking public office for that aim rather than out of patriotism

– New role for Bennett, who we see act as a medical doctor, practicing genital massage to relieve female hysteria, a practice related to past scandals

– Reveal Bennett is still married to his estranged wife, who then refuses to grant Bennett a divorce

– Unbeknownst to Bennett, Smith has sent one of his Bishops to investigate a letter claiming Bennett is a mean man who has abandoned his wife.

– Unbeknownst to Smith, Bennett has secretly continued courting the Smith governess

When Joseph learns of Bennett’s wife and the continued courtship with the Smith governess, Joseph evicts Bennett.

– Bennett commits rebound adultery, then presses an indigent widow to become his mistress. As Bennett’s secret liaison with the widow is discovered, he first attempts suicide, then lies to pretend he is engaged in secret righteousness.

– When Bennett is discovered and the blame for all wrongs is laid at his feet, he vows revenge on Smith. We realize that what we initially took at face value is an attempt at revenge.

Since this is close historical fiction, the order of events is relatively fixed, so I haven’t rearranged the layers.

[Daniel Melin]

Daniel Melin’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is how the creative processes become more important the further along in the writing process you go, and the importance of outlining before drafting. I started to get overwhelmed with going back over all my previous work, picking out all the relevant pieces, and then reorganizing them into a whole for this next assignment, but I found breaking it down into bite sized pieces kept me from looking at the whole process and losing my motivation. To even think of trying to just write a scene before getting these big-picture concerns nailed down now seems laughable to me.

Assignment 1—Supernatural

Plot Surface: Sam and Dean’s mother died under mysterious circumstances when they were young, and they haven’t learned anything more about what happened since.

Layer
1: Sam actually has dreams about the future and starts seeing visions of
their childhood home. <div>

Layer
2: John is actually close by, knows the identity of his wife’s killer, and
doesn’t want his sons involved.

Layer
3: A demon was responsible for Sam and Dean’s mother’s death.

Character Surface: Sam is living his normal life at Stanford, and preparing for an interview at a prestigious law school.

Layer
1: John secretly went to keep an eye on Sam at Stanford. </div><div>

Layer
2: Sam breaks with Dean and meets up with Meg who encourages him to go to
California.

Layer
3: After Sam returns to help Dean, Meg reveals herself as an agent for
something that is after Sam and Dean.

Layer
4: Dean told Cassie about his and the family secret identity.

Assignment 2—Athens, MN

Plot Surface: Tom is living his unremarkable life in his unremarkable hometown of Athens Minnesota.

Layer
1: Tom learns that the wolf who attacked someone in his hometown was
actually a werewolf: a young boy named Eddie Halvorson who disappeared
many years ago. </div><div>

Layer
2: Mark is living in the house where Eddie Halvorson used to live.

Layer
3: Tom finds a secret library of magic books in Mark’s house, and uses it
without Mark’s knowledge.

Layer
4: Lizzie is actually a witch from Southern England who took over a fairy
court 120 years ago.

Layer
5: Lizzie has been turning young men into werewolves in order to hunt down
her unfaithful husband.

Layer
6: Lizzie has lured Nick away to join her pack that she is about to set
after Louis.

Character Surface: Tom is a directionless young man, going through the motions of life.

Layer
1: Tom and Mark conspire to learn more about Everlasting Summer behind
Lizzie’s back. </div>

Layer
2: Miguel starts sleeping with an old one-night stand of his without
Milly’s knowledge.

Layer
3: A friend of Tom’s date-raped his sister, Talia.

Layer
4: The man who raised Miguel was not his biological father.

Layer
5: Mark discovers that his fairy familiar, Robby, is actually working for Lizzie.

Layer
6: Louis is actually Lizzie’s husband, and the stag that she has been
hunting.

Layer
7: Lizzie’s infant son died of exposure when she went looking for Louis,
and she blames him for this

Layer
8: Tom actually went willingly with Lizzie to Everlasting Summer for the
first time when he was 13 and blocked his memory of it.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 12 months ago by  Daniel Melin.

[Joseph Eastburn]

ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show

The Americans

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed –
Elizabeth and Phillip are Russian spies living in plain sight in suburban
Washington D.C.
Mystery revealed – Tomochev,
the man who was trying to defect, while training Elizabeth, raped her.
Thought the story was one
thing, but it is another – You get the impression Elizabeth and Phillip
have a cold marriage of convenience, but they actually love each other and
are having problems.
Major shift in Meaning – Gregory
and Elizabeth had a sexual relationship.
Hidden history – Elizabeth and
Phillip’s training in Russia.
Hidden plan – Nina becoming a
double agent
Major betrayal – Phillip kills
Amador

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

Secret identity – Nina starts
to spy for the FBI
Character Intrigue – She starts
an affair with Stan, her handler
Hidden relationships and
conspiracies – She sets up Vasili, who is sent back to Russia
Hidden Character history – Nina
was close friends with the KGB agent that Stan assassinates and she asks
him to personally find his killer.

[Joseph Eastburn]

ASSIGNMENT 2

Joe’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is by putting plot layers and character layers under the story, everything gets more interesting and more powerful. This is an amazing way to create plot from inside the character out!

Plot Surface: THE BEETLES

Layer 1: Ruby and Thor are the beautiful couple in
town; he is the police chief and she is the lead detective. An older woman
is raped, but doesn’t remember anything about the attack. Then another
older woman is raped, but they get a break; maybe they get a fleck of DNA,
or a witness statement, or something that leads them to a suspect while
her husband tries to dissuade her from pursuing this particular suspect (maybe
he embarrasses her in front of the team)—this makes Ruby suspicious. Ruby
and Curtis put the character under 24-hour surveillance and find out other
evidence that leads her charge him. She’s approached by a powerful person
on the city council telling her she can’t charge this man, and there must
be no publicity of any kind; he is a respected citizen of the town. But
she charges him anyway, for which Ruby catches flak. The suspect gets a
high-priced lawyer and gets off, and moves to another mountain town. Ruby
follows him in her off-hours and sees that he keeps offending. <div>

Layer 2: Does this suspect disappear? And everyone
in town assumes someone, perhaps a relative of one of the women he
attacked killed him? Ruby closes the file.
It turns out that
her father, Rodion Kane [real name: Komarov], is a former Russian
operative was a huge nut for insects, in particular, beetles. One of the main
reasons he came to the Sierra Nevada mountains was the study and pursue
the Rain Beetle. And Ruby, as part of her grief process, as a teenager
(when she thought she killed him) was to get deeply into his entomology
hobby. But she gave it up when she turned 20. She thought she killed him
when he sexually assaulted her while she was still a teenager. But it
turns out Lula, Ruby’s mother, saved Rodion’s life and made it look like
he had died by cyanide capsule, (they had to have a body) but had revived him
and helped him go underground in a Northern California City, perhaps San
Francisco, where no one would think to look for him because they knew he
hated cities and loved the Sierras and his rain beetles. But Ruby,
thinking she killed him, finds out he’s alive and finds his ps 2 Russian
pistol, and his work manual and tells him she going to find a way to get
him convicted for the personal crime of rape he inflicted on her as a
teenager, and also decides to use his spy techniques if she needs them to
pursue justice.

Layer 3: What if Ruby’s parents were aware of the
founding of the town, in the same way Nazi’s were spirted out of Germany?
What if Rodion defected, and wanted to hide in the mountains because he loved
rain beetles, and he needed to have a low profile, but found out about
this town that was set up, in part, to lure older people, particularly
women, because there was a group of men, all of whom lost their mothers at
an early age and were raised by their aunts or neighbors or godmothers. They
wanted to start a town that would be attractive to older women, but ‘hot’
older women, active older women, so all the brochures emphasized hiking, jogging,
yoga, bicycling, mountain climbing, skating, cross-country skiing, skiing,
snow-boarding, etc. And it worked. Many couples, and many single women or
widows, many with money, moved to the town. And the men started preying on
them. After the first victim is attacked, Ruby researches and find out it’s
the town’s nasty little secret: it’s the 9^th such attack, none
of the crimes have been solved. Some people believe the town is cursed;
some people believe the women were witches, and there are many conspiracy
theories which keep the whole town distracted from what’s going on.

Layer 4: Does Ruby realize there’s a doctor in
town who specializes in female patients who has a beautiful mountain-top
office/retreat/spa, where all the town’s older women in town go because it’s
almost like a social club. When Ruby goes there, does she get the feeling
of it being like a cult? Does she later find out the doctor’s actually
experimenting on these older women, giving them dementia, so they can’t
remember anything when they’ve been raped.

Layer 5: But then we see what really happened at
the end of the pilot: the suspect that Ruby and Curtis and Jody identify
as raping the first victim, a pillar of the town who gets a shark lawyer
to gets him off, denies everything, leaves town, goes to another community.
Does Ruby follow him to another town and finds out he’s still offending?
She watches him follow older women; finally, he attacks one, and Ruby
stops the attack, and hand-cuffs him. The victim has dementia, and is not
sure what just happened. Ruby assures her she’s taking this man back to
her jurisdiction to be punished for what he did to her, but the woman
doesn’t retain any of this; does Ruby go back into the house to tell her
something, and the woman has no memory of her or the man or the incident
that just happened. Does Ruby check her medication and see the Doctor’s
name [had she gotten a little suspicious of the doctor when she saw his
cult of women earlier?] Ruby makes a decision and drives into the
mountains, makes him dig own grave, shoots insect venom into his neck. He’s
in pain but it doesn’t kill him. She can’t shoot him with her service
pistol, so she gets a knife out of the back of her police SUV, breaks a branch
off a tree and whittles the end to a sharp point and as the pilot goes
black, does she raise the branch to impale him like a vampire. And she
will continue throughout the series to hunt down these rapists and kill
them by injecting them with insect venom and impaling them.

Character Surface: Brian ‘Thor’ Vinter

Layer 1: Ruby’s husband, Thor is the handsome
police chief, who’s a bit of a rake, and charms all the ladies in town and
around the department; Ruby is painfully aware that he cheats on her, but
decides not to divorce him but throws herself into her work.

Layer 2: Thor has a secret pool in the office to
see who can fuck the younger women in the town and in the office, and
whoever beds the hottest woman, wins the pool. He knows about the town’s
founding as a hunting ground filled with older women, so he figures he’ll
hunt the younger species.

Layer 3: Does Ruby find out he’s been suppressing or
destroying evidence of his philandering with younger women; even when
evidence emerges that proves what he doing, he destroys it. This is when
she gets close to Jody the criminalist who uncovers the destroyed
evidence.

Layer 4: Does a private equity company decide to invest
in the idea of the town as a hunting ground, literally sponsor the rape of
older women, and they use their power and money in the town to pay for ads
for Thor to become Sheriff. Do they eventually intend to make him mayor so
her can protect them politically and give them cover and keep them from
getting convicted?

</div>

[Emmanuel Sullivan]

Emmanuel Sullivan’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is layers add more dimensions to a character’s life and helps develop larger plots to weave into a story. This process also helps with outlining a pilot before you start writing.

Assignment #1

Show – The Americans

Plot Surface: Two KGB agents move to America to live undercover, they are given new identities and tasked with spying on American military, politicians and technology businesses.

• Layer 1: Hidden History: Elizabeth grew up much different than her husband Philip. Her childhood was basic, meager, but she appreciated the life that made her into a strong woman.

• Layer 2: Major Shift: Nina, the KGB agent admits treason, wants to redeem herself, falls in love with her colleague but also keeps her love interest with the FBI agent to feed information to her superior.

• Layer 3: Hidden Agenda: The KGB started a second-generation program, one family enrolled that ended in a family murder, now they want Jennings’ daughter Paige.

• Layer 4: Betrayal: The Center betrayed Elizabeth and Philip by interrogating, beating and tricking them into believing they were captured by the FBI.

Character Surface: Stan Beeman is a seasoned FBI agent, family man, who falls in love with a KGB mole.

• Layer 1: Hidden Relationship: Stan loves Nina, the KGB agent, but also enjoys the comfort of family life.

• Layer 2: Hidden Agenda: Stan ignores orders and captures a Soviet diplomat, Vlad, he softly interrogates him, he opens up, then Stan murders him to score points for the KGB killing his friend and colleague.

• Layer 3: Wound: Stan attempts to relate to his son, but he has no interest in his father.

• Layer 4: Competition: The CIA and DoD often take the lead and possess information Stan needs to do his job.

Assignment #2

Plot Surface: Andrew and Mark, two politicians from opposite parties, launch an innovative foundation to further their political agenda and like-minded causes around the country. Political ideology and family disputes get in the way of their noble venture.

• Layer 1: Scheme: A friend of Andrew’s son blackmails a senator using a sex tape.

• Layer 2: Shift: Mark’s daughter changes political parties.

• Layer 3: Hidden Plan: Andrew uses unconventional means to raise funds for the foundation.

• Layer 4: Betrayal: Mark’s family finds out he had an affair. His wife sticks by him, but his children feel betrayed.

Character Surface: Mark Cason a former Democrat president who served one term feels his time in office was cut short by disloyal cabinet members, misguided DNC messaging and opposing party political messages.

• Layer 1: Hidden Relationship: Mark has an ongoing relationship with a former cabinet member.

• Layer 2: Intrigue: Mark uses his son’s financial skills to funnel money to support his other family.

• Layer 3: Hidden History: Mark has a teenage child from a former staffer.

• Layer 4: Wound: Mark is not supported by his party because he’s too moderate.

[Stuart Voytilla]

Stuart’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment was the value of the sample series exploration to help me appreciate the power of layers for binge-watching intrigue, and for giving story value to your characters, not only your leads. This was a creatively liberating assignment allowing me to brainstorm and explore lots of possible rabbit holes for character and plot. It opened up the importance of my supporting characters. I found it challenging for the brainstorming and “what if” spitballing to remain solely on character or on plot. But I valued the individual examples under the two categories; they are very helpful to spark the “what if” to let the rabbit hunt begin. Good discoveries made. As I widen the exploration character and cast, I’m eager to return to earlier lessons and questions to go further with character development.

Assignment 1

Watchmen’s Intriguing Layers

I completed the 9-ep season with the previous assignment, so I re-watched Episode 6 “This Extraordinary Being” (Angela experiences Grandfather Will’s memories) to explore the use of layers…. And it was packed with layers. This was invaluable to see the plot and character layers – and weaving of layers amongst the characters. Just some of the unpacking…

The investigation of Judd Crawford’s hanging.

Surface: Police Chief Judd Crawford wants to shut down the 7th Kavalry

Layer: Judd Crawford is hanged – likely by 7th Kavalry.

Layer: William Reeves confesses to the hanging.

Layer: Will is Angela’s grandfather.

Layer: Judd kept his family’s KKK robe.

Layer: Judd’s wife is a member of the 7th Kavalry.

Will Reeves involvement in Judd’s hanging and need to shut down the 7th Kavalry:

Surface: Will Reeves in wheelchair brings Angela to Judd’s hanging, 7th Kavalry most likely suspect.

Layer: Will confesses he hanged Judd.

Layer: Will is Hooded Justice, the first Minutemen.

Layer: Will used mind control for Judd to hang himself.

Layer: William Reeves is working with Lady Trieu to heal Angela.

Layer: Will is aiding Lady Trieu. Lady Trieu uses the 7th Kavalry to steal Dr. Manhattan’s power.

Layer: Will uses Dr. Manhattan and Adrian Veidt to defeat Lady Trieu.

Senator Joe Keene as initial antagonist:

Surface: Senator Joe Keene investigates hanging of Police Chief Judd Crawford

Layer: Joe Keene leads the 7th Kavalry on course to restore white supremacy.

Layer: The 7th Kavalry plans to destroy Dr. Manhattan.

Layer: Joe Keene plans to take Dr. Manhattan’s power to become the new blue man.

Within the episode:

Character: Angela

Surface: Angela serves Tulsa PD as a masked vigilante to shut down the 7th Kavalry.

Layer: She withholds information to protect Will Reeves (ingesting his Nostalgia meds)

Layer: She is the granddaughter of “Hooded Justice”

Layer: He/she direct Judd to hang himself.

Character: Will

Surface: He graduates NY City Police Academy, happily married to June.

Layer: He’s warned of Cyclops.

Layer: His arrest, Fred, is released.

Layer: He’s beaten and hanged by white officers. He’s not allowed to serve justice.

Layer: He becomes Hooded Justice, in order to serve justice.

Layer: He’s welcomed as one of the Minutemen, but he’s accepted as a white man under the hood.

Layer: Has secret relationship with Captain Metropolis.

Layer: Cyclops in league with Fred (and Fred’s store is a secret Cyclops/KKK hideout)

Layer: Cyclops using mind control to fuel race riots.

Layer: Minutemen/Captain Metropolis refuse to help Hooded Justice to fight for racial justice.

Layer: He becomes costumed vigilante – alone, hiding beneath the mask.

Layer: He loses his son and wife, who don’t recognize him any longer.

Assignment 2

Stuart’s Plot and Character Layers

Here’s the snapshot of the current exploration and development.

Plot:

Surface: Trippetta attends her debutant’s ball.

Layer: Trippetta is sharing this coming out with other debutantes in their town.

Layer: The women are paraded as objects for the young men to woo and emotionally “bid” for, broker over.

Layer: Lord Krapp is smitten by Trippetta – as is Brann (the mayor’s son, prince?).

Layer: Trippetta longed for Brann as her suitor.

Layer: Lord Krapp and the Master of Ceremonies turn it into a bidding war for women.

Layer: The town fathers arrange the sale of their virgin daughters to appease the king.

Surface: King Goplik honors the memory of his brother, the former king

Layer: King Goplik is the bastard brother who stole the kingdom and the queen from his brother, Reynor.

Layer: Goplik’s brother disappeared and perished in the shadowlands.

Layer: Goplik’s brother is alive and returning for vengeance.

Layer: Hop-Frog assures King the story is fabrication.

Layer: King Goplik uses the threat of the encroaching monster to bolster his power.

Character:

Surface: Hop-Frog is a spoil of war, enslaved to the king.

Layer: Hop-Frog becomes his court jester.

Layer: Hop-Frog earns his role as confidante to King to deliver success of his rule.

Layer: Hop-Frog works to bring distrust.

Layer: Hop-Frog becomes Master of Ceremonies to celebrate the king.

Layer: Hop-Frog is determined to see his fall.

Surface: Trippetta is debutante seeking romantic happily ever after.

Layer: Sold as enslaved entertainer to Lord Krapp

Layer: Seduces Lord Krapp

Layer: Uses relationship with Krapp to fuel Hop-Frog’s vengeance

Layer: Wants to kill Krapp.

Layer: Wants to escape.

Layer: Wants the crown.

Surface: Hop-Frog and Trippetta as childhood friends but he is the servant.

Layer: Hop-Frog secretly loves Trippetta.

Layer: Hop-Frog rejects Trippetta because of her relationship with Lord Krapp.

Layer: Hop-Frog plots to free Trippetta to win her love.

Layer: Hop-Frog plots the death of Lord Krapp.

Surface: King’s daughter Princess Cyrrell needs to accept the marriage arrangement

Layer: needs to hide her true love.

Layer: needs to appease her father to win his acceptance

Layer: needs to sabotage the crown

Layer: needs to make move on the throne

Surface: Trippetta is debutante.

Layer: Trippetta becomes slave to the throne.

Layer: Trippetta serves to entertain the king and his pleasures.

Layer: Trippetta falls for Lord Krapp

Layer: Trippetta is using Lord Krapp to build distrust amongst the king and his ministry.

Layer: Trippetta seeks vengeance against Krapp.

Layer: Trippetta works to bring down the king.

Layer: Trippetta wants the throne.

Surface: King is fearful king to his neighbors.

Layer: He’s boastful of his command of his people and his ministry.

Layer: King is losing his stronghold – dissent amongst his kingdom.

Layer: King is playing the dead possum to draw in his rival.

Layer: King is cuckhold.

Layer: King is vengeful tyrant.

Layer: King is defiant but terrified child.

Surface: King is loving brother of departed King Reynor.

Layer: King is manipulator of Reynor and seducer of his wife.

Layer: King is murderer of Reynor.

[Barbara Gilmore]

Assignment 1

Big Little Lies

Monterey: Beautiful, rich and successful people on the surface have it all in their Perfect World.

Plot Layer 1: Who was killed and who is the killer? This has still not been revealed (still season 1 finale to watch) but we witness throughout season 1 Celeste and Perry’s violent relationship.

Plot Layer 2: Day 1 of the school run we see Madeline Mackenize make fast friends with Jane Chapman after Madeline is rear ended. After school teacher announces that someone hurt Amabella Klein, Amabella points the finger at Ziggy Chapman but Ziggy denies it was him. This leads to various confrontations between Jane Chapman, Madeline Mackenzie, and Renata Klein. Madeleine Mackenzie and Renata Klein are enemies but we don’t yet know why other than one is a successful career woman (Renata) balancing parenting versus Madeline who has given up her career to be a stay at home mom.

Plot Layer 3: Why did Jane Chapman, a single mom, come to live in Monterey. Her son Ziggy wants to know who his real father is but Jane won’t tell brushes him off. Turns out that Jane was raped but we don’t yet know who raped her. After sharing the story with Madeline Mackenzie they decide to try and find him. Jane goes off script and visits who she thinks is her rapist. She’s carrying a gun, but leaves before any damage is done.

Assignment 2

Green Lake

Plot

Surface: A sleepy vacation town everyone flocks to in summer.

Layer 1: There have been two sets of murders and disappearances in the last 5 years.

Layer 2: Beneath the veneer the town is a hub for drug trafficking. The murders and disappearances may be connected to local drug dealers.

Layer 3: The arrival of a formerly big city detective to help the local Sheriff solve these cases threatens to upend the town’s illicit activities.

Layer 4: The Sheriff will try to mislead the investigation to protect the Detective’s boss, Captain Anderson, and herself.

Major Scheme Revealed:

Mystery Revealed: Who is responsible for the murders and disappearances.

Thought Story was One Thing but is another: Drug dealers but may be another killer at large.

Major Shift in Meaning: Paranormal activity is at play.

Hidden History: Sheriff Moore and Captain Anderson have been cutting deals for 10 years.

Hidden Plan: To kill Jess.

Major Betrayal: Sheriff and Captain Anderson working against the investigation.

Main Character:

Surface: Detective Jess Pearson is sent and accepts an assignment to work on a murder and disappearance case in an adjacent town. This case has the same MO as the one in which her brother disappeared.

Hidden Agenda: Jess is ambitious wants to solve the cases in front of her, but also wants to find out what happened to her brother.

Secret Identity: Jess is also a hacker and uses those technology skills to help solve her cases, sometime illegally.

Wound: Ambitions were thwarted as a big city detective. Blames herself for her brother’s disappearance.

Hidden Relationships: Sarah and her were lovers.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Barbara Gilmore.

[dworetzky tom]

MODULE 1 – LESSON 10: CREATING INTRIGUING LAYERS

ASSIGNMENT 1: EXAMPLE SHOW

Watch the next episode of your Example Show and notice how layers show up in this show — both in this episode and throughout the episodes you’ve already seen.

Tell us the layers you have discovered in the Example Show.

Big little lies layers

Plot

Surface

Perfect world of monterey, and perfect daily life of the school moms

Layer 1 sabotage

Perry’s killing

Layer 2 conspiracy

Women conspire in pointless coverup with lies that put all of them at risk

Layer 3 mystery

Why does Mary Louise want to destroy Celeste and all the other women and get her grand boys under her control

layer 4 Hidden agenda

What are the cops so obsessed with?

What is Jane’s agenda with Perry her rapist?

Why does Madeline convince the women to lie?

Why does gordon scam the money are destroy Renata’s life?

Why Does Madeline Sleep with the director?

Why does Bonnie kill Perry?

layer 5 Future consequences

Jane must overcome phobia to love because Perry raped her?

Celeste must overcome her violent sex addiction that was caused because Perry beat her

Bonnie must deal with her mother abusing her that led to her killing Perry

The Monterey 5 cannot maintain their lie about the death of Perry

Mary Louise must address that she Perry was abusive because of her behavior to him over the death of her other son

Mary Louise and Celeste must confront each other over the custody trial

CHARACTER SURFACE:

Celeste

Layer 1: surface perfect hot wife

Layer 2: hidden relationship: abused sex addicted masochist

Layer 3: intrigue: Will she be able to break free of her addiction and again become a self possessed and successful woman

Layer 4: secret identity: a slutty masochist– her many one-night slutty relationships with men and her abused victim relation with Perry

Layer 5: conspiracy her conspiracy with the other women to cover up the death of Perry

Madeline

Layer 1: surface perfect cheerleader of her mob and cheerful loving wife

Layer 2: hidden relationship: affair with the show director

Layer 3: intrigue: Will her affair come to light, will the lie about Perry get her in trouble?

Layer 4: secret identity: her affair with director, her low self esteem because she married young, missed college and accomplished little compared to other women

Layer 5: conspiracy her conspiracy with the other women to cover up the death of Perry

Bonnie

Layer 1: surface perfect bohemian spiritualist and wife

Layer 2: hidden relationship: abused by her mother, Perry killer

Layer 3: intrigue: Will she kill her mother, too? Will she confess to killing Perry. Will she admit she doesn’t love Nathan?

Layer 4: secret identity: her murderer inside her. Perry Killer. Mother hater.

Layer 5: conspiracy her conspiracy with the other women to cover up the death of Perry

Jane

Layer 1: surface nice young single mom

Layer 2: hidden relationship: raped by Perry

Layer 3: intrigue: Will she find her rapist and kill Perry? Will her participation in the lie about his death get her in trouble? Will she be able to love again after being traumatized by the rape?

Layer 4: secret identity: that her motherhood came from rape. That she is suicidal .

Layer 5: conspiracy her conspiracy with the other women to cover up the death of Perry

Renata

Layer 1: surface perfect wife and uber successful rich businesswoman

Layer 2: hidden relationship: how hot her sex with Gordon is, Her participation in the lie about Perry

Layer 3: intrigue: Will she be able to recover from the bankruptcy Gordon committed? Will she be caught by the cops in the lie about Perry?

Layer 4: secret identity: That she came from nothing and is self made, and deathly afraid of poverty. That she is a rage-aholic

Layer 5: conspiracy her conspiracy with the other women to cover up the death of Perry

[Renee Brown]

Renee Brown’s intriguing layers What I learned doing this assignment is plot layers spring easily from all the backstory I have created in the previous work. ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show

The 100

Plot1 Surface: The ark sent the 100 juvenile prisoners down to earth to see if it is safe.

Plot2: The uninhabitable planet is inhabited by the grounders

Plot3: On the ark, the seeming political ally of the chancellor is plotting a coup.

Plot4: Octavia is forming a romance with one of the grounders.

Plot5: The Ark is coming to earth

Plot6: The Mountain men are the high tech and wealthy and have captured the remaining 100 for the season cliff hanger.

<hr size=”0″ width=”100%” noshade=”” align=”center”>ASSIGNMENT 2: Renee Brown’s Alien Earth<div>

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed: Aliens have been living on earth in secret for 150,000 years. Mystery revealed: The first to arrive: Longheads, have an extensive origins story. Also, as the others arrived, how they integrated into the hidden alien society and how the factions are structured. Why didn’t the aliens just kill off humanity and take over earth? Thought the story was one thing, but it is another: Thought all the aliens were against humanity, but turns out they will all unite against the new aliens on the block: the greys. Major shift in Meaning: Humanity has alliances with all the factions. Hidden history: The longheads used their telepathic ability to tap into all the arriving aliens in order to create prophecies that resonated with their beliefs so they didn’t hurt humanity. Hidden plan: The longheads are training the One. This One is to unite all the aliens and humanity (except the greys)Major betrayal: Elite humans have a deal with the Greys to let them abduct a certain number of humans per month.<div>

Plot :

Layer 1: A planet appears between earth and mars. We are not alone.Layer 2: We have not been alone for hundreds of thousands of years. Three alien species have shared earth with humanity during our entire development. Layer 3: An elite few humans know about it all and have relationships with the aliens. Layer 4: a prophesy involving all three species and humans keeps the aliens from killing off humanity. Layer 5: the origin story of how the longheads arrived on earth and how the newly arrived planet fits into that story. Layer 6: there is a 4^th, newly arrived species, and Humans have struck a terrible deal with them.<div>

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

Tallas

Layer 1 Secret identity: The holder of prophecy truthLayer 2 Character intrigue: Is in love with someone he can’t haveLayer 3 Hidden relationships and conspiracies: his ancestors conspired with the Deepers to create the prophecy. This is when the Skyfliers arrived in order to prevent annihilation of Longheads, Deepers and humanity. Layer 4 Hidden Character history: He has history with Saltar.Layer 5 Wound: his ex loves Steelman. He can remember his ancestors’ memories like they were yesterday.<div>

Saltar

Layer 1 Secret identity: The reluctant leader of the Deepers and a double agent Layer 2 Character intrigue: Master manipulator. Seductress. Layer 3 Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Tallas, AnaukLayer 4 Hidden Character history: One of her ancient brothers mated with one of Dauntus’ wife’s ancestors (making Dauntus’ wife’s blood un-pure)Layer 5 Wound: Her lost life as a peaceful farmer.</div><div>

Anauk

Layer 1 Secret identity: The black market access point to DSOMLayer 2 Character intrigue: Wants to rule Fliers but for the good. Layer 3 Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Tallas and Saltar. Layer 4 Hidden Character history: In love with Saltar’s daughterLayer 5 Wound: rejection of his father</div><div>

Dauntus

Layer 1 Secret identity: with his dying words, he whispers something into evil son’s ear. Layer 2 Character intrigue: Really bad man, until his dying second…gives something to Steelman.Layer 3 Hidden relationships and conspiracies: conspired with evil son for Saturn base. Layer 4 Hidden Character history: The history of how the monster that is him was made (by his mother) he killed his motherLayer 5 Wound: he kills in rage but is haunted by regret.</div><div>

Rollins

Layer 1 Secret identity: One of the trifecta. Really is part of the One. Layer 2 Character intrigue: painfully shyLayer 3 Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Training his sister insteadLayer 4 Hidden Character history: read the prophecies as a small child. Is a true believer but does not tell anyone. Layer 5 Wound: Has lost his ability to see the ancestor past memories.</div>

<div>

Steelman

Layer 1Secret identity: top military brass in charge of alien relations. Layer 2 Character intrigue: only eats organicLayer 3 Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Tallas – buddy, Anauk – Informant.Layer 4 Hidden Character history: met his lover through TallasLayer 5 Wound: guilt over accidentally killing his wife.
</div></div></div></div>

[Sherri Coffee]

Sherri D. Coffee Module 1 Lesson 10 Assignment 1

Big Little Lies

Plot Layer:

Surface: Women trying to be good mothers.

Layer 1: Cover up of Perry’s death and the women’s secret lie.

Layer 2: Major scheme to keep the story secret and the impact on each characters’ life.

Layer 3: Arrival of Mary Louise (Perry’s mother) and her hidden agenda to prove he was not a rapist threatens the cover up reveal.

Character Layer:

Surface: Madeleine is a good mother and wife. Celeste is a grieving widow. Jane is dating. Renata is a very wealthy successful woman.

Layer 1: Madeleine’s secret affair is revealed to Ed and he is betrayed. Celeste has a possible addiction to abuse and drugs. Jane has a wound from the rape. Renata expresses rage at Gordon’s failure.

Layer 2: Madeleine feels “less than” others due to her lack of a college degree. Celeste is still addicted to the idea of Perry and dismissive of the life threatening abuse. Jane feels violated again as Perry’s mother questions Ziggy’s paternity and tries to discount her memories. Renata tries desperately to maintain control and power when her daughter has a panic attack.

Layer 3: Madeleine breaks down giving speech at school meeting. Ed abandons her fueling her worst fear of not being good enough. Celeste defends her by questioning Ed but she continues to entertain videos and good memories of Perry. Jane is very afraid of being violated again and is awkward in a new relationship. Renata continues to express her loss of money and power by raging at principal, teacher, doctor, and especially Gordon. Her hidden history of a father who lost the family’s money and her need for power and control fuels the rage towards Gordon

[John Anderson]

Lesson 10: Creating Intriguing Layers

ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show

What I learned doing this assignment is…. The more we get into this, the more there is to keep track of (rules wise). It’s tough to really gather many of these ideas into these categories. Since my story is about deception, adding more deception is not tough but trying to do it and keep the theme intact reminds me of listening to John Coltrane playing “My favorite Things” – the genus is when you think you are lost, he pulls a string and it all meshes back into place and you move on with the story. After a while, you begin to trust it and you go for the ride knowing it will pay off.

Watch the next episode of your Example Show and notice how layers show up in this show

— both in this episode and throughout the episodes you’ve already seen.

Tell us the layers you have discovered in the Example Show.

LITERALLY DOZENS:

KGB Anna with original boss, new boss, caviar guy, science guy and dead KGB agent.

Philip with other family, old lover, kids, FBI secretary/wife, etc

Elizabeth with black panther guy, other KGB families wife, older female handler, General Zukoff, daughter

FBI agent Beeman – wife, Anna, his boss, his (now dead) partner, his past life in ARK, Phillip, friends he’s partying with

New KGB guy with family contacts, Anna, love of western culture

Russian Embassy head – his superior back in Russia, new agent, Anna

Various moles in U.S. gov. – Engineers, Navy members, scientists, etc. (each is another story and back story)

ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show

Discover the layers that could exist for your show.

1. Brainstorm a list of possible PLOT layers.

Major scheme revealed – THE BIGGEST OVERALL STORY ARC IS THE EXPOSURE OF THE USSR FOR WHAT SOVIET COMMUNISM REALLY IS LIKE AND HOW THEY KNOW AMERICA HAS A BETTER LIFE.

Mystery revealed – Soviet Communism is lies and purposeful gas lighting

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – we see a government filled with self-dealing where empathy is rare and it sell-out or die on every level

Major shift in Meaning – From believing and trusting the state to finding it to be all a facade

Hidden history – As the leaders die, their crimes are revealed to the country as the new leaders move to shift the power to them while the people suffer endless deprivations and are FORCED to join in the illusion of “Happiness”.

Hidden plan – To retain power of the soviet at any cost even knowing the system is known by the highest people to be unworkable and that it causes more pain than other government systems they could have.

Major betrayal – Belenko played the game they ask and made it to the “top” but still, it’s he that is asked to suffer. The future is a carrot that has begun to rot in front of his eyes.

A. PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed – plan to defect

Mystery revealed – What many steps led him to the final decision

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – Wife leaving was his final straw

Major shift in Meaning – No ideological reason but personal and not so high minded

Hidden history – He had an affair on-going but his families abandonment of hi meant no one could be punished so he had no guilt in leaving.

Hidden plan – How he calculated it all – step by step

Major betrayal – He betrayed his country, family and Air Force service as well as all his superiors

B. PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed – Belenko’s Wife planning on leaving him

Mystery revealed – She was traveling (to see boyfriend)

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – we though she was going to see family

Major shift in Meaning – she wasn’t trying tp make the marriage work

Hidden history – she was always a gold digger

Hidden plan – wanted boy so she would get pension as military officer kid

Major betrayal – crushed Belenko who still believed in the marriage

C. PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed – CIA woman having affair with Belenko is not real

Mystery revealed – Apparently caught by mistrusting boss

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – we thought it was a true affair but boss in on it

Major shift in Meaning – they are playing Belenko

Hidden history – US as tricky as the USSR – can’t be trusted to tell the truth

Hidden plan – To get him to reveal hidden agenda of his own though sex

Major betrayal – Belenko is fooled by another woman and another government

D. PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Major scheme revealed – Librarian moved here to see her husband in secret

Mystery revealed – She hopes to help him escape

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – She was just a librarian with no politics

Major shift in Meaning – She is not a lonely old lady

Hidden history – Her husband and her are in love and he was a professor

Hidden plan – To get him out with papers

Major betrayal – The “paper” sales person sells them out

2. Brainstorm a list of possible CHARACTER layers.

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.

A. Secret identity – Librarian is the wife of a Zek (political prisoner)

Character intrigue – She must sneak out to take a look at him and vice versa

Hidden relationships and conspiracies – they meet in secret when they can so he can escape – she has a black market plan to get him forged papers.

Hidden Character history – He was a college professor but now is being worked to death. Deep love between them.

B. – Secret identity – Pilot is a Christian

– Character intrigue – He knows owning a bible would end his career

Hidden relationships and conspiracies – other Christians meet and pray? Secret priests?

Hidden Character history – some way he became Christian and read bible but never let it be known.

C.

Secret identity – CIA woman – spy by nature but has a married life in trouble and likes sex

Character intrigue – Is she truly interested in Belenko and she’s hiding it from her bosses or is it just sex or is it Belenko she is being fake with (it’s the the job)

Hidden relationships and conspiracies – who is in on it all? Her boss, no one, her bosses boss? She has relationships with all – does husband know?

Hidden Character history – Find something about her marriage and or her past infidelities that haunts either her work or her marriage or someone specific in the agency. What drove her to do this job?

3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.

Plot Surface A: Belenko is acting weird on this day one but we don’t know him well.

Layer 1: He exercises and seems tense and determined

Layer 2: He has a family he doesn’t wish to disturb in the early morning (so he won’t defect)

Layer 3: Doctor thinks he’s a bit off but Belenko assures him he’s fine (not eating much)

Layer 4: A weapon is issued to him.

Layer 5: He has a hidden piece of paper in his pocket – why?

Layer 6: He turns the wrong way. Why?

Layer 7: he turns off Rader and radio and dives the jet into the woods as if to commit suicide

Layer 8: he pulls out at last second so we see its puposeful – why? stays low and flies to the sea.

Layer 9: the Russians get worried and wonder whats happening

Layer 10: he see fuel low so rises

Layer 11: Both Japanese and Russian Rader pick him up

Layer 12: Different conclusions but same reaction – He’s defecting (Russia) He’s invading (Japan) – both send attacks planes to shoot him down.

Character Surface:

Layer 1: Belenko is going about normal routine

Layer 2: Belenko is nervous

Layer 3: Belenko is acting shady

Layer 4: Belenko has a secret paper

Layer 5: Belenko takes sudden action

Layer 6: Belenko is determined but on the edge of death and yet fighter pilot calm

Layer 7: He is scared and confused once he lands

Layer 8: Many other layers as we unravel his past through the KGB digging, The CIA digging and his story telling to the CIA with flashbacks and callbacks to hat we’ve already seen.

Layer 9: once we are in US hands, we relive the fateful day with his eyes and understand what was going on with reveals. We also reveal the repercussions to those left behind.

Character surface:

Layer 1: She’s a librarian with a soviet rules mindset

Layer 2: She offers him western books to read

Layer 3: she realizes he’s smarter and more aware than most and lets him know that

Layer 4: Belenko knows she is sneaking off and seeing a prisoner and he watches her

Layer 5: she catches Belenko and confronts him angrily

Layer 6: Belenko is confused and obviously innocent – she thinks sex will help her (it has in the past) but he doesn’t want it so she decides to trust him.

Layer 7: Belenko discovers a secret that the Soviets ‘’kept from him – Ideological prisoners

Layer 8: Belenko believes she is planning an escape with her husband and when she slips up and is about to be caught – he distracts KGB and she gets away.

[Dimitri Davis]

Reply!

[Sean Barrett]

Sean’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment:

1. As the progression from all the other lessons, this assignment was the easiest to jump in and create.

2. I was already preparing plot and character layers in the creative side of my mind through all these assignments. Once my practical/learning mind saw it clearly, it was easy to let go and create instantly.

3. Creating these layers gives so much depth and definition to the plot and characters. You can the why and the when, the what…HOW!! …so forth and so on, Very Cool!

Assignment 1

Plot Surface for Supernatural – There are evil beings, demons and ghosts doing evil things to innocent people, a secret world beneath our reality and one of them killed Mary Winchester, Dean and Sam’s mother, as well as John’s wife. John teaches his sons how to be hunters to find and destroy the evil that killed Mary.

Layer 1 – John and his sons hunt and destroy any and every evil along the way, until they find and destroy the one that killed Mary.

Layer 2 – Though many of the victims and law enforcement are oblivious to the other world, some are aware a little bit, some are interested, some become believers, and some are completely aware and help. Some of the victims and law enforcement can be more dangerous than the things they are hunting.

Level 3 – Serious sacrifices must be made to be hunters, which escalates the inner struggles the brothers are having whenever danger, unbelief, resistance show up.

Level 4 – Dad disappears, becomes elusive and pushy, leaving clues for the next ghosts to hunt. Makes for betrayal and mystery.

Character Surface for Dean – obedient to his father, does not mind or regret hunting.

Layer 1 – Dean is incredibly stressed, not as confident as he puts on.

Layer 2 – Dean is real interested in the single women, inner desires to have girlfriend, settle down, break his own rules.

Layer 3 – Dean wants to be more like Sam and push his father for answers and reasons.

Layer 4 -Dean loves hunting with Sam and comes into his own as a hunter absent of his father.

Layer 5 – despite all the good reasons they hunt even though they do not have to, noble and such, there are a lot of illegal and deceptive things the boys must do to support themselves financially and get things they need for cases.

Assignment 2

Plot Surface for… The SAT – A twelve-year-old-boy is challenged by the Devil to rid the world of him and evil. Circumstance leads the way for the boy to try to do so when he becomes an adult.

Layer 1 – This was not just a random challenge from the Devil without purpose. The Devil knows this boy from somewhere in his visions. The appearance of Caliel, a guardian angel from heaven confirms his feeling.

Layer 2 – The Devil and evil has gone too far in the world and though most do not realize it, they are at the end; they have had enough, and their subconscious is coming through loud and clear.

Layer 3 – Secret societies for good and evil surface when the young boy becomes a man, Cian Shea.

Layer 4 – Turns out the Devil has never revealed nightmarish visions he has been having since the fall and there is a prophecy about the one that brings those nightmares to pass.

Character Surface for Cian Shea – a normal boy pushed to the extreme through circumstance and the Devil’s keen interest in his older brother, Mitchell Dawe. Mitchell will go on to be the most vicious, evil, elusive, and connected serial killer the world has ever seen. Circumstance forces Cian to fight back.

Layer 1 – Cian is a little affected by the circumstance in his life – the fights with God, screaming at empty rooms and skies, words with the Devil all while working on cases as the world’s top FBI profiler.

Layer 2 – Cian kills more murderers than he puts behind bars.

Layer 3 – Cian turns out to be the fulfillment of prophecy, good and evil.

Layer 4 – He becomes a musician and celebrity to leave the FBI and pursue meeting the Devil’s challenge for real; ENTIRELY, using the influence of celebrity to push his agendas.

Layer 5 – Cian turns out to be just the man God needs to accomplish what needs to be done to rid the world of the Devil and every evil.

[Ben Tannous]

Ben’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is … that the shows which gives us intriguing plot and character layers are the shows that people watch obsessively, and so we must present our shows as more than just “surface only” experiences. This can be done by identifying the source or surface material, asking questions to discover possible layers in the plot and character, and then organizing the layers beneath the surface.

Plot Surface: A Journalist is challenged to investigate the abduction of a government scientist.

Layer 1: Major Scheme Revealed – it’s not just one scientist that’s been abducted but several have disappeared over decades in what looks like the work of a serial killer; Layer 2: Hidden Agenda – the journalist didn’t come across this story by accident. It was planted on him so that he would investigate the abductions and reveal what’s going on; Layer 3: Mystery – the scientists were working on a secret government program that involves experimental aircraft;Layer 4: Conspiracy – those aircraft are not just stealth bombers, they’re man-made replicas of recovered alien spacecraft going back to Roswell.

Character Surface: Harold Waker is a government official looking for a scientist who has disappeared.

Layer 1: Hidden Character History – Harold worked on the same program as the scientists;Layer 2: Secret Identity – Harold is not just one of their colleagues, he is an ex-CIA agent and now black ops security officer; Layer 3: Hidden Agenda – he isn’t trying to find the scientist to help her, but instead erase her existence; Layer 4: Secret – he’s also tasked with ruining journalist Jack Friedman.

[Jane Turville]

Jane’s Plot and Character Layers – What I learned doing this assignment is it is really hard for me to build more into the characters at this point, so working on plot layers helped me to understand the characters better. I think this is one assignment that shouldn’t be done in a silo. I had to go back to all of my other assignments in order to do this one because I kept hitting a wall with it character-wise. So, it helped me to flesh out the character of Keith who, because of doing the plot layers, I found will actually be in the story much more than I had originally imagined. I had always thought that he’d be presented in each person’s flashbacks but telling his story in Episodes 2 – 11 (each episode is one week at the lodge) will be much more effective in getting the audience hooked on the show. Additionally, each of the four misfit characters has their own plot layers that weave into the larger story. Lots of weaving in to do!!!

ASSIGNMENT 1: RIVERDALE, Episode 10

PLOT LAYERS

Major scheme revealed – Clifford Blossom is the person who sent Veronica’s father to jail. Did her father seek revenge by having Jason killed? Did he hire Jughead’s father to kill Jason?

Mystery revealed – Veronica discovers that the Blossom family has paid her family a substantial amount of money each month for 75 years. Why?

Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – The story is actually about the families interconnections, deceits and intrigue over the years, not just about Jason’s murder. The kids seem destined to carry on the intrigue.

Major shift in Meaning – Was Jason’s murder about his relationship with Polly or was it about his family? Archie’s mother returns home. What does this mean? Why does she look so much like Cheryl and Jason Blossom?

Hidden history – Hints at history between Betty’s mother and Jughead’s father.

Hidden plan – Hints that Jughead’s father is involved with both Hiram Lodge and Clifford Blossom.

Major betrayal – Hiram Lodge threatens Veronica with plans to implicate or hurt her mother if she doesn’t support him at his trial.

CHARACTER LAYERS – Betty

Secret identity – Betty gives hints and actually says that she has a dark side.

Character intrigue – Is Betty hiding something sinister? She is able to switch on Dark Betty when she wants but is keenly aware of how much she hates that part of herself.

Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Did she kill Jason as “Dark Betty?”

Hidden Character history – Betty doesn’t seem to have a hidden history, at least yet.

ASSIGNMENT 2: THIRTEEN WEEKS – Layers

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.

Surface: Four misfits work at a National Park lodge for thirteen weeks.

Layer 1: Major scheme revealed – A human foot is found in the forest. At first it seems to be someone mauled by a bear. But then evidence shows that it was sawn off. Someone has been murdered and most likely dismembered in the woods.

Layer 2: Mystery revealed – After several days pass, the body is discovered to be that of Keith Skye, a post-graduate studying human trafficking.

Layer 3: Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – it turns out that all four misfits knew Keith Skye and all had a good reason to kill him.

Layer 4: Major shift in Meaning – A human trafficking ring has been operating through the lodge and Keith had come to the lodge with the goal of usurping the kingpin and running the operation himself.

Layers 5: Hidden history – All four misfit’s histories with Keith are revealed over 12 episodes.

Layer 6: Hidden plan – The four misfits have their own plans and reasons for being at the lodge. Was one of them there to kill Keith?

Layer 7: Major betrayal – One of the misfits discovers their most trusted confidant is the kingpin.

CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity – Keith Skye.

Secret identity – He’s out to become a kingpin in a major human trafficking ring.

Character intrigue – He hides a very dark character under the guise of a nerdy post-grad student

Hidden relationships and conspiracies – He has connections and/or relationships with all four of the misfits at the lodge.

Hidden Character history – He seems omnipotent as he knows almost everyone’s secrets and is not afraid to use them.

3. Organize them each into a possible sequence of reveals.

Plot Surface: Four misfits work at a National Park lodge for thirteen weeks.

Layer 1: When a man’s foot is found in the forest, a death turns to murder.

Layer 2: The misfits all knew the murdered man and had reason to kill him.

Layer 3: The misfits each have their own agenda at the lodge. Did one agenda include murder?

Layer 4: The murder is solved, we think.

Layer 5: On week 13, the misfits, all guilty of the murder, make their escape “Gone Girl” style

Layer 6: They join forces to complete each of their unfinished agendas that the murdered guy interrupted.

Keith – Character Surface: Nerdy grad student.

Layer 1: All of his life he has found out secrets and then blackmailed people. He’s a master at it.

Layer 2: He knows enough about human trafficking to take over, so that’s his plan – kill the kingpin

Layer 3: He uses the misfits to help him with his plan, not knowing they have their own plans.

Layer 4: A sociopath, the one thing he can’t understand is the depth of love and he’ll die because of it.

[Donna Stockwell]

What I learned from this assignment was how much more interesting the characters are becoming, and how to re-enforce both characters and plot lines… and how a subplot can become more of a major and important part of the major plots to move the story forward.

SAMPLE SHOW – Jessica Jones

Jessica wants to handle her PTSD herself, but Trish keeps her on track to belong to society.
Jessica and Trish’s history of being parented by Trish’s mother is starting to reveal character traits of each of Jessica and Trish and their bond in their relationship.
Hogarth is starting to become intriguing with her ex-wife starting to spill some of her devious past and why she needs Jessica to handle some of her cases personally.
Jessica is the type of person to please people, and in turn her friends (new and old) commit to helping her.
Hogarth is starting to show to not-so-nice side, and her fiancé Pam is starting to wonder about the future of their relationship.

1. IDENTIFY YOUR SOURCE MATERIAL

Reveal a Moral Issue. – mothers set the tone of the family
Reveal a Character Intrigue or Hidden Plan. Jasper tries to keep his mother close to keep his family alive, while Patrice is selfish and does not value her position in the family
Reveal a Character Weakness. Jasper and Patrice are both delusional about what happiness is and how to achieve happiness
Reveal an unknown relationship history. Patrice looks for love with (and to love) daughter’s boyfriend, since she does not believe Celeste is caring or loving.
Create mysteries and reveal clues for deeper layers. How Ben & Jasper’s mother is loving, how Patrice’s mother is absent and has no reference to raise her own children.
Open new loops/questions that we need answered. How does Ben and Jasper handle his mother’s dead and subsequently disappearance? How does Ben handle the separation? How does Celeste handle the cruel distancing of her mother? Where will Patrice and Luc go, and will they come back to interfere with the family? How will Ben handle the rejection of his wife?

2. ASK QUESTIONS TO DISCOVER LAYERS

What could be beneath that? History of how Patrice’s mother raised her, History of how mother cared for Ben & Jasper (individually). History of how Ben reacted to rejection throughout his life.
What Character Intrigue might create an entire layer by itself? Jasper’s character.
Could there be a deeper mystery? The consequences of Ben’s reactions to rejection
What secret identity might be present? Ben’s alter ego.. could have bipolar disorder
How could there be a completely different meaning to what we’ve discovered so far?
What conspiracy could exist that changes everything? Jasper jealous of Ben taking bipolar medication, and helps himself.. which is the cause of his oddities and panic disorders.
What hidden agenda could impact the characters without their knowledge? Their mental disorders.

3. ORGANIZE THE LAYERS

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story.
Major scheme revealed – beneath the superficial happiness of family
Mystery revealed – Patrice is unhappy and having affairs
Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – the “leave it to beaver” facade that everyone sees has everyone in the family with secrets and secret actions that other members are not aware of
Major shift in Meaning – jealousy and rejection of family members wreaks havoc
Hidden history – how Ben, Jasper and Patrice were raised, and how they interpreted growing up and being respected in the world (family & society)
Hidden plan – each of Ben, Jasper and Patrice hide their desires
Major betrayal – Ben hides his medication of bipolar and forgets to take it, Jasper panicks when mother is moved and robbed, Patrice wants to show daughter how to love a man and ends up marrying Celeste’s boyfriend.
CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity.
Secret identity – Ben is bipolar, Jasper is mis-diagnosed medically and psychologically, Patrice feels unloved
Character Intrigue –
Hidden relationships and conspiracies
Hidden Character history

Character Surface – Ben
Layer 1: responsible and caring husband and father
Layer 2: works long hours
Layer 3: takes medication that makes him unable to associate on deep personal to family
Layer 4: hides medication, no one is aware when he stops taking medication
Etc.
Character Surface – Jasper
Layer 1: always jealous of older brother, Ben, and wants to be constantly with Ben
Layer 2: tries to imitate Ben, and does what Ben asks – Ben finds him gravedigging job
Layer 3: finds Ben taking medication and decides to take his medication to become more like him; Jasper shares everything with Ben and assumes he is doing the same
Layer 4: the medication makes Jasper irrational and unpredictable
Character Surface – Patrice
Layer 1: married when she found she was pregnant, becomes responsible mother and dutiful wife
Layer 2: very unhappy in marriage and feels unloved and cast away
Layer 3: looks for love
Layer 4: feels the need to show Celeste how to love a man, and ends up taking Celeste’s boyfriend away

Plot Surface: Jasper
Layer 1: happy traditional family, with weird uncle extension
Layer 2: Jasper’s job to hide (and care for) his mother’s body – Ben gets him gravedigger job
Layer 3: grave robbers take mother’s body, leave some trinkets around cemetery
Layer 4: Jasper refuses to help Ben hide bodies until
Plot Surface: Ben
Layer 1: happy traditional family, Ben feels need for more love and respect
Layer 2: Ben starts raping, demanding respect and accidentally killing woman who looks like Patrice
Layer 3: Ben get Jasper to bury body in graveyard
Layer 4: Ben continues to rape and kill for respect and Jasper continues to bury bodies
Layer 5: (with Plot Surface: Jasper) When mother’s body is robbed and moved, Ben refuses to help Ben bury next body until mother is found
Layer 6: Ben finds ways to manipulate Jasper to continue burying bodies and not let the adventure slip
Etc.
Plot Surface: Patrice
Layer 1: happy traditional family, but not happy with Ben’s absence and
Layer 2: Patrice hires Luc for handyman jobs around house
Layer 3: not happy with her daughter’s treatment of Luc, Patrice feels the need to show Celeste how to love a man
Layer 4: intimate moments with Luc
Layer 4: starts dating Lucy
Layer 4: … and ends up taking Celeste’s boyfriend away and marrying him

[Marcus Armstrong]

Lesson 10 – Assignment #1

Creating Intriguing Layers: Revenge

Plot Surface: Emily Thorne is the former Amanda Clarke, returning to her childhood home in the Hamptons to seek revenge upon those who betrayed and framed her father.

Layer 1: Obstacles: Con man Tyler Barrol, posing as Daniel’s friend, gains the Grayson family’s trust, but his own pursuits complicate Emily’s plans. The real Emily Thorne moves to the Hamptons and poses as Amanda Clarke.

Layer 2: Blackmail: Tyler discovers Lydia’s letter to expose the framing of David Clarke by the Graysons and uses it as leverage to remain employed by the Grayson family business.

Layer 3: Wildcards: Tyler’s behavior is erratic to begin with, but then he is shown running out of his schizophrenia medication, further adding to his unpredictability.

Character Surface: Emily Porter (Emily Thorne) had a troubled childhood and ended up in the same juvenile detention center as Amanda Clarke. Amanda Clarke pays her a lot of hush money and they switch identities so she can pursue her plan for revenge as Emily Thorne. Thanks to a nosy investigator, she learns the location of Amanda Clarke and decides to move to the same small community.

Layer 2: Love Triangle: She begins dating Amanda Clarke’s childhood friend, and lifetime love interest, Jack Porter.

Layer 3: Betrayal: Although Amanda Clarke bought her a plane ticket to leave the area, she defiantly stays, putting Amanda’s plans in jeopardy.

Other Plot Layers include Nolan Ross and Tyler Barrol’s love interest, Charlotte Grayson’s continued interest in blue collar Declan Porter, Lydia Davis’ survival of Frank Stevens’ attack and her knowledge of the Graysons’ betrayal of David Clarke.

Lesson 10 – Assignment #2

Marc Armstrong’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment was that this has been the most difficult assignment for me so far. I have had a lot of ideas for plot development and for the elements of intrigue, mystery and plot twists, but it still feels quite disjointed with so many moving variables and no semblance of cohesiveness.

Inviting Obsession Through Open Loops: Catch and Release

PLOT LAYERS – Story beneath the story

· Major scheme revealed – Nik’s sense of sport turns his vigilante endeavor into a game.

· Mystery revealed – Nik’s double life as a drug trafficker is exposed.

· Thought the story was one thing, but it is another – Nik’s family was not killed as a random act of violence, but rather as a consequence of his attempt to leave the trafficking business.

· Major shift in Meaning – Flashback to Nik’s freshman year where he and Sabrina were kidnapped and he was held down while Sabrina was raped. This is the true source of his rage.

· Hidden history – Brandon’s opioid addiction developed from Nik’s trafficking business.

· Hidden plan – While working out his game of vigilante with the criminal of the week, he intends to kill each of Sabrina’s rapists without regard to the rules of his game.

· Major betrayal – Sabrina falls for Bryson, who is married and is Nik’s enemy.

CHARACTER LAYERS – Identity beneath the identity

· Secret identity – Nik maintains the Christian persona, but he is bloodthirsty for revenge over Sabrina’s assault. He is also a drug trafficker.

· Character intrigue – Poster boy Christian has so much pain in his heart that while he struggles to adhere to his moral convictions, he begins to delight in killing in the name of justice, becoming the antithesis of his intended self.

· Hidden relationships and conspiracies – After befriending Sabrina to learn more about Nik, Bryson is seduced by her and begins having an affair.

· Hidden Character history – Nik’s success as a star athlete is a façade as he used performance-enhancing drugs for years. He is literally nothing like his persona.

Plot Surface:

· Layer 1: Nik’s family is killed while he is out, seemingly in a random act, leading Nik to a vigilante lifestyle.

· Layer 2: Nik’s sports background and apparent moral code causes him to give the target a fighting chance.

· Layer 3: Nik’s double life as a drug trafficker is exposed.

· Layer 4: Nik’s family was not killed as a random act of violence, but rather as a consequence of his attempt to leave the trafficking business.

· Layer 5: Flashback to Nik’s freshman year where he and Sabrina were kidnapped and he was held down while Sabrina was raped. This is the true source of his rage.

· Layer 6: While working out his game of vigilante with the criminal of the week, he intends to kill each of Sabrina’s rapists without regard to the rules of his game.

· Layer 7: Brandon’s opioid addiction developed from Nik’s trafficking business.

Character Surface:

· Layer 1: Nik is a Christian and former athlete who leaves a wholesome life.

· Layer 2: Nik maintains the Christian persona, but he is bloodthirsty for revenge over Sabrina’s assault. He is also a drug trafficker.

· Layer 3: Poster boy Christian has so much pain in his heart that while he struggles to adhere to his moral convictions, he begins to delight in killing in the name of justice, becoming the antithesis of his intended self.

· Layer 4: Nik’s success as a star athlete is a façade as he used performance-enhancing drugs for years. He is literally nothing like his persona.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Marcus Armstrong.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Marcus Armstrong.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Marcus Armstrong.

[Cooper James]

Cooper James – Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is that the plot and layers should work together to keep the audience engaged. Plot and character layers also help the writer by fill in their “toolbox” with necessary “tools” to keep an audience guessing until the end of each episode. and wanting to watch the next ep to find out what happens A lot of times you create interesting characters that aren’t connected to anything – just interesting characters. Audiences need more to keep them coming back.

Assignment #1

Handmaid’s Tale

The show opens on the shocking event with June, her husband, and her daughter trying to escape evil forces in the United States that have been taken over by fundamentalists. The audience is drawn into the mystery and tries to figure out what the hell is going on? June is captured and trained to be a handmaid to have babies for infertile couples who run Gilead. She has lost her family and her freedom. Will she ever regain either?

LAYER #1

Now renamed. Offred. because her “master’s” name is Fred, Offred is raped every month until she becomes pregnant. As she learns the rules in this new abusive society, she also learns who she can trust. Will she join the resistance to escape to find her daughter?

LAYER #2

Commander and Mrs. Waterford are Offred’s host family. At first, they appear to welcome Offred, but as we move through episodes they become more cruel and manipulative by the day. With physical abuse and sexual abuse on the rise, Offred teams up with Nick, the family driver for emotional companionship. But can she trust him, he’s an “eye” for the new government? When Offred doesn’t get pregnant, she is sent to a room where she finds messages from the previous handmaid. What happened to her? This is complicated by the fact the Commander Waterford has made Offred his sex toy behind his wife’s back.

LAYER #3

Meanwhile. the wife forces Offred to have sex with Nick behind her husband’s back to have the baby she desperately wants. Mrs. Waterford, Nick, and Offred know having sex with Nick will not end well if Commander Waterford finds out. Throughout all of this Offred is plotting her escape to find her daughter.

LAYER #4

Offred pretends to make friends with Commander Waterford, going as far as pretending to enjoy having sex with him behind Mrs. Waterford’s back at a hotel outside of Gilead. She learns that the leaders of the country don’t follow the Bible as they profess in public. She risks her life to help the resistance and grows more confident in her manipulations involving Commander Waterford and his wife.

LAYER #5

The mystery of what happened to the other handmaid is revealed. Offred feels take advantage of by Commander Waterford. Mrs. Waterford discovers Offred’s sex outings with her husband and forces Offed to take a pregnancy test. She’s pregnant. Mrs. Waterdord tells Command Waterford it’s not his baby to get back at him for humiliating her.

Assignment #2

EDGEMONT

Plot Surface – To secure the power King has always desired, he tries to sell the Edgemont to developers behind his daughter, Simone’s back to finance his grandson, Roman’s run for Senator in Region 26. Simone wants to keep Edgemont as not only is it her only home, but it’s also home to many homeless kids who have lost their parents fighting off the enemy region’s attempts to take over. Simone learned from her mother as a child that the mountain that Edgemont sits on is a power center and is a valuable asset to the other region’s survival as the world runs out of resources.

LAYER #1 Sabotage

Simone runs off any developers who travel up the mountain to by Edgemont.

LAYER #2 Scheme Revealed

King wants to sell Edgemont to finance his grandson, Roman’s run for Senator in Region 26. This will give King the power that has always escaped him.

LAYER #3 Hidden History

The current Senator used to be Simone’s lover and he betrayed her when he set her up to take the blame for the previous Senator’s assassination. Then he married someone else and Simone has been wanted in REgion 26 for her “crime” every since.

LAYER #4 Mystery

The mystery of who assassinated the previous Senator and the role Mrs. Conners played.

LAYER #5

Roman is having an affair with King’s girlfriend, Mrs. Conners, who has her schemes to gain power in Region 26.

LAYER #6 Future Consequences

With the help of her other son, Remy. Simone will finally gain the upper hand on the Senator when Remy rescues the Senator’s love child, Johnny, and bring him to Edgemont. But is Johnny a spy for his father, the Senator? Simone decides after many unsuccessful attempts to kill the Senator, she will defeat him by running against him for Senator. This also means she will run against her son, Roman, which causes major conflict with her father’s grand plan to gain power in Region 26.

Character Surface- Simone has trained a fierce army of kids to protect their home… Edgemont. They regard Simone as “Mother” and will protect her against anyone, including her father, King.

Layer #1 Hidden Agenda: Simone wants to keep the Edgemont and the mountain safe from the developers who would destroy this power center.

Layer #2 Hidden Character History: Simone had an affair with both Senators… one was fake, the other was real. One is the father of her twin sons.

Layer #3 Secret Identity: She is an assassin and has killed many people.

Layer #4 Wound: Her father, King, had something to do with her mother’s disappearance.

Layer #5 Competition: She plans to run for Senator against her son, Roman, to keep her father from gaining power in Region 26. She knows if her son becomes Senator he would die mysteriously and King would become Senator.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Cooper James.

[Jason]

Jason’s Plot and Character Layers

What I learned doing this assignment is I can get swept up in scores of rabbit-run layers and have to fight to keep it simpler. In well-written feature scripts there can be dozens of layers, particularly if there are many characters. In a series—it’s hard not to begin running and then realize you’re miles away from where you started, and that some of the exploration has deviated from the original intent—sometimes for the awesome, and sometimes as a distraction that changes not only the direction but the tone and perhaps the genre itself. There was already a lot to this–now there’s so much more it’s almost daunting.

ASSIGNMENT 1

L O S T

First Season Layers

Plot Surface

Layer 1: Oceanic 815 crashes on an island thousands of miles off course; the survivors must deal with their new surroundings and discover any means to increase their chances for rescue.

Layer 2: Mystery
The island is hostile and deadly for some, a miracle for others, seemingly dependent upon how they react to the new circumstances of the unknown.

Layer 3: The Story Changes
The plane isn’t the first vessel to wreck here; remains and survivors of previous mishaps begin to surface suggesting the crash is not random.

Layer 4: Hidden Agenda

People who were not on the flight infiltrate the survivors for their own purposes; previous island denizens are drawn to the wreck to warn them—or to control them.

Layer 5: Hidden History

A 16 year old message calls for help but warns those who might hear it. A hatch is discovered leading deep into the earth, built by strangers. Multiple clues suggest the island is controlled by “Others”.

Layer 6: Betrayal
There are those on the island who do have no interest in rescue and will do whatever it takes to ensure it does not occur.

Example Character Surfaces

Jack
Layer 1: Noble doctor driven to save lives and heal

Layer 2: Operates out of need to prove himself

Layer 3: Shame instilled by father motivates perfectionism

Layer 4: Feels responsible for father’s self-destruction and death

Layer 5: Incapable of accepting he cannot save everyone

Layer 6: His guilt/shame/anger sabotages his relationships

Kate
Layer 1: Beautiful, fearless and ideal helpmeet

Layer 2: Attracted to Jack

Layer 3: Discovered she was a prisoner of US Marshal on flight

Layer 4: Was a victim of circumstances

Layer 5: Created some of the circumstances she’s a victim to

Layer 6: Uses whatever means necessary to ensure her survival, potentially including her relationships with Jack and Sawyer, the alpha males

Layer 7: Responsible for at least 3 violent deaths prior to the island

Locke

Layer 1: Explorer, adventurer, discoverer

Layer 2: Was paraplegic before the crash and woke up healed

Layer 3: Was timid box salesman with no relationship skills

Layer 4: Believed he could solve his disability on a walkabout in Australia he’d spent years preparing for and was denied participation in

Layer 5: Grew up in foster care; met parents as an adult who used and betrayed him

Layer 6: No desire for rescue, he’s driven to discover the truth of the island

ASSIGNMENT 2

Dreaming Wide Awake

Potential Layers

Plot surface

Layer 1: A Reclusive woman’s journal is read on the air without prior consent and upends her isolated, unassuming life.

Layer 2: The journal arrests attention of those who hear it, prompting instantaneous reactions first locally then virally after a visiting celebrity lauds more of her work.

Layer 3: The celebrity is fascinated with the author and develops a friendship with her; she knows nothing about him, as she uses the internet sparingly for reading or music.

Layer 4: People hearing the same words are transported to differing, vivid personal experiences addressing long-lost wonder, unreconciled feelings and untapped desires, provoking change.

Layer 4: The author’s employer, responsible for wanting to bring the author acclaim and giving her writing to the news station, comes to terms with the unhappiness in her marriage and life and confronts her husband, who reveals his own unhappiness with the circumstances—before both are hospitalized in a freak accident.

Layer 5: The only other acquaintance the author has is the bartender she’s met once through her employer, who charges him to watch out for the author while she’s hospitalized. Unbeknownst to her, he moved to the small town to start over and isolate himself from relationships due to guilt from his past. He accepts because the employer is one of his only friends.

Layer 6: The author, the celebrity and the bartender all have deep rooted secrets they don’t typically talk about.

Layer 7: A young doctor rediscovers her through her newfound fame; he arrives in town to reconnect, revealing the author was a former prodigy who seemingly disappeared shortly after graduating a prestigious arts school at 17—nearly 20 years ago. He remembers his father treating her as an outpatient for borderline anthropophobia—sudden bursts of intense fear of people—and social anxiety disorder, believed to have been the result of circumstances in her youth.

Layer 8: The Doctor does not have her best interests at heart, as a previous altercation regarding her and her father ruined his career, which she has no knowledge of.

Character Surface

Gina

Layer 1: Dreamer, shy, full of wonder

Layer 2: A prodigy, able to pick up languages/music incredibly fast, possessing a superior semantic memory (Able to remember episodes in her life as though reliving it)

Layer 3: Being around people is often overwhelming for her; she reads intentions like she reads music, so lies and posing unravel quickly. As a defense mechanism she can adapt to people in a very brief period, becoming who she needs to be to escape.

Layer 4: She believes her condition wrecks people’s lives if she grows close to them
Layer 5: Blames herself for not being there more for her father after her mother’s death in her teenage years

Layer 6: Abandoned her upward climb to success as a virtuouso due to extreme anxiety, traveled the world anonymously

Layer 7: Suffered a breakdown and was institutionalized until her father found and retrieved her

Layer 8: Never revealed she was abused by her Doctor while institutionalized

Layer 9: She has PTSD, no disorders other than her genius, volitionally misdiagnosed because doctors wanted to keep, study and exploit her

Layer 10: Her journal began while institutionalized after praying for help, that she could show people who she really is

Maggie
Layer 1: Earthy, grounded get-it-done business owner

Layer 2: Wistful, resigned, wants the fire back

Layer 3: Lives vicariously through Gina’s writing

Layer 4: Is willing to risk losing everything to regain her soul

Layer 5: Loves her husband deeply, very afraid he’s not willing to change

Layer 6: Acts impetuously to help Gina, but realizes it’s more for her own need to live through her that she recklessly offers up her friend’s private life

Layer 7: Greatest desire is to escape mediocrity and live life fully again

Layer 8: Enlists Parker’s help to take care of Gina because she feels responsible for ‘outing’ her—but also because she selfishly wants all the details as well as trying to match-make them.

Mark

Layer 1: Good natured bear of a guy

Layer 2: Hates himself, what he’s become, can’t stand to look in a mirror due to his weight, sabotages himself out of resignation

Layer 3: Intensely loyal to his wife, defined by her security to the point he can’t see what she really wants, only what they need to get by.

Layer 4: Talented welder/artist, passion for expression dulled by routine and obligation

Layer 5: Biggest fear is losing Maggie, but feels helpless to be what he senses she wants—he has to be responsible and provide for her, so risk-taking is not an option; but fears she will leave him because he’s not enough.

Layer 6: At a core level, will leave everything behind and do anything for her, but first he has to believe he can.
Layer 7: Confronting her about her interfering with Gina’s life begins his journey of realization that she cannot define him—and is incredibly difficult to reconcile.

I could go on and on, and will.

[Norene Smiley]

NORENE SMILEY – LESSON 10 ASSIGNMENT – CREATING INTRIGUING LAYERS

What I learned doing this assignment: I have no idea if I can keep all these balls in the air! A lot to absorb and keep track of but certainly helping me organize material for my story.

ASSIGNMENT 1 – JESSICA JONES – LAYERS:

Jessica is a detective but she also has super powers <div>

How did she get the super powers?

What is Jessica’s past history with Kilgrave?

What is Jessica’s relationship to Trish?

Why are they at odds?

What is Jessica’s relationship to Luke?

Will Jessica be able to defeat the powerful Kilgrave?

What is Trish afraid of?

SHADOW & BONE – LAYERS

What happened to Mal and Alina’s parents? </div><div>

What is Alina’s power that suddenly appears when Mal is in danger?

What does General Kilgrave want with Alina?

What is the Shadow Fold?

Will the Crows be able to survive the conflict with Pekka?

What is Inej’s secret?

Will Alina be reunited with Mal?

Will Alina survive the Fold?

ASSIGNMENT 2: TROUBLE

POSSIBLE PLOT LAYERS – story beneath the story

Major Scheme revealed: </div><div>

Agrippa and the Machines want Scrap as the key ingredient to making machines superior to humans. They plan to destroy humankind and the natural world.

Mystery revealed: Agrippa is sacrificing children to fuel machines

Thought the Story was one thing, but it is another: Scrap is not just the weak protagonist plagued by bad luck that everyone is after but really the Big Bad Guy in the story, embodying the Curse.

Major shift in Meaning: Scrap will have to defeat herself to reach her goals.

Hidden History: Nancy is Agrippa’s son. Bardo saved Scrap’s life by giving her a mechanical heart. Fidget has been programmed to protect Scrap.

Hidden Plan: Agrippa will use Scrap to ignite the living heart of the machines

Major Betrayal: Toodie is a spy for Agrippa

2. POSSIBLE CHARACTER LAYERS – identity beneath the identity

Secret Identity: Toodie is spy; Fidget is guardian; Agrippa is evil megalomaniac; Scrap embodies the Curse; Bardo and Ruby and shape-shifters </div><div>

Character Intrigue:

Agrippa seems the perfect bureaucrat in the machine world but she conspires to take over leadership; Agrippa a wants to use Scrap’s power to fulfil her plan to have machines take over entirely: Agrippa seems to be motherly protector of children but is using them to feed the machines

Ruby and Bardo are there to protect the Keep and Scrap but they are really assigned to keep her under wraps to protect the outside world

Scrap has to infiltrate the world of machines to defeat Agrippa

Hidden Relationships & Conspiracies:

Toodie is a snitch for Agrippa

Nancy is Agrippa’s son in a love/hate relationship

Agrippa was raised and mentored by the Regulator but is angling to betray him take over his leadership

Hidden Character History:

Bardo saved Scrap by giving her a mechanical heart

Agrippa was an underling and despises them

3. POSSIBLE SEQUENCE OF REVEALS

PLOT SURFACE:

LAYER 1: Bardo saved Scrap’s life by giving her a mechanical heart.

LAYER 2: Fidget has been programmed to protect Scrap.

LAYER 3: Toodie is being forced to spy for Agrippa

LAYER 4: Agrippa is sacrificing children to fuel the machines

LAYER 5: Scrap is not just the weak protagonist plagued by bad luck that everyone is after but really the Big Bad Guy in the story, embodying the Curse. She will have to defeat herself to save the world.

LAYER 6: Agrippa wants Scrap as the key ingredient to make machines superior to humans by using her to ignite the living heart of the machines. They plan to destroy humankind and the natural world.

4. CHARACTER SURFACE:

LAYER 1: Bardo and Ruby are shape-shifters

LAYER 2: Fidget, although flawed and distracted, is a third guardian

LAYER 2: Ruby and Bardo are tasked with to keeping Scrap contained to protect the outside world

LAYER 3: Toodie is a spy for Agrippa

LAYER 4: Agrippa seems the perfect bureaucrat in the machine world but she conspires to take over leadership from her mentor

LAYER 5: Nancy is Agrippa’s son

LAYER 6: Agrippa is evil under the motherly facade

LAYER 7: Scrap embodies the Curse. She is a ticking time bomb.

</div>