THE SIMPSONS NEWS
Last week was my first week doing story reel work and I didn’t really get a lot done. Mostly because I had to stay home to take care of baby Ambrose who got sick.  This week has been really hectic for me because now I have to work hard to catch up on the hours of work I missed. It’s been a bit stressful. Since I haven’t done any story reel work since Show 1 (The Fool Monty) of this year, I had to remember what the job entailed and what I needed to do, on top of everything else. It’s been a busy week.

In other news, Banksy put up the rough boards he did that I used to work off of in order to do the final version of the story boards for his Couch Gag, on his site (CLICK HERE). Take a look:

I wish I could put what I did you could compare.

FAMILY
I stayed at home this week on Thursday and Friday to take care of baby Ambrose.  He caught a cold or a flu or something. I’m still not sure exactly what it was.  He had a temperature, diarrhea, sneezing, and a runny nose. To make things worse, he’s also teething.  I’m not sure if he had a temperature because he was teething or because he was sick. He definitely didn’t have any energy at all.  I made sure to give him plenty to drink and let him sleep as much as he could.  I felt so bad for the little guy.  He was miserable.

By Sunday he was all better. You have no idea what a relief it was to see him back to his normal self.

Thank you Simpsonology on Twitter for the link.

ROLE PLAYING GAMES
Played some more Dungeons and Dragons 4E this weekend at our house. I also ran another mini adventure for Elizabeth and Dante. This has me thinking about role playing and specifically, “Game Mastering”.  In other words, running adventures.  Specifically for Elizabeth who keeps asking me to run games for her.  It’s fun to do, but last time I thought it was a bit tedious so now I’ve got to come up with a way to not only make interesting for her, but I have to make it interesting for myself. It’s tricky since she’s only four and doesn’t exactly go out of her way to write a back story for her character for me to work off of.

Coincidentally, on one of the game sites I usually go to, Purple Pawn, had a article on a book on Game mastering that could be downloaded for free online.  It’s distributed under the creative commons license.  I downloaded it and it’s actually really good.  I recommend it for anyone who is thinking about game mastering a role playing game.  It teaches you all you need to know to go about doing it. There’s a lot there that I agree with.  Check it out:

GAMEMASTERING book

WRITING

(For those of you coming in late to these posts, if you want to read what my project is about, CLICK HERE to learn about the general world the story takes place in, and CLICK HERE if you want to know the story itself.)

Below is an excerpt of what I wrote the last two weeks, as set up for what I’m writing about THIS week, in case you’re interested in following along with more depth:

Right now, the theory of story that I like to use to flesh out my plot is the DRAMATICA theory.  Unfortunately the DRAMATICA theory is so complicated and convoluted, that I can’t really sum it up in a nut shell. If you want to get an idea of what DRAMATICA is all about, click the link below:

What is DRAMATICA?

In order for you to be able to understand it fully, you would need to download and read the FREE book on pdf. Click the link below:

Free DRAMATICA pdf book

or listen to the FREE audio book podcasts by clicking the link below:

Free DRAMATICA audio book

or read the FREE text of the book directly from  their site by clicking the link below:

The DRAMATICA book readable on the net for free.

As I did the last two weeks, I’ll put up the DRAMATICA Table of Story Elements in order for you to understand what I’m talking about and so you can follow along.   For a clearer pdf version of the chart (download chart now):

I’ve decided to start breaking down each scene. The Robert McKee book (Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting) suggests I write out a one or two sentence statement, describing what happens in each scene and how it turns on cards. I don’t have any cards so I’ll just type them out. The McKee book also suggests I write what part of the story each scene fulfills. I’ll see if I can do that too.

The DRAMATICA system suggests Elements that will be in conflict in each of the scenes I write.  Here’s the thing, DRAMATICA also suggests that if I’m writing a short story (which I am) I shouldn’t breakdown the story as far as I have. In other words, I SHOULDN’T breakdown my story into the Elements level the way I’m going to do just now.  I think it’s because you can’t possible stick 24 scenes into a short  story. Okay, then I’m going to see how many Element comparison I CAN put in and be satisfied with that.

First, I’m going to look at what I have already written as the four Story Throughlines for Act 1. Using that as a guide I’m going to then start breaking the scenes down for Act 1.

Act 1:

OVERALL STORY THROUGHLINE

• Memories- The main character, remembering how good the hot dogs at a certain hot dog vendor are, uses the money he struggled to get, to buy one.  While always being cautious of the memories of all the times he’s been attacked by the Sorcerers that are after him.
• Memories ======> Type 2. Impulsive Responses- Not realizing that those very Sorcerers have spotted him and remember what he has done to their fellow Sorcerers. The Sorcerers confront the main character who knows what’s coming from the memory of his past experience. They’re hatred of him cause such anger inside them that they impulsively attack him.

MAIN CHARACTER STORY THROUGHLINE

• Obtaining– Rob has happily obtained the Hot Dog he’s been wanting for a day and a half. He looks forward to eating in peace and quiet.
• Obtaining ======> Type 2. Gathering Information– As he sits down to eat and is confronted by the three Sorcerers. He tries to find out from them, what he could do,  in order to have them give him a few minutes to eat his lunch in peace and quite. When they tell him, he gladly does it.

IMPACT CHARACTER STORY THROUGHLINE

• Conceiving an Idea– The Lead Sorcerers tries to convince Rob that Rob is evil. That the Sorcerers are truly the just and justified between the two of them.
• Conceiving an Idea ======> Type 2. Developing a Plan– Rob dismisses the idea so the Lead Sorcerer then puts forth that he should let himself be imprisoned by the Sorcerers, so that he could be watched and not become what the prophesy says he will.

MAIN vs IMPACT CHARACTER STORY THROUGHLINE

• • Past– The Main Character and the Lead Sorcerer share a collective conflicting  past. Many of Sorcerers the Lead Sorcerer knew, have been beaten by the Main Character.  The main Character knows who the Lead Sorcerer is (or at least his type) based on his passed dealings with other Sorcerers. While the Lead Sorcerers knows the main by the reputation of those who have fought him in the past.  This instills tension between the two parties. Especially since there is an incomplete understanding of what REALLY happened in the past that the Main Character attempts to clarify without success.
  • The Past ======> Type 2. How things are Changing– Their collective negative past immediately lead to distrust, hatred and aggression. Especially since their past is so misunderstood,  which leads the Lead Sorcerers into attacking the Main Character.

Act 1 Themes: False/Suspicion

Scene 1 (Equity/Projection)

• Rob waits for his hot dog impatiently as his stomach grumbles. Once he gets it he sits down and to eat it. He decides to share it with is White Raven.He’s about to cut it in half when he sees the Sorcerers coming toward him and gets bummed out, knowing he’s in for a bad time. (Introducing the characters)

Scene 2 (Inertia/Order)

• The Sorcerers confront Rob about his past and his future. Rob defends by explaining the circumstances behind those moments. If left alone nothing would happen. They try to convince him to turn himself over to the Sorcerers so they can lock him up and keep him from becoming evil. Rob tells them he has no intention of taking over the world. The lead Sorcerer tries to convince Rob that his cause is just. Rob just want to be left alone. The Sorcerers won’t do that. Rob asks if he could at least have ten minutes to finish his hot dog. They discuss it among themselves and grant him ten minutes on the condition he hand over his weapon. (inciting incident)

Scene 3 (Speculation/Inequity)

• Rob hands over his weapon believing the Sorcerers will keep their word leaving him out numbered and without protection.The Sorcerers laugh at the weapon and throw it in the bushes.Just as he’s about to cut the hot dog they attack him. (First Act climax)

Well, I was only able to create three scenes. It’s suppose to be eight scenes per Act but I couldn’t fit anything else in. To be honest, I don’t know if I broke thing down into scenes or just broke down ONE scene into three parts. I also didn’t quite stick to the one or two sentence description of each scene format.

I found it very helpful that I’d written out the description of each Story Throughline.  It reminded me of stuff I’d forgotten. I think it’s turning out okay so far. I’ll see how Act 2 goes. I wonder if there’s going to be more than three scenes in that Act?

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