Story Development – Session One: Foundation

One: Foundations

1. Introduction – Warmup.

Warmup: The story my mother wants me to write is….
Writing theTwo-Person scene; Characters A and B; Dialogue and Monologue. Exercises focus writers on the emotional subtext that informs creative writing.

2. Dialogue Rewrite deepens A&B; Dialogue Analysis.

Dialogue as the shortcut to conflict; conflict as the core of the scene.
Dialogue means two characters talking with rhythm; rhythm pulls writers close to the heartbeat.

3. Plot—Hidden structures—Cage, Escape, Quest, Dragon, Home.

Locked in a symbolic cage and driven by a deep inner need, the protagonist devises an escape that launches a quest.
Antagonists abound, threatening to send the protagonist back to the cage. To get home, the protagonist must confront the dragon.
Hidden structures link writers to the mythic power of the spiritual descent story.

4. Plot—Visible Structure: Aristotle’s 3 Acts + Climax.

The curtain falls on Act 1 as protagonist and antagonist lock horns for the first time.
The curtain rises on Act 2 as the protagonist builds for the confrontation with the antagonist.
In Act 3, the protagonist confronts the antagonist in the agon.
The audience sees the rising and falling of the curtain and feels the intense build to climax and revelation.
A visible structure in three acts—standard for movies and TV—cinches up the dramatic form.

5. Writing the Three-Person scene; Character C + King Replacement.

What happens to the stranger that intrudes?
If incorporated, the Intruder-Stranger becomes a member of the tribe; if repelled, the Intruder-Stranger is turned away at the gates to wander and quest; if ejected, the Intruder-Stranger is sent away into exile, incarceration, or death by ritual sacrifice.

6. Scene Rewrite – Going Deeper.

The essence of the craft is rewriting.
Rewriting in parts—action, dialogue, setting—gives writers a feel for the components of fiction.

7. Rewriting + Scene Lab. A

Focus on Dialogue.
Writer scenes performed in lab conditions – time limits, casting, reading aloud, instructor feedback.

8. Rewriting + Scene Lab.

Focus on Action.
Scenes performed under the clock – five minutes, casting, reading aloud, instructor feedback.

9. Extended Essay.

The topic: Why I must write this particular story at this particular time….
In a “Gut Check” essay of 10-12 pages, the writer probes the connection to the work, the deep emotional place in the far-away kingdom of Need that drives the writer to commit one, two, or three years to a single work.

10. Performance of scenes.

The writer’s reward.
Product transferred to the mouths of actors. Possible video taping for keepsake power.

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