Mentoring Authors One Scene at a Time – Thriller/Military/Non-Fiction/SF/Fantasy
Posted on October 28, 2020 by Randy
National Novel Writing Month is upon us! What to do, what to do?
Why, open up your Scrivener program and get to work! What work you ask? Stick with me, I’ll show you the ropes for getting your Scrivener platform comfortable, personal, and ready to go.
I’m going to walk you through personalizing the colors and fonts for your Editor, Inspector, Binder, and Corkboard. Make it your own. Import photos. Choose fonts and colors that calm you, motivate you, and inspire you.
Use the Labels and Status to help plan your strategy to finish your 50,000 words.
Use Keywords to help you track your POVs, Settings, and Sub-plots on the Corkboard and get a bird’s eye view of your whole manuscript.
Use the metadata to outline your scenes before November first.
I made my first YouTube video walking you through Scrivener and showing you how to set up and prepare. Enjoy! I hope I’ve helped you.
One sentence review from the editors?
Randall: The intertwining storylines are so intriguing. Great setup.
Mel: The Game of Thrones has officially started in this season with everyone wanting to be the next king, no matter who has a right to it and who does not.
Parul: The hunger for power in Season 1 (society genre) continues and kicks off a war.
In a multi-plotted saga like Game of Thrones, how do you work out the genre and why should you? So why we dissect it is to help us understand why we love it, and why it’s compelling. By analyzing this masterwork, we come to understand how stories are constructed and we might be inspired for our own stories.
How do we determine the genre? One method is to look at the core event of the season. What is the big showdown that happens towards the end of the series? We have the big battle scene, which is the core event for a war story. But we also have an attempted revolution – Stannis tries and fails to overcome the Lannisters. This is the Society genre. Power battles still rein within the Lannister households and amongst every house
We have a range of values that run through the season from victory to defeat.
Of course, there are other storylines going on alongside these:
Lannisters: To win the war and beat down the revolution and to keep Joffrey in power
Renly, Stannis, Daenerys: To gain the throne
Starks: Peace and revenge for the death of Ned Stark
Beginning Hook: Tyrion becomes Hand of the King, tries to prepare for war, and rein in Joffrey’s worst instincts. Meanwhile, others lay claim to the throne Renly Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Robb Stark sends Caitlyn Stark to broker an alliance with Renly Baratheon. Daenerys is weakened
Middle Build: Robb wins a decisive victory against the Lannisters at the Battle of Oxcross and angers Joffrey. Littlefinger convinces Catelyn to exchange Jamie Lannister for her daughters. Tyrion uses subterfuge to find Wildfire to use in the upcoming battle against Stannis. Daenerys takes refuge in the city of Qarth. Theon betrays the Starks and takes on Winterfell but the children manage to escape.
End Payoff: As Stannis bears down on King’s Landing, Tywin must decide whether to ride for King’s Landing or move against Robb. Tyrion leads the first attack against Stanis but it’s his father Tywin who saves the day and destroys Stannis. The Lannisters form an alliance with the Tyrells through marriage. Daenerys fights and plunders Xaro’s treasure ready to buy ships to sail to Westeros.
Editors choose one to discuss. For the full list see the download available.
The point of view has not changed. Similar to the book of G.R.R. Martin, we use multiple point of view characters. So instead of repeating ourselves, let’s answer a FOCUS Question:
War lacks meaning and revolution fails when leaders are obsessed with the game of thrones and fail to address the real enemy (and using dishonourable methods)
Mel: As mentioned in the last episode, I think GOT captured the viewer so well because right in the first scene, the show revealed the truth about the existence of those mysterious creatures, later called the White Walkers. We as viewers know the rumors are true and we know the ultimate danger lies beyond the Wall, but we have to witness how all the forces play their game of thrones instead without paying attention to what’s happening. So using Dramatic Irony, when the viewer knows more than the characters, was an amazing choice to hook the viewers into this series. As well as not dealing primarily with the fact to what the viewer has become witness to – just revealing it piece by piece over time.
Randall: It’s a good idea to plan the series out through the number of books – and by that I mean, plan what the big reveals are in each book, the important events and the main points of conflict, and do the setups for the big reveals.
Leave your answer in the comments.
Randall: Tyrion stepping up and taking charge of the defense of the castle.
Mel: When we finally see a part of the army of the dead. Because we have spent one entire season seeing all those lords playing their game of thrones while the real threat becomes more and more imminent. And seeing the dead army was just such a great cliffhanger for the next season.
Parul: Tyrion playing political games with Baelish
Thanks for joining us and we’ll see you next time.
Posted on September 1, 2020 by Randy
This is a series with a mini-plot, multiple characters that each pursue their own storyline but come together for a larger story arc. In this first season of Game of Thrones, you’ll see multiple storylines weaving together. But the value at stake is power – the clue is in the name: the Game of Thrones. This is closely linked to the action genre with its values of life and death. And you’ll see other genres laced throughout which we will share in our show notes.
Randall: This is really one of my favorite series, and the screenwriters did such a great job with the first season. It’s a great example of how to write a screenplay from a really excellently written book series. And the author (George R. R. Martin) did such a great job connecting the plotlines throughout the books/ seasons. This had to take so much planning, Harry Potter level planning.
Mel: Awesome fantasy story masterpiece with very deep, three dimensional characters, an amazing story and throughout plotline, as well as the best title music and video.
Parul: It is Society Genre combined Action at its best, everybody wants power and everybody will die.
What are the Editor’s Six Core Questions?
It’s a great way to analyze any story and figure out if it works. Here are the questions. We’ll touch on them in this podcast, but the full notes can be downloaded afterward.
Mel: GOT consists of such a huge landscape of plotlines and characters that it is really hard to boil down to one external genre.
If you ask yourself this question, you need to know first: Who is your main character? If you just watch Season 1, you might have thought it was Ned Stark until he was beheaded. You now realise that every character in GOT may die.
If you have already watched the entire series, you know that the story revolves around Jon Snow. Internally I think it’s a Status Admiration Story for him because he is able to adapt his worldview with the new information that presents itself.
Status Admiration: When a sympathetic protagonist with nobility of character and motive, along with a sophisticated worldview, encounters misfortune they will rise in spite of it.
For the global external genre, I’d say it’s horror. But that seems most valid if you take Jon Snow as your main character and look at GOT across all seasons.
For season 1, I’d say it’s more a society story turning around power and impotence mixed with life and death stakes.
Parul: It’s not uncommon for a series to have an overarching storyline and for each season to have another. In Season 1, we see the House of Lannister against the House of Stark. This is about power and impotence, and each character’s position of power or lack of power is closely linked to the threat to life they face.
They are playing a game of thrones, but with drastically different positions of morality. Ned Stark’s principled position leads him to make the wrong move, and he is killed. He was attempting a revolution, but he failed. This is the Society genre with the values of Action and morality close by.
Ned Stark is the main character for us, BUT we do see the children in the beginning of an Action story (inciting attack, hero at the mercy of the villain) and we see the Northerns including Rob Stark and Daenerys Targaryen preparing for war.
Starks: To have justice restored and power shifted to the rightful heir
Lannisters: To have power and get the throne
Daenerys: To have power and get the throne
BEGINNING HOOK
Parul: It’s tricky to know what to cover. There are so many things happening. We start the series with the men mysteriously killed and this is the Inciting Incident for the Series and the horror genre, but in this specific season we’re tracking Ned Stark as a Society Story.
Inciting Incident:
Society (core season storyline): King Robert Baratheon, Ned’s old friend, travels to Winterfell after the death of Jon Arran. Ned and Catelyn prepare for his arrival and suspect he wants to recruit him for the Hand. (Episode 1) (power/impotence)
Other storylines are also kicked off in the beginning:
Horror (core series storyline): Men mysteriously killed North of the Wall (Episode 1) (life/death)
Action: To hide their incest, Jaime pushes Bran from the high window.
War/Love: Daenerys is forced to marry the Dothraki warlord, Drogo, in exchange for an army to conquer Westeros and reclaim the Iron Throne
Progressive Complications: Jamie pushes Bran from the tower when Brandon sees Jamie with Cersi, Brandon doesn’t die and an assassin is sent to kill him, Lady Stark travels to tell Ned of her suspicions, the Night’s Watch recruits are not what Jon Snow thought it would be, Sansa betrays Arya
Turning Point Progressive Complication: Ned Stark discovers that Jon Arran was murdered. (Episode 1) (life/death)
Crisis: Does Ned Stark still assume the role of the Hand of the King knowing that his life might be in danger or stay safe but leave the King without a trusted Hand? (Episode 1)
Stakes: Ned senses that something is happening, Winter is Coming – if he leaves, he won’t be able to protect his family and the Northern Kingdom. If he doesn’t go, he will be turning down his friend and his king, and he knows he is probably the best person to talk sense into his friend and advise him for the sake of the 7 Kingdoms (not drive the 7 kingdoms into war again) (life/ death)
Climax: He agrees to become the Hand of the King. (Episode 1)
Resolution: He begins to see how much power the Lannisters have over the king and the 7 kingdoms (debt, Cersei’s influence over the king when she insists that Arya’s wolf be killed) (Episode 2 and 3) and becomes entangled in the political games of the court
MIDDLE BUILD
Inciting Incident: Ned Stark discovers that John Arryn might have been killed (E4)
Progressive Complications: Ned discovers the bastards, clues to the mythical White Walkers returning in the North, Brandon almost killed by brigands, Brandon has visions, Daenerys becomes empowered and her brother is killed and she becomes pregnant, Robert orders Daenerys’ death, Mormont betrays and saves Daenerys, Bronn saves Tyrion and starts working for him, Catelyn kidnaps Tyrion, Ned confronts Cersei about her children
Turning Point Progressive Complication: King is dying from a hunting wound (E7)
Crisis: Does Ned Stark confront Cersei and Joffrey or swear fealty to Joffrey and leave King’s Landing? (E7)
Stakes: If he does not try to assume his role as “Protector of the Realm”, the kingdom will be left in the Lannister hands who he sees as the wrong heirs since Joffrey is a bastard son of his mother and her brother. If he stays, he puts himself and his daughters in danger.
Climax: Ned refuses to show fealty, shows them the document signed by King Robert and declares Joffrey is not the rightful heir (E7)
Resolution: Ned Stark is taken prisoner and all his men are killed (E7)
ENDING PAYOFF
Inciting Incident: Rob Stark finds out about his father’s death and assembles his armies to fight the Lannisters (E8)
Progressive Complications: Jamie is captured, Drogo gets sick and dies, Daenerys loses her baby, Lannisters lose fight with Rob Stark
Turning Point Progressive Complication: Sansa gets Joffrey to agree to show Ned mercy if he admits publicly that Joffrey is the rightful king (E8)
Crisis: At his public execution, does Ned Stark admit that Joffrey is the rightful heir and abandon his principles? Or risk death and stay principled? (E9)
Stakes: Sansa and Ned’s death if he does not agree; if he agrees, then the truth will be hidden and he might die anyway or at least be assigned to the Night’s Watch
Climax: Ned confesses his crimes and publicly swears fealty to Joffrey (E9)
Resolution: Ned is killed anyway, Sansa is captive, Arya escapes, Tyrion is made Hand of the King, Daenerys emerges from the fire with Dragons (E9 and 10)
Editors choose one to discuss. For the full list see the download available.
Editors choose one to discuss. For the full list see the download available.
Mel: Multiple point of view characters are needed to tell a story that is so complex and stretches over many regions, houses, schemes, and overall history.
Still, I’d like to point out something GOT makes a lot of use of Dramatic Irony.
Here’s an example:
The first episode starts with the encounter of men from the Night’s Watch with a White Walker. One guy survives and deserts the Night’s Watch and flees south. He is ultimately killed for deserting the Night’s Watch because his news of the undead walkers sounds like an old tale. No one believes him. Something the people from the North have stopped believing in, and his news won’t influence their judgment.
Even though that moment is not the inciting incident of the story itself, it is an inciting incident for the viewer because we are indeed witnesses to the existence of the White Walkers. We have seen them, too! We know what the deserter talked about is true. So the GOT story uses Dramatic Irony a lot. Dramatic irony is when the viewer knows more than the characters because we are witness to the schemes and actions of many characters!
The inciting incident for the story that is wrapped up between the seasons could be the death of the Hand of the King because with that the whole drama starts unfolding.
Randall: Other examples are the fact we know who pushed Bran out the window, but the characters spend the whole first season trying to figure it out and they never actually do, which is part of the narrative drive of the next season.
The screenwriters do a great job intertwining the pieces of the puzzle – The writers could have given us that first scene with the White Walkers and not directly connected it to the deserter being killed, that would have been a weaker version of dramatic irony.
We gain or maintain power and save our families’ lives when we prove our ruthlessness, status, and authority through bloodshed and political bargaining.
Randall: I like the dragon reveal at the end. I was so surprised when Ned got killed.
Mel: Too many to count, but seeing how huge that Wall is was truly amazing because it reveals an undeniable threat to what might lay beyond.
Parul: After all the bloodshed and loss, it’s wonderful to see Daenerys rise from subjugated to power.
Game of Thrones 2
Posted on August 14, 2020 by Randy
This week, the Story Grid Showrunners watch the THIRD season of the Netflix TV Series OZARK – a thrilling story about Marty and Wendy Bryde who are forced to run to the Ozarks to launder money to save their and their family’s life. In this season, the Navarro cartel is at war with the Laguanas Cartel and the fight spills over on US soil. Wendy has decided to expand the business for Navarro, her brother Ben starts to cause trouble and Navarro’s right-hand woman, Helen starts to doubt their ability to run the operation. It’s a brilliant combination of a thriller with a cautionary tale, with morality interlaced.https://player.simplecast.com/fa59446a-7a6f-4748-ad3f-9fd6f8f6948b?dark=false
Randall: I totally understand the hype on this series, I can’ believe it took this long for me to watch it. It just keeps getting better.
Parul: This show is getting darker and more complex. It’s riveting.
It’s a great way to analyse any story and figure out if it works. Here are the questions. We’ll touch on them in this podcast, but the full notes can be downloaded afterwards.
BEGINNING HOOK
Editor’s Note: How is all this connected to life and death? Navarro is a cartel drug leader, as we’ve seen when he waterboarded his most trusted lawyer, Helen – he is not all there. If the Navarro empire collapses, Marty sees that as a good thing and maybe they can get away from the cartel, but Wendy is inventing ideas to be closer to the cartel, which is dangerous.
MIDDLE BUILD
ENDING PAYOFF
Randall: Thriller, no doubt
Parul: Thriller above all, with a streak of morality
Morality is intertwined in this story in so far that we have a couple who are trying to do the best they can for their family, but in order to keep their family safe, they must sacrifice their morality. In this season, Wendy allows her brother to be killed to save her family.
Thriller (Global)
What are the Conventions of the Thriller?
Morality (Internal Genre)
The protagonist faces an All Is Lost Moment and either discovers their inner moral code or chooses the immoral path. Whether or not the protagonist ultimately accepts the call depends upon the subgenre, the kind of story you want to tell.
To illustrate the presence of morality in this story, look at the showdown. What’s the showdown for Morality?
Red Herrings Definition – distracts the audience with false or misleading clues that bring the spectator to the wrong conclusion. As the reader we are in constant suspense about how Marty is going to die. Who is going to betray him? Will it be Ruth? Will it be Wendy (remember that she dreams of killing him?). Will the FBI take the Byrds down? Will they die in the cross-fire of the Lagunas- Navarro fight?
Red Herrings:
Subplots:
Editor’s Note: I think this is really what makes a good thriller, the ability to have compelling subplots/ red herrings that also have equally life/ death repercussions, but at the same time reminding the viewer/ reader who the real villain is. The cartel is involved throughout the season, as Helen is present in just about every episode, but we never forget that they are the most dangerous player at the table in Marty and Wendy’s lives – they kidnap Marty, they seem to know everything that is going on, they manipulate Wendy (with the horse farm purchase). At the same time, Frank Jr. and the mob are mad at Marty, the other cartel is a danger to Marty (he could get caught in the crossfire), Darlene is becoming more dangerous with every episode, the FBI is hot on Marty’s tail – all of these have life and death endings and they are just as engaging as the main battle between Marty and the cartel. The story would have been so watered-down if these sub-plots weren’t there and not so deadly if it had just been Marty vs. the Navarro cartel.
Compare this to Killing Eve – we keep losing sight of the threat of the 12 and there aren’t many other threats to keep the characters occupied.
Randall: constantly surprising us, can’t predict what’s going to happen next, so many things going on
Parul: The stakes and proximity to life and death are so high, you can’t rest. I’ve heard some people say that it was too gory, gruesome that they couldn’t watch it so it certainly isn’t for everyone but if you like your thrillers hot, it’s brilliant.
What’s the next Series?
Game of Thrones Season 1
Posted on August 1, 2020 by Randy
This week, the Story Grid Showrunners watch the second season of the Netflix TV Series OZARK – a thrilling story about an unassuming finance man who is forced to run to the Ozarks to launder money to save his and his family’s life. To make matters worse, the FBI is on his trail, and his family is falling apart. It’s a brilliant combination of a thriller with an underlying story of morality and a portrayal of a marriage under extreme pressure.
Randall: Great 2nd season, they kept the surprises and tension going
Parul: This show is on fire!
It’s a great way to analyse any story and figure out if it works. Here are the questions. We’ll touch on them in this podcast, but the full notes can be downloaded afterwards.
We start with what appears to be a normal family: Marty is an accountant who appears to watch porn all the time. The kids are pretty normal, Charlotte is a normal teenager with attitude and Jonah seems to be pretty normal too. Then we find out that Marty knows his wife is cheating on him. All of this sets the stage for the viewers, we see the family at home, work and play and we have a good idea what they are all about.
BEGINNING HOOK
MIDDLE BUILD
END PAYOFF
Randall: Thrilleragain? Life and death are the stakes in this story. So much life and death.
Parul: It’s a thriller with a heavy dose of Morality and Worldview.
Morality is intertwined in this story in so far that we have a man who is using a moral code that is against the societal norm. He has chosen to take this path to help elevate his family’s security and status. However, he brings people around him down – Mason the preacher, his children. Their moral code also changes.
Thriller (Global)
Morality (Internal Genre)
The protagonist faces an All Is Lost Moment and either discovers their inner moral code or chooses the immoral path. Whether or not the protagonist ultimately accepts the call depends upon the subgenre, the kind of story you want to tell.
Marty faces constant all-is-lost moments – does he kill Mason?
He realizes that his children are being brought down, can he change their path? He tries to leave but fails.
To illustrate the presence of morality in this story, look at the showdown. What’s the showdown for Morality?
Marty tries to actively sacrifice for the family, by taking them away but he’s thwarted by Helen and Wendy
Marty loses the battle, does he gain self-respect? Yes, from the viewers at least.
Each has an episode which is totally dedicated to the protagonists’ back story and told as a flashback, the whole episode is in the past. Why does one work and the other doesn’t?
Killing Eve – there was no lead up to it, and there was nothing compelling or surprising.
Ozark – The writers hinted and led the viewers to the flashback, suggesting some tragedy had happened that made them drift apart, made Wendy have an affair, that made them the family we find at the beginning of the series. It filled a hole, answered questions we had, and drove the story forward.
We also have the flashback in this episode of Jacob and Darlene, perfectly positioned when we see they are not of the same mind and we see how they met and how Darlene has always been headstrong, which is why Jacob loves her, which is why he loves her even when she poison’s Jacob.
Randall: The love between Jacob and Darlene – more back story; and the ground up cherry pits.
Parul: I like the scene where we see Ruth Langamore grow – she’s so tough but she cares so much about Wyatt, and argues with him to attend college.
What’s the next Series?
We can’t stop watching Ozark – so in our next episode, we’ll be dissecting Season 3!
If you want to see more applications of the Story Grid methodology, below are links to my analysis of various novels and television shows in blog posts and podcasts:
Story Grid Showrunners Podcast – Parul, Melanie, and I analyze hit TV series using the Story Grid methodology.
My blog posts analyzing other Television series – my person take using the Story grid 5 Commandments to look at my favorite TV series – Jack Ryan, Batgirl, For All Mankind, Hanna, and more.
Novel analysis – I analyze some of my favorite books using the Story Grid 5 Commandments and 6 core questions – First Blood, Old Man’s War, Waylander, and more to come!
Posted on August 1, 2020 by Randy
This week, the Story Grid Showrunners fell in love with the Netflix TV Series OZARK – a thrilling story about an unassuming man who is forced to run to the Ozarks to launder money to save his and his family’s life. He has to take his reluctant teenagers and a failing marriage. It’s a brilliant combination of a thriller with a marriage love story, underpinned with shades of an internal morality genre
Randall: Pretty good, some nice surprises, overall the story worked.
Parul: High stakes, constantly moving. The story worked as a thriller.
It’s a great way to analyse any story and figure out if it works. Here are the questions. We’ll touch on them in this podcast, but the full notes can be downloaded afterwards.
We start with what appears to be a normal family: Marty is an accountant who appears to watch porn all the time. The kids are pretty normal, Charlotte is a normal teenager with attitude and Jonah seems to be pretty normal too. Then we find out that Marty knows his wife is cheating on him. All of this sets the stage for the viewers, we see the family at home, work and play and we have a good idea what they are all about.
BEGINNING HOOK
MIDDLE BUILD
END PAYOFF
Randall: Thriller is the Global Genre right? Life and death are the stakes in this story.
Parul: However, you can’t miss that Love as a genre is laced in here.
The Love subgenre is a Marriage/ intimacy story where a committed relationship is now at a crossroads. Something external provokes trust issues and challenges the lovers to recognize, accept, and love the authentic other person rather than the illusion the other displayed during the courtship phase. There is a paradoxical (win-but-lose, lose-but-win) ending. The Marriage Love story may be either prescriptive or cautionary.
Marty and Wendy Bryde are at a crossroads, but you’ll see that the thriller dominant genre add a special twist. Marty has been so wrapped up in his money laundering scheme that Wendy turned to someone else for comfort. After the inciting incident Marty has to take his family to the Ozarks – Wendy wants to leave him but is forced to stay with him on threat of death from Del. As the Season progresses, they make up, they have sex, but towards the end we see real intimacy between them. In the final scene, they are reunited and the love is real – they have remembered each other.
Morality is intertwined in this story in so far that we have a man who is using a moral code that is against the societal norm. He has chosen to take this path to help elevate his family’s security and status. However, he brings people around him down – Mason the preacher, his children. Their moral code also changes.
Thriller (Global)
Inciting Incident of the villain – kills everyone and threatens Marty and his family
Speech in praise of the villain – FBI and Marty to his wife
Hero becomes the villain – Marty and his family are targeted from the beginning
Hero at the Mercy of the villain – yes, multiple times
False ending – yes
Morality (Internal Genre)
To illustrate the presence of morality in this story, look at the showdown. What’s the showdown for Morality?
The Showdown – protagonist actively sacrifices self in service of an individual, a group, or humanity (positive) or consciously chooses to remain selfish (negative) – We have Marty Bryd who is calmly negotiating with the biggest drug dealer and money launderer to create a situation for them to allow his family to live. He has told his family to create a life without him.
The protagonist faces literal or metaphorical death and either loses the battle but gains self-respect, meaning, and peace; or wins the battle but loses those things a great sacrifice. In all internal genres, there is a paradoxical ending. He doesn’t win the battle – Del is murdered, and he’s now dealing with the fickle and racist Snells – but he has his family back, they love him and come back to him.
What are the Conventions of the Global Genre
MacGuffin – Cartel wants its money washed
Red Herrings – we see multiple possible solutions fail for Marty (restaurant, church, strip club, inheritance investment)
Making it personal – the cartel sees the disappearance of its men as personal
Clock – Marty continues to get calls about his deadline to clean the money
Did the Series match the Trailer?
Yes!
Randall: The end – surprising and inevitable
Parul: Marty pouring over a map looking geeky while talking to the biggest most dangerous drug kings.
What’s the next Series?
Ozark 2
Posted on August 1, 2020 by Randy
Money.
That which separates the haves from the have-nots.
Patience, fidelity, sacrifice.
Deciding between to invest in your family’s future and taking responsibility for the consequences of those actions.”
Money is at its essence that measure of a man’s choices.
Randall Expectations: I’m excited to watch this series, it’s got a lot of good hype. I also really enjoyed Breaking Bad, with which I see some similarities.
Parul Expectations: In terms of Genre? Action or Thriller with morality. Status? Maybe? It’s unclear why he’s making the choice, but we know he’s chosen to be a drug dealer and now will pay the price. As a viewer – this looks like it’s an edge-of-my-seat type of show. I’m excited but not looking forward to seeing the body count – I’m squeamish.
Mel Expectations: An exciting story about a family man struggling to do what’s right for his family and what’s morally right, while their life gets threatened more and more, and his marriage is tested.
Mel: This trailer starts right by stating the object of desire – not only for the protagonist, the family man and husband Marty, but also for the antagonist that is later introduced as a Mexican drug cartel. And the beauty is they only need to say one word and we immediately get lots of pictures in our head about that one subject and it the good and bad it can do. It all comes down to money.
The protagonist defines money not only as a way to differentiate himself by saying:
That which separates the haves from the have-nots.
But he also adds even more value to money as he states at the end of the trailer:
Money is at its essence the measure of a man’s choices.
Choices.
And the hardest, probably the biggest choice of this first season is in the beginning hook because it influences the rest of the story. And the trailer tells us what choice the protagonist will be facing: Deciding between to invest in his family’s future and taking responsibility for the consequences of those actions.
And by all the images we see and the short dialogue we’ll get, we know what choice this guy made.
He is laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel.
The FBI is watching him, and his family’s life is threatened. Even his marriage trust starts to suffer as he accuses his wife about another betrayal.
All those little moments that show us the choices he made, they make us want to find out how it all turns out for this guy.
Is this going to be a Morality – Punishment story combined with an exciting thriller?
I guess so. The thriller takes it all the way to damnation, and by those choices this guy is making and money is at its core, of course, he’ll be struggling with what’s morally right and what’s not and the consequences of his actions.
It’s the best foundation for making him redeem himself in future episodes.
But that’s just my take from the trailer.
I haven’t watched the show yet, but I’m definitely hooked.
Parul: Notice that his worldview seems fixed. This doesn’t seem to be a man questioning his choices, he may be ruing the consequences. But he’s a pretty tough man – wants to do whatever it takes. Notice when the FBI says to him ‘ The lying, the running, aren’t you tired?’ Their answer is to deny it all, meaning, no I’m not yet tired, this is an anti-hero that we are likely to support despite his habits and life-choices.
Randall: A thriller is part Crime, Part Horror, and part Action – and from the trailer, I think we get all of that as a viewer. Crime turns on the global values of life and death. Just from the trailer, we see a half dozen deaths and a number of threats to the family. The fact the FBI is investigating the family solidifies the crime piece. The horror lies in the beyond damnation of the protagonist involving his family, his children – this could be his fate worse than death.
It seems to have all the ingredients of a good thriller, but whether they will be able to deliver remains to be seen.
Parul: Compelling hero or anti-hero
Randall: Great Inciting Incident, Great Villain, Great Hero at the Mercy of the Villain
Mel: Great internal and external genre combo
If you want to see more applications of the Story Grid methodology, below are links to my analysis of various novels and television shows in blog posts and podcasts:
Story Grid Showrunners Podcast – Parul, Melanie, and I analyze hit TV series using the Story Grid methodology.
My blog posts analyzing other Television series – my person take using the Story grid 5 Commandments to look at my favorite TV series – Jack Ryan, Batgirl, For All Mankind, Hanna, and more.
Novel analysis – I analyze some of my favorite books using the Story Grid 5 Commandments and 6 core questions – First Blood, Old Man’s War, Waylander, and more to come!
Posted on August 1, 2020 by Randy
Reminder: Please watch the TV-Series Killing Eve Season 3 before you listen to the following episode. We not only give away spoilers, but we talk about the global story, and it’s just more valuable for you if you know what we are talking about because we reference a lot.
The following is an extract of our episode. For further information, please listen to the show.
Let’s revisit her character across the series.
Mel: Villanelle demonstrates cold brutality even though she looks stunning and absolutely beautiful which deceives everyone around her. Her beauty and innocent appearance are like the trap that lures her victims into her reach so that she can kill them.
Villanelle doesn’t follow a moral code and only does what excites her. If she has to do something, she doesn’t want to, she falls back into lashing out like a child. Not being able to see the consequences of her actions. She’s impulsive, while her ego requires her to feel invincible. And still, there’s something about curly-haired women in their early 40’s, that throws her completely out of balance. And she can’t deal with her emotions..
As we have gotten to know and love her, she is a twisted personality. She can show every personality trait that we can sympathise with. From funny, to warm, vulnerable, but also strong and frightening. And whenever you look at her, you can’T tell what’s on her mind. Is she gonna kiss you or kill you? That makes the show very exciting.
As said in the last episode of season 3, she can make people change to their worst. She is the reason why Eve unlocked her inner monster and changed from that self-doubt person who carried so much guilt and said sorry for everything to becoming a person who slowly loses her moral path.
The beauty of the show is, as it seems, that maybe one day Eve and Villanelle will be at the same level. Eve seems to become darker and lose her sense of justice and morality, while Villanelle walks on the path of redemption – which was only possible through Eve. And maybe, one day, Villanelle will have changed so much for the better, that she can lead Eve back on the path of redemption. That would be a great twist and sign of character development.
Parul: If we take our toolkit out and start to analyze this character and use categories – how might we break up Villanelle’s character?
Randall: You and I have talked about this on a couple of different other mediums, the anti-villain and the antihero. And I think we both agree that Villanova falls into the antihero a bucket, basically because she’s not your traditional black and white anti-villain. She’s not completely evil because she is the person who’s falling her Eve. She has multiple opportunities to kill her, Carolyn. She’s not killing all these people that are hunting her. Uh, and she’s actually and others that are hunting her. She wants to get out as Mel said, she wants redemption.
Parul: We witness her vulnerability – her abnormal upbringing. And the beauty that Melanie talked about is actually something that you can’t help, but be drawn to if she was, you know, not so pretty if she didn’t look so angelic and wasn’t so charming, would she still be an anti-villain?
We also see how Villanelle’s love story gives her a chance for redemption.
Melanie: At the beginning of season three, she had to live with the fact that Eve might be dead. She didn’t know if Eve had survived. At the end of season two, Villanelle shot Eve because she was not ready to let Eve walk away, but in season three, Villanelle turned around, told Eve to turn around as well and let her walk away. That’s proof of love.
Parul: I love the integration of love and thriller, you know we have been quite critical of season three, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s still a memorable series that people will be talking about for years to come. Villanelle is a character that we will be referencing for a long while.
A look at the inciting incidents across all three Seasons. How do they compare?
Summary of our thoughts on the inciting incidents across the three seasons
If it’s a thriller, they all start in debt. So that’s a good start for any thriller.
Season 1: Should Eve, now sacked, go to Paris, confront Villanelle and risk her life? Or does she return to London
Season 2: Should Eve save Villanelle from Raymond by killing?
Season 3: (Multiple characters have crisis questions – whose should we follow?)
Summary of thoughts on the crisis points
Join us when we talk about the series OZARK.
Posted on June 26, 2020 by Randy
I just completed an editing session last weekend with a new client. Her name is Briauna and she started a podcast called Teaching Myself to Write Novels. She decided to put some of our recorded session on her podcast, so if you are interested to see how I work with authors, here is a recorded live session.
Briauna does about a 5 minute introduction and then the recording of our session starts. We spoke for a little over two hours, but she edited it down to about 30 minutes. We cover the first part of the book pretty thoroughly, but the middle and ending of the book are mostly cut out (probably because she didn’t want to ruin the ending for her potential readers).
Here is the Google Podcast Link:
The purpose of this session was to help iron out the 15 core scenes of her book which is Story Grid lingo are the 5 commandments of the three acts, what we call the spine of the story:
Act 1 – Beginning Hook
Act 2 – Middle Build
Act 3 – Ending Payoff
Let me know if you have any questions about my method!
Posted on June 7, 2020 by Randy
In two weeks (June 19, 2002), we’ll have a summary episode where we talk about the six core questions and release our foolscap.
Reminder: Please watch the TV-Series Killing Eve Season 3 Episode 8 before you listen to the following episode. We not only give away spoilers, but we talk about the global story, and it’s just more valuable for you if you know what we are talking about because we reference a lot.
Mel – Seems like the biggest crisis, and the highest stakes were neither for Villanelle nor Eve, but for Konstantin in this final episode, while Eve and Villanelle were only bystanders. If I wouldn’t love the character of Konstantin that much, the episode would have been lots more disappointing.
Parul – 50% thriller, 30% love, 20% morality
Randy – Finally.
Read MoreAfghanistan 2002.
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© 2020 Randall R. Surles