Weave My Tale

A Collaborative Storytelling Experience

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"Showdown in the Desert" ... Scene 6, The Preachers Son

“Showdown in the Desert” … Scene 6, The Preachers Son

SCENE DEVELOPMENT Note about Sequel: This follows Scene 4 (“Sequels” follow “Scenes”) POV:  Omniscient Scene or Sequel: Sequel

Sequel’s Place in Character Arc:In the previous scene the Preacher prays that God help his friend Abel, which is motivated by the fact their relationship has greatly deteriorated. This sequel is about the reaction that occurs when the men see each other again for the…

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"Singing to the Stars" ... Scene 5, The Preachers Son

“Singing to the Stars” … Scene 5, The Preachers Son

SCENE DEVELOPMENT Note about Sequel: This follows Scene 4 (“Sequels” follow “Scenes”) POV:  Omniscient Scene or Sequel: Sequel

Sequel’s Place in Character Arc:In the previous scene the Preacher prays that God help his friend Abel, which is motivated by the fact their relationship has greatly deteriorated. This sequel is about the reaction that occurs when the men see each other again for the…

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"At the Table" ... Scene 4, The Preachers Son

“At the Table” … Scene 4, The Preachers Son

SCENE DEVELOPMENT Note about Scene: A Character Scene (a scene that establishes character) POV:  Omniscient Scene or Sequel: Scene

Scene’s Place in Character Arc:This scene is simple. It’s intention is to establish the age-old pattern than happens over and over–children mimicking their parents so they can be like them. Eli wants to be like his father. He wants to be good at praying like his…

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"The Fight for Peace" ... Scene 3, The Preachers Son

“The Fight for Peace” … Scene 3, The Preachers Son

SCENE DEVELOPMENT Note about Scene: A reactionary Scene (“Sequel”) to the action in Scene 2. POV:  Omniscient Scene or Sequel: Sequel

Sequel’s Place in Character Arc:  In this sequel the Preacher has gone to the home of his friend Abel Bronson to console Abel over his loss of wife and unborn child. The Preacher gets more than he bargained for when Abel launches into him for not providing…

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"Sacrifice is Everything" ... Scene 2, The Preachers Son

“Sacrifice is Everything” … Scene 2, The Preachers Son

SCENE DEVELOPMENT

Note about Scene: This is where the story begins chronologically. In this scene Eli is five years old.

Original Idea:  Living for peace requires self-sacrifice Theme:  Living for peace requires serving others needs for peace

POV:  Omniscient

Scene or Sequel:  Scene Scenes Place in Character Arc:  This scene is at the very beginning of the story. It starts halfway through a funeral…

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"Killing He Who Raised Me" ... Scene 1(Rewrite), The Preachers Son

“Killing He Who Raised Me” … Scene 1(Rewrite), The Preachers Son

SCENE ONE

Note about Scene: This first scene is actually the last scene of the story. The Hero, Eli, is eighteen. In the next scene he will be five.

Setting: 1884, Utah, South Eastern desert near Robber’s Roost. Adobe fort occupied by Abel Bronson and his gang. Night. Description of Originating World: Desert region in what would later become Utah, being settled by Joseph Smith, founder of the…

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"Teach Me to Shoot" ... Scene 30, The Preachers Son

“Teach Me to Shoot” … Scene 30, The Preachers Son

SCENE THIRTY

PREMISE:  LIVING FOR PEACE REQUIRES SELF-SACRIFICE

POV: MORMON PREACHERS SON, TRUSTIN

SETTING: THE MORMON PREACHERS HOME, NIGHT

SCENE or SEQUEL:  SCENE

GOAL:  Trustin busts through the door to his house and awakes Eli and Rebecca. Trustin is holding a gun, pointed towards the ceiling. Eli is still laying in bed and Rebecca is asleep in a chair nearby. Trustin wants Eli to teach him…

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"Beginning of a Prophecy" ... Scene 29, The Preachers Son

“Beginning of a Prophecy” … Scene 29, The Preachers Son

SCENE TWENTY NINE

PREMISE:  LIVING FOR PEACE REQUIRES SELF-SACRIFICE

POV: MORMON PREACHERS SON, TRUSTIN

SETTING: THE MORMON VILLAGE, NIGHT

SCENE or SEQUEL:  SEQUEL

REACTION:  Trustin sits outside next to a fire. Rebecca approaches and sits near the fire as well. Trustin is quiet, still angry that one of the men responsible for his father’s death is laying in his father’s bed. Rebecca asks him if…

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"The Secret of the Silver Mine" ... Scene 28, The Preachers Son

“The Secret of the Silver Mine” … Scene 28, The Preachers Son

SCENE TWENTY EIGHT

PREMISE:  LIVING FOR PEACE REQUIRES SELF-SACRIFICE

POV: MORMON PREACHERS SON, TRUSTIN

SETTING: THE SILVER MINE

SCENE or SEQUEL:  SCENE

GOAL:  To gather some of the silver to send up north to the main Mormon settlement.

CONFLICT:  Trustin thinks he hears something outside the entrance to the silver mine, so he sets down the silver he has gathered and covers it with dirt.

DISASTE…

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Star Wars: Episode One & Conflict-Growth Theory

Star Wars: Episode One & Conflict-Growth Theory

This analysis is based upon my Conflict-Growth Theory of Storytelling.

Star Wars Episode One is what I call a power story, because the characters in these types of stories are trying to figure out how to gain and control power. There is little character growth in power stories, except for how the characters deal with power. Another power story is Lord of the Rings.

The conflict in a power story…

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"A Life of Scars" ... Scene 27, The Preachers Son

“A Life of Scars” … Scene 27, The Preachers Son

SCENE TWENTY SEVEN

PREMISE:  LIVING FOR PEACE REQUIRES SELF-SACRIFICE

POV: MORMON PREACHERS DAUGHTER, REBECCA

SETTING: MORMON PREACHERS HOME

SCENE or SEQUEL:  SCENE

GOAL:  To redress Eli’s gunshot wound

CONFLICT:  When she asks Eli to roll to his side she sees that this is not the first time he has been shot. His back is littered with scars.

DISASTER: She is shocked by the trauma that he must…

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Exploring the Setting

In order to put your characters into your scenes, you might first want to try putting yourself into your scenes. See if you can taste, smell, swallow, sweat, hear, shudder, itch, gasp, shake and relax inside your scenes. Don’t worry about your answers being right. Just feel it. Go with the first thought or sensation that comes to you and let it wash over you, and then move on. When you’re ready…

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A Hero in Four Acts

A Hero in Four Acts

In every story there are essentially four Acts a hero goes through: Introduction of Problem, Searching for Answers, Fighting Back, and Sacrificing for Others. You will also hear this referred to as Intro, Hero as Wanderer, Hero as Warrior, Hero as Martyr.

Break your story down into these four Acts. Consider the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual states of your Hero in each act. Below are…

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Character Questionnaire Expanded

  Below is an expanded character questionnaire that can be used to dig into your characters while writing your novel or screenplay. Most questionnaires are much shorter than this only focusing on external or surface level details about a character, with the idea that you are supposed to glean the rest of the information about your characters from that. I find this to be a naive assessment of…

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Stanley Steisel Falls in Love

Stanley Steisel Falls in Love

Stanley Steisel is a 50 year-old Jewish man who lives and works in Manhattan, as an actuary, and has never fallen in love. Well he fell in love once, but it was so long ago that he can’t remember how it happened. He is balding, overweight, entirely negative about the world and most of the people in it, including himself, and despite this fact he has an overwhelming number of friends who want to…

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"My New Eli" ... Scene 26, The Preachers Son

“My New Eli” … Scene 26, The Preachers Son

SCENE TWENTY SIX

PREMISE:  LIVING FOR PEACE ENDS IN SELF-SACRIFICE

POV: ABEL BRONSON

SETTING: ABEL’S FORT

SCENE or SEQUEL:  SCENE

GOAL:  Abel takes his son out into the desert to teach him how to shoot. The  entire fort is watching.

CONFLICT:  His mother comes outside yelling at Abel to stop this. She doesn’t want her son to turn into Abel. Abel tells his men to hold her back. (Later she lets Eli…

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"The Wise Mormon" ... Scene 25, The Preachers Son

“The Wise Mormon” … Scene 25, The Preachers Son

SCENE TWENTY FIVE

PREMISE:  LIVING FOR PEACE ENDS IN SELF-SACRIFICE

POV: THE PREACHERS DAUGHTER

SETTING: MORMON PREACHER’S HOME

SCENE or SEQUEL:  SEQUEL

REACTION:  It’s nighttime. The Mormon Preacher’s daughter continues to take care of Eli who is now awake. He is in better shape. She feeds him broth and dresses his wound. She is angry at him. She says very little.

DILEMMA: Eli asks her why she…

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