Objective:
1. The killer
- The answer
- A loved one
- Revenge
Eg It happened one night :
Clarke Gable and Claudette C both want something
They need to work together to get what they both want
2. To get away from something
- The past
- Self
Confrontation:
~ a plot is two dogs and one bone
Robert Newton Peck
The Opposition character
- stronger than thee lead
- Three dimensional
- Justified (might only be to themselves)
- Sympathetic (at least to you)
- Powerful and charming
Dean Koontz:
The best villains are those who evoke pity and sometimes even genuine sympathy as well as terror. Think of the pathetic aspect of the Frankenstein monster. Think of the poor werewolf, hating what he becomes in the light of the full moon, but incapable of resisting the lycanthrope tides in his own cells.
Knock-out endings:
” your first chapter sells your book. Your last chapter sells your next book
~ Mickey Spillane
Romancing the stone
- Joan is in tears over her own writing
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader ”
~ Robert Frost:
Final battle
Outside: will the character defeat the opponents?
Inside: will the character make the right choice
Will he/she find the courage to sacrifice?
Most famous ending of all time: Casablanca
Anti-hero:
- Rick is there because he was betrayed by Ilsa (in his mind)
- Ilsa walks in with Viktor Laslo
- Shenannigans over Letters of Transit (no such thing, as a writer make it up if you need to)
- The ending is ambiguous until Rick tells Louis Viktor and Ilsa are leaving on the plane
Sacrifices what he wants / love:
- Rick can finally get everything he wants, has wanted for years. And he gives it up for the greater good
Self sacrifice:
- Then he shoots the Nazi major in front of the police captain – sacrifices his life
Moral reward:
- Comes back into the community
- Has new bff – Louis, police captain
- Backdrop is lights that look like stars – symbolism of Rick`s `resurrection`