Introduction to Seven Pre-event Assignments 

The below seven assignments are vital to reaching an understanding of specific and critical core elements that go into the creation of a commercially viable genre novel or narrative non-fiction. Of course, there is more to it than this, as you will see, but here we have a good primer that assures we're literally all on the same page before the event begins.

You may return here as many times as you need to edit your topic post (login and click "edit"). Pay special attention to antagonists, setting, conflict and core wound hooks.

And btw, quiet novels do not sell. Keep that in mind and be aggressive with your work.

Michael Neff

Algonkian Conference Director

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR POSTING

Several Algonkian groups utilize this forum. After you've registered and logged in, create your reply to this topic (button top right). Please post only one reply for all of your responses so the forum topic will not become cluttered. Your reply post, submitted by clicking on the "Edit Topic" button, will appear on the last page of this thread.  And one last thing, we suggest typing up your reply to the seven assignments in a separate text file then copying it over to your post before submitting. Not a good idea to lose what you've done.

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THE ACT OF STORY STATEMENT

Before you begin to consider or rewrite your story premise, you must develop a simple "story statement." In other words, what's the mission of your protagonist? The goal? What must be done?

What must this person create? Save? Restore? Accomplish? Defeat?... Defy the dictator of the city and her bury brother’s body (ANTIGONE)? Struggle for control over the asylum (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST)? Do whatever it takes to recover lost love (THE GREAT GATSBY)? Save the farm and live to tell the story (COLD MOUNTAIN)? Find the wizard and a way home to Kansas (WIZARD OF OZ)? Note that all of these are books with strong antagonists who drive the plot line (see also "Core Wounds and Conflict Lines" below).

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: write your story statement. 

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THE ANTAGONIST PLOTS THE POINT

(Photo : Javert from "Les Misérables")

What are the odds of you having your manuscript published if the overall story and narrative fail to meet publisher demands for sufficient suspense, character concern, and conflict? Answer: none. You might therefore ask, what major factor makes for a quiet and dull manuscript brimming with insipid characters and a story that cascades from chapter to chapter with tens of thousands of words, all of them combining irresistibly to produce an audible thudding sound in the mind like a mallet hitting a side of cold beef? Answer: the unwillingness or inability of the writer to create a suitable antagonist who stirs and spices the plot hash.

Let's make it clear what we're talking about.

By "antagonist" we specifically refer to an actual fictional character, an embodiment of certain traits and motivations who plays a significant role in catalyzing and energizing plot line(s), or at bare minimum, in assisting to evolve the protagonist's character arc (and by default the story itself) by igniting complication(s) the protagonist, and possibly other characters, must face and solve (or fail to solve).

CONTINUE READING ENTIRE ARTICLE AT NWOE THEN RETURN HERE.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: in 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. Keep in mind their goals, their background, and the ways they react to the world about them.

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CONJURING YOUR BREAKOUT TITLE

What is your breakout title? How important is a great title before you even become published? Very important! Quite often, agents and editors will get a feel for a work and even sense the marketing potential just from a title. A title has the ability to attract and condition the reader's attention. It can be magical or thud like a bag of wet chalk, so choose carefully. A poor title sends the clear message that what comes after will also be of poor quality.

Go to Amazon.Com and research a good share of titles in your genre, come up with options, write them down and let them simmer for at least 24 hours. Consider character or place names, settings, or a "label" that describes a major character, like THE ENGLISH PATIENT or THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST. Consider also images, objects, or metaphors in the novel that might help create a title, or perhaps a quotation from another source (poetry, the Bible, etc.) that thematically represents your story. Or how about a title that summarizes the whole story: THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, etc.

Keep in mind that the difference between a mediocre title and a great title is the difference between THE DEAD GIRL'S SKELETON and THE LOVELY BONES, between TIME TO LOVE THAT CHOLERA and LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA between STRANGERS FROM WITHIN (Golding's original title) and LORD OF THE FLIES, between BEING LIGHT AND UNBEARABLE and THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING.

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: create a breakout title (list several options, not more than three, and revisit to edit as needed).

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DECIDING YOUR GENRE AND APPROACHING COMPARABLES

Did you know that a high percentage of new novel writers don't fully understand their genre, much less comprehend comparables? When informing professionals about the nuances of your novel, whether by query letter or oral pitch, you must know your genre first, and provide smart comparables second. In other words, you need to transcend just a simple statement of genre (literary, mystery, thriller, romance, science fiction, etc.) by identifying and relating your novel more specifically to each publisher's or agent's area of expertise, and you accomplish this by wisely comparing your novel to contemporary published novels they will most likely recognize and appreciate--and it usually doesn't take more than two good comps to make your point.

Agents and publishing house editors always want to know the comps. There is more than one reason for this. First, it helps them understand your readership, and thus how to position your work for the market. Secondly, it demonstrates up front that you are a professional who understands your contemporary market, not just the classics. Very important! And finally, it serves as a tool to enable them to pitch your novel to the decision-makers in the business.

Most likely you will need to research your comps. If you're not sure how to begin, go to Amazon.Com, type in the title of a novel you believe very similar to yours, choose it, then scroll down the page to see Amazon's list of "Readers Also Bought This" and begin your search that way. Keep in mind that before you begin, you should know enough about your own novel to make the comparison in the first place!

By the way, beware of using comparables by overly popular and classic authors. If you compare your work to classic authors like H.G. Wells and Gabriel Marquez in the same breath you will risk being declared insane. If you compare your work to huge contemporary authors like Nick Hornby or Jodi Picoult or Nora Ephron or Dan Brown or J.K. Rowling, and so forth, you will not be laughed at, but you will also not be taken seriously since thousands of others compare their work to the same writers. Best to use two rising stars in your genre. If you can't do this, use only one classic or popular author and combine with a rising star. Choose carefully!

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: - Read this NWOE article on comparables then return here.

- Develop two smart comparables for your novel. This is a good opportunity to immerse yourself in your chosen genre. Who compares to you? And why?

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CORE WOUND AND THE PRIMARY CONFLICT 

Conflict, tension, complication, drama--all basically related, and all going a long way to keeping the reader's eyes fixated on your story. These days, serving up a big manuscript of quiet is a sure path to damnation. You need tension on the page at all times, and the best way to accomplish this is to create conflict and complications in the plot and narrative. Consider "conflict" divided into three parts, all of which you MUST have present in the novel. First part, the primary dramatic conflict which drives through the work from beginning to end, from first major plot point to final reversal, and finally resolving with an important climax. Next, secondary conflicts or complications that take various social forms - anything from a vigorous love subplot to family issues to turmoil with fellow characters. Finally, those various inner conflicts and core wounds all important characters must endure and resolve as the story moves forward.

But now, back to the PRIMARY DRAMATIC CONFLICT. If you've taken care to consider your story description and your hook line, you should be able to identify your main conflict(s). Let's look at some basic information regarding the history of conflict in storytelling. Conflict was first described in ancient Greek literature as the agon, or central contest in tragedy. According to Aristotle, in order to hold the interest, the hero must have a single conflict. The agon, or act of conflict, involves the protagonist (the "first fighter" or "hero") and the antagonist corresponding to the villain (whatever form that takes). The outcome of the contest cannot be known in advance, and, according to later drama critics such as Plutarch, the hero's struggle should be ennobling. Is that always true these days? Not always, but let's move on.

Even in contemporary, non-dramatic literature, critics have observed that the agon is the central unit of the plot. The easier it is for the protagonist to triumph, the less value there is in the drama. In internal and external conflict alike, the antagonist must act upon the protagonist and must seem at first to overmatch him or her. The above defines classic drama that creates conflict with real stakes. You see it everywhere, to one degree or another, from classic contemporary westerns like THE SAVAGE BREED to a time-tested novel as literary as THE GREAT GATSBY. And of course, you need to have conflict or complications in nonfiction also, in some form, or you have a story that is too quiet.

For examples let's return to the story descriptions and create some HOOK LINES. Let's don't forget to consider the "core wound" of the protagonist. Please read this article at NWOE then return here.

• The Hand of Fatima by Ildefonso Falcones
• A young Moor torn between Islam and Christianity, scorned and tormented by both, struggles to bridge the two faiths by seeking common ground in the very nature of God.
• Summer's Sisters by Judy Blume
• After sharing a magical summer with a friend, a young woman must confront her friend's betrayal of her with the man she loved.
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
• As an apprentice mage seeks revenge on an elder magician who humiliated him, he unleashes a powerful Djinn who joins the mage to confront a danger that threatens their entire world.

Note that it is fairly easy to ascertain the stakes in each case above: a young woman's love and friendship, the entire world, and harmony between opposed religions. If you cannot make the stakes clear, the odds are you don't have any. Also, is the core wound obvious or implied?

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: write your own hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound following the format above. Though you may not have one now, keep in mind this is a great developmental tool. In other words, you best begin focusing on this if you're serious about commercial publication.

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OTHER MATTERS OF CONFLICT: TWO MORE LEVELS

As noted above, consider "conflict" divided into three parts, all of which you should ideally have present. First, the primary conflict which drives through the core of the work from beginning to end and which zeniths with an important climax (falling action and denouement to follow). Next, secondary conflicts or complications which can take various social forms (anything from a vigorous love subplot to family issues to turmoil with fellow characters). Finally, those inner conflicts the major characters must endure and resolve. You must note the inner personal conflicts elsewhere in this profile, but make certain to note any important interpersonal conflicts within this particular category."

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out the conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have. Why will they feel in turmoil? Conflicted? Anxious? Sketch out one hypothetical scenario in the story wherein this would be the case--consider the trigger and the reaction.

Next, likewise sketch a hypothetical scenario for the "secondary conflict" involving the social environment. Will this involve family? Friends? Associates? What is the nature of it?

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THE INCREDIBLE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING

When considering your novel, whether taking place in a contemporary urban world or on a distant magical planet in Andromeda, you must first sketch the best overall setting and sub-settings for your story. Consider: the more unique and intriguing (or quirky) your setting, the more easily you're able to create energetic scenes, narrative, and overall story. A great setting maximizes opportunities for interesting characters, circumstances, and complications, and therefore makes your writing life so much easier. Imagination is truly your best friend when it comes to writing competitive fiction, and nothing provides a stronger foundation than a great setting. One of the best selling contemporary novels, THE HUNGER GAMES, is driven by the circumstances of the setting, and the characters are a product of that unique environment, the plot also.

But even if you're not writing SF/F, the choice of setting is just as important, perhaps even more so. If you must place your upmarket story in a sleepy little town in Maine winter, then choose a setting within that town that maximizes opportunities for verve and conflict, for example, a bed and breakfast stocked to the ceiling with odd characters who combine to create comical, suspenseful, dangerous or difficult complications or subplot reversals that the bewildered and sympathetic protagonist must endure and resolve while he or she is perhaps engaged in a bigger plot line: restarting an old love affair, reuniting with a family member, starting a new business, etc. And don't forget that non-gratuitous sex goes a long way, especially for American readers.

CONTINUE TO READ THIS ARTICLE THEN RETURN.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT: sketch out your setting in detail. What makes it interesting enough, scene by scene, to allow for uniqueness and cinema in your narrative and story? Please don't simply repeat what you already have which may well be too quiet. You can change it. That's why you're here! Start now. Imagination is your best friend, and be aggressive with it.

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Below are several links to part of an article or whole articles that we feel are the most valuable for memoir writers.

We have reviewed these and agree 110%.

MEMOIR WRITING - CHOOSE A SPECIFIC EVENT (good general primer)

MEMOIR MUST INCLUDE TRANSCENDENCE

WRITE IT LIKE A NOVEL

MEMOIR ANECDOTES - HOW TO MAKE THEM SHINE

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From the Wild Country

A Historical Novel by Sara Whitford

1. Set in late 18th century Ireland and narrated by Anne Burke, one of the first authors of Gothic fiction, From the Wild Country tells the coming-of-age story of Mary Anne, the daughter of the notorious duelist George ‘Fighting” Fitzgerald, and how she risks everything in her relentless pursuit of love, independence, and adventure. 

2. Patrick McDonnell is the local magistrate and lawyer of George Fitzgerald, the elder, Mary Anne’s grandfather. His moral compass is based on business, not feelings. He cares about the price of things but doesn't see the value unless it lines his pockets.

His goal is to be comfortable and satisfied with power, money, and land, which is spurred on by his constant fear of scarcity. His greed is also his curse, for he feels that his wealth will never be enough, and as such, he is constantly worried about finances. Like the European dragon chained to his piles of treasure and guarding it evermore, he will never be free. 

True love is unthinkable for McDonnell and he only becomes engaged to Mary Anne, Fitzgerald's daughter, to secure an alliance with her father. Although he finds her attractive, he believes this marriage of convenience will prove profitable and advantageous for his business endeavors. 

He follows the law but in dubious ways, using loopholes at the expense of vulnerable people that he can lawfully steal from. Hidden behind rigid social norms and etiquette from a lifetime of aristocratic social functions, he hides a violent streak buried deep within.

3. County Sligo  - A reference to the wild grasslands of West Ireland and how it inspires Anne Burke to write one of the first Gothic fiction novels. 

The Duelist’s Daughter - Evokes the historical traditions of dueling and sword fighting in 18th-century Ireland. 

A Schooling in Scandal  - A reference to the playwright Richard B. Sheridan’s hit play at Drury Lane Theatre and his forbidden love affair with Mary Anne. 

 

4.  

The Abduction of Anne O’Donel by Paul B. McNulty 

Set in 18th-century Ireland, this historical fiction novel explores similar Gothic themes such as the patriarchal betrayal, manipulation, and abduction of a young woman fighting for independence. Similar to Mary Anne, the protagonist of my novel, From the Wild Country, Anne O’Donel is an heiress pressured by her father to marry for convenience, not love. 

The Rebels by Matthias McDonnell 

This historical fiction novel focuses on the events of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and is interwoven with romantic elements. My novel also includes a narrative heavily interwoven with historical events involving the notorious dualist George ‘Fighting Fitzgerald, along with Thomas Gainsborough, the famous portrait artist, Elizabeth Linley, the soprano from Bath, and the influential playwright and fencing master Richard B. Sheridan. 

 

5. 

Mary Anne, the teenage daughter of the infamous dualist George ‘Fighting’ Fitzgerald, must fight for independence when she is pressured into a marriage of convenience to a manipulative and conniving lawyer and magistrate. The marriage to Patrick McDonnell will forge an alliance that will save her father's estate from a bloody land dispute and violent faction gangs. Beating against the tides of the patriarchy while risking the ruin of her family estate, Mary Anne has the audacity to forge bold new paths rarely taken by young Irish women in the 18th century. She risks everything as she pursues true love and independence with a string of forbidden romances and a burgeoning career as a landscape artist. Suddenly, her dreams are derailed when her lover becomes engaged to her best friend. Even worse, she discovers that she is pregnant and nearly dies from a miscarriage.

 

6a. 

Mary Anne has always felt neglected by her parents who are more interested in socializing with the cream of aristocratic society. Succumbing to jealous and petty impulses, Mary Anne purposely ruins her mother's party by tossing the invitations into the ocean. Shortly thereafter her mother dies unexpectedly from the pestilence. After her mother's tragic death, Mary Anne is overcome with guilt and loss. Reflecting on her mother's regrets and a life cut short, she takes action to seize the day and is determined to break free from her cold and domineering father. 

6b.  

The friendship between Mary Anne and Elizabeth Linley, the soprano from Bath, becomes complicated after the singer marries her lover Richard B. Sheridan, the playwright and owner of the famous Drury Lane Theater in London. When Elizabeth’s brother dies suddenly in a boating accident, Mary Anne visits her in Bath. Not only is she grief-stricken about the death of her brother, but also regarding her husband Mr. Sheridan, who is having an affair with a new theatre patron. Mary Anne nurses a grief-stricken Elizabeth back to health and in a shocking surprise, they fall in love and begin a forbidden love affair. 

Meanwhile, a vile nouveau riche woman and former brothel owner Mrs. Kilpatrick makes an unannounced visit to declare her patronage to the Linley family theatre in Bath. While she is at the estate, she sees Elizabeth and Mary Anne in an intimate embrace. She leaves immediately, threatening to shout the scandal from the rooftops. Once the scandal gets out, their livelihoods are at a grave risk. Elizabeth is so overcome with anxiety that she retreats to her quarters. Shortly thereafter, she succumbs to the pestilence that ravages her weak body. 
 

7. 

Dublin in the late 18th century 

At the start of the novel, Anne Burke, the Gothic author, must leave her home and travel west to Rockledge to work as a governess. Walking on Grafton Street, the main thoroughfare, and then along the River Liffey, Dublin was a chaotic mix of virtue and vice in the 18th century, with lowly brothels and casinos standing in the shadows of cathedrals and regal brownstones. On the steps of such grand places, dirty, barefoot children begged on the street while others worked the crowds and picked pockets. Dublin was a parish that displayed its sins like an open secret, a nasty wound that wouldn’t heal, oozing and festering in misery and squalor but with strong bones and a resilient body.  

 

Ben Bul Ben 

When Anne Burke travels from Dublin to County Sligo to work as a governess for George ‘Fighting’ Fitzgerald’s daughter, she passes through Ben Bul Ben. The crown jewel of West Ireland, the massive rock stands above the entire county, with an expansive view of the grasslands dotted with farmhouses, verdant sloping hills, and the misty ocean. After surviving a terrible hostage situation with cutthroats, Anne Burke’s morale is restored by the sweeping horizon, which reflects her renewed perspective of the endless possibilities in the new chapter of her life. 

A mighty glorious mountain, Ben Bul Ben is the heart of the Irish countryside, soaked in blood, tears, hope, and enchantment. Mr. Cawthorne, Anne Burke’s publisher, loves this rugged piece of earth, but like love, it is impossible to understand when you are beholding it. The land is the seed and bone and flesh of his soul. The altar of sages and saints, it is the breeding ground of wild notions and impossible dreams. A century later, Y.B. Yeats would rhapsodize about this mountain in his poem “Under Ben Bulben,” declaring that he be buried at the bottom of this jagged piece of rock upon his death. Higgins, their carriage driver, describes it more plainly, like God shat out a shamrock all over a giant rock. 

 

The Fitzgerald Estate in Rockledge

Most of the action in the book takes place at the estate in County Sligo, which is surrounded by a sprawling 30,000 acres of grasslands, flower fields, and native forests surrounding a large lake. Lord Fitzgerald would often marvel at the land, for its staggering beauty was well worth fighting to the death. The massive, foreboding mansion had countless rooms. An armed militia, about twenty men, are lined up guarding the estate, a foreshadowing of the battles and bloodshed to come. 

There is magic and abundance everywhere you look - a garden terrace with potted herbs, a vegetable garden, citrus, and pear trees. There are acres and acres of flower fields - rhododendrons and lilies. Walking further is the old-growth native oaks like holly and oak circling an expansive lake. 

 

London

Mary Anne and Anne Burke flee to the seat of the British Empire and stay with cousins. After learning about her lover’s engagement and her pregnancy, Mary Anne has gone missing. While Anne Burke searches for her, she experiences London for the first time. She references influential writers of the time such as Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe, who called the city a ‘great and monstrous thing.’ She also remarks about the new, polished sheen of London, a result of the widespread rebuilding just a century hence, after the Great Fire of 1666. 

 

Assignment #1 - Story Statement:

Alzheimer’s Unmasked is a memoir that chronicles a daughter’s journey through the slow, heartbreaking decline of her father’s mind, and the profound inner transformation it awakens in her. When her father is diagnosed, she steps into the role of caregiver, determined to preserve his dignity as Alzheimer’s strips away his memory and independence. But as the disease progresses, so too does her own unravelling. She must confront the emotional toll of grief, identity loss, and the quiet dismantling of the life she once knew. Yet, in the midst of sorrow, she uncovers unexpected moments of tenderness, laughter, and connection. Through the quiet power of presence and the courage to let go, she finds that love, when fully honoured, becomes not only a path through loss, but an opening into healing, meaning, and wholeness. What begins as a story of decline becomes an invitation to transformation. It becomes a testament to how meaning can emerge from even our darkest hours, and how caregiving, at its most honest, can shape us into someone braver, wiser, and more alive than we ever imagined.

 

Assignment #2 - Antagonistic Force:

The primary antagonistic force in Alzheimer’s Unmasked is Alzheimer’s disease itself, a relentless, progressive condition that slowly dismantles the narrator’s father’s memory, identity, and autonomy. It creates many challenges that shape the story throughout the timeline of this progressive disease. However, in keeping with the assignment’s request to identify a person specifically, the narrator’s mother functions as a secondary, situational antagonist.

Throughout the story, sometimes obviously and sometimes quietly, the mother’s goal is to care for her husband on her terms. She often reacts to her husband's Alzheimer’s decline by staying in motion, managing details, and avoiding deeper emotional reflection. While devoted and well-intentioned, her differing caregiving style occasionally clashes with the narrator’s more sensitive and emotionally attuned approach.

These moments of conflict are not necessarily central battles in the story, but serve as emotional crossroads and pivotal moments for the narrator. In a story where emotions run high and roles shift quickly, even subtle resistance sometimes significantly impacts the narrator’s journey. The mother, as the antagonist, serves less as a barrier and more as a mirror, highlighting the personal choices the narrator must make as she seeks healing, meaning, and peace in the face of slow and inevitable loss. 

 

Assignment #3 - Breakout Title:

1.     Alzheimer’s Unmasked: A daughter's story of love, loss and liberation

2.     What Remains: Alzheimer's changed my father - Remembering changed me

3.     The Space Between Us: Alzheimer's changed everything - So did I

 

Assignment #4 - Comparables:

1.     Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Written from the patient's point of view, this book offers an intimate and heartbreaking view into the internal world of cognitive decline, capturing the fear, disorientation, and gradual loss of identity caused by the disease. It is praised for its emotional depth and for helping readers and audiences understand Alzheimer’s through a clinically informed yet easily understood narrative.

While Still Alice portrays the experience of living with the disease, my memoir, Alzheimer’s Unmasked, approaches the subject from the opposite side, through the eyes of a caregiver. It is told from the perspective of a daughter watching the slow disappearance of her father, as she navigates the daily heartbreak and complexities of caring for someone with this disease.

While Genova’s novel helps people understand what is going on in the mind of someone with the disease, my memoir explores the emotional, physical, and internal transformations of those left to care for the fading person.

Alzheimer’s Unmasked offers a complementary narrative to Still Alice, expanding the conversation Genova started by showing how the disease reshapes not only the patient but also the lives and identities of those who care for them. It is a profoundly human story of devotion, surrender, and discovering purpose in the midst of grief and loss.

 2.     Slow Dancing with a Stranger by Meryl Comer

Told from Meryl Comer’s dual perspective as a wife and daughter of someone who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, this memoir blends personal storytelling and criticism of the health care system for failing her family. Her goal with this book was to share the emotional toll of caring for her husband and mother, who both suffered from this disease, but also to advocate for systemic change. She writes in a direct, no-nonsense way, with a strong sense of urgency that demonstrates how intense and overwhelming the experience of long-term caregiving was for her and her family.

In contrast, Alzheimer's Unmasked offers a more gentle, introspective, and emotionally intimate portrayal of caregiving, told exclusively from a daughter's perspective. While Slow Dancing with a Stranger centres around activism and systemic failure, Alzheimer’s Unmasked focuses on the internal journey of the caregiver and what caregiving teaches us about grief, surrender, and the quiet strength of the human spirit. Where Comer’s memoir pushes outward to demand change, my memoir turns inward to explore meaning.

 

Assignment #5 – Logline:

When her father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a devoted daughter steps into the role of caregiver, only to find her own life slowly unravelling alongside his. As his memory fades, she’s forced to confront everything she thought she understood about love, loss, and what it means to truly live.

Assignment #6

At the heart of Alzheimer’s Unmasked is the protagonist’s inner conflict between devotion and depletion, control and surrender, and the quiet fear that in caring for her father, she might lose herself in the process.

She longs to show up lovingly, patiently, and competently as her father fades into Alzheimer’s. But the emotional toll of watching him disappear, the constant role reversal, and the mounting responsibilities of caregiving stir an ongoing internal struggle. She feels guilty for needing space to tend to her own life, ashamed of her moments of irritation or emotional exhaustion with him, and caught between what she’s doing and what she believes she should be doing.

Her turmoil is magnified by the pressure of being everything for everyone: her father, daughter, and mother. She silently questions how long she can keep going without losing her sense of self. Beneath her steady caregiving exterior, she quietly unravels, trying to hold on to her identity, self-worth, and the belief that love will be enough, even when nothing else in her life seems certain.

 

Part 6B:

Mom’s eyes fill with tears. “Sarah, your dad has stage one lung cancer,” she says softly. I sit down, stunned. We had already agreed on compassionate care, no resuscitative measures, no invasive interventions. Just comfort care when the time came.

She continues, explaining the doctor’s recommendations, “They’re unsure about surgery due to your Dad’s Alzheimer’s, but they’ve mentioned radiation as an option”.

Then, standing at the foot of the bed, she looks at me and asks, “What do you think we should do?”

I freeze. Hadn’t we already made this decision months ago? Hadn’t we already agreed that when Dad’s body started to fail, we’d only agree to compassionate care and not choose to extend his suffering?

Now I’m questioning everything I thought had already been decided. Is it selfish of me to want to end his suffering sooner rather than later? Is it inhumanely cruel of me to want what ultimately equates to a death sentence?

Trigger:

When my mom suddenly reconsiders our mutual agreement of compassionate care, the first moment we're faced with the dilemma of having to choose between prolonging Dad’s suffering or letting him go peacefully.

Reaction:

The daughter is emotionally blindsided, conflicted, and internally torn. She feels betrayed by her mom, angry at this sudden shift in their existing agreement of what would be best for her father once his body begins to fail. She is now flooded with guilt, doubt, and shame. The unity she thought they had in this decision dissolves, leaving her to question her moral compass and emotional strength once again.

Social Environment Situation:

The protagonist’s emotional struggle within the family social environment, specifically her conflict with her mother over decision-making, power dynamics, and feeling disregarded and minimized in her caregiving role.

 

Assignment #7 -The Importance of Setting:

Primary setting: The hospital where Dad lived for the last eight months.

The hospital wasn’t cold in the way hospitals are often described, but it wasn’t warm either. Unit 52, where Dad lived, was built for holding people, not healing them. The walls were painted a dreary shade of beige, the lighting fluorescent and flat, and the hallways always smelled faintly of soiled diapers and discarded food. There were signs taped to every door, reminders for staff about the risks the patient who lived in the corresponding room was in danger of, such as fall risk, not resuscitating, pureed diet only, etc. Life was reduced to checklists here.

Dad’s room sat at the end of a long corridor, just past the nurses' station where alarms beeped constantly and nurses whispered confidential conversations. The window in his room faced the busy street below, where cars came and went, unaware of the slow unravelling of our lives just a few storeys above them.

It was a waiting room of sorts. A place where time moved differently as we waited for him to decline so significantly that he would eventually surrender to his disease, and die.

Second Primary setting: Home

The house was nothing extraordinary, just a typical family home filled with the rhythms of everyday life, until everything began to shift. It was where Dad started forgetting things, where conversations began to loop, and simple routines slowly became complicated. Subtle changes in the house mirrored the changes in him.

As Dad’s needs grew, the home environment evolved; furniture was moved, door locks were changed, and routines were rewritten. It was where we tried to keep things as normal as possible, even as nothing felt normal anymore. The house held love, but also tension. It offered comfort, but we were never at rest. Over time, it became less a place to enjoy our lives and more a place to manage them. And yet, despite the unwanted changes it endured, it remained the heart of our effort to make Dad feel safe.

Third setting: Dad’s Final Room

This room is a sacred space. It is quieter than the others, darker, and dense with the weight of anticipation. The air feels thick within these walls, as if the space here is holding its breath with us. This setting is where the story ends, and where another begins.

Ganbei.干杯

 

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Story Statement.

Orchestrate the collapse of the American empire to liberate the world from its dominance—without becoming the tyrant he aims to replace.

 

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: The Antagonist

Warren Steele is a dead man—but his ideology still runs the world. A three-term U.S. President turned autocrat, Steele’s policies of isolationism, economic warfare, and ultranationalism fractured global markets, emboldened domestic extremism, and triggered the global collapse that follows. To his followers, he was a savior. To the world, he was a tyrant with a smile.

Steele’s antagonist role is posthumous but potent—his shadow shapes the Global Economic Alliance’s justification for war, the martyrdom fueling American resistance, and the fractured psyche of President Wu. He catalyzes every major event in the novel. Even in death, Steele is a political gravity well: every character either serves, survives, or seeks to erase his legacy.

Steele didn’t believe he was evil. He believed he was necessary. That’s what makes him dangerous. His policies still poison nations, his face still adorns monuments, and his ghost still whispers in the ears of those in power. For Wu to win—he must confront Steele’s legacy without becoming him.

Steele isn’t just a man. He’s a philosophy of justified ruin—wrapped in a flag and sold as salvation.

 

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Breakout Titles.

Book 1: Ganbei
The detonation—America collapses under the weight of its own hubris, triggering a global reckoning. War ignites, alliances shift, and the ideological battle for the future begins.

Book 2: The Below World
The U.S. has been carved up—occupied by GEA nations, each with their own flag, their own rules, their own ambitions. But human nature is to want more. Cooperation gives way to ambition. Alliances fray. Borders blur. And when nations cross the lines they swore to respect, the Below World cracks open.

Book 3: Never Broken
The reclamation. Identity, legacy, and fractured nations converge in a final, defiant stand. Hope endures, but so does the cost of survival. Victory is no longer about dominance—but who we become after the fall.

 

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT:

Primary Genre: Near-Future Geopolitical Thriller

Secondary Genre: Political Speculative Fiction

Comps:

2034 by Elliot Ackerman & Admiral James Stavridis

Why?

Near-future setting grounded in realism: Both novels imagine a global war triggered by escalating U.S.-China tensions, based on real-world military strategy and diplomacy—not sci-fi tech or fantasy politics.

Multi-POV ensemble cast: 2034 and Ganbei share a global scope, moving between military officers, political leaders, and civilians on both sides of the conflict.

Moral ambiguity and strategic depth: In Ganbei, like 2034, no one is fully good or evil—just trapped in the logic of empire, loyalty, and survival. The tension comes not from plot twists, but from the inevitability of collapse.

 

Leave the World Behind (Rumaan Alam – for tone, not plot)

Why?

Psychological tension over spectacle: While Ganbei includes large-scale conflict, it shares Leave the World Behind’s eerie, escalating dread—the sense that something massive is unraveling, and no one can quite see the full picture.

Themes of collapse viewed through intimate, human moments: Ganbei balances geopolitics with personal, family-level suffering—like Billy and his daughters, or Chuck Brown’s final act. This echoes the claustrophobic, character-driven despair in Alam’s novel.

Exploration of powerlessness, disconnection, and denial: Both books examine how people behave when the world order breaks—and the terrifying quiet before the real chaos starts.

 

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT:

Hook line: As the United States collapses under its own weight, Chinese President Wu launches a global reckoning to liberate the world from American dominance—only to find that in conquering an empire, he risks becoming one.

Log Line: Public hangings. Native uprisings. A global collapse. Ganbei is the story of what happens when America finally breaks—and a new world order rises to claim what’s left.

Pitch Line: Set in a fractured near-future, where the world buckles under the weight of dictatorial President Steele’s ruthless policies. Ganbei is a dystopian political thriller that weaves Native uprisings, public hangings, and global power shifts into a guttural reimagining of America’s downfall— engineered by a Machiavellian Chinese strategist, and haunted by the return of voices the nation once refused to hear.

Conflict: Wu vs. America, then Wu vs. the unraveling of his own moral code as power consolidates.

Core wound: Wu was forged in the aftermath of economic exclusion and geopolitical subjugation. He watched China suffer under the arrogance of American supremacy and vowed never to let his nation be sidelined again. But now, with power in his grasp, he fears the cost of empire—and whether becoming history’s correction means repeating its sins.

Stakes: The global order—and whether a new empire will be any better than the one it replaced.

 

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT:

Inner Conflict: For all his strategy, for all the nations bent to his will, Wu is powerless to protect the one thing he truly loves—his nephew. The boy’s suffering reveals the lie at the heart of control: no matter how vast an empire, no one is immune from personal loss. Wu’s torment stems from this irreconcilable truth—he can dismantle America, redraw world borders, and still fail to shield what matters most.

Secondary Conflict Scenario – Wu Realizes He Is the Addict:

Minister Li delivers the daily briefings—troop movements, dissent suppression, supply lines. Wu listens but hears none of it. He’s staring at the jacaranda photograph on his wall, taken during a walk with de la Huerta in Jalisco. He remembers that day: the filtered light, the calm, the conversation.

“We’ve feared losing them the way an addict fears losing their supply,” de la Huerta had said, “even when they know it’s killing them.”

At the time, Wu thought de la Huerta was talking about the West.

Now he understands.

It wasn’t about policy. Or revenge. Or even legacy.

It was the control. The high of total mastery. The godlike thrill of bending the world to his design.

And he loved it.

Zhi Zi’s death didn’t stop him—it only clarified the truth. He is the addict. And the garden is gone.

But he can’t stop now.

He’s come too far.

 

FINAL ASSIGNMENT:

Primary Setting:

Before Movement Day, the world of Ganbei is a tightrope stretched over a pit of knives.

The United States—once the ballast of global order—has become an anchor around the world’s neck. Hollowed by isolationism, broken supply chains, street revolts, and a foreign policy built on spite. It no longer leads—it lurches. Under President Steele’s America-first crusade, NATO has collapsed, the UN is a corpse, and every treaty worth a damn has been torched. The dollar is in freefall. Trade has withered. Former allies look west and see only smoke. Some have already turned east.

And in that silence, the Global Economic Alliance rises—not with parades or manifestos, but with contracts, ports, pipelines, data hubs, and debt. Their weapon isn’t ideology. It’s infrastructure. Led by China, the GEA is pragmatic, methodical, and invisible—until it isn’t. While the U.S. slaps on tariffs and builds higher fences, the GEA builds the strongest coalition in human history.

Secondary Setting: Gallows

Thousands of miles away, the past had become the present again—only now it sold tickets. Fort Smith hadn’t seen gallows since the days of Judge Isaac Parker—the infamous “hanging judge” of the Old West—but you wouldn’t have known it. The old execution yard had been gutted and rebuilt like a modern-day amphitheater. Freshly poured concrete pathways. Tiered bleacher seating wrapped around the scaffold like a shrine. Big LED screens hung from towers like the eyes of God, promising no one would miss a single moment. The gallows themselves were new—state-of-the-art steel-reinforced timbers, a digital countdown clock mounted behind the trapdoor. And above it all, cameras. Dozens. Streaming live for pay-per-view.

Third Setting: Native America

Chief Flores’s office in Oklahoma was not modest. It was strategic. Every detail was chosen with care, from the handwoven Choctaw rug beneath the war table to the twin flags behind her desk—one the new crest of the sovereign Tribal Confederation, the other the old Stars and Stripes, folded behind glass, not out of nostalgia but as a warning.

Books lined one wall—real ones. Not curated for decoration, but worn at the spines from use. The Godfather sat near the center, held together by tape and memory, its pages soft from decades of reading and study. Beside it was Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, The Last Stand, and other volumes chronicling Native resistance in histories the polite world preferred to forget. A battered copy of The Prince rested on the shelf, annotated in red ink, its corners dog-eared from years of strategic obsession. From a speaker near the window, the slow, deliberate notes of Aria from Suite No. 3 in D Major floated through the room. Bach on classical guitar, calm and exact. A corkboard beside her desk was covered in pinned photos, printouts, notes, logistics chains—movement of grain, power, and people. Territory maps were stacked in layers. Pre-war. Post-war. Projected five years out.

.

 

 

 

RISE OF EVE:   

BY ALLISON HAWKINS 

LOGLINE OPTIONS:

STORY STATEMENT:

In a world made 99% female by Virus X, power has been rebuilt—by women, for women. Mistress Eve, sovereign of Andromeda Minor’s 17 Districts and the 10 Realms of the United Outer Realms, rules from the high-tech capital of New Alexandria. Under her reign, society thrives—clean energy powers every home, poverty is gone, and contribution is the only currency. 

But beneath this utopia, a darker truth festers.

The men who survived are chipped, enslaved, and confined to labor camps or breeding centers. In District 17, a forested frontier long abandoned by the state, a resistance forms. They call themselves Adamsons—men who reject captivity, evade capture, and are labeled terrorists by the governing Order. Among them, one appears—unmarked, defiant, and carrying the unthinkable: a cure.

Eve believes men are not terrorists, but the missing half of human balance. Yet not everyone agrees. The Mother of Eve, leader of the Daughters of the Coalition, demands democracy, open financial markets, and full control of the cure’s distribution. Pharmaceutical cartels, profiting from obedience and control, threaten open conflict if global trade remains sealed. Meanwhile, floods rise, fires rage, and the Earth begins to erase what humanity rebuilt.

As her monarchy teeters, Eve must navigate betrayal, climate collapse, and the ghosts of her own past. The Adamson’s arrival—and his hidden connection to Eve—forces her to confront whether preserving power is worth more than restoring freedom.

Rise of Eve is a gripping speculative novel about power, sacrifice, and what it means to heal a world that no longer remembers what it lost.

___________________________________________________

THE ANTAGONIST – MOTHER OF EVE

Marjorie Anson, former Mother of Eve and current Speaker of the House, leads the Daughters of the Coalition—a militant arm of the Right Order born from the Districts. Appointed by Eve the First to guide the Daughters of the Districts, Marjorie climbed the political ranks but never earned true acceptance. The Daughters of the Realms—the elite class of women with real power—never embraced her, and working under Eve the Second proved impossible as their ideologies sharply diverged.

Though she once held symbolic authority, Marjorie’s deepest humiliation lives in Eden, where the man she keeps for procreation does not love her. Even at the height of her influence, she is made to feel disposable.

After Tabitha’s death, Marjorie reclaims the title of Mother of Eve and launches a full campaign to dismantle the monarchy before it can erase her legacy. But Marjorie is more than a single threat—she is the voice of the Right Order, the belief system held by the majority of conservative women in the Districts, who see male freedom as a threat to peace, power, and survival itself.

Her base is largely comprised of Astra Selenes —  orphaned girls born deaf, infertile, and angry, raised in a world that taught them to blame men for the loss of their hearing, their families, and their futures. In their eyes, Marjorie is not just a leader—she is a redeemer.

Defeating Marjorie is not the final battle. If Eve removes her, a worse extremist may rise—someone with no ties to the monarchy, no history of compromise, no stake in peace. The real task is finding someone who can lead these women away from violence and vengeance—someone they'll never suspect, but will follow. 

___________________________________________________

COMPARABLES

1. The Power by Naomi Alderman

Similarity:
The Power explores a sudden shift in global gender dynamics, where women gain physical dominance over men. Similarly, Rise of Eve imagines a world where women seize—and sustain—political, economic, and ecological power after a virus nearly erases men from existence.

Comparison:
While The Power focuses on what women might do with newly acquired strength, often mirroring historical male abuses, Rise of Eve examines what women do after total control is already institutionalized. Eve’s struggle to return rights to men and manage environmental collapse sets the story apart, transforming it from an allegory about power to a meditation on restoration, reconciliation, and the cost of survival.

2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Similarity:
Both novels feature theocratic, dystopian societies where reproduction, control, and gender politics are central. Rise of Eve mirrors The Handmaid’s Tale in tone—introspective, literary, and centered on a woman navigating a regime built on bodily control and myth.

Comparison:
Where The Handmaid’s Tale follows a woman oppressed by a patriarchal order, Rise of Eve follows a woman burdened with sustaining a matriarchal one. Eve, unlike Offred, is in power—but her internal conflict, spiritual leadership, and love for men challenge the very system she’s meant to preserve. The power structure is flipped, but the emotional weight of resisting systemic inhumanity remains.

3. See (created by Steven Knight)

Similarity:
See imagines a post-apocalyptic world reshaped by biological catastrophe (blindness) where myth and survival intermingle, and power is distributed through tribal, matriarchal, and militarized lines. Rise of Eve is similar in setting—a fractured, climate-ravaged world ruled by adapted humans—and thematically connected through legacy, inheritance, and mythmaking.

 Primary Conflict:

Eve must distribute the cure for Virus X and restore equality to men, despite resistance from the women of the Districts and the growing threat of the Right Order, led by the Mother of Eve.

·  Conflict Trigger: A cure is discovered, and Eve believes men deserve freedom—but the majority of women, scarred by the past, see their return as a threat.

·  Antagonist: The Mother of Eve (Marjorie Anson), supported by the Daughters of the Coalition and a population of Astra Selenes (women orphaned by Virus X) who blame men for their infertility, hearing loss, and familial trauma.

·  Complications: The Right controls the military, pharmaceutical access, and key alliances in the Districts. Removing Marjorie risks destabilizing Eve’s rule, as her ideology is widespread.

·  Resolution: Eve unites with the Son of Adam and the Realms to safely distribute the cure, protect vulnerable factions, and install a new female leader—Susan—within the Daughters, offering a peaceful shift in leadership that disrupts extremism from within.

·  Example of a Scene Demonstrating This Struggle: The Mother of Eve aka The leader of the Daughters of the Coalition plot a terrorist attack on the meeting house where the Adamsons and controlled men of District 16 are meeting.  They murder 30 men meeting about the cure’s distribution and going over the wall into a free existence.  This scene let’s Eve know that there is a leak amongst her Inner Keep and that giving men rights may come at the cost of her monarchy. 

 Secondary Conflict (Social / Interpersonal):

Eve’s adopted daughter, Susan, leaves to join the Right Order—unaware of her royal lineage —leading Eve to risk losing her both personally and politically.

·  Conflict Trigger: Susan sees no future in Eve’s world and joins the Daughters of the Coalition under Marjorie’s influence.

·  Social Complication: Susan is secretly Eve’s adopted daughter and next in line for the throne—but her memories have been erased for her protection.

·  Tension: Eve allows her to leave, hoping she will discover the truth in time. Meanwhile, Susan grows disillusioned with the Right and begins subtly working against them.

·  Resolution: Susan’s memories return in Realm 9. She reclaims her identity, assumes control of the Daughters after Marjorie’s fall, and bridges the ideological divide between monarchy and democracy, securing peace and stability.

·  Example of a Scene Demonstrating this Struggle: As fires rage across District 16—set by rebelling men—Eve spends the night deploying the national guard to contain the chaos. Susan, who lives in District 16, sees firsthand that Eve is failing to protect her property aka husband and children. Disillusioned, she decides the only way to ensure their safety is to leave for a political position that will relocate them. While there was once a quiet plan for Susan to infiltrate the Right, this is something different—Susan is truly leaving Eve. She no longer trusts her to lead, to protect, or to hold men accountable. To her, Eve has become a hypocrite—keeping a man in District 1 while Susan and her family are left in a dangerous ghetto, with no alternatives. When Tabitha, a congresswoman for the Right, is killed in the meeting house fire, Marjorie offers Susan the open seat—with Eve’s reluctant approval. In that moment, Eve loses Susan not just politically, but personally, to the Right Order.

Tertiary (Inner) Conflict :
Eve’s deepest struggle is learning to trust again after her husband’s betrayal led to her mother’s death. Her core wound—believing she enabled the tragedy—makes her fear that restoring men’s freedom will destroy the world women rebuilt. When the Son of Adam enters her life, he challenges her fears by proving loyal, wise, and emotionally resilient. Though she chips and controls him at first, Eve slowly grants him trust—carrying his child, reuniting him with his long-lost sister Farah (formerly known as Susan), and walking beside him in public despite stigma. In the final scene, they stand united under the looming presence of Right Order’s oppressive Snake Codes. Eve vows to dismantle them and steps toward shared leadership—not because she’s healed, but because she knows Farah will one day carry the mission forward. For Eve and the Son of Adam, imperfect trust and mutual progress are enough—for now.

Setting:

Set in the year 2225, Rise of Eve unfolds in a post-apocalyptic world reshaped by Virus X—a deadly plague that left the planet 99% female. Civilization survives within Andromeda Minor, a vast territory of 17 Districts and the 10 diverse regions of the United Outer Realms. At its heart stands New Alexandria, a gleaming, fortified capital engineered to rise above the ever-encroaching sea. Here, Mistress Eve rules as monarch and high priestess, maintaining order through advanced technology, strict immunization protocols, and rigid social hierarchies.

New Alexandria is not only a technological marvel—it is also a battleground of politics and memory. Across the city, in the older half of District 1, the Old City still stands, battered but preserved behind levees and ancient drainage systems. Once the seat of Eve the First, it is now occupied by the Right Order, who have taken her mother’s former castle as their base of power. Though Eve refuses to live there, she continues to guard it—unable to abandon the place, yet unwilling to risk residing in a structure the sea threatens to reclaim. Her new capital rises proudly on the other side of the city, a symbol of what she has chosen to protect—and what she has allowed to fall.

The inner Districts—especially District 1—are sleek, wealthy, and conservative. Men are largely banned unless held under contract by elite women for breeding—an increasingly controversial and dying practice. In contrast, Districts 14 through 17 are more liberal and diverse. District 16, a walled city, is the only place where men may live and work within civilization—chipped, monitored, and allowed to serve as breeders, laborers, or Mars development workers. Still, the scars of past experimentation and exploitation run deep.

Beyond it lies District 17 and the Last Forest on Earth, where exiled men—known as Adamsons—have built an outlaw society. Their survival challenges the very foundation of everything the central government has taught its citizens to believe.

Further out lie the United Outer Realms: scattered, wild, and haunted by the remnants of a fallen world. Each Realm holds its own truth. There are the genetic sanctuaries of Realm 9, the militarized spiritual order of Realm 3, and Realm 8, now submerged underwater and central to a secret coral-based cure. Realm 7, known as Right Island, remains the last stronghold of slavery and Right Order extremism. These realms—some abandoned, others self-governed—contain the forgotten fragments of Eve’s past and the keys to humanity’s future.

Across this fractured world, climate catastrophe looms—raging fires, rising seas, and entire cities swallowed by water. As Eve balances her grip on power with a desire to create lasting change, her reign teeters between control and compassion, legacy and evolution. In the world of Rise of Eve, survival means adaptation—and leadership means knowing what to let go, and what must be saved at all costs.

 

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: write your story statement. 

 

I Might Be An Idiot (Based on True Events) follows my determined search for popularity as I maintain trails in Arizona following a suspension from my Private Arts Pennsylvania college. When things get worse it rocks understanding of faith, love, forces me to search for something deeper: the reason why all these bad things keep happening to me. At the end… well you know the conclusion. 

 

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: in 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. Keep in mind their goals, their background, and the ways they react to the world about them.

In the beginning, Rachel thinks her antagonist is her strong-willed mother. While her mother’s determined efforts to keep Rachel from ever getting what she wants are abrasive, they seem to stem from the mother’s want to keep Rachel safe. But definitely don’t keep her happy. However as Rachel matures, she comes to realize that her unhappiness stems somewhat from a medical-grade depression but mostly from herself. 

Rachel’s intrusive thoughts form a dialogue at points when Rachel feels anxious about being perceived. Rachel thinks negatively and struggles with eating disorders and alcoholism and constant thoughts of self doubt. She finds humor in it so it’s not like a downer or anything but, yeah, she gets a little sad.

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: create a breakout title (list several options, not more than three, and revisit to edit as needed).

I Might Be An Idiot

I Might Be An Idiot: Based on True Events

I Might Be An Idiot: A Memoir 

 

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: Develop two smart comparables for your novel. This is a good opportunity to immerse yourself in your chosen genre. Who compares to you? And why?

Holes by Louis Sachar - Light-hearted hero journey of juvenile delinquents doing manual labor in the desert

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail by Cheryl Strayed - Memoir of woman who resolves conflict with a series of flashbacks

 

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: write your own hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound following the format above. Though you may not have one now, keep in mind this is a great developmental tool. In other words, you best begin focusing on this if you're serious about commercial publication.

 

Core: College student gets suspended from college, searches for meaning of deeper trauma through flashbacks while making friends in the Ponderosa Forest.

 

Primary: College girl gets suspended, self-doubt follows her back to college, she gets pregnant, gives the baby up for adoption.

Secondary: A young girl’s search for popularity turns into questioning her sense of self, love, and religion as she experiences more horror than she ever imagined. 

 

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out the conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have. Why will they feel in turmoil? Conflicted? Anxious? Sketch out one hypothetical scenario in the story wherein this would be the case--consider the trigger and the reaction.

Next, likewise sketch a hypothetical scenario for the "secondary conflict" involving the social environment. Will this involve family? Friends? Associates? What is the nature of it?

6A. Inner Conflict

Trigger: It doesn’t really have a trigger. It’s always there. 

Reaction: Constant feelings of pain, sadness, self-doubt.

Ie, After a scene where Dad has forgiven me for missing a flight, I write;

 

Ughhhhhhhhhhhh

 

I have all of this adrenaline coursing through my body, I don’t know where to put it. If he’s not mad at me…

I’m surprised by a sinking feeling. 

If he doesn’t hate me…

The only person who would understand how much I hated myself was… me.

I’ve felt alone.

But never quite like this.

 

6B. Secondary Conflict - Rachel will struggle with trying to date out in Arizona, her mom’s going to always cause drama when she’s back at home, hippies are always around. 

Ie, scene where Rachel learns her crush has a girlfriend.

“Oh, you have a girlfriend?” Like a punch in the gut.

 

“Yeah, her name is Sophia. Wanna see her?”

 

“Yeah.” A beginners mistake.

 

He pulls out his phone, she’s his screensaver. Blonde. Thin.

 

“She’s beautiful.” And I mean it, but of course she is. 

 

I push down the knot I feel in my stomach. It was just a crush.

 

Diego points out to the rock, “Wanna try again?”

 

I take a big gulp of my water, nod, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

 

I walk back over, we try, the electricity has been zapped. This boulder is not moving. 

 

FINAL ASSIGNMENT: sketch out your setting in detail. What makes it interesting enough, scene by scene, to allow for uniqueness and cinema in your narrative and story? Please don't simply repeat what you already have which may well be too quiet. You can change it. That's why you're here! Start now. Imagination is your best friend, and be aggressive with it.

________________________

My story takes place mostly between New Jersey and Arizona (some scenes are set by the beach in Massachusetts and my college is in Pennsylvania) so there is some dramatic shifting between the east and west coast. 

 

My west coast scenes are orange and light blue to match the landscape, we’re mostly outdoors. There’s plenty of trees around. You can see farther away. The trees are spaced out in the Ponderosa forest, it’s a pine forest not desert like most people expect. It’s my first time out west, the landscape continuously surprises me. Like one hitch where my crew worked a burn area. When we started, there was only char over the red land, by the end of the eight days green lichen had started to spurt. It’s warm out but I’m surprised by the cold I feel at the end of the year.

 

There are some scenes overlooking the dark blue Atlantic Ocean in Northern Massachusetts that are happy. Most of the East Coast story takes place inside. It’s darker. Maybe cozy.

assignment 1 - story statement

Humor of Failing Alone offers Emily’s inside thoughts outside during critical turning points of her career, adventures, and relationships.

 

assignment 2 - antagonistic force

The primary antagonistic force is society norms: stable job, stable relationships, stable home, stable family. None of which Emily has.

 

assignment 3 - breakout title

1. Humor of Failing Alone

 

assignment 4 - comparable titles

1. I’m Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy

2. Trick Mirror - Jia Tolentino

 

assignment 5 – logline

Nothing in Emily’s quirky life is normal. So why start now?

 

assignment 6 - conflicts

Despite knowing the way Emily conducts her life isn’t exactly normal- single, unstable job, constant escape plans, estranged family- she can’t stop, despite any efforts to conform. But as she continues following her seemingly directionless intuition, Emily’s insecurity dissipates, acceptance accelerates, and understanding is achieved.

 

more conflicts

Trigger: Achieving career milestones with fleeting success, attending hyped events with unexpected endings, establishing relationships with dramatic endings, prioritizing family who has hurtful intentions.

Reaction: Why isn’t what I’m doing working? And especially not in the same way everyone else’s life seems to be working?

Social Environment Situation: Surrounded by curated success, yet never feeling like I’m part of it despite completely being part of it, and still feeling like I can see others while remaining unseen myself.

 

assignment 7 - settings

Primary setting:  Alone.

Second Primary setting: Alone at events/places.

Third setting: Alone with family.

The Cycle of Scars and Beauty

Part One: The Unbound Warrior, The White Spy & The Painted Architect

by Jess Veronique Olofsson

Context: Part One of my two part series, consists of three interconnected novels designed to be read in any order or tandem. Set during the same year across different kingdoms, each book follows a protagonist grappling with internal battles as the world edges toward war (in Part Two).

In these assignments I will generally focus on one of the books in Part One, The Unbound Warrior, however, occasionally I will reference the broader context where relevant.

Assignment 1: Story Statement (The Cycle of Scars and Beauty)

The Unbound Warrior: In a world where women are unworthy and wielders with mixed magical bloodlines are destined to madness, Vessia believes that earning status is the only way to finally belong. As war brews with the southern Brossian empire, Vessia battles her way into Svea’s elite military force and gains power. To save herself and her nation, Vessia must confront her fear of her fracturing mind, learn to trust others, and realize that true belonging can’t be earned through recognition alone.

The White Spy: Julian is a devout life-wielder who rose through the ranks of The’glas—a radical religious order—through obsessive discipline and a rigid belief in moral purity. When he’s recruited into its militant arm and sent to infiltrate a rebel network in Brossia’s trade capital of Romer, he expects to root out heresy. But as he’s forced to navigate a world where faith and corruption coexist on all sides, Julian must confront the limits of control, question the truths he was raised to believe, and learn that morality isn’t always clear—and that feeling isn’t failure.

The Painted Architect: Dominik, a prince exiled from the once-sovereign kingdom of Mazar for his magic and love of men, hides in the desert kingdom of Tell as a royal architect. Seen as beautiful but disposable, he survives by staying in the background. But when the Shaan, Tell’s magnetic and manipulative ruler, draws him into a web of court politics and lovers, and the Mazar rebels reach out for aid, Dominik must stop hiding behind others’ desires, reclaim his voice, and learn to believe he can lead—not by being chosen but by choosing himself.

 

Assignment 2: Antagonist Sketch (The Unbound Warrior)

Overview of Antagonistic Forces

Internal:

Vessia’s greatest struggle is her own volatility. She is impulsive, aggressive, and defensive, she keeps others at a distance and fears the onset of the “fracturing” madness associated with mixed-blood wielders.

External:

·        Jon and Jaan Sten twins (known antagonists and direct threats within her cohort)

·        Aarik Foldir (an external authority figure, but primarily an antagonist in Vessia’s perception, fueling internal conflict and mistrust)

·        The Rogue Eireer (Healer) faction: Silvana Tjorne, Sigrid, and Ulrik Tyresson (unknown to Vessia, these conspirators orchestrate sabotage and political destabilization)

Systemic:

·        Societal: Vessia is marginalized as a mixed-blood female in a military that deems both traits as liabilities

·        Political: Internal factionalism and looming foreign threats (The Iskin, The Brossian Empire) create a backdrop of instability

Priority antagonists

These forces drive Vessia’s central internal and external arcs, presented individually (sorry, ~200 words each, feel free to ignore one!)

Antagonist 1 (int arc): Aarik Foldir

Aarik Foldir, heir to the Svean throne and a Jordeer (earth wielder), is a rising leader within the Blóðsgardr. Desperate to prove himself to his father and to the realm, Aarik sets out to build a flawless, elite squad—one that reflects his belief in strength, composure, and control. He sees Vessia, a volatile, female mixed-wielder, as a threat to that ideal and puts her under intense scrutiny. Though not personally cruel, his pressure is strategic, rooted in a belief that emotion and instability are dangerous liabilities.

To Vessia, still reeling from social rejection and terrified of fracturing, Aarik becomes a symbol of everything that deems her unworthy. Her mistrust drives her to reckless decisions, including lashing out at allies and misreading his motives. Their early clashes are not passive—they're explosive, physical, and often dangerous. But as sabotage escalates around them, Aarik begins to question whether Vessia’s power is exactly what the Blóðsveit needs. Forced into close contact, their antagonism evolves into respect, and eventually trust. Through him, Vessia learns not to see enemies everywhere. Through her, Aarik learns that leadership requires vulnerability, not just control. Their relationship is the emotional backbone of her arc—oppositional, painful, transformative.

Antagonist 2 (ext arc): The Rogue Eireer Faction – Silvana Tjorne, Sigrid & Ulrik Tyresson

Silvana Tjorne, once a powerful Eireer (life wielder), fled Svea after being impregnated by King Torn Foldir. In exile, she raised her children Ulrik and Sigrid within the Brossian Empire, where she was recruited into a radical faction of The’glas. Their shared vision: dismantle the current power structure and establish a new doctrine across the continent where mixed wielders and death wielders rule.

Silvana becomes the High Healer of the Blóðsveit, planting herself within the heart of the kingdom she plans to bring down. Her children enter as recruits (posing as a couple) while secretly orchestrating sabotage designed to pit the Jordeer and Vaaneer (water wielders) bloodlines against each other and weaken the kingdom ahead of an Iskin invasion. Feared and respected even by senior commanders, Silvana is a bully cloaked in medical authority, calculating and merciless.

This faction's actions fuel the central external plot conflict while also driving Vessia’s emotional unraveling. Sigrid, one of Vessia’s closest confidants, is eventually revealed to be her greatest betrayer, responsible for sabotaging the Blóðsveit and murdering Vessia’s lover. The betrayal forces Vessia to confront her fear that trust always leads to ruin and to decide whether she’ll let herself harden, or hold on to what she’s learned about connection.

Assignment 3: Breakout Title Options (The Cycle of Scars and Beauty)

Series Title: The Cycle of Scars and Beauty

Signals fantasy through the “X of Y” form, while capturing idea of cycles of ruin and rebirth – relevant for both my emotional and political arcs.

Book Titles (Part One, Three Books): The Unbound Warrior, The White Spy, The Painted Architect

Captures the duality of character:

·        Unbound Warrior: discipline vs freedom

·        White Spy: purity vs espionage

·        Painted Architect: facade vs creator

Assignment 4: Comparables

My Primary Genre: Epic Fantasy (War & Political Intrigue)
My Secondary Genre: Emotional / Dark Fantasy (psychological depth, interpersonal betrayal)
My Target Audience: Adult readers of complex, character-driven epic fantasy

Comp Title for The Cycle of Scars and Beauty (series)

Series: A Song of Ice and Fire
Author: George R. R. Martin
Genre: Adult Epic Fantasy with Political Intrigue and Brutal Realism

They fit my series because they are large-scale epic fantasy series with multiple POV characters across warring kingdoms, where power struggles, politics, and ideology shape both interpersonal dynamics and global stakes. Martin’s series is known for its morally gray characters, layered conspiracies, and the constant tension between personal loyalty and systemic ambition.

My story is similar because it spans multiple nations approaching war, features intersecting character arcs across a single year, and explores how ideology, identity, and legacy collide within systems of power. Like A Song of Ice and Fire, it treats war not just as a backdrop, but as the outcome of long-simmering personal, cultural, and political fractures.

My story stands apart because it centers three protagonists—a warrior, a spy, and a prince—each leading their own standalone novel that can be read in any order. While the series spans empires, wars, and conspiracies, it remains deeply intimate, offering a character-driven lens into mental health, identity, and resilience. Each protagonist wrestles with internal battles (rage, repression, self-worth) that mirror real emotional struggles faced by modern readers! Rather than relying on fate or prophecy, the series explores how trauma, power, and belonging shape who we become—and how we choose to fight back.

Comp Title for The Unbound Warrior (book)

Book: The Poppy War
Author: R. F. Kuang
Genre: Adult Dark Fantasy with Military and Emotional Depth

They fit my book because The Poppy War combines emotionally intense military training, escalating warfare, and a female protagonist navigating power, trauma, and personal volatility. The tone is unflinching and adult, with strong themes of identity, rage, and self-destruction. It’s also deeply grounded in character, even as the stakes expand to national conflict.

My story is similar because The Unbound Warrior follows a young woman’s rise through an elite military force while fighting societal prejudice and her fear of losing control Like Kuang’s novel, it explores what power really costs, especially for someone seen as an outsider in a world built around war. Both stories balance brutal external trials with psychological pressures and emotional betrayal.

My story stands apart because Vessia’s journey is shaped not by revenge or fate, but by a deep desire to belong in a world that’s constantly telling her she doesn’t fit. While The Poppy War leans toward historical allegory and divine magic, The Unbound Warrior is grounded in an original system where bloodline and emotional resonance shape both identity and power. Each wielder is bonded to an Eir-mate—a familiar-like companion with whom they share a mental connection—allowing readers to access Vessia’s thoughts and watch her beliefs be challenged in real time. These bonds offer a unique way to explore emotional growth, functioning almost like a therapist or inner voice. While Rin’s path darkens over time, Vessia slowly finds stability through her relationships, grappling with relatable struggles like emotional repression, impulsivity, and the social penalties of being a volatile woman in a rigid world.

Assignment 5: Hook Line / Logline (The Unbound Warrior)

Vessia has mixed magical bloodlines—volatile, and destined to madness. She joins the Blóðsveit, Svea’s elite military force, to prove her worth and finally belong. But as sabotage escalates, war creeps closer, and her mind begins to fracture, she must learn to trust others before she loses everything.

Assignment 6: Internal & Social Conflict (The Unbound Warrior)

Internal Conflict — Vessia Vader

Context

After a confrontation with Aarik, Vessia blacks out and wakes up disoriented, bruised, and unable to remember what happened. She’s hungover, heart racing, and overwhelmed by fragmented memories.

Trigger

For the first time, under the influence of alcohol, Vessia gives in to Ronan’s advances only to find out that they were part of a ‘bet’ with Aarik on ‘who could bed the mutt’. Ronan's revelation, combined with alcohol and an emotionally charged confrontation with Aarik, sends her into a "red-out" –an overflow of rage that transforms into a terrifying moment of lost time she can’t account for.

Reaction

She panics. At first she thinks she’s hurt Aarik –maybe even killed him. Then the shame hits: the sex with Ronan, the injuries, the public humiliation of the bet and Aarik flipping the script on her for being too sensitive. Too dramatic.

Then once Sigrid arrives and tells her she was carried back home by Aarik, the relief of him being alive is almost immediately replaced by the humiliation of being carried back unconscious. She vomits, breaks into sobs, dissociates. And then she gets overwhelmed and runs.

Why it matters

This is the moment Vessia’s fear of madness becomes real. For the first time, she’s not just afraid of being unstable – she believes it. It fractures her trust in herself and sets the tone for her downward spiral in middle build 2. If she can’t remember what she did, how can she protect herself? She has the bitter aftertaste of her red-out, pure fury boiling over, left in her mouth. This scene tackles the core fear at the heart of Vessia’s arc: that she is too unstable to be trusted – even by herself.

Scene Excerpt (unpolished first draft)

A drum pounded. It grew louder, faster and unbearable. Vessia’s eyes shot open and she gasped.

But there was no drum. It was her heart, beating for its life, trying to escape her chest.

Her eyes scanned her surroundings. Where am I?

The room took shape in her blurry gaze, and she exhaled in relief. I’m in the barrack.

Then confusion pervaded the thought. How did I get here?

She gasped again and her hand came to her chest as if she could grasp her heart, make it slow. She bit down on the pain as her hand pressed against her chest–she had forgotten about the deep bruise across it.

The fight with Jon. She remembered. I beat him. I made the cut.

Her thoughts were slow and foggy despite her heart galloping. She grimaced as she registered the familiar throb in her temple. She hadn’t been hungover for so long.

The pub. Ronan looking down at her.

"Yes, Vessia. I want your fucking permission."

Her mouth grew dry as the memories trickled in and settled like a blanket of grief. She whimpered, pulling the blanket over her head, trying to stay silent.

The night came back in snippets. Her back against Ronan’s door. Her complete capitulation. Naked, vulnerable, exposed as he settled between her legs–the pure yearning before he broke her dignity.

Vessia pulled her knees in close to her like she could close herself off, undo his fingers on her, inside her. She felt filthy.

I am pathetic. Why would I have thought he would ever want a mutt?

Tears rolled down her face. I am just a joke, to all of them.

“If he could bed the mutt,” the words twisted her gut. Vessia wanted to be sick. She rolled over the side of the bed and gagged as silently as she could.

The feeling felt familiar, recently so—and then she remembered gagging by the training grounds. Jaan and Aarik were there.

Her breath caught. Aarik. What have I done?

The last memory she could recall was Aarik’s confusion and fear as she charged, as she lost control.

Vessia sat up suddenly, looking around. Her world rocked with the movement, but she had had practice being hungover. She breathed through it as she tore off her blankets to look at herself. For any clues as to how her night ended.

The fabric felt painful against her palms.

She looked down at them, scraped up and filthy. A dull ache told her her knees would be in the same state.

Vessia, you idiot. What have you done?

She scrambled out of bed and swayed. She needed to get to the bathroom and look in a glass, then figure it all out before anyone else did.

Vessia’s clothes were filthy and torn. She stripped and turned, scanning her body in the looking glass. The large, ugly bruise spread over her breasts was expected, but smaller ones dotted the area around her nipples.

Vessia sobbed quietly. She had let Ronan do that to her.

She blinked through tears and looked at her knees and shins. They were bruised and bloody.

Nothing serious. I probably just fell.

Maybe that’s all that happened. I charged him drunk and fell.

She had never hoped for anything more. If she hurt the crown prince of Svea, being out of the Blóðsveit would be the least of her concerns.

She swallowed hard when she finally noticed her arms were speckled in dark marks. Both of them. Like someone had repeatedly grabbed her. Maybe shaken her.

Fuck. Fuck.

This time when she gagged, she threw up. It came up as dark bile and stung her throat, the inside of her nose.

Vessia had cleaned up, stuffed her filthy clothes into the bin, and was pulling on new ones from the chest by her bed. Her hands shook lightly as she adjusted her breast bandages and focused on the familiar motions rather than the creeping dread.

She was pulling on a clean shirt when–

"Not what I expected." Someone said quietly.

Vessia turned sharply and had to put a hand on her knee to steady herself. Sigrid sat up in her bed with a brow raised.

"What?" Vessia’s voice came out dry and hoarse.

Sigrid grinned at her, and Vessia’s fear and agitation doubled. "What?" she repeated a little more loudly.

Sigrid’s smile faded and she lifted a hand. "I just meant I didn’t think it would be Aarik bringing you back. You were out cold."

It took long moments for the words to penetrate. Then Vessia exhaled in relief.

You didn’t kill him.

But the image of herself, carried limp into the barracks by the man she attacked–for everyone to see—it burned in her mind. You are the definition of a liability.

"Who saw?" she whispered.

Sigrid finally registered her distress. "No one. It was just me." She sat up and put her legs over the side of the bed like she was considering coming over. "Hey, it’s no big deal. Happens to everyone."

"Nothing happened," Vessia gritted.

Sigrid tilted her head. "You and Aarik didn’t–”

"No!" Vessia pressed her palms against her eyes. "Vaan, I would never fucking go near that…" She cut off, breathing heavily. Her heart was racing again. It was all too much at once.

"Hey, it’s alright…"

Jon. The cut. Ronan. Aarik. Alcohol. Get me out of here.

Vessia turned and made for the stairs before Sigrid could stop her.

Social Conflict — Ronan Berg (love interest)

Core tension

Ronan makes Vessia feel seen and wanted despite her volatility, and she grows to rely on him for comfort (often physical) but his protectiveness carries an undercurrent of control. He doesn’t fully trust her judgment or stability, and she begins to sense that he doesn’t believe she can make it without him.

Scene context

Aarik Foldir, Vessia’s commanding officer, has been punishing her relentlessly since she was assigned to his squad. In a rare moment of defense, Ronan publicly challenges Aarik during a tense Blóðsveit dinner and leaves with Vessia. Later that night, Aarik privately apologizes to Vessia and reduces some of her punishments. The scene takes place when she returns to Ronan’s quarters, excited to reconnect, but his reaction is not what she expects.

Why it matters

This moment captures the emotional push and pull that defines their relationship. Vessia craves closeness but fears what it means to care too deeply. When she feels fragile, Ronan’s protectiveness offers comfort—but when she feels strong, that same protectiveness feels like control. In this scene, she returns from a rare moment of validation and emotional clarity, only to be met with Ronan’s suspicion and need for emotional definition. He pushes her toward a commitment she’s not ready to make; she responds by changing the subject and using physical intimacy to smooth over the rift. It’s the beginning of a pattern between them: avoiding the hard conversations by covering tension with sex. For Vessia, whose deepest fear is being unlovable if truly seen, this moment teaches her to hide, even from someone who says he cares. It’s an early fracture that they’ll pretend isn’t there.

Scene excerpt (unpolished first draft)

As soon as she knocked, the door was pulled open immediately. Ronan’s forehead was creased, and tension vibrated off him.

“Are you okay?”

Vessia paused at the intensity. “Yes.”

He was scanning her up and down as though to triple check.
“Yes!” she emphasized. “Can I come in?”

He seemed to relax a little and let her in, closing the door behind her. She turned to face him.
“So,” Vessia said.

“So?” he asked, staring at her intensely. She couldn’t help but note he had a shirt on for once. He moved in closer, impatience and concern marring his voice equally.
“What happened?”

“Well, actually. He apologised.”

Ronan’s face slackened in confusion, and there was a long pause before he tried to clarify. “You are telling me that… Aarik Foldir apologised to you?”

She put her hands on her hips. “Yes! Is that so hard to believe?”

His brows rose. “Yes!” At her glare, he clarified, “It’s not because it’s you, little fury. It’s hard to imagine him apologising to anyone.”

She pouted. “Maybe I’m special.”

She didn’t know why she said it, but there was a flash of shadow across Ronan’s face, and some deeper part of her enjoyed baiting him.

He seemed to let it go and instead raised her chin, “You are special.” He glanced at her lips.

Vaan, is he even listening to me? She pushed him back a step.

“He just… opened up. Explained the pressure he’s under, and I hadn’t thought about it that way before.” She looked away from Ronan as she recalled. “He was just really honest and… it was refreshing.”

“Right.” Ronan sounded frustrated.

She raised an eyebrow. “He also said I’m not his type.”

Ronan frowned. “Why would he even say that?”

“Well, because…” She pointed a finger at his broad and unfortunately clothed chest. “You called him jealous—in front of the entire Blóðsveit, I might add.”

Ronan flicked his hair out of his face and fought to hold back his smile, but his blue eyes twinkled. She placed both hands on his chest, feeling his warmth.
“Also, he canceled a bunch of my punishment duties! Though…” she frowned, “I still have to follow him around for his servant-not-servant tasks, or whatever.”

Ronan pulled her in by the waist, a little rougher than she had expected, and she looked at him, surprised.
“Can we not talk about Aarik?” His voice was low.

She pouted again. “I thought you would be happy. Without my late-night duties, I will have more free time...” She ran her hands down from his chest suggestively.

Ronan stepped away from her. “Is that what this is?” He pointed to the two of them.
“You come here to blow off some steam?”

“No!” she said, before thinking. Or is it? Shit. She paused as she considered the question.

Pain flashed across his face as she hesitated.
“It’s fine, just…” Ronan turned away and shaking his head and waved in the general direction of the door. “not tonight.”

“Wait, no,” she said, “It’s not just that.”

She took his hand and put it against her cheek, waiting for him to look at her again. “Ronan, I feel safe with you. Yesterday, it was the first time I slept in…” She trailed off as his finger stroked her cheek.

Please, can I stay? She stared up at him but couldn’t bring herself to ask out loud.

He ran one finger down her jaw. “What is this then, little fury?”

She sighed, mostly in relief. “Do we need to figure it all out today?”

Before he could respond she pressed herself against his chest and lifted up on her toes, whispering, “I don’t know if you know this, but I was a pretty big deal in the Blóðpit today.”

Ronan snorted and finally grabbed her around the waist, lifting her. She yelped, then laughed as he laid her down on the bed.
“You were a pretty big deal. I’m proud of you.”

She felt her cheeks flush at the warmth in his voice.

He pulled his shirt over his head, and the sight of him made her want to growl. Please behave, she thought at herself.
“Are you looking for some type of reward?” he asked.

Fuck. “Yes please.”

He lowered himself onto her. 

 

Assignment 7: Setting (The Unbound Warrior)

Magic System: Eir and Eir-Mates

Magic in this world flows from Eir, a divine life force drawn through nature. Those born with Eir become elemental wielders, each tied to one of the five bloodlines:

Vaaneer (water) | Jordeer (earth) | Aeldeer (fire) | Vayueer (air) | Eireer (life)

Each elemental wielder forms a bond with an Eir-mate — an external animal manifestation of their power and psyche. These sentient companions mirror their wielder’s emotional state and offer intimate, non-verbal communication. In The Unbound Warrior, Vessia’s Eir-mate, Thorn, a sharp-tongued wolf, is her anchor through loss, power, and transformation.

Mixing bloodlines is forbidden and leads to the mixed wielder eventually “fracturing” where their Eir becomes unstable, they manifest multiple Eir mates and tear themselves apart from within.

Overview: The Known World

The continent comprises distinct kingdoms, climates, and ideologies, with each book in the series unfolding in a different realm:

• The Kingdom of Svea — northern warrior kingdom (The Unbound Warrior)
• The Brossian Empire — conquering religious superpower (The White Spy) including annexed kingdoms of Romer, Demond, Miton and Mazar, and holy city of Glas’myr
• The Kingdom of Tell — mercenary desert kingdom (The Painted Architect)
• The Queendom of Elinea — erudite queendom with a lot of rare natural resources and clever political moves (Convergence of characters in Part Two, Book One)
• Other regions include: Perl, Forb and Graz Islands, Boor Desert, Toth Forest, Hon Kingdom, Is Cliffs, and the Uncharted North

Primary Setting for The Unbound Warrior: The Kingdom of Svea

Located in the continent’s northern reaches, Svea borders the Norral Ocean, Starr Mountains, and the Morn Pass, a frozen strait that connects to the Uncharted North, the historic invasion route of the monstrous Iskin, whose return looms silently throughout the book.

• Climate & Inspiration: Harsh, snowbound winters and long summer days. Culturally and architecturally inspired by Viking-era Scandinavia — honor-driven, elemental, and forged in hardship.
• Vittorn Towers: A set chain of magical communication towers along northern coast built for early warning from an Iskin invasion, who have been dormant for 15 years
• Cultural Divides: Svea is split between the two leading bloodlines:
  • Jordeer (earth): traditionalist, bureaucratic, based in the capital Omin
  • Vaaneer (water): passionate, militant, based in the southern port city of Hamner

Political tensions simmer as military and economic resources are stretched thin — tower maintenance, city expansion, and elemental favoritism all fuel the unrest.

City of Omin – Heart of the Conflict

Perched on black stone cliffs and ringed by concentric walls, Omin is both capital and fortress. At its heart lies the royal palace, split between military and royal wings.

Throughout The Unbound Warrior, Omin’s setting is not just backdrop it feels the way the reader feels. From its cold stone halls to its towering northern wall overlooking the ice, the city reflects the emotional isolation and cultural rigidity that Vessia must survive and reshape.

The Blóðsveit Compound

Within Omin lies the Blóðsveit: Svea’s elite military force. Historically male-only, it has now, controversially, opened its ranks to female recruits. The walled compound includes:

• Barracks and Mess hall
• Sparring, Styrke (strength training) and wielding grounds
• The Blóðpit, an arena where squads compete in simulated battles
• The Smithy, Healers Hall, and Command/Learning Hall

Tensions within the compound mirror the broader kingdom — divided by bloodline, gender, and ideology. For Vessia, a mixed-blood recruit, survival depends not just on skill but on navigating the growing political sabotage.

How the Setting Elevates the Story

The setting is not passive, it amplifies character arcs, themes, and tension in every scene:

• Environment: Cold winds on the Morn Wall echo Vessia’s despair. Sacred blackstone temples create a gothic atmosphere of dread. Water and fire are not just magic they reflect mood.
• Architecture: City infrastructure becomes battlefield — aqueducts weaponized, tower systems sabotaged, sacred temples desecrated. The city’s physical walls represent barriers Vessia must breach (in an early scene she is told to climb the Omin wall or fail).
• Nature as Mirror: Magic scenes like parting the sea or crossing wild rivers are shaped by the setting.
• Eir-Mates as Interior Setting (reflecting and amplifying inner selves):
  • Through her wolf, Thorn, Vessia’s mental state is externalized — he embodies her self-loathing, rage, resilience, and moments of clarity, acting as a living manifestation of setting-as-self
  • Vaarj Vader, her older brother, is bonded to Kaldr — a towering Akhlut (a fusion of orca and wolf, google it!), whose majesty and quiet power reflect Vaarj’s protective nature, steadfast honor, and the emotional depth he struggles to express
  • Jon Sten’s Eir-mate — a crazed, snarling boar that seems perpetually jolted by lightning — mirrors his barely-contained volatility and reckless ambition

The Amorian Accords: The Council and the Codex

First Assignment- Story statement:

Jay mysteriously awakes in the kingdom of Amoria. A realm where creatures of myth and legend have lived together in peace under a unifying charter for a century. It is soon realized that his arrival may have more serious consequences than anyone could have imaged. It turns out that Amoria’s peace is as delicate as a thread holding it all together, and with the charter soon set to expire, a substantial changing of the guards is boiling underneath the surface of tranquility. The bizarre markings on Jay’s arm that he discovered when he awoke are ancient, unknown by anyone, they could be the missing piece explaining why the great war started 100 long years ago. All jay wants to do is get home, willing to do whatever it takes to find his way back he is soon pulled into a journey with a rag tag group of outcasts from different kingdoms to retrieve an ancient codex and help save Amoria. This book should be his way home, as long as he can survive long enough to figure out how to use it, all while staying one step ahead from the dreaded vulgary. A group of mysterious sell swords spinning webs of chaos in the shadows. Which way will the council of king’s vote? Will Amoria maintain peace by extending the charter? Or allow it to dissolve, letting the power hungry kings loose across the land? Why Jay? Why does he have these strange markings? And why do these vulgary want the codex so badly?

This book explores identity. Such as one’s true path, destiny, and who controls it? Intention and corruption convoluted with greed and power, where does this power come from? Is it land, resources, or the currency that controls them all? Is it in our nature to chase things we don’t understand? To run from the comfortable, plunging ourselves into chaos chasing what we believe is ultimate peace. How new friendships and past family obligations can manipulate our choices. Are we being contrarians? Or genuinely doing things for us and what we believe is right instead of what’s expected of us. How religious identity and tension can ripple across the beliefs of a culture and have unintended consequences.

Second Assignment- Antagonist:

This book has multiple antagonists, from the vulgary, to Adica, and Tobias Sklar. However, the one thing these all have in common is. They all, in the end, whether they’ll admit it or not, take their orders from Hadrian Kaine. Hadrian is one of the council’s seven kings, ruler of the goblin empire of Gotehba. Hadrian is ruthless, keen in his thoughts and actions, and has a chip on his shoulder the size of a canyon. Livid that his people are still paying for the mistakes of his forefathers, the charter’s reparations imposed on the goblins after the great war almost bankrupted the society entirely. Their ingenuity and grit allowed them to rise however. And Hadrian, being the only democratically elected king in the council believes this is because of him. He was the only one truly chosen by his people. His internal policies have taken his kingdoms infrastructure to a level thought impossible. Creating a national pride for the first time in centuries. He views the charter as a prison, plotting for years to ensure it dissolves. Finally giving his kingdom the opportunity to expand to more prosperous lands and take control of what is rightfully theirs. He is truly a master of puppets, guiding multiple avenues of controlled opposition through years of proper planning. Little does anyone know that there are few places left in Amoria without his eyes and ears. Because of this, both the kings attempting to keep the charter enforce, along with jay and his group travelling to find the codex will all face numerous obstacles, all somehow tracing back to Hadrian and his perfectly laid plans.

Third Assignment- Title:   

The Amorian Accords: The Council and the Codex*

Dear Archaism

South of Nothing

The Tenth Codex

Fourth Assignment- Two comparable works:  

The Bladeborn saga – T.C. edge 

The Shadow of the god’s series- John Gwynne

Fifth Assignment- Hook line of conflict and core wound:

Jay awakes in the mysterious kingdom of Amoria with no recollection of how he got there. Where creatures from myth and legend don’t just live, they thrive. Believing it is his only way home, he is pulled into a quest to find the fabled tenth codex before the villainous faction known as the vulgary finds it first. Accompanied by a ragtag group of individuals from different kingdoms all running from their own troubles. Jay must figure out what the mysterious markings on his arm mean, and learn to use the power they hold to protect his new friends. All while the council’s kings meet to uphold or disband a charter that’s held peace for a century, potentially shifting the very landscape around him as he makes his journey home. Jay is unknowingly at the start of a cataclysmic holy war engulfing the entirety of Amoria, threatening everyone, and possibly, even, our world next.

Sixth Assignment- Inner conflict:

Jay internally battles the failure he feels from constantly running from life’s problems. Even before he arrives, he’s running. Not willing to sit within the uncomfortable situation of his parent’s death he flees north to clear his mind. This lands him in Amoria, and from the very moment he awakes on the beach he begins running once again. Then whether it be Hannibal, the Kenla, Bavel, or the vulgary, he is physically or metaphorically running. Consistently building up this feeling of anxiety and inadequacy. And the thought lingers, that even if he can find his way home, his parents won’t be there. Settling in the concept that no matter where he goes, he’ll be there. This builds up until the climax, when he sees his friends in danger, and Arlo unable to help. Something finally awakens within him. Compelling him to burst through the door and for once, towards the conflict instead of away from it.

Seventh Assignment- Setting:

The Land of Amoria is not just where this story takes place. From its formation, to where it is and what it stands for, to how it was forgotten, the physical and cultural institutions within it play just as big of a role within this story as any other. Not only will Amoria’s rich past significantly come into play, but the current geopolitical landscape could alter the playbook the characters are accustomed too. Amoria’s landscape and kingdoms are beautifully unique and intricate, and all new and amazing to Jay, but on top of this strange new world. The very borders and rules of engagement could start to change underneath him during his journey home.  

Assignment 1 - STORY STATEMENT:

Over twenty years ago, global civilization decayed after the third world war. The New United States of America (NUSA) created a breed of supersoldiers called Wyrden. Seth is one of these soldiers: he is hunter and hunted, predator and prey. While his abilities help keep him alive, they also make him a target for anyone who wants to use him for their own deeds.

As Seth continues to navigate this post-apocalyptic terrain, he begins to realize that the NUSA is not as shattered as everybody had thought. What’s worse, they’re developing a new breed of supersoldier, even stronger than Wyrden. And, as if that wasn’t enough, Seth learns of a new supersoldier: only ten years of age and more powerful than any before her. Seth also discovers that she’s somehow tied to him in a way he doesn’t fully yet understand—a living reminder of his own identity struggle in a world that sees any type of ‘other’ as a threat. As he searches for her, he’s forced to come to terms with what he really is: a human, monster, or something in between.

Though Seth knows the dangers that will come with defying the NUSA, he makes it his mission to save Valarie from their clutches, whatever the cost.

 

Assignment 2 - THE ANTAGONIST:

Alyssa is a loyal-to-the-bone NUSA spy and Seth’s former girlfriend. Upon discovering his location, she exploits his old feelings for her and removes him from his self-imposed isolation and back into the NUSA’s web of deceit and lies.

Despite her loyalty, Alyssa still loves Seth, but remains haunted by the fact that they’ll never see eye-to-eye. There is one thing she can do for him, though: watch over the closest thing she has to Seth—a young girl named Valarie. The first (and only) female supersoldier, she was created from Seth’s DNA to be immensely powerful—the ultimate weapon of the NUSA.

 Because of her history with Seth, Alyssa is put in charge of the girl’s training and upbringing. As she spends more time with Valarie, Alyssa becomes increasingly reluctant to allow her to be molded by the machine. Now, she reaches a conflict: does she stick to her orders and allow the girl to become another unthinking cog, or defy her country and save this girl she’s come to love like a daughter?

 

Assignment 3 - BREAKOUT TITLES

Series Title: The Wyrden

A Time of Shadows

Child of Fate

Project Adeptus

 

Assignment 4 - COMPARABLES

The Witcher franchise

Like The Wyrden, The Witcher focuses on a morally complex character driven to do the greater good, and is often outcast by society because of his mutations.

Red Rising

In Red Rising, Darrow undergoes a mutation process bringing him from the lowest human to the most powerful kind in both body and mind, and uses his powers to rebel against an oppressive machine. Seth, also a supersoldier, uses the training that he received from the NUSA to similarly fight back.

 

Assignment 5 - CORE WOUND AND THE PRIMARY CONFLICT

Logline: As a supersoldier living in a post world war three world, Seth is constantly hunted for his abilities. After stumbling upon major New United States of America (NUSA) plans, Seth is thrust on a journey to discover just how much of a threat the NUSA really is, struggling equally with survival and his identity as an outcast in a post-apocalyptic world.

Primary conflict: Seth, a supersoldier known as a Wyrden, is thrust on a journey as he discovers that the New United States of America isn't as broken as everybody had thought—but evolving into something even worse.

Secondary conflicts: Although Seth believes that survival is what matters above everything else, his moral compass often guides him towards aiding others, making him both friends and enemies.

Core wounds: As a mutant, Seth is typically equally feared and hated, oftentimes isolating himself from others as a result and leaving him feeling lonely and purposeless—though he refuses to admit it.

 

Assignment 6 - OTHER MATTERS OF CONFLICT: TWO MORE LEVELS

6a

Context: Seth has just rejected a deal from a Mister Ferguson, mayor or a camp informally known as Ash Town. Ferguson, alongside Seth’s long time friend and scientist Dorian and his assistant Barry, requested that he travels alongside one of their caravans, which have recently become prone to bandit raids, and maintain highly valuable materials. Seth rejects Ferguson's offer and decides to leave Ash Town, feeling like he’s being used as a pawn in a larger political game rather than performing a good deed.

Trigger: Although Seth has a cynical worldview, oftentimes holding the view that all humans have poor intent, he reflects on his experiences with Dorian and Barry, and how they showed him kindness when others didn’t. He reflects on this, and realizes that although he doesn’t want to meddle or be involved, there may in fact be some other ‘Dorians and Barrys’ of the world who are being harmed—and that he can help.

Reaction: Seth’s reaction is a simple one—save the people being slaughtered by the bandit raids.

Excerpt:

A few hours later, Seth had taken care of everything he could think of before he left. He placed his meager belongings in Flick’s saddlebags and hopped on her back. She began to trot forward, and Seth thought about how he wouldn’t miss Ash Town. The violence, the barely stable shelters, and the politics. He was sure that Ferguson was good to Dorian, but Wyrden were never treated as humans, and that was something that Dorian would never understand. He reached the edge of the town and looked back one last time. He felt bad for his friend, but was confident in his decision. Anyone in the town, if they knew who he was, would avoid him or attack him. And when word got out, the NUSA would be upon Ash Town as well. He sighed. Such was the way of the world, and that was something he couldn't change.

Seth set out on the dusty road outside Ash Town as the sun was shining its last rays of the day. As he left the town he felt more at peace with the quiet that surrounded him. He closed his eyes and began soaking it all in. 

Suddenly, he felt a presence, and then loud yelling. He opened his eyes to see Barry running towards him from a distance. His hair was disheveled and his jacket was severely torn, and he was bleeding from a gash on his arm. He was waving his hands above his head, as if to signal a plane. 

“Help! Heeeeelp!” he wailed.

Seth waited until Barry reached him, then he stopped Flick. Barry put his hands on his knees, breathing quickly. “Wyrden! You have to help us! There’s bandits…not too far down the road…” he heaved. 

“Bandits? Speak up.”

“It’s the batteries, remember the batteries? The drone? They’re slaughtering us, Seth! You have to—have to help!”

“Is Dorian with them?”

“No no, he’s back at Ash Town. But still, there’s precious resources there and, more importantly, people! They’re killing innocent people! You must do something!”

Seth reflected on the situation. He’d been nothing but rude to Barry before, he knew. He hadn’t trusted someone so random to keep his identity hidden. And yet, despite the odds, Barry had. Furthermore, he, a stranger, had shown Seth kindness. Not much, but more than he’d received from someone new in a long, long time. And occasionally more kindness from people he did know, he thought. He looked back in the direction of Ash Town and wondered how many there were truly good people. He wondered if there were any other Dorians and Barrys.

Barry rummaged around his bag and pulled out an old plastic orange pill bottle that was filled with a thick liquid. “Here. Dorian asked me to give you this if I saw you. It should help.”

“What should help?” asked Seth, eyeing the bottle.

“It’s a formula that Dorian and I created! If we’re right, it should enhance Wyrden powers beyond what they’re normally good for. Things such as manifest intensity, speed, strength—”

“Yeah, I know what I can do,” he said, snatching the bottle. “And if it’s Dorian, it’s gotta be special,” he commented to himself.

Seth downed the bottle in one go. It had a gooey texture and metallic taste. First it scorched his throat, then he felt as if his whole body was being burned, his flesh peeling away to reveal muscle. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth and groaned in pain. When it subsided, he opened his eyes, which had now taken on a much darker shade of silver, nearing black. Almost all pigmentation in his body had disappeared. His senses were more attuned, almost painfully so. Seth felt like he could see the vibrations that noise made in the air. He could sense everything behind him for a mile, and his reflexes told him he could catch a mosquito out of thin air. He heard the sound of the smallest insects rustling in the bushes nearby, and the distant talking on the outskirts of Ash Town. It reminded him of when he’d first gained his Wyrden abilities, and the sensory overload that came with it. 

Seth looked down at Barry from atop Flick. There was clear need and worry in Barry’s eyes, but Seth couldn’t tell if the source was him or the bandits he spoke of. He was scrawny and only stood around five foot four. It was obvious Barry would have a hard time defending himself from anybody.

Seth knew what he had to do now. He extended his arm to Barry. 

“Get on.”

 

6b

Context: Against his better judgement, Seth has just welcomed his old girlfriend and NUSA spy, Alyssa, into his life again. Choosing to believe that she doesn’t have malicious intent, Seth lives with her again for several weeks, grateful to have anyone who will see him as a human rather than a mutant. However, when Alyssa fails to come “home” one day, Seth becomes suspicious. After the Wyrden takes out a small NUSA squad, he is faced with Alyssa, and must make a choice.

Trigger: Seth feels the ultimate betrayal here: the one person he loves and trusts lies and turns her back on him, instead choosing to serve the organization that forced him into being a mutant and soldier as a child.

Reaction: Seth is conflicted, but knows he can’t bring himself to kill Alyssa any more than she can shift her loyalties. The result? An emotionally unstable, battered and bruised supersoldier knocks her out, barely escaping and knowing that this won’t be his last encounter with her.

Excerpt:

Now, with their ranks thinned, he rotated through the house, hoping to make an escape through the front. He fired two more shots as he moved, killing two more soldiers. He turned the corner to the front door and froze. In the door frame stood the petite, gentle frame of Alyssa, outlined by her usual baggy street clothes. She held her pistol pointed in the center of his chest. He was stunned. She stood there, tears in her eyes, aiming down the sight. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. He didn’t understand what was happening.

“Alyssa—” he said softly.

She moved her gun higher, aiming between his eyes now. She really was trying to hold back tears.

Seth accepted the reality of the situation. He slowly bent down and put the rifle on the floor. 

He wanted to ask, “Why?” But he knew why. He’d been an absolute fool. Ever since he’d known Alyssa, she would always do anything for power. It was what she craved above all else. Power over herself and others. To think that she’d changed was the delusion of a child, he saw now. Looking at her, standing in the empty door frame, he realized she’d never change. She would lie, cheat and manipulate her way to the top. She would use her natural beauty and nonchalant charm to gain favor with whoever offered her the most. She would ruin relationships, friendships, and play with feelings. He played the soldier, brutal and honest, and she was the two-faced serpent, cunning and deceitful. It was the last time Seth would make this mistake, he swore it.

“I—I’m so sorry,” she stuttered, her tone whispered, broken.

The Wyrden began to move his mouth in response when he heard a loud noise and felt an incredible pain in his leg. He screamed, the limb collapsing from under him. One of the men on the floor was just barely alive, and holding a pistol in his only good hand. Seth had no rifle. Thinking quickly, he flicked his wrist, and his usual knife that he’d hidden in his sleeve fell into his hand. With deadly precision, he threw it at the man's throat—all within a second. He tried to stand again, but fell as his leg failed him. A loud groan escaped his lips. He propped his body on a wall and climbed up, using only his good leg. He winced. The pain was considerable. He looked up at the door. Alyssa was still there, gun in hand. Her finger was on the trigger now. She knew what her orders were. And Seth knew as well.

“Please,” he croaked, shaking his head once. He could feel a stream of warm blood trickling down his leg.

She didn’t lower the gun. A tear ran down her cheek. Seth narrowed his silver eyes, staring at the trigger, waiting for the right moment. Suddenly, the two of them heard the clip-clop of more soldiers on horses arriving outside as more orders were shouted. Alyssa turned her head for just a moment, but it was all the Wyrden needed to close the distance between them, pushing off the ground with his good leg. By the time Alyssa turned around again it was too late. He was already upon her. She fired several shots in a panic as he tackled her small figure, all of them embedding themselves in the ceiling or wall. She screamed in pain as he landed on her, and heard the crunch of bones as she fell awkwardly. He rolled around so that she was on top of him and put the crook of his elbow over her throat and tugged with all the strength he had left, his palm pressing into the side of her head. She kicked her legs and clawed at his arm frantically for what felt like hours. Her physicality was no match for his. After a few moments her small body became limp, and he let go of her. She fell to the floor beside him, barely alive.

He picked up her colorful firearm and quickly adjusted her holster to fit his waist, and then yanked his knife out of the neck of the soldier. He took a look at Alyssa, one last time.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to her, voice quivering, as though she could still hear him.

 

Assignment 7 - SETTING

Overall setting:

The world of The Wyrden is one that readers will feel familiar with while also adding a new twist to the post-apocalyptic setting. Despite the stories lack of zombies, fans of franchises like The Walking Dead and The Last of Us will instantly be able to visualize the juxtaposition of destroyed cityscapes being reclaimed by nature, of medieval style camps created with modern-day materials, and a combination of modern pre-war and archaic post-war buildings.

The Wyrden does bring a few twists to the typical post-apolyptic setting, however. The most obvious of them is the existence of Wyrden, superhuman soldiers with incredible reflexes, senses, strength, and the ability to cast small “spells.” (They’re officially labeled as Manifest energy, but let’s call them spells for the sake of simplicity.)

In the world of The Wyrden, electricity is non-existent—or, that’s what everyone thinkst. Enough time has passed since the war that almost every kind of battery that sees regular use has gone out. Horses are the main mode of transportation, and every kind of device that uses batteries as a power source has worn out, with a few exceptions. Seth soon learns that his best friend and genius, Dorian, has figured out a way to finish the production of batteries he’d started working on during the war, and that has begun to distribute them to other settlements. This is good news at first, but carries major implications further down the road.

What keeps readers involved? There might not be zombies, but there’s something arguably scarier at play: the unknown. Seth is constantly making new realizations on his journey, as he discovers new and existing Monstrocities, (intentionally mutated animals, i.e., a significantly larger bear with a beak and talons) camps, and breakthroughs like the fact that Dorian’s batteries might have reached a little further than Seth thought. Much of this will be expanded upon.

The overall setting was based on Colorado. Arid deserts give way to forested mountains, which find themselves transitioning into decaying cityscapes. I’ll also expand upon a little more below.

Sub-settings:

Blackridge camp: Blackridge (informally known as Ash Town) is a dusty, dirty, overpopulated and underserved camp. It’s one of the largest camps out there, welcoming anybody and asking no questions. To nobody's surprise, crime is rampant, and the camp is wildly overpopulated, barely kept in control by its local government. It’s also home of Dorian and his research assistant Barry, who earn their safety living there as scientists, working on new inventions at the discretion of their overseer, Mister Ferguson.

Lakewey camp: Lakewey stands in stark contrast to Blackridge. An exceptionally small camp, it prides itself in its privacy. It only admits those who can pull their own weight, which results in a small population. While Blackridge suffers from poor infrastructure, the intimacy and work ethic of Lakewey results in effective defenses and sturdy buildings. All mouths are fed, and the few citizens are typically very happy there. Lakewey is nestled away in a corner of a forest where crops grow easily, while the soil at Blackridge is closer in consistency to sand. Seth takes on a job from there but ends up being whisked away before he is able to stay for long.

NUSA facility ‘H-1’: The main NUSA facility in The Wyrden—designated H-1—is home to many important events. Alongside two other Wyrden, Seth breaks their old mentor out of a prison there, gaining valuable information in the process. What he doesn’t know, however, is that the ramshackle appearance of the facility is intentional. Below the surface exists a whole society, one with electricity on demand and enough resources to live in comfort. It’s also home to Alyssa and Seth’s female clone, Valarie.

Major Factions/Groups:

New United States of America (NUSA): By this point, the NUSA hardly needs much explanation. They’re a ruthless machine whose only goal is territorial dominance and expansion—and they’ll do anything to get it. They utilize Monstrocities and a new, younger breed of supersoldiers called Shadows to get what they want. Also worth mentioning is their use of proxies, funding smaller settlements like Blackridge to do their work while keeping their hands clean. All Wyrden, including Seth, are seen as enemies, having deserted the NUSA after the third world war.

Themysciran Warrior: One of the most interesting groups in the world of The Wyrden, the Themysciran Warriors—otherwise simply known as Warriors—are a nomadic group of female-only fighters. They’re trained in no shortage of weapons and martial arts, and model their way of living after the Amazonian warriors. They rarely leave witnesses, and as such end up as more of a myth for travelers to fear than a real group. In keeping with their Amazonian theme, they abduct men to procreate with, only keeping the female babies while the males are left at someone's doorstep. They’ll also abduct young girls (typically ones that have been abandoned) and give them a home, training them in their way of life. Their leader, a woman in her twenties named Mari, meets Seth, Dorian and Barry briefly, as Seth and the Warriors both fend off a joint Blackridge and NUSA attack.

"Intake: Rikers Summer of Hell"

Author:  Develynne Camack

 

1.      Story Statement

On Rikers Island during the infamous "Summer of Hell" NC must gain control of a dangerous and foreign environment to ensure his safety.

2.      The Antagonist

Marco is brimming with Brooklyn style, bravado, and menace, combining to make something dangerous, like saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal make gunpowder. He is a twenty-something Blood gang member who is the de facto boss of Pin 7. At 6'4, he towers over everyone, yet his slight frame doesn't inspire fear. It's the other Bloods who are subservient to him that pose the physical threat. His dominance in the pin comes at odds with NC's pursuit of control. In league with Marco against NC's quest for control of his situation is Rikers itself, Violence, inadequate staffing, and a broken system dog NC's efforts to create a sanctuary amidst the chaos. The conflict is inevitable as NC and Marco do what comes naturally to them. Control.

3.      Titles

Intake Rikers Summer of Hell

Intake

Broken

4.      Comps

14 Years a Prisoner meets The Power of Now

 

5.      Hook

Control of his existence is the delusion of a man imprisoned on Rikers Island during the "Summer of Hell", where he battles a madhouse for survival, breaking himself in the process, and discovering what it is to "be".

 

6.      Inner and Secondary Conflicts

Inner Conflict

NC needs control over his environment to feel at peace. He is a twenty-year small business owner who put himself through college and built a business from nothing to profitability. Still in his quiet moments, he feels unfulfilled.

The conditions in Rikers do not afford the control he is accustomed to. The very design of imprisonment is to strip the prisoner of any sense of control. They are the ones in control. However, among the inmates, control is maintained through a hierarchy established through might and/or goods. After exhausting all efforts trying to get control and failing, amidst efforts to have him killed, NC finds a calm he has never known. How and why, he asks as he questions his need or even the legitimacy of control.

 

Secondary Conflict

NC attempts to send a message to his son, who is managing his business in his absence. He makes a deal with Marco, the Blood leader of Pin 7. The deal goes sour when his efforts to confirm payment fail. There is a time of confrontation as NC tries to stand his ground. In the middle of the pin, surrounded by thirty-five inmates, huddled in a space for twenty, Marco and NC stand ready to throw blows. This moment is seminal for NC. He finds himself at odds with Marco, the most significant force in the pin. Attempting to get control of both his world outside of Rikers and his conditions in it, NC has put himself in peril.

 

7.      Setting

The setting for "Intake: Rikers Summer of Hell" is a jailhouse on Rikers Island called Otis Bantum Correctional Center, or OBC. The inmates refer to it as Ol' Boy. This facility is one of several jails on the island. This one is where the city houses its most dangerous inmates, rapist, murderers, gang members, and the like. What makes the experience worth telling is where in OBC the story takes place. Intake is a holding area. Prisoners wait for processing for assignment to houses throughout the jail. An inmate should spend a few hours here ordinarily. However, during the summer of 2021, the jail was in chaos. NC spent ten days in Intake in a cell made for twenty people, but was holding thirty-five at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic, and a few days after Hurricane Ida flooded the jail. There is very little institutional control, and the prisoners are running the day-to-day operations. The Bloods run pin 7 that NC is in. It is a 15x20 cell with a toilet and a sink, with benches along the walls that aren't bars. The entire book unfolds over the ten days of incarceration in Intake, where the prison itself is a malevolent force breaking down NC one day at a time, from the concrete floor he sleeps on to the never-ending light that he can see through his closed eyelids.

               

 

 

 

 

First Seven Assignments

1: Story Statement

Joy’s mission is to unmask the true motives behind Guidestone’s efforts in order to save herself and the other captives in Haven.

With help from the other women of Haven, Joy’s mission is to unmask their captors true motives and live to tell the tale.

Joy’s mission is to uncover the true motive behind Guidestone’s takeover and escape back to her solitary life unscathed.

 2: Antagonistic Force

The primary antagonistic force in is not just a single villain but an organized regime, “Guidestone” operating under shadowy leadership. Their goal is to select, control, and transport only certain people deemed worthy of survival, while the rest are left behind—or eliminated. The regime operates under the guise of the ends justifying the means, undertaking horrendous acts in the name of creating a future utopia for only a select group. Many blindly follow, failing to ask important questions about their true motives or see obvious red flags. Maureen is a good embodiment of this calculating network, using the single, faceless monster to exact her own cold motives behind the veneer of ensuring the overall survival and sustainability of the survivors. Maureen is able to take decisive action without letting relationships or emotion get in the way, drawing parallels between her and the protagonist, Joy. Each woman is driven by the need to preserve their way of life, though they go about it in ways far different from the other. Where Joy would like to be left alone to live as she sees, Maureen would like to orchestrate how the lives of the survivors play out.

 

3. Breakout Title:

The Truth Beneath the Ashes

The Last Safe Place

Flashpoint

4. Genre & Comparable Titles

 Thriller or Dystopian thriller is the best fit for this manuscript. While there is a speculative fiction bent, it lacks the mystical, sci-fi, magical realism components often seen in that genre.  

Wool by Hugh Howey: explores similar themes of control and authority, rebellion and hope.  Not only are both protagonists women, they are both guarded loaners who must help uncover the truth behind the lies they have been told about the groups controlling their respective realities.

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey explores similar themes of eco-terrorism. Guidestone sees their efforts as a solution to the systemic environmentally damaging systems in the modern world, much as the gang in Abbey’s work do. Though they aim to change the overall capitalistic systems, only by assuring the survival of the planet first can they seek to address the issues of financial, racial, and gender inequality that mar life in modern America.

The Red Rising Series by Pierce Brown: like the series, the manuscript explores control through oppression and lies. The series grapples with accepting the consequences of one’s action and the sacrifices that must be made along the way to achieve goals. Each plays with the constant internal tension between the desire for freedom and revenge verses honoring duty to others. They explore the ideas of how power corrupts, and that even those with the best of intentions can be swayed by the temptation that broad authority can offer.

5: Logline: I have written and re-written these a million times. I have one that is what I would call very basic, the other two more dramatic.

 ·       After getting caught up in violent coup, an avowed loner must risk trusting others to unmask her captors and find a way to freedom.

·       Joy never planned to be anyone’s hero, but in a country consumed by fire and fear, the moment she chose to protect two children instead of fleeing alone became the moment her survival truly began.

·       For Joy, survival has always meant staying unnoticed. But when she’s thrust into the role of protector, her greatest risk isn’t capture—it’s caring enough to fight for more than just herself.

 

 6. Conflict:

The first level of conflict centers around Joy verses her oppressors, Guidestone: She is fighting against this authoritarian regime leading them to an unknown fate. She must outwit not only the guards, but suspicious passengers, and deal with the constant threat of outed as a stowaway. Survival means hiding in plain sight and navigating the power struggles within Guidestone and among the other survivors.

 The second level of conflict centers on Joy verses herself, or her aversion to trusting others. Following a tumultuous childhood in foster care, Joy has come to avoid building more than surface level relationships with others. Joy’s instinct is always to protect herself first—she’s sharp, cautious, and fiercely independent. But by accepting responsibility for the children and the wounded man, she is forced to wrestle with vulnerability, attachment, and the moral cost of survival. The central question becomes: Will she cling to her independence and abandon them if it ensures her survival, or will she risk everything to protect people she never meant to care about? This secondary level extends to the unexpected friendships she forms with the other women in the group.

7: Setting

The initial setting of the manuscript is a dingy rail yard, before moving to the interior of the train itself as the survivors move through a burnt out landscape towards and unknown destination. Both the rail yard and the train itself are bland and utilitarian, leaving the group more time to focus on their final destination. They throw around ideas and build up some anxiety around this next place, as well as the people responsible for taking them there.

 A secondary location they find during a short stop while still on the train. They’ve spent days zigzagging through the mid-West moving ultimately towards the West Coast, where they stop and take in an unburned area – the first they have seen with green foliage still growing unharmed since leaving the city. It’s brief, however, and will be revisited later after they land at their final home.

 This home is Haven, a small city whose exact geographical location they aren’t sure of. It’s a smaller, high altitude city (likely in Colorado) that Guidestone feels is suited to survive the remaining effects of climate change, even with the reduction in population and as such, reduction in greenhouse gasses. It’s your average middle-American city, complete with some older ranch style homes and a small central downtown area that will become the hub of their activities. Guidestone sets Haven up to run as what some might consider an intentional or wellness community. There is a focus on growing and eating locally, as well as providing residents access to nature (eventually) and other healthy outlets. They won’t need to drive with everything intentionally walkable, leaving ample time for family and community connection. For many, it’s the type of dream community and lifestyle they have dreamed of for years. Only, it’s strictly run by a group that has shown they will kill if necessary to keep things under their control.

 The secondary ocean-side location mentioned previously is traveled to at the end of the manuscript, called Avalon. It’s Guidestones HQ, a compound where the leader, Gerald, and his senior leadership live. They will plan from this location how to continue the growth of their new population. It’s a far cry from Haven’s more relaxed lifestyle. Here it’s luxury, resort-style living being enjoyed as the prize for taking down the most powerful nation on earth. Meals are prepared, there are ample wellness and health options in addition to a pristine beach – the last remaining beach on the east coast not burned along with the rest of the country.

Pre-Event I: Seven Assignments

Book Title: Salad Days

Author: Jessica Miller

About the Book: SALAD DAYS is a fiction novel primarily set in Jakarta, Indonesia. Told through dual timelines and multiple perspectives, it explores themes of youth, unrequited love, nostalgia, and found sisterhood as Rosie and her friends unravel the reason Rosie's high school love story ended so prematurely. With its heartfelt narrative, humor, and rich cultural background, this book will appeal to fans of Kevin Kwan's "Crazy Rich Asians" and Clare Pooley's "Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting."

Tone of Voice and Intended Audience: Each chapter is written in first-person, alternating between the female characters in their 30s. Throughout the progression of the story, there are "St. Vincent" chapters which take readers back to Rosie and friend's high school years, and these "St. Vincent" chapters are written in the third-person point of view. Salad Days is intended for readers of Contemporary Romance and Women's Fiction, as well as fans of K-Dramas. Based on the theme of youth, this book may also be relatable for Young Adult readers.

____

1. Story Statement

Marked by the heartbreak of her first love, Rosie Davis returns to Jakarta for her high school reunion—with the hope to see the boy who colored her youth seventeen years ago, and mend her broken bond with her dearest friends.

2. The "Antagonist"

Anna Sofyan is a hopeless-romantic and a professional meddler. She has always been this way. It's probably why she became a wedding planner. She romanticizes things, dreams big, and sees the world through rose-colored lenses. But this gets her into trouble—not everyone appreciates her help, which can sometimes have disastrous outcomes.

Then there's Rosie. She is skeptical and builds a wall around her heart. When Rosie falls for Ben, Anna inserts herself yet again, playing cupid or wingwoman—always trying to force situations in which the two would have to interact. Until one day, Anna unknowingly perpetuates a rumor that throws Rosie and Ben off the course of their love story.

For years, Anna carries the guilt that she might have caused Rosie and Ben's premature end. So when she is recruited to organize their school reunion, she plots for them to meet again after seventeen years. Never mind that Rosie is now married and has a kid. She dreams of closure between the two. Closure she selfishly wants for herself.

3. Breakout-Title Options:

a. Salad Days — a nod to the Shakespearean idiom referring to the beloved period of one's life when one was carefree, innocent, and youthful.

b. The Time of Us — encapsulates the spirit of Rosie's friendship in high school and also works to capture the time she had with Ben, the love she lost before it even began.

c. The Last Reunion — uses the inciting incident that brings Rosie home to Jakarta to face the love, grief, and friendship she left behind.

4. Genre and Comparables

Genre: Contemporary Romance; Women's Fiction; Young Adult

Comparables:

a. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. Rich in Asian background and Eastern cultural perspective—its humor and hilarious turn of events made it an easy and fun read, bringing readers to an epic, heartfelt ending.

b. Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley. Its multi-POV, interesting characters, and subtle drama with a romantic subplot gives readers warm feelings, which is what Salad Days is meant to do.

c. The Most Likely Club by Elyssa Friedland. The theme around high school reunion and female friendship feels adjacent and similar to Salad Days.

5. Core Wound and Primary Conflict

Opt 1: Rosie's scheming friends and lost love in her youth pull her back to her distant home in Jakarta, threatening to shake up her peaceful new life in London.

Opt 2: Seventeen years after the greatest heartbreak of her youth, Rosie journeys home for her high school reunion, where closure means confronting her fear of vulnerability and returning to the friendship she abandoned.

6. Conflict: Two Levels

Inner Conflict:

Rosie, the protagonist, was the overlooked eldest daughter in a family consumed by her brothers' medical needs. Forced to fend for herself, she steered away from vulnerability and guarded her heart against love and heartbreak. But then she met Ben—the boy she couldn't help but fall for. Their brief, failed romance left a mark that she carried into adulthood, long after marriage and motherhood. 

__

Excerpt that captures the inner conflict:

“What’s there to think about? You like him and he asked you out.” Bailey threw her hands.

Rosie didn’t answer. She stared at the pool. “I’m scared, B.” 

Bailey watched her face intently. “I’m scared of how much I like him. This is the first time I ever feel this way about anyone, so I admit I don’t have a lot of reference, but this feels too big. Like I’m one breath away from falling in love. What the heck do I know about love?”

“Nothing wrong with that. No one really knows love until they give it a try.”

“But what if I get hurt? What if he breaks my heart—or worse, what if I break his?” 

Bailey understood where this fear came from. Rosie grew up having to look out for herself. She didn’t have the safety net other kids feel with their parents. Under a similar circumstance, Bailey had the luxury of an older sister, Amanda, who would rush to her if she needed help. 

Rosie was the older sister. Every monster under her bed, she fought off alone. Every tear she shed, she wiped with her own hands. Every mistake, she fixed herself. The threat of a first heartbreak must feel like an impending doom.

(Note: this excerpt was from one of the "St. Vincent" Chapters, hence the third-person voice.)

___

Secondary Conflict:

True to her "avoidant" nature, Rosie fled from grief when her best friend Bailey suddenly died. She refused to attend the funeral in hopes that denial would shield her. This decision cracked the bond between her and her closest friend group: Anna, Nat, Wendy, and Inez. Now, returning for her school reunion, she must face not only the boy she once loved but also the friendship she abandoned.

___

Excerpt that captures the secondary conflict:

When I finally told the girls over video call, the rage behind Nat’s cold, dead stare pierced through me. She blew up, calling me selfish and a coward. 

“You didn’t show up at the funeral, disappeared on us, and now you expect us to understand your need to feel closer to Bailey by hiding her letter from us?!” She yelled then. “Bailey wanted all of us to know and we deserved to know. She was our best friend too!”

She quit the call as I was sobbing. Everyone else was quiet. Anna’s disappointment was palpable. Wendy frowned but said that she knew I was hanging by a thread, tending to my grief alone. Inez didn’t say anything. 

Nat wouldn’t speak to me for a long time. Anna suggested I give her time and I did. Until one afternoon, I saw a group of school girls in their uniforms at Waterstones. 

I finally called Nat. “Took you long enough,” she said the second she answered my call.

“I’m so sorry, Nat.”

(Note: this excerpt was from one of Rosie's Chapters, written in the first-person voice.)

___

7. Setting(s)

Primary Setting:

Jakarta, Indonesia. Early 2000s. The city was chaotic but alive—roads congested with hums of buses, ojek, bajaj, and cars honking, street hawkers everywhere, and luxurious skyscrapers and malls existing amidst kampungs (villages and slums). St. Vincent Catholic School is located near the border of west and central Jakarta. Its strategic location draws students from various ethnic (Chinese- and Non-Chinese Indonesians), religious, and socio-economic backgrounds: 

• Egalitarian and tight-knit. Everyone blends together.
• The school's architecture reflects the Dutch Colonial/Old Jakarta (also known as Batavia) style with terracotta roofs, white walls, open corridors, and courtyard.
• The property with ample greenery is a retreat from the harsh heat and unforgiving chaos of Jakarta.

[Historical side note: The country was going through a reformation after the "Mei 1998" riots that toppled the "Orde Baru" regime (New Order). It exposed deep ethnic, economic, and political fractures, especially against the Chinese-Indonesian community. However, our characters, in their youth and innocence, were cushioned from the reality of the political instability. This historical piece is mentioned in the story only as a subtle background.] 

Secondary Settings:

• London, UK — Rosie moved to London from Jakarta in her twenties, one year before Bailey passed, to pursue her career. She ended up meeting her future husband and planted new roots there. This is where she was called to return home for the reunion.
• Melbourne, Australia — where one of our characters, Wendy, lives with her aunt. This Australian city hosts many Indonesian immigrants and it's brimming in diversity, arts, and history.
• NIHI Sumba — a resort in a less explored island in Indonesia. Rosie and her friends vacation at this resort to have some time together before they attend the grand reunion. Its beaches are pristine with the turquoise Indian Ocean on the horizon. Locals have their own dialect, culture, custom, and traditional attire.

1. Story Statement:

Spare the Day is based on the true story of an immigrant couple from Iraq that builds a family in America, with reflections of moments in the ‘old country’ to their adventures in the ‘new world.’ During the changing tides of the ‘70s, Ashurdon, a Chaldean-American veteran, marries an Assyrian-Iraqi woman within a week in Baghdad, shocking his army buddies upon his return to Detroit. Free-spirited, broke and jobless, he attempts to live out the American Dream with his new wife, Vianna, whose ambitious nature parallels that of his critical older brother, Wahid. Meanwhile, his daughter, Francis, journeys through the increasingly “bad” Motor City of the ‘80s and the exploits of her reckless older sister, Abigail, who follows danger at every turn. Amid a series of quirky cultural characters, misfortunes and triumphs, a tragedy blindsides the growing family by the early ‘90s, plunging them into secrets, isolation and the impending loss of everything they built. Ashurdon, Francis and family, end up faced with the choice of either succumbing to the darkest challenge ahead of them or harnessing the beauty of their imperfections to stand together against the forces trying to tear them apart.

2. Sketch the Antagonist or the Antagonistic Force:

A successful engineer and Princeton graduate, Ashurdon’s oldest brother, Wahid, embodies refinement, financial stability and practicality – everything that “Ashur” is not. He boasts of a wife and kids, a home, a flourishing career while his younger brother drags his feet, barely scraping by. Wahid questions every move Ashur makes, from career choices to how he rears his children. As a result, Ashur battles the divide between admiring his older brother’s brilliance, finding his own self-worth and balancing the Chaldean and American cultures. He combats a short-temper that coincides with moments of inadequacy, especially in the wake of his wife’s business acumen and heavy hand, unsure of his place alongside it. Francis, similarly, experiences difficulty fitting in with a quiet-er personality than her rambunctious, popular older sister. Like her father, she experiences marginalization, only by way of the ethnic background written all over her face and a longing to fit into the American landscape of the 80s/90s. Her mother’s demeaning disciplinary practices further break her down as does her father’s waning laughter and the heavily guarded secrets that, once revealed, end up challenging the course of her life and that of her family.

3. Two Breakout Titles:

a. Spare the Day

b. To Grace the Waning Intrigue

4. Novel Comparables:

a. Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• For the underlying theme of finding identity

b. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

• For hope in historic times of trial

c. Coming out of the Ice by Victor Herman

• Referenced in this novel for inspiring its raw truth, perseverance, Detroit relationship and human spirit – to which this writer believes “Ice” represents the greatest testament

5. Hook Line:

In 1970s-1990s Detroit, Ashurdon, a fun-loving Chaldean-American veteran and his underestimated daughter Francis, long to prove their worth amid the divergent cultures of Baghdad and America, battling against strong personalities and an eventual hardship that threatens the fabric of their lives.

6. Sketch out the Conditions for the Inner Conflict your Protagonist(s) has(have):

1st Major Conflict (Ashurdon): Metro Detroit, September 1974

• Upon his return from Baghdad, Ashurdon tells his army buddies – Montana (Monty) and Ziv – that he married an Assyrian woman from there within a week’s time. They urge him to realize that he’s broke and jobless, she doesn’t know it and he doesn’t really know her. In a couple weeks, she is due to arrive in the States after completion of her paperwork in London. The heightened stakes of responsibility hit Ashur. He wonders how she will react to his situation? Furthermore, how will he deal with his critical brother, Wahid’s, scrutiny who has been on his case about marrying the ‘right’ person and becoming financially secure?

2nd Major Conflict (Ashurdon): Metro Detroit, January 1989 & Tel Kaif, Iraq, 1952

• When Zain offers Ashurdon pivotal news, it throws him for a loop. Ashur remembers playing Qatta-w-Bilbil (Stick ‘n Birdie) with Zain as children … and how people go towards things that are toxic because there is some sweetness to the effects. He wonders when that toxicity will catch up to his brother and how that will affect him, still trying to find his way after many kids later and years of marriage. Zain is the brother he leans on when Wahid puts him down or other issues at home occur; he is the security blanket. With so many hardships behind him, Zain being ill is a crucial turning point for Ashurdon and his choice of subsequent coping mechanisms.

1st Major Conflict (Francis): Metro Detroit, September-October 1984

• Abby tells Francis about her anxieties – of their parents dying and of being separated. The school separates the play areas of Abby and Francis. Francis experiences the heartache of individuality, wondering what being without her loved ones means for her future. She is subsequently ridiculed at school, wets her bed and is disciplined at home in a demeaning way by her mother, whose personality she neither understands nor respects. The feeling is undoubtably mutual. There is back and forth conflict between Francis, an initially quiet girl, and her mother, who does not hide her disgust for Francis’s silence. Being separated from the older sister that speaks up for her, is a changing point for Francis, who has to come to terms with her own individuality.

2nd Major Conflict (Francis): Metro Detroit, March to September 1988

• When Francis gets glasses, she is teased by the biggest bully at school, Archie Sackus, who has been making fun of her for years. This time, however, Archie slaps her youngest sister, Kate. Francis, enraged, fights him. She gets detention; he is suspended and threatened with being kicked out of school. Archie gets back at her by telling Abigail that Francis says bad things about her father. Her parents – and Abby – believe him. Betrayed by her family’s greater confidence in the bully than her, Francis reveals her insecurities to Desmond, her friend and neighbor, uncertain she can forgive them, feeling like an undervalued outsider in a home with an increasingly bitter father and a mother that strong-arms her.

7. Setting (Inner City Detroit, Baghdad, Suburban Detroit):

Spare the Day is set mainly in inner-city and then suburban Detroit from the 1970s-early 1990s, with intermittent flashbacks of Baghdad, Iraq in the 1940s-1950s and 1986.

Brief Detail:

a. Inner City Detroit

When the 1970s-1980’s Detroit demographics shift, it creates a storm of social, political and economic challenges. Within this timeframe, the region experiences an influx of immigrants from various nations, including a high volume of Chaldeans and other ethnic groups from the Levant and Iraq. Surrounding this mix of cultures, in the subset of Motown, stretches Social Street, along which Ashurdon and Vianna Keldu raise their children, who dabble in the dangers of inner-city life. Between the “boaters,” “homeboys,” “honkeys” and the “Bad Bitches of Social Street,” political correctness does not exist. Kids are left to their own devices, chased with pipes full of piss, threatened with assault, while participating in street fights, going to American Catholic school and attending the Chaldean church of their eccentric uncle, Ammo Tobias, who’s a priest, a couple neighborhoods over. The Keldus dance between the American Hustle and Chaldean Khiga, navigating cultural experiences

b. Baghdad, Iraq

In counterpart, Ashurdon flashes back to Baghdad, depicting key moments of his childhood there in the ‘40s/‘50s and the changes he observes when meeting and marrying Vianna there in the ‘70s. They spar when she decides to go there at the height of the conflict in Iran in 1986.

c. Suburban Detroit

As Ashurdon and his family climb out of financial instability, the stakes change in the wealthier neighborhood. Minor challenges regard defending their cheap clothing, “ghetto” accents, and pockets too shallow to enjoy the finer things that their new neighbors afford, like swimming and skiing at high-end clubs. Their minor struggle takes a turn for the worst when an unanticipated sorrow occurs, putting their economic situation in the negative and testing the responses from the new “frenemies,” that come off as too snooty to care. It’s in this new space, where from the start, tragedy slams into them, and tests the true nature of what it means to belong, to recognize that the first perspective isn’t always the right one, and the power of human compassion versus the hate and darkness that particularly tempt Ashurdon and Francis. Some diamonds don’t have to come from the rough to shine.

The settings of the two falling cities – Detroit and Baghdad – mirror each other as the historical events within those decades and the family’s struggles match their decline. Skylab, the USSR, the Berlin Wall, all fall. As empires tumble under the weight of their division, families do the same, unless they discover the cohesive glue to help them stand.

7 Pre-conference Assignments 

 

1.         After getting dumped for a younger woman after decades of marriage, Anne fights to rise above the cliché, and prove to her ex, her community, and herself, that she is more than just the rejected half of Team Jameson.  Anne falls back on well-honed skill of being the consummate hostess and creates a dinner party business.  The people of Amber Marsh, with their varied beliefs, ages, and backgrounds, provide a support system she never knew she needed.

2.         Jameson is a narcissist with a bone-deep sense of entitlement. He scorns his parents for not showering him with wealth from birth. He feels entitled to pursue other women while married to Anne.  He feels he entitled to all of Anne’s attention and affection, to the exclusion of their children. He feels entitled to the lion’s share of the credit and financial gain from their business partnership, and feels confident that Anne should remain his business partner even after he’s dumped her. He feels entitled to control her whereabouts and actions, even as he focuses on a fresh, exciting new relationship.

3.         Divorce and Dinner Parties - an Amber Marsh Novel.    or      Amber Marsh: Divorce and Dinner Parties        

4.           In Identity by Nora Roberts, Morgan rebuilds her life after unthinkable devastation to the financial and personal foundation that she painstakingly built over years.   She forges friendships within a new reality that looks nothing like the one she had planned, and re-learns to assert herself professionally, even in the face of sabotage and self-doubt.  She gradually begins to overcome her skepticism of men and romance. Anne walks a similar path in Amber Marsh: Divorce and Dinner Parties, and the book features a tone of warmth and community that is reminiscent of Nora Roberts’ work. The flawed but resilient central character is boosted by a multi-generational cast of supporting characters, with the added depth of characters from varied cultures and backgrounds, all navigating their own challenges alongside Anne. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid follows several characters through their day, from their own POV, building to a climax where their plotlines meet and climax in tandem, surrounding the central female lead character.  Similarly, Amber Marsh: Divorce and Dinner Parties introduces us to a diverse and overlapping cast of characters, and draws us into their stories, building toward a mutual climactic event.  Both Anne from Amber Marsh, and Nina from Malibu Rising struggle to maintain their self-esteem and public persona following a very public break-up. They must somehow be there for the people who are counting on them, even as they struggle to reclaim their sense of self-worth.  Each repeatedly faces off with an ex who still demands her time and energy, and remains in close proximity with his new flame.

5.     Following the loss of the marriage, career, and image that she spent decades cultivating, Anne must rebuild her life, surrounded by intriguingly diverse neighbors in the upscale Central Florida community that she developed. 

6a. Anne has developed the coping mechanism of projecting an unbothered façade to hide her vulnerability.  

TRIGGER – Jameson doubles down on leaving Anne, then invites her to remain his business partner. 

REACTION – Anne fights to appear calm while she reels inside. She doesn’t want to lose her professional security along with her personal status. 

EXERPT - 

“It’s done then,” he said softly. 

“I suppose so.”

“Anne,” he bowed his head. “I want to thank you. Taking this journey with you has been,” he blew out a breath, “amazing. We make a great team. This is truly the most important thing we’ve ever done.” 

Anne wanted to mention their kids, but opted not to derail his performance. 

“We went out on a great note,” he said.  “I‘m going to miss you.”

A heartbeat passed, then another. Her mouth fell open. “What?” she hissed. “You’re actually going to leave me?”

“Anne,” he said with strained patience. “Please don’t make a scene.  There are people on the other side of that wall. It’s over. I removed my personal effects from the house this morning.”

It was as though she was choking on ocean water, salty and full of stinging microorganisms.  Anne thought she might drown.  Then he dropped the real bombshell. 

“But I would love to keep working with you.”

The ocean water was now tinged with acrid oil. She fought the rising urge to gag.  She wanted to spit in his face, but this was no time to act rashly. Their business partnership was lucrative, and, well, it was her life. “I—I need some time to process this.”

He squeezed her hand again. “Amber Marsh is magic. We can make more magic together.” 

Anne wanted to take those words and bash him over the head with them until he bled out all over the carpet. Instead, she withdrew her hand and strode from the conference room.

 

6b. Jameson jeopardizes Anne’s new business through overt sabotage, as well as residual emotional damage from decades of criticism and emotional mistreatment. 

TRIGGER – Jameson undermines Anne at a business meeting.

REACTION – Wrapped up in her own negative reaction to Jameson, Anne is dismissive of her son, Leo.  She lashes out at Tiago because she does not want to be duped by a man’s charm, again.  
EXERPT - 

Jameson had charmingly, effectively, talked her right out of the job.  

And what really made her want to dig a hole and crawl into it, was that she just sat there and let him do it.  She didn’t tell him to get the hell away from her after the spectacle he had made of himself. She didn’t stand up for herself and her business and call out his duplicity because she didn’t want to a make a scene. 

Leo bounded over, drenched with sweat. “Mom! I got a sick takedown today!”

“Great,” she said dismissively. 

His smile dimmed a bit, but he shrugged. “Katja asked me to stop by and tell her how it went. I’ll meet you at the car. Later, Tiago!” 

Tiago traded high fives with Leo and turned to Anne with an easy smile.  “Hello, lovely Anne.”

Anne stiffened. “Save it.”  Tiago looked at her blankly for second, then opened his mouth to speak. She didn’t let him. “I’m in no mood to deal with you. Men are not worth the energy.”

He blinked in surprise.  She didn’t pause.  “Please don’t assume you’ll charm my pants off, literally. We went on one date. A bad one at that. Don’t assume I’m lonely or desperate enough to jump into bed with you just because you embody some dark and handsome male paradigm.”

“I wasn’t—”

“You’re not even tall, dark and handsome! You’re average height.”

Tiago watched her like a bomb squad agent regarding a suspicious package. “Guilty.”

“I’m sure you have plenty of legging-wearing, Insta-worthy twenty-somethings to wrestle with. Aim your perfect smile at them, not me.” 

“Anne—”

“What? I bet you practiced saying my name in the mirror before we met. Perfectly honed for maximum impact. Gross.”

“Anne,” he repeated and leaned in conspiratorially. “This sexist, ageist little rant is dripping with self-loathing and paranoia.  I’m sorry for whoever harshed your mellow, but please be careful. This type of energy will eat at you from the inside, starting with that headache.”

 

7.    Amber Marsh is the natural body of water that anchors Anne’s community, literally and figuratively. The marsh flows behind the homes, connecting them. It is a resource they share, yet appreciate it from different perspectives.  Ultimately, residents join Anne to protect and nurture the marsh.

Each home is a setting as well, reflecting the personality of its’ residents, and the modern, opulent texture of Amber Marsh. The way that each character relates to their inside and outside spaces is a window into their personal history, taste and personality. 

Each residence lends to the aggregate community, which is Anne’s brainchild. She is connected to every roof, lawn and layout by the work that went into their creation. 

 

 

Assignment 1. Story Statement

Marasol Adkins has just discovered her baby sister, Dorothy, after 24 years. Now, after surviving a tornado, attending to two orphan boys and their dog, and wrestling with her own self-doubt, she must get Dorothy to love her.

Assignment 2. Antagonist or Antagonistic Force

The primary antagonistic force is the misogynistic culture of Edmonton, Alberta, in 1966, which values men and their ideas, sees women only as wives or mothers, and stigmatizes them if they’re divorced. New on the scene, the women’s liberation movement is largely seen as a goofy fad.

Dirk Kleparoth, a widower, is the embodiment of this society. He’s attracted to Mara because of her availability and appearance and is willing to offer her a home despite her divorce. Plus, he needs a housekeeper (er, wife) and a mother for his four boys. He’s not unkind — he’s like most men in this era — just unaware and uninterested that Mara might have the capacity to be something much more.

When Dorothy isn’t keen on a relationship with her new-found sister, she throws Mara for a loop. Mara, who blames herself for Dorothy’s removal from the family, has missed her baby sister all her life and is shocked and hurt that the feeling’s not mutual.

Raking through the city and killing dozens, a tornado wrecks Mara’s trailer and her plans. It also saddles her with two orphan boys from next door, and their growling dog.

Assignment 3. Breakout Title

Sun Storm

Under the Squall

Trial by Storm

Storm Damage Delivered

Assignment 4. Two Comparables

The Foundling by Ann Leary

Both this novel and mine explore themes of women’s rights and eugenics, and both are inspired by true events in their author’s history.

Go as a River by Shelley Read

This historical fiction novel (based on real events) is similar to mine because the female protagonist must grapple with societal expectations, familial upheaval, and natural dangers in order to attain self-awareness.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Set in similar periods, both protagonists swim against the current of men’s rules and misdeeds, but Marasol Adkins can only dream of having the pluck, talent, and courage of Elizabeth Zott.

Assignment 5. Hook Line

Already a failure at family, a woman discovers her long-lost sister, who rejects her. Before she can convince her that she’s worth getting to know, she must survive a tornado, tend to two orphaned boys and their dog, and rewrite the rules of her society.

Assignment 6. Inner and Secondary Conflicts

Inner: Running water and the sound of rain cause Mara to hyperventilate and panic. She shakes, sweats, and moans. She can only take very short showers and has to turn up the transistor radio while she does. She has no idea why water affects her like this, but she’s pretty sure it has to do with the big mistake she made as a child which she can no longer remember. She’s also sure that mistake caused the break-up of her family.

Secondary: Since his wife died a year ago, Dirk Kleparoth needs a wife and a mother for his four boys. He’s noticed the office girl, Mara, and likes what he sees. He rakes his eyes over the length of her mod outfit, sits on the edge of her desk, and compares her to the June pin-up calendar girl. He’s confident and proud of his generosity in overlooking her status as a divorcee. Not every man would take up with a tainted woman.

Assignment 7. Sketch the Setting

In 1966, Edmonton, Alberta is a small, isolated city whose citizens share conservative values and are suspicious of modern ideas, like women’s liberation and the new maple leaf flag.

Mara works in the office of Surefield Trucking where she’s the only woman. It’s a dangerous place for children and is populated with rough, manly men who, even though she’s been working there for 18 years, see Mara as “the girl.” She beautifies her desk with porcelain foxes that she sets in charming family arrangements.

Tall Pine Mobile Home Park is mistakenly named after the blue spruce at the neighborhood gates. There, some families let their trailers and yards fall into disrepair, but not Mara who prides herself on her tidy home, which she’s named Fox Hollow. She’s even painted it the color of a fox. Of course, the trailer park is particularly vulnerable during tornados.

In Canada in 1966, the red maple leaf has just been introduced helping Canadians to redefine their place in the globe and their perceptions of themselves. It’s one year until the country celebrates its centenary, and the TransCanada highway has just been completed. Change is in the air.

The mountains that Mara and the boys drive through display vistas that allow dreams to soar. But they also feature precarious roads that cling to cliffs, and peaks that sometimes close in tightly eliciting claustrophobia, especially around the town of Hope. Only one year has passed since the nearby slide that buried an entire lake. Along the way, The Voyageur Motor Court and Chick ‘N Lick Café are vestiges from another age.

Whytecliff Park, British Columbia, features rocky outcrops, cold water that gets deep quick, and views that stretch all the way to the horizon. There, storms move in quickly.

The Blood Stained Roses

A Historical Tragedy by Ella-Gracin Bennett

 

Assignment One: 

After her father was killed by British Redcoats, seventeen-year-old Karalyna Wilkerson is filled with an unquenchable thirst of rage and revenge. To quench this thirst, she goes on a Redcoat killing spree, constantly fighting between her sanity and insanity while also being in the midst of a love triangle between two men. One man, Orcus Willer, was her friend who told her to go kill the Redcoats. The other, Jude Stanford, is a poet and young war leader in favor of General Washington. Now for the entire story, she’s Schizophrenic; and everything isn’t as it’s perceived in Karalyna’s perspective, yet the reader doesn’t know until the end of the novel.

 

Assignment Two: 

Orcus Willer is a friend to Karalyna, who she met the night before her father’s murder. After her father’s death, Orcus was the one who pushed her to go on a killing spree against the Redcoats as an act of vengeance. Throughout the novel, he starts getting more obsessive over her and jealous when she hangs out with her family and her love interest, Jude. He meets her every night at a Weeping Willow tree, away from everyone so that they can talk alone together. When she’s around Jude, he gets super jealous, and he even retorts to physical violence, manipulation, and screaming at her. Turns out, she’s schizophrenic, and Orcus is actually a figment of her imagination. Orcus represents her constant “falling” into insanity. Karalyna believes she’s falling in love with him when she’s truly just falling deeper and deeper into her insanity. 

 

Assignment Three: 

The Blood Stained Roses - Represents the tragedy aspect of the novel. Karalyna also kills herself in a bed of white roses which become bloodied when she stabs herself in the chest. In the epilogue, one of her friends put the bloody roses on her grave. As the roses get bloodier, it represents how her thirst for blood stained her innocence forevermore like, as this title states, blood stained roses.

The Dangerous Minds - Describes Karalyna’s dangerous mind and how it hurts everyone else around her. She even uses the same term to describe her love interest, Jude, after he is brutally tortured. She described them both like this:

“Both of our minds are corrupt now; we are both two broken souls with dangerous minds, wishing that our lives were different.”

 

Assignment Four:

Martha Peake: A Novel of the Revolution by Patrick McGrath

This novel has a similar insane person during the Revolutionary War feeling that my novel has. This novel has intense psychological elements, psychologically tortured characters, grotesque characters, and a sense of dread throughout the entirety of the book.

The Ninth Daughter by Barbara Hamilton

This book, like my own, is set in Boston during the Revolution (also takes place during Pre-Revolution too which is a difference from my book). It also has a plot where there’s a crazy killer in Boston, killing innocent people. 

 

Assignment Five:

Karalyna Wilkerson, a young girl from Concord, Massachusetts, lives a pretty normal life in colonial America until her father is killed by Redcoats when she’s eleven years old. She is enraged and sad, and is filled with a desire to bring justice to the men that killed her father which she also thinks includes all Redcoats she can get her hands on. Six years later, she finally goes on a killing spree, hunting down these Redcoats to kill. When her three older brothers have to go to a training camp for Yorktown, Karalyna begs to fight. Because no men want to re-enlist, they allow her to fight. She constantly fights between the feeling of falling and floating with her two loves interests. Orcus, a friend from childhood, represents how she falls deeper and deeper into insanity. Jude, the young leader of the training camp, represents how she’s floating out of the pit of insanity she dug for herself. She fights a constant battle in her mind as she fights between her enraged insanity or her moral sanity. 

 

Assignment Six-A:

Behind her infamous yet unknown killing persona, there’s more behind Karalyna than just an angsty teenage girl becoming a murderer. Karalyna was devastated and enraged by the death of her father. She was already upset at everything the Redcoats were doing in the colonies, but she’d never wanted to kill them until they killed her father. She fights her own insanity to get away from her sinful ways, yet she always finds a way back to killing them; and every time she does kill one, she feels a surge of pleasure. She ultimately realizes that she’s schizophrenic, and she ultimately ends up taking her own life. 

 

Assignment Six-B:

Karalyna has three older brothers named Aldwin, Ludwig, and Huckland. She’s the youngest in the family, so they all look out for her and tease her like typical older brothers do. None of them know about Karalyna’s killing spree. Karalyna hides a lot of stuff from them, including the fact that she kills people. 

She has two best friends named Adavieve (Ada for short) and Josella. Ada is the daughter of a runaway slave couple who Karalyna’s parents took in when she was around two or three. Josella was a girl who was kidnapped and lost all memories of her past life before she was taken away from her family. She is the reason Karalyna’s father was killed. He protected her because she accidentally stole bread from a Loyalist when she was nine. Karalyna’s father shielded Josella, killing him instantly. Karalyna is super close with both Ada and Josella, yet both girls slowly yet surely figure out that Karalyna is the Redcoat Killer, which they obviously hide from her.

Karalyna grows close with Jude, a boy her age leading the training camp. They quickly fall in love with each other. Jude realizes very quickly that Karalyna is the Redcoat Killer, and he does everything he can to get her away from Orcus, her friend who she made up unknowingly. He wants to help her regain her sanity, but she’s completely oblivious who what he’s doing to help her. 

 

Assignment Seven: 

The beginning of the book (before her father is killed) takes place in October 1775, months after Lexington and Concord and the infamous “shot heard ‘round the world”. However, after Karalyna’s father is killed, it timeskips to July 1781. The book ends on October 19, 1781 which is the end of The Battle of Yorktown.

Regarding the places the book takes place, it occurs throughout the thirteen colonies, yet they primarily stay in three cities.

Concord, Massachusetts

Where Karalyna, her family, and friends grew up. The beginning of the story where she starts to lose her sanity takes place here. 

Boston, Massachusetts 

The town that they visit. It’s about twenty-five miles away from their home town. Where most of the chaos where she murders people, falls in love, falls deeper into insanity, and much more happens here. 

Yorktown, Virginia

Where The Battle Of Yorktown of 1781 occurs. This is the place where Karalyna’s fate, and the fate of others in her life, is sealed for the worse.

The seven assignments.pdf

preworksept8.docx

Assignment One

For 25 years, Jack Hathaway has covered up the sins of Washington, D.C.’s political elite with a cool steadiness, unmatched in the harsh world of politics. But upon returning home early from a trip to Florida, he catches his wife Tara in a heated tryst with another man. His heart shatters, flipping his entire world upside down. Jack searches for answers about his wife’s infidelity while confronting tragedies of his past. Just as he begins to fully unravel the mystery of Tara’s deception, a bullet rips through his chest leaving him barely clinging to life. Can the man who buries the country’s darkest secrets uncover the truth about Tara and find out who tried to kill him? Or will he be the one who ends up getting buried? November Sky begins a five-book thriller series where loyalty is rare and betrayal is all too common. 

 

Assignment Two:

In November Sky: Secrets and Lies, the antagonistic force is Washington, D.C.’s corrupt political machine, a dark web of power and deceit that ensnares fixer Jack Hathaway. It’s embodied by three figures: his father-in-law, Maryland Governor Julian Campos, a cutthroat politician driven by ruthless ambition to dominate the political world; Tara Hathaway, Jack’s unfaithful wife, whose affair shatters his trust, her betrayal rooted in insecurity, and Agent Mills, a relentless FBI agent driven by a burning obsession to capture the elusive fixer who’s skirted the law for years. Campos manipulates with icy precision, using Jack to crush threats in order to maintain power. Tara’s betrayal, born of personal discontent, strikes with emotional volatility that threatens to destroy Jack from within. Mills pursues with unyielding focus, his rigid principles clashing with Jack’s moral ambiguity. Each exploits Jack’s tragic past, intensifying the web of betrayal and danger around him, forcing him to confront uncomfortable truths while fighting for redemption in a city where loyalty is a myth.

Assignment Three:

November Sky: Secrets and Lies

November Sky: The Truth About Tara

Jack Hathaway: Under the November Sky

 

Assignment Four:

November Sky: Secrets and Lies fuses The Perfect Marriage’s first-person tale of a D.C. attorney’s unraveling marriage, rocked by her husband’s affair and a murder accusation, with The Helsinki Affair’s suspenseful espionage, where a CIA officer navigates D.C.’s corrupt intelligence world and her father’s hidden past.

Assignment Five:

A skilled fixer buries the darkest secrets of the country’s political elite with skill and precision, but when he finds his wife of sixteen years in another man’s arms, his world shatters, and the events that follow threaten his very existence.

Assignment Six:

Trigger: Returning early from visiting his mother in Florida, Jack steps onto the porch of his Bethesda, Maryland home when an icy sense of dread stops him dead in his tracks. One glance through the window reveals his wife Tara in the throes of passion with another man. The sight—her flushed face, his shadowed form—slices through Jack like a blade, breaking his heart and shattering his trust.

Reaction: His pulse hammers, fists clenching with rage as he fights the urge to barge in and beat the guy senseless as Tara looks on in horror, but his fixer instincts kick in. He takes a deep breath to gather himself, then retreats into the shadows, the betrayal searing his mind and the pain of his heartbreak moves through him like shards of glass. His hands shake through the rush of adrenaline as he calls Larry, a trusted associate, asking him to tail the man and track Tara’s movements. He needs to know not only who the man is, but why his wife has strayed. What other secrets might she be hiding? 

Jack’s secondary conflict arises from his uneasy alliance with Agent Mills, a longtime FBI adversary, to find Mills’s missing daughter, Heather, clashing with disapproval from his trusted associate, Lynn. As a skilled fixer, Jack thrives on loyalty and control, but teaming with Mills—a man who’s chased him for a decade—strains his professional instincts and risks his reputation in D.C.’s shadowy elite circles. Lynn’s angst, rooted in her distrust of Mills and her protective loyalty to Jack, creates tension, forcing Jack to navigate conflicting allegiances while pursuing a dangerous job involving Ray Knapp, a sleazy car dealer tied to Heather’s disappearance. This social conflict pits Jack’s fixer pragmatism against his strained relationships, amplifying the stakes of his mission.

 

Trigger: Jack picks up Lynn at her Silver Spring house, briefing her on the plan to kidnap car dealer Ray Knapp and interrogate him at the Middletown, Maryland cabin to uncover leads on Heather’s disappearance for Mills. Lynn’s eyes narrow, her voice sharp with irritation, as she snaps, “You’re working with Mills? That FBI prick who’s been hunting you forever? Are you insane, Jack?” Her disapproval stings, accusing him of betraying their bond by aligning with an enemy.

Reaction: Jack grips the steering wheel, his jaw tight, as Lynn’s words cut into his psyche. He defends his choice, explaining Mills’s desperation for Heather and the potential to gain an FBI ally, but her skepticism—calling Mills a “snake”—gnaws at him. His fixer instincts urge him to stay focused on the Knapp job, but Lynn’s grief stirs doubt, making him question if he’s risking too much trust. As they drive toward Knapp’s dealership, Jack’s stomach churns, torn between proving Lynn wrong and fearing her warnings about Mills might be right, the tension threatening to fracture their partnership.

Assignment Seven

Washington, D.C. and its Maryland region hum as a living force in November Sky: Secrets and Lies, a sprawling stage where the polished marble of monuments and grand facades veil a web of corruption and buried secrets. D.C.’s commanding presence, radiating from Capitol Hill’s scheming elite, binds every corner of the narrative, its tension shadowing Jack Hathaway’s every move as stakes climb daily, his fixer precision steadfast against mounting betrayals. Maryland’s varied terrain—Bethesda’s sleek suburbs, Frederick’s rough-edged bars, Middletown’s desolate wilds—grounds the story, each location vibrant yet tethered to D.C.’s unrelenting grip, where power and deceit intertwine like ivy on ancient stone. Lincoln Park on Constitution Avenue, its ancient oaks and weathered black benches encircling a towering Lincoln statue at its heart, glows under sunset’s amber wash, the air thick with Capitol Hill’s distant hum of corruption, a fitting place for many of Jack’s covert meetings. Downtown Bethesda’s neon-lit streets surge, bar signs flickering over sidewalks, the crisp air heavy with unseen threats and the faint echo of danger always nearby. Jack’s Bethesda home, a modern colonial harbors betrayal behind expansive glass windows. In Frederick, the Tipsy Microphone Karaoke Bar, Jack’s cash-laundering front, thrums with off-key singers and soulful voices under neon glow, its raw edge and worn barstools masking illicit schemes amid the clink of whiskey glasses. Middletown’s weathered cabin, tucked in the Blue Ridge foothills near Sharpsburg’s blood-soaked Antietam fields, stands resolute, its circular gravel driveway crunching underfoot, squeaky hardwood floors echoing blood, sweat, and tears of past struggles, a faint whisper of peace lingering amid the chaos of its grim history. The early 1900s Dupont Circle brownstone, its faded red brick and blue door weathered by time, heavy with memories of past tragedy, its creaking stairs and dusty corners a ghostly echo of old wounds. Flashbacks to Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan’s campus bursts with ivy-wrapped halls and lively quads under rustling fall leaves, the Big House—Michigan Stadium—roaring with maize-and-blue football crowds, its sprawling stands and thundering cheers a vivid memory of Jack’s younger days, charged with ambition and innocence. This region’s clash of D.C.’s grand schemes, Maryland’s suburban glitz and rural grit, and Ann Arbor’s nostalgic past forges a cinematic world, each setting alive with the weight of the burden Jack carries with him everywhere he goes, the city’s character as relentless as his own battles.

 

Assignments.docx

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: The story statement.

After Danny Irvine borrows ten thousand dollars from a Cincinnati loan shark to fund the purchase of stolen merchandise, he loses it and the merchandise in a police raid. Despite this, the loan shark reminds him of the terms of their deal: even though the loan amount was ten thousand, he needs to pay back twenty thousand. Also, instead of making payments in installments, he wants it all back immediately. Danny takes desperate actions to find the cash, actions that lead him to hold a bank manager and his daughter hostage to gain access to a safe deposit box that contains what he needs to save his life.

 

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story.

Michael Adams is the leader of a criminal organization called The Paper Mill that deals in financial crimes like money laundering, bribery, and loan sharking. The organization was formed by his grandfather, who taught him to be honorable in his dealings with others while exhibiting strength. Part of maintaining the image of strength is ensuring that everyone knows he is a person who must be treated with respect and when a deal has been made, both sides must keep up their ends of the bargain. In Mike’s business he cannot afford to look weak. He sends his thugs to find Danny and keep the pressure on him to pay off his debts. If Danny doesn’t pay up, Mike will hurt him badly or even kill him so that others will learn from his mistake.

 

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Create a breakout title.

Danny Pays His Debts – Danny’s character drives the action in the story and he is intent upon paying off what he owes instead of running off without paying… maybe.

Danny’s Gamble – Danny likes to gamble and he takes a number of big chances in his efforts to get the money he needs

The Unwanted Guest – In Danny’s final exploit, he holds a bank manager and his daughter hostage in their own home, spending the weekend with them until the bank opens Monday morning.

 

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: Develop two smart comparables for your novel.

Buy Back by Brian M. Wiprud (2010)

The protagonist arranges an art theft to pay for his debt, but someone steals the paintings. He now has to find the paintings to collect a bounty on them while evading the loan shark and dealing with other dangerous distractions.

My protagonist, Danny Irvine is in a similar situation since he has to find a cache of stolen jewelry to pay his loan.

 

Hostage by Robert Crais

When a robbery goes wrong, three men take a family hostage in their home.

In my novel, Danny also takes a family hostage in their home. However, he is alone and resorts to brutal measures to gain leverage over the father and daughter.

 

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: Write your own hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound.

After a lifelong Cincinnati criminal with dreams of living a clean life loses his chance at a steady income and the semblance of stability for a while, he resorts to robberies and taking hostages to get access to a safe deposit box to pay off the relentless loan shark who is after him.

 

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: Sketch out the conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have.

Danny has never been a good person, and seems to prefer the life of a criminal to a normal existence. Yet, there is a part of him that wishes things had turned out differently. With each criminal act he executes, he feels twinges of regret, but these are quickly overwhelmed by his cravings for violence and greed. This creates conflict within him when he takes the bank manager and his daughter hostage. He decides that the best way to control them is to threaten them with physical violence, but when they defy him, he has to prove he isn’t bluffing.

 

FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Sketch out your setting in detail.

This story takes place in Cincinnati. The city has two bridges which feature in the telling of the story with a murder being committed on one and the final conflict taking place on the other. The leader of the criminal organization lives in a part of Cincinnati called Hyde Park where many wealthy people live, while the bank manager lives in Oakley. Danny lives in Mount Airy.

GRAND TRAVERSE

Story Statement

A small-town kid tired of living in his father's shadow must bridge the divide in a crumbling coal town between the old-timers and the hippies, and save any chance he has of his new love's future there. 

Antagonist

The antagonists in this story are Sam, Andy and Mickey -- three of the old-timer coal men who have spent their entire lives in the town before the hippies moved in and tried to take it over. They are angry and distraught at the idea of their land being turned into a ridiculous ski town, and they don't mind going to lengths to prove it, after all they've had a hard life -- they've had friends and family members die in the mine, their children are being sent home from Vietnam in body bags. They don't care if the hippies don't like them, that's the last of their worries. 

Breakout Title

GRAND TRAVERSE

ASHES AND WILDFLOWERS

WHERE THE MOUNTAINS BURN

Comps

GILDED MOUNTAIN by Kate Manning - explores love and identity in Colorado mining towns with a strong sense of place and historical transformation

THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah - I realize this one falls into the category of a far-too-popular author, but the focus on what's happening back home and what the world turned into while the Vietnam War raged is similar, and I thought that it was interesting that she recently published this and mentioned that it felt like the right time for it commercially (really only comping the second half of the book).

Hook line

A restless young man fleeing his father's shadow seeks belonging in a Colorado coal town on the brink of collapse, but when he falls for the daughter of a miner, who herself is torn between loyalty and change, both must confront a community boiling with resentment -- or lose their change at love and a future together.

Conflict: Two More Levels

Billy will feel fear when threatened with violence by Sam and Roy. He has lived a relatively "safe" life, living at home even through college and then taking a managerial role right out of college with his father's company. He will be anxious in how he can respond and maintain the respect of his new peers -- a group assembled from all over the country, some who have been to war and some who have fought like hell to avoid it. The general feeling being that everyone around him is tougher and has more life experience than him. His reaction becomes too defensive, too enflamed, trying to be like everyone around him, before settling into his more natural analytic, peace-keeping way. 

When he receives a letter from his brother at war, Billy hides away, unable to deal with it. He lets the letter lie on the kitchen table until Stacey has to open it for him, his only tactic at dealing with his own family being avoidance. 

Setting

The town is based on 1970s Crested Butte, with kaleidoscope-colored houses nestled in the shadow of a great mesa, the valley small and wedged between a mountain range. The house that they live in is A-framed and bright purple, the bar they hang out in is beer-stained and filled with morose newspaper clippings of mine closures. The main street is half closed, the shops boarded, but those that are open have enough personality to make whole, with their bright fresh paint that the old-timers can't stand. The mountain itself is peppered with evergreens so fresh you can smell them before you reach the base, the sunset so strong and powerful as to stop everyone in their place when it drifts slowly, then quickly over the mountain, casting it purple and blue and finally bright red. 

 

 

ALL THAT WE HAVE (This is my latest novel, I've gone ahead and done the assignments for both, as I would like to refine this one as well)

Story Statement

A woman saves her neighbor from killing herself and now must reunite her with the daughter she gave up for adoption years ago. 

Antagonist

While Fia can at times play an antagonistic role, the real antagonist in this story is Claudia's internal struggle against who she thinks she is versus who she has fought to become, and her fear of confrontation and of losing the people she loves if she shows up as her true self and asks for help, with external pressures such as Fia, her husband, her co-worker, and her unfulfilling job fueling that conflict.

Breakout Title

ALL THAT WE HAVE 

A PERFECT MOTHER WOULD

ANOTHER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER 

Comps

A blend between (and I realize both of these are too popular) THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach, with its sharp, funny commentary on the things that make life worth living and THREE DAYS IN JUNE by Anne Taylor, a story exploring the complex dynamics of family, past relationships, the pressures of motherhood, judgement, and what it means to be "good enough".

Hook line

When a new mother obsessed with perfection witnesses a stranger preparing to jump from a nearby terrace, her desperate need to save the woman spirals into obsession -- until a secret buried in her own family threatens to destroy the flawless life she's fought to build.

Conflict: Two More Levels

Claudia will feel torn between wanting to help Fia (the woman she saved) in her quest to find the daughter she put up for adoption -- on one hand, she can't imagine being separated from her daughter, the pain that this woman must have felt cutting her to her core, but on the other hand, there is a cruel part of her that feels that maybe Fia deserves it, abandoning her daughter that way. She is forced to confront the way that she views motherhood, and when Fia firsts asks her she says no, and she means it. The part of her that defends everything she has done to try to be the perfect mother wins out, and she can feel how cruel it is. It is not until later that she agrees to help, after she has sorted it out in her own mind.

Claudia cannot seem to communicate clearly with her husband, of her needs in this new world of motherhood and of how she thinks he should respond. She finds herself hiding parts of herself, omitting decisions and thoughts so as to keep the peace, something she had never done before. 

Setting

The central conflict of this novel takes place in the grandeur of an Upper West Side apartment, the terrace large and wide and tree-filled, the French doors leading out to it window-paned from floor to ceiling. Claudia is taken aback by the beauty of it all, compared to her small but cozy apartment across the street. She find Fia's daughter in a rich young West Village street lined with brownstones, she walks through an orange and red framed autumnal Central Park, she works at a television studio that stands on the first floor of Broadway, its fishbowl-like windows gathering drops of rain as passersby’s walk quickly in the dark, the puddles around their feet so visible that she can almost hear the padding against the pavement as she sits and waits for the great light to burst on set and drown it all out. 

7 Questions from NYC to Pitch.docx