 STORY DEVELOPEMENT STRATEGIES

 STORY ARCHETYPES
1. Cindrella-virtue eventually recognized
2. Archilles-the fatal flaws
3. Faust-the debt that catches up with the debtor
4. Tristan-the sexual triangle
5. Circe-the spider and the fly
6. Romeo and juliet-star crossed lovers who either find or loss each other
7. Orpheus- the gift that is lost and searched for
8. The hero woho cannot be kept down
9. David and goliath- the individual against the state,community,system,etc
10.The wondering jew- the presecured traveler who can never go home

 Fictional themes
1. Revenge
2. Survival
3. Money
4. Power
5. Glory
6. Self awareness
7. Love

 The Hero’s Journey

SITUATION ELEMENTS
1 Supplication A procecutor, a suplicant, a power in
authority whose decision is doubtful
2 Deliverance An unfortunate, a threatener, a rescuer
3 Crime pursued by vengence An avenger and a criminal
4 Vengence taken for kindred Avenging kinsmen, guilty kinsmen,
remembrance of the victim, arelative of
boath
5 Pursuit Punishment and fugitive
6 Disaster A vanquished power, a victorious enemy
or a messenger
7 Falling pray to cruelty or An unfortunate, a master or a misfortune
misfortune
8 Revolt Tyrant and conspirator
9 Daring enterprise A bold leader, an object, an adversary
1 Abduction The abductor, the abducted, the
0 gaurdian
1 The enigma Interrogattor, seeker, and problem
1
1 Obtaining A solicitor and an adversary who is
2 refusing, or an arbitrator and oppsing
parties
1 Enmity of kinsmen A malevolent kinsmen, a hated or
3 reciprocallyhating kinsman
1 Rivalry of kinsmen The preferred kinsman, the rejected
4 kinsman,the object.
1 Murderous adultery Two adulters, a betrayed husband and
5 wife
1 Madness Madman and victim
6
1 Fatal imprudennce The imprudent, the victim or the object
7 lost
1 Involuntary crimes of love The lover, the beloved, the revealer
8
1 Staying of a kinsman The slayer the unrecognized victim
9 unrecognized
2 Self sacrificing for for an ideal The hero,the kinsman,the “creditor” or
0 the person
Or thing sacrificed
2 Self sacrificing for for an ideal The hero, the ideal, the “creditor” or the
1 person or thing sacrified
2 All sacrified for a passion The lover, the object of the fatal passion,
2 the person or thing sacrified
2 Necessity of sacrificing loved ones The hero, the beloved victim, the
3 necessity for the sacrifice
2 Rivalry of superior and inferior The superior rival, the inferior rival, the
4 object
2 Adultery A dicieved husband of wife, two
5 adulteres
2 Crimes of love The lover, the beloved
6
2 Discovery of a dishonor of a loved The discoverer, the guilty one
7 one
2 Obstacles to love Two lovers, an obstacle
8
2 An enemy loved The beloved enemy, the lover, the hater
9
3 Ambition An ambitious person, a thing coveted, an
0 adversary
3 Conflict with a god A mortal, an immortal
1
3 Mistaken jelousy The jelous one, the object of whose
2 position he is jelous,the supposed
accomplice,the cause or the author of
the mistake.
3 Erroneous judgment The mistaken one,the victim of the
3 mistake,the cause or the author of the
mistake,the guilty person
3 Remorse The culprit,the victim of the sin,the
4 interrogator
3 Recovery of a lost one The seeker, the one found
5
3 Loss of loved ones A kinsman slain,a kinsman spectator, an
6 executioner

 ETHICS OF REPRESENTAION
 CHARECTERS
 1. CLASS: what class or classes do they come from? How are differences
handled? How are other classes represented
2. WEALTH: Do they have money? how is it regarded? How do they handle it?
Wjat is taken for granted? Are things as they shoud be, and if not, how
does the film express this?
3. APPEARANCES: are appearances reliable or misleading? How important are
appearances? Do the charecters have difficulty reading each others
appearances?
4. BACKGROUND: Is there any diversity of race or other background and how
is this handled? Do other races or ethnicities have minor or major parts?
5. BELONGINGS: do we see the charecters work or know how they sustain
their lifestyle? Do their clothes, appliances, and cars belong with their
charecters’ bread winning ability? What do their belongings say about
their tastes and values? Is any one in the film critical of this?
6. TALISMANS: are there important objects, and what is their significance?
7. Do the charecters seems killed and expert enough? Or they capable of
sustaining the work they purportedly do?
8. VALUATION: for what are charecters valued by others charecters? Does the
film question this or cast doubt on the inter charecter values?
9. SPEECH: what do you learn from the vocabulary of the each? What makes
the way each thinks and talks different from others? What does it betray?
10.ROLES: what roles do charecters fall into, and do they emerge as complex
enough to challenge any stereotypes?
11.SEXUALITY: if sexuality is present, is there a range of expressions and how
is it portrayed? Is it allied with effection, tenderness, and love? Or s it
shown as desembodied lust? Is it true to your expieriance?
12.VOLITION: who is able change his or her situation and who seems unable
to take action? What are patterns behind this?
13.COMPETENCE: who is competent and who not? What determines this?

 ENVIRONMENT
1. PLACE: do we know wherecharecters come from and what values are
associated with their origins?
2. SETTINGS: will they look credible and add to what we know about the
charecters?
3. TIME: what values are associated with period choosen for the settings?
4. HOME: do the charecters seem at home? What do they have arround them
to signify and journeys or accomplishments they have made?
5. WORK: do they seem to belong there, and how is the work place
portrayed, what does it say about the charecters?

 FAMILY DYNAMICS
1. STRUCTURE: what structure emmerges? Do charecters treat it as normal
or abnormal? Is anyone critical of the family structure?
2. RELATIONSHIPS: how are relationships between member and between
generations portrayed?
3. ROLES: are roles in the family fixed or do they develope? Are they healthy
or unhealthy? Who in the family is critical? Who is branded as “good” or
“successful” by the family, and who “bad” or “failed”?
 4. POWER: could there be another structure? Is power handled in a healthy or
unhealthy way?what is the relationship of earning money to the family?

 AUTHORITY
1. GENDER: which gender is shown to have the most authority, does one
gender dominate, and if so why?
2. INITIATION: who is initiates the events in thefilm, and why? Who resolves
them?
3. RESPECT? How are figures which power depicted? How are institutions and
institutional power depicted? Are they simple or complex, and does the
script reflect your expieriance of the real thing?
4. CONFLICT: how are conflicts negotiated? What does the film say about
conflict and its resolution? Who wins and why?
5. VIOLENCE: who is violent and why? What does it say about your values
that you let them settle something this way?

 IN TOTAL
1. CRITICISM: how critical is the film toward what its charecters do or dont
do? How much does it tell aboutwhat’s wrong? Can we hope to see one
of the charecters coming to grips with this.
2. APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL: what does the film approve of, and is there
anything risky and unusual in what it defends? Is the film challenging
audiances assumptions and expectations, or just feeding intothem?
3. WORLD VIEW: if this is a microcosm, what does it say about the balance
of forces in the larger world of which it is a fragment?
4. MORAL STANCE: what shape does the films belief system take in
relation to
privilege,willpower,tradition,inheritance,power,initiative,god,luck,coinci
dence,etc.? Is this what you want.