The Pyramid

• When we are in love all we can think about is love like situations
• The characters that we really love are the characters that will throw themself in front of the buss even when they are down and out or at the bottom of the pyramid. 
• No matter how life is you should still be wanting to help others. 
• The most powerful antagonist is your self. 

Find 2 non-cliche characters to  make your story interesting; otherwise your story will be normal/boring and the reader will tune it out. find sources from somewhere that is unusual, this will help develop fresh character ideas. Make your characters relatable to the audience but not to much like the audience b/c this will just reinforce the audience with the character; this is to normal and will cause them to tune you out.

Character Sketches

Situation: Army Boot Camp

Characters:

1. Hard Ass Drill Sargent:

• He is a "don't take shit from no body" type of guy who is always right and never wrong. 
• Question his authority and you will find yourself doing 50 push ups. 

2. The guy that shouldn't be there:

• He joined the army for the wrong reasons.
• He is very fragile and scared of everything. 

3. The "Die-Hard" type:

• Just wants to kick ass and take names. 
• A natural born athlete who invites new challenges. 

4. The Career man:

• great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all in the army so it's in his blood; he was born to serve the army. 
• Has an ARMY tattoo on his right shoulder. 

Story Time!

Make your stories short, sweet, and to the point. Your audience is lazy so make your story engaging. If your story has too many ideas flowing out very quickly it gets confusing, keep your story focused on one idea at a time.

Stories

Stick to the manufactured RECIPE if you want to engage your audience.

The Fire

DING......, DING....., DING....., DING..... “Shit, its the Fire alarm!,” I said as I sprung out of my bed running down the hallway.The fire must be coming from John’s room, I hope he is okay; I thought as I approached his door. “Damn it,Thats hot!,” I screamed as I grabbed the door knob, not noticing it was as red as a hot coal. “John, are you in there?!!” I shouted at the top of my lungs over and over again. I sprinted back to my room, grabbed my cell phone, and dialed 911; “hello, 911? My house is on fire, and my roommate is not responding, come quick!” Why did I let him put that stupid key lock on his bedroom door... I never should have let him do that, I thought as I hung up the phone. Im going to have to kick down his door, I thought as I went running towards his door that was now leaking smoke from all the cracks around it. I took three steps back and gave it my hardest kicks, BANG! BANG! BANG! “Damn it, this isn’t going to work, I cried out as I fell to the smoke covered ground in pain and shame. Clink, clink clink, clink “What was that?,” I shouted; looking around. “Oh my God its the key, It must have been resting on the top of door frame this whole time!” Using my shirt to hold the door knob, I inserted the key and swung open the door. There he is, I thought as I went running towards him; the smoke must have knocked him out. Carrying John out of the house he started to come to, “What happen?” he mumbled. As I put him down on the ground, I noticed the red and blue lights approaching “The fire!” I said. 

Characters To Die For

We have to find new and original characters and stories to help engage the audience. Find a character to die for, well not literally.

The Audience

Always think of the audience first... to be successful at writing you have to think like the audience and use THEIR language to communicate effectively. Short & Sweet, Fast & Quick.

Messages

Every time there is a story you have to be very carful of the message. What is the message and why are they directing this message to us? Is it to control our actions or behavior? I think so because if you take advertisements they are very controlling with their messages.