1. The Born Storytellers Prendiville Catholic College 2015

2. Session 2 Designing Homo Fictus

3. But First... What did you discover about the word, Idea?

4. Idea Principally a noun, but in rare instances a verb Latin form, image likeness (8 th Century British) image existing in the mind (13 th century British) eternal object existing only in the mind, of objects apprehended by the senses (12 th century French)

5. Idea A conception or notion of something to be done or carried out; and intention, plan of action Any product of mental apprehension or activity, existing in the mind as an object of knowledge or thought; an item of knowledge or belief; a thought; a theory; a way of thinking

6. My two story ideas This story is about a boy whose family flees their home and then takes the fight against the Japanese invasion of Sabah to the invaders and establishes a deadly guerrilla resistance force that thwarts Japanese attempts to colonise the interior of the state. This story is about a girl whose father hires a virtual assassin to break her addiction to gaming and she outplays all attempts, remaining on top of her game, including real attempts on her life when she is being considered for the virtual world scholarship.

7. My story idea This story is about a girl whose father hires a virtual assassin to break her addiction to gaming and she outplays all attempts, remaining on top of her game, including real attempts on her life when she is being considered for the virtual world scholarship.

8. A premise Resisting school work leads to outstanding scholarship

9. A Short Story Short stories have particular characteristics: They’re not very long (1,000 – 20,000 wds) They have fewer characters than novels Usually centre around a single situation Often used for trying out dramatic ideas Have a simple (singular) plot progression Have conflict, character growth, dramatic tension

10. Key concepts of story Something... fundamental changes A worthy... human character A narrative of... consequential episodes Designed to... entertain

11. Four important parts of a story idea... 1.A colourful character 2.An unusual item, object or moment 3.Intrigue 4.A unique twist

12. The difference between constructing character and designing a character.. When you are reading, the author gives you clues about the character such as actions, dialogue, thoughts. As a reader, you take these clues and from them, construct an image of the character in your mind.

13. The difference between constructing character and designing a character.. But, as the author, you must take one step back and think about what attributes you are going to use in order to provide your readers with those clues.

14. Designing Character Think about the ‘who’? 1.Who is at the centre of the story? What do they want? 2.Who gets in the way? Why?

15. Designing Character Central character Circumstances (of the story) Circuitry (of others)

16. Designing Character Central character Circumstances (of the story) Circuitry (of others) Short story about single situation conflict, character growth, dramatic tension Singular plot progression Short story fewer character relationships

17. Who is in this story? This story is about a girl whose father hires a virtual assassin to break her addiction to gaming and she outplays all attempts, remaining on top of her game, including real attempts on her life when she is being considered for the virtual world scholarship.

18. Who is in this story? The Girl The Assassin Father Each has a relationship with the others

19. The Girl

22. Repeat the same actions for your Antagonist

23. Antagonist (the assassin) A young man from South Korea, Sun Zhang, who trained in the game because he was a head developer, but he got fired from the company for stealing intellectual property, although nothing was proven. He responded to Dad’s call for the gaming masters to assassinate Sameer’s character, and systematically eliminated all of the competition before turning on Sameer. When he found he couldn’t beat her in the virtual world, he travelled to Perth to take her out for real. He’s as charming as he is nasty and in every way a match for Sameer, except he doesn’t care about others and their property. For example, he wouldn’t take out three deadbeats about to burgle a pharmacy.

24. Other Characters Begin with a list of others whom you already know: Sun Zhang Dad (Philip Salamand) Uncle Neville Jonathan Boulder

25. Other Characters You may not know everyone at present and you may find a need for other characters to perform certain functions as the story progresses. The key archetypal functions are found on page 50

26. Other Characters Protagonist... Sameer (seeks the story’s goal) Antagonist... Zhang (wants to stop Sameer) Contagonist... Dad – Philip (different agenda, wants to deflect Sameer) Guardian... Uncle Nev (wants Sameer to succeed and is there to help) Sidekick... Boulder would probably be a good candidate (loyal) Sceptic... Detective Darcy would be a good candidate (female?) Reason... Emotion...