Tag: plot
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Of Allies, Bishops, Stories and Forethought…
The Queen, in that she is the most powerful player and closest to the King, along with the one Bishop stands as the protagonist. Her goal is clear. In that the story hinges on the King’s protection from capture would then seem to not only serve as motive, but also plot. Where the greatest hope…
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Of Kings, Strategies and Tactics…
Capture of the King in chess ends the game. And thus the role of each piece or character’s movements works towards the larger goals of protecting the King of the same color and capturing the King of the opponent. The players move their characters and/or chess pieces towards accomplishing these two tasks. In this way…
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Of Queens, Personalities, Wishes and Desires…
In chess, the Queen stands to the right of the King. Her major job is that of protecting the King. The dilemma of preventing the King’s capture rests upon the Queen’s head. As such the Queen’s movements are central to winning the game of chess. Establishing the major dilemma or problem in a story is…
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Of Silence, The Three-Act Structure and Death…
Dreams are but stories that possess a beginning, middle and end. Recognizing this Aristotle superimposed this organization of dreams–his three-act structure onto that of plays and stories to render them more comprehensible. Dreams, like stories and plays, hold drama, and their trajectory of plot often includes a dilemma, even if the problem is one of…
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Of Pawns, Rooks, Knights and Bishops…
This weekend I played my first game of chess. My eldest now 23 learned the game from my husband. Like the cello, I have always admired people who played chess. It truly is a game of thought, forethought and reasoning. Unlike the game of checkers that I learned as a child and play with my…
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Of Narrative, Journeys, and What Compels Us to Write…
“Make up a story. Narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created.” –Toni Morrison, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author The protagonist, in reaching home, during this last chapter of the journey, must evidence that she or he has traveled, not simply waited steps beyond home, seconds beyond the gates of…
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Moviegoers, Story, and Dreams…
As movie studios lament the low numbers of moviegoers that seems to be dwindling the directors and producers seemed to going after gimmicks of technology to draw crowds back to the theater. Movies made in 3-D, and shown on Imax screens comprise the recent fads that are but an extension of forcing plot over character…