The First Day of School is the first story event in Act 2 and Movement 2. How does your hero respond to the contrast of Act 2’s Unknown World they have just entered? Are they shy, afraid, boastful, foolish? What does this tell us about them?
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Now that your Hero has agreed to go on the journey, what is the Threshold from Act One to Act Two of your story? What contrasting elements help your audience to understand the difference between the known world and the unknown world?
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Now that your hero has received the call, how do they answer it? Are they a willing Hero or do they have doubts and inner conflicts?
Refusing the Call to Quest provides the opportunity to strengthen our Hero’s character as they are within their ordinary world, and shed light on their internal obstacle(s), definitely highlighting their own uncertainty and lack of confidence in themselves to be able to embark on the journey presented to them in The call to Quest.
• Our Hero hesitates in their decision to heed the call to quest.
• Perhaps something happens that makes our Hero second guess embarking on the journey.
• Our Hero doubts themselves and their ability to physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually embark on the journey.
• Great setup opportunity to show our Hero’s arc in the end and how much they have learned and changed.
Debate (Internal and/or External): The debate is our Hero working through everything the herald character has presented them with. The debate is often more internal than external, and it’s our hero trying to weigh all of their options. Our Hero visits or is visited by something or someone that provides a new perspective that reinforces the importance of the journey.
•Our Hero realizes only they are supposed to go on the journey.
• Though doubt, fear and uncertainty still plagues our Hero.
• Can also include the Meeting with Mentor(s) scene(s).
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What quest, challenge, or invitation is presented to your Hero? What choices? How does it highlight the overall dramatic question of your story?
Our hero must be presented with a challenge, and one that will create a necessity for our hero to have to decide, on their own, if they want to embark on such an adventure. The Call to Quest is often presented to our hero by a Herald character, though it doesn’t necessarily need to be a human or creature character, it could also be an incident, or potentially occur within the Inciting Incident.
The Call to Quest forces our hero into a major decision: To refuse the call to quest and continue on in the comfort of their known world; or, heed the call to quest, thrusting themselves into the Unknown World, which they know little or nothing about…especially the dangers that lurk in the shadows of the Unknown World.
| Join Adam and Devin on their quest to breakdown the Call to Quest story event! |
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What is the Inciting (or Exciting) Incident of your story? How does it set the entire story in motion or tip the first domino in your story’s chain of events?
| Our Inciting Incident is the moment the story “officially” begins and is set in motion. The Inciting Incident is the moment that changes everything for our hero, and perhaps the other main character(s), and puts them on our stories path. The first domino is tipped and the story is set into motion. |
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Why is the Hook your most important event of your story? What do you put in or leave out of your Hook? Devin and Adam explore the Hook in its many varieties – Prologue, Cold Open, Teaser, and more. #storyosophy #storyosophers
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What are the events that transition your Hero from the end of Movement 1 (Out of Comfort Zone) to the end threshold of Movement 2 (Into Danger Zone)? Why do we like to think of Movement 2 as the first day of school?
UPDATE: It was brought to our attention that a section of this episode was faulty, so we fixed it and uploaded a clean episode. Thanks for pointing this out!
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What are the events that make up Movement One (or Act One)? How do these events translate into future acts and movements? Why is it important to keep Movement One as tight and clean as possible? Devin and Adam lay the groundwork for the events of Movement One.
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Adam and Devin embark on their exploration of story structure and its design. Master your storytelling structure! Why do storytellers struggle with story structure so much? How can you look at story structure as a freeing process rather than a limitation?
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What are the different ways you can alter the timeline of your story? How can you use this tool to explore the psychological landscape and perspectives of your characters? Devin and Adam explore nonlinear storytelling in this two-part episode.
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