Choosing the setting and characters to explore the theme of your story is a task in itself, maybe as important as finding the theme. These choices will ultimately define how your ideas become the narrative, the elements also by which the audience will hold on (or not) to the journey you’re proposing as a writer. And although many themes have been explored similarly throughout narrative history, some of them becoming tropes reutilized to exhaustion, there’s always some space for original interpretation. Something rare these days, I know.
Klara and the Sun is such a story.
This magnificent novel, by Nobel prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, follows the adventure of one Klara, a robot designed to be a companion of humans. An AF or “artificial friend” built to address a growing problem amongst the human population, loneliness. But the story only uses loneliness as an anchor to talk about something else, for this story ultimately talks about “the human heart”, which some believe is a synonym for love. I’m not sure about that myself, maybe love is a too general topic, especially for a theme. In my view, the author is searching for that capacity that goes beyond self-interest, which is assumed to be an “only human” characteristic. Yet, he cleverly gives it to the protagonist of the story.
Yes, the artificial friend.
Klara is a robot who, as I said before, has been built to accompany humans. To help them. She starts the story impatiently waiting to be chosen by a human, at the AF store. From the beginning, we notice her personality traits, conveyed because she’s the one telling us the whole thing, as she acts as the narrator of the novel. We quickly get her curious and insightful personality as she tries to make sense of the world she experiences, not unlike we as humans would do but far more conscious about the process. Patterns and intuitions appear in her mind, prompting her to make assumptions in an ever-enduring necessity for understanding.
And yes, she gets picked by some Josie, a girl who falls in love with her and wishes to have her as a companion. And from this point forward, Klara gets to experience the world of a dystopian human society where extreme and cold rationality seems to have taken all places of society, leaving almost no place for feelings and higher callings (aka. spirituality). A place where children are genetically modified to perform better, with serious health implications for them, and a place where human labor is secondary to machine efficiency. All contrasting ideas merge into the spinal plot line of the story; Klara wants to help Josie, who’s currently dying because of ill-used genetic modification and she believes something incredible, the Sun can help her recover. With the little knowledge Klara has about the world, she believes the Sun to be a sentient being looking out for us, having magical powers that can heal the ill. She believes this so much she makes her life work to convince it to help Josie.
The plot gets quite complicated by the midpoint of the novel, turns out the mother of Josie wants to make Klara copy all of Josie’s manners and then when the time comes for Josie’s departure, take her place as the daughter.
Nuts, right?
I don’t think the idea here is for me to tell you the story, I think you should read it. And that ending… oh God…
If the capacity for love is the capacity to selflessly care about those whom you love then it doesn’t matter if it’s a human or anyone else who has it or does it, right? Just as long as it still exists in this world, which seems to be something were forgetting so fast. I hope many people have the chance to read Klara and the Sun, just to remember what it feels like to go beyond oneself, to go beyond getting something out of it, you know, to love.
Okay! it’s time for the seventh part of our series about K.M. Weiland’s theme template. And I think we have an amazing story in our hands.
Let’s make a quick recap of the things we have so far!
We have a protagonist, who is a selfless and skillful person. A war orphan who becomes a killing machine, a person who has learned to gain new abilities fast to survive. Because of exemplary achievements during the war, he’s awarded higher education and chooses a medical career as he feels guilty for killing so many people. Yet, something strange happens, he gains fame for being “coldhearted” as he approaches cases with a clear mindset, “if a person is beyond saving it’s better not to attempt a procedure“ is his motto, which expresses the lie he believes, that in hope there’s only pain and death.
Our doctor protagonist gets accused of letting a patient die in the operating room. Worst, this patient is actually one of the enemy soldiers that brutally murder his family in the past. Yet, he doesn’t go to a regular prison, he goes into a prison town where he and other prisoners have to participate in a series of almost unsolvable puzzles, in order to earn food for their families. Failing a puzzle means death, but a participant has the opportunity to choose a family member to die for them, this will keep them in the game.
The winner of this prison challenge can opt to become the new warden of the prison town and can even choose to free all of the participants. But, our antagonist, the warden of the town, is a former prisoner and a stone-cold killer who feels the need to punish criminals and who’s comfortable with his power position.
The people in charge of choosing which prisoners go to prison town don’t have the information about our protagonist being a former soldier. They only know that he’s a coldhearted doctor who left a patient to die.
Now, we also stablished the way in which the unsolvable puzzles run.
A network of courses of actions (or ways to achieve a specific result), but they’re placed in a way that’s confusing and dazing and can only be surpassed using high military skills and/or gaining a new ability really fast, while being coldhearted.
And we said that “being coldhearted” means that one has to pass on the initial impulsive feeling of doing something and wait, analyze and reflect, in doing so you find patterns that weren’t initially available.
Okay! So, in our last session, our protagonist proves his worth by analyzing the problem in front of him. A puzzle in which prisoners have to escape a maze using strange collars with decreasing numbers on them. As the familiar waiting on the other side of the maze rants against him, thinking our protagonist has left them to die, he figures out the puzzle and runs towards the exit, saving not only his life and his familiar one, but everyone else still alive inside the maze.
This time, we’ll discover how the antagonistic forces respond to this incredible act of skills and guts, as our protagonist immerses himself fully into our plot.
Now, as we said in our previous session, the antagonist’s objective for this first challenge was to kickstart the reality TV show. For that to happen, they needed a great number of deaths inside the maze. But our protagonist prevented this to happen by solving the riddle inside.
While taking the decision to solve the puzzle and win the first challenge, what our protagonist actually did was to make the decision to go ahead in facing the dilemma presented to him, effectively starting the plot and the series of events which will lead to an inevitable resolution. His first win also represents the end of act one, as our character prepares to immerse himself fully into the conflict.
So, where to go from here?
According to K.M. Weiland’s theme template, we’re now entering the second act of our story. This time, we have to design the next step in our journey; “an aspect of the truth acting as an antidote to the specific lie, a moment of truth“.
As we came into our story, especially thinking about our setting, we have been surrounded by a powerful idea, that having hopes of surviving the prison town’s reality TV show leads prisoners to suffer and die while facing the sadistic challenges presented to them. In a previous session we also included the idea that the warden is completely against letting anyone win, because doing so would mean him loosing the power position he holds.
Let’s explore this idea, let’s say that prisoners, especially senior ones, already know that is impossible to win. Yet, they fail or don’t care to convince new members that is better to just survive, rather than to attempt to win. These senior prisoners have also become extremely efficient at surviving, they don’t care about winning, and they may even use newcomers to gain precious insight as to how to stay alive.
As such, we have two kinds of prisoners:
Newcomers.
Senior prisoners.
Now, our protagonist’s heroic feat has to have shaken more than one of these senior prisoners cages, right? Why is this so important? because one of them can become a powerful ally, a mentor even. Why is this so important? Remember our truth:
Hope gives people a reason to live.
Our protagonist still doesn’t have any hope for him, but his amazing victory has sent ripples of hope across the prison town. Families have started talking again, conversations now include a key element; there’s a possibility of winning this thing.
And what is that in a nutshell? Hope!
And what about our protagonist, what happened to him after winning?
As our current step indicates, this is the moment in which he makes the decision to fully immerse into the conflict, and as a result, he also fully immerses in his inner conflict between lie and truth:
Truth; If generally “Hope gives people a reason to live”, then specifically, “Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”.
Lie; If generally “Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives”, then specifically, “Hope can make you suffer and get you killed”.
So, let’s say that, after his victory, prison guards take our protagonist backstage. Not for a congratulation party, but to beat him up for ruining the first episode of the TV show. And you know what else, after the beating he gets to meet the prison warden, who’s eager to face the man who made a mockery of his plans. As the two characters meet, a shocking revelation transpires. The warden is no other than the senior military officer that ordered the killing of our protagonist’s family. Let’s make it worst, he was the one who first pulled the trigger. And even worst than that, he enjoyed it.
As the warden interrogates our protagonist, trying to understand how a simple physician was able to decipher and win the first challenge, our protagonist makes the utmost effort to keep his emotions hidden, inside he’s bursting with anger and murderous intent, but outside he remains calm. He doesn’t stop gathering information, doesn’t stop searching, grinding for an opportunity. Because of this, the warden makes his first mistake, he underestimates our protagonist’s capabilities, effectively letting him go after checking that the whole thing was just a stroke of luck.
The guards bring our protagonist, all beaten up, back to his house in prison town for all to see. Prisoners and families, both newcomers and senior ones, have had the day to taste the sweet nectar of hope. But, watching their new hero in this shape, how many of them will be strong enough to keep it?
Guess we’ll have to wait for the next time to know! One thing is certain, our protagonist has not given up, in fact, he now has a powerful reason to face the challenge ahead, the possibility of vengeance.
And with that idea, we end this chapter of our journey through K.M. Weiland’s theme template. Next time, we’ll be facing the first part of the second act, the trials phase, where our protagonist will gain a growing awareness of the truth. Until that time comes, good luck in writing!
And we’re back! and we already have all of the ingredients that we needed for our story to take off, remember?
We had all of these ingredients:
A prison setting.
A selfless character inspiring new hope by achieving teamwork amongst criminals.
An antagonist who considers prisoners as inferiors and pins them against each other to profit.
A contest/challenge in which prisoners compete with the false hope of achieving freedom.
To add originality, we changed the original idea, keeping the core elements, and the result was something like this:
Our prison setting is in fact some sort of reality show in which participants live in a small town with their families. But they can’t escape from this town under the death penalty.
Our protagonist is a selfless and skillful person who get’s trapped inside this town, where he and other prisoners have to participate in a series of challenges, either to win or to survive, in order to maintain their families, to earn their food. Failing to do so means they must die, but a participant has the opportunity of choosing a family member to die for them, this will keep them in the game.
The one participant who wins all of the challenges can opt to become the new warden of this prison town and can even choose to free all of the participants (who are mostly criminals). But to do so, they all have to face the current warden of the town, a former prisoner who feels the need to punish criminals and who’s comfortable with his power position.
Now, according to K.M. Weiland’s theme template, we should move into the second key element of the first act, the story’s small introductory truth. Because all of the elements we’ve placed before this are part of the specific manifestation of the big lie. All of these previous elements feed a single idea:
Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives.
In this prison the only hope is to win the challenge, but the current warden will make sure no one wins so he can keep his job. So the hope that the situation arises is a false one, due to the fact that there’s no way the warden is letting anyone win.
So, what is the small introductory truth?
To answer this question, we need to start by stating our big truth and our specific truth, which were:
If generally “Hope gives people a reason to live”, then specifically, “Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”.
The objective of the small introductory truth is to slowly open the protagonist’s awareness of the lie. This means that we have to find a way for our protagonist to understand that beyond the false belief that “hope can make you suffer and waste your life”, there’s a small chance of surviving, of being free once again.
If I were to guess, I would say that the protagonist has to accomplish something early on, something that wasn’t expected, maybe even something anyone has ever done before. By doing this, he would prove that the warden’s tight operation is not ready for him, that he can actually go beyond what’s expected, what the antagonistic forces are prepared for.
What can this be?
How about if the first challenge is impossible to beat, prisoners who participate can only hope to survive for a fixed amount of time. Let’s also say that this initial challenge is especially hard as it’s needed to kill many people at first, so the reality show rating quota is secured.
How about if the protagonist not only manages to figure out the challenge, but he’s also able to save as many people as possible. This would give us another important element in the story, all of the participants who listen to him are saved and all of those who don’t, those who fight on their own, are killed. Do you get it? this is the inception of the protagonist’s rise as the leader.
Okay! I think we have our small introductory truth. It’s comprised of the following elements:
An unsolvable puzzle challenge.
The almost certain possibility of dying for most of the participants.
The need for this to happen for the warden’s program to have a great start.
The protagonist skillfully solving this puzzle and the saving of many.
Now, to properly choose the correct puzzle challenge and especially how our protagonist is going to solve it, we first need to know him better. We need to understand who this person is, we already know that he’s a selfless and skillful person, yet we need to know specifics if we’re going to be able to tailor the challenge to him. And as you correctly guessed, that’s exactly what we’re going to do next time, when we dive deep into the protagonist’s backstory, we’ll create him, we’ll be at his side, we’ll understand why is him the only one able to win this prison town sick challenge.
Okay! so now it’s time to build the plot of our story, are you ready?
So far we have two main elements that are going to help us in this endeavor. The first one is the thread of information that we managed to articulate at the end of our previous endeavor, you remember?
We managed to build our protagonist as a skillful and selfless person, who has fear of change, and so prefers not to attempt to change the destiny of things.
The second element is our antagonistic force, which as I remember was something like this;
A prison, ruled by a person who considers criminals to be less than ordinary men, not subject to the same rights or respect, especially from the prison guards he commands.
We can already see the conflict building in these two sentences, a selfless person against another who considers prisoners to be less than ordinary men.
As the two of them collide it is guaranteed that sparks are going to fly. Just think about it, our protagonist is bound to consider everyone as his equal, while the antagonist will surely engage others from a superior position, right?
Now, according to K. M. Weiland’s Theme template, our next step would be to define the first act, using the manifestation of the big lie.
Do we even remember the big lie?
Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives.
Okay, Weiland tells us that, at the beginning of the story, the big lie will manifest in a specific message that is either urging the protagonist toward the want (in our case; to escape from prison) and/or is presenting a direct obstacle to his ability to move towards the need and/or want.
Let’s take the first scenario. A message urging the protagonist toward the want. Now, we had previously talked about “to escape from prison” being the concrete want, fueled by a more abstract take on it, remember?
That more abstract idea for a want was something like this:
To find meaning in life.
Now, considering that our big lie is “hope makes people suffer and waste their lives“, which message emerging from it could push a skillful and selfless person, who has fear of change, and so prefers not to attempt to change the destiny of things, towards finding meaning in life by escaping from prison?
Let’s start by saying that, in our story, the destiny of things can be summarized as suffering and the waste of life through the false hope of leaving prison, right?
This means that the setting of our story is a prison in which a warden (main antagonist), a person who considers prisoners as livestock, has some sort of sick game or contest which involves the false hope of leaving, of achieving freedom.
This contest gives prisoners the manifestation of the big lie, a sort of sick version of hope that makes them suffer and waste their lives to entertain people and make the warden a rich person.
And I know, I know. This plot sounds a bit cliché. But before you go judging this freestyle version of plotting a movie idea, let me remind you that plot templates are often similar as structure and goal-driven narratives go, yet is in the execution where we will often find originality.
So, let’s try to add some of that sought-after originality, okay?
Our plot template would be something like this:
A skillful and selfless person, who has fear of change, and so prefers not to attempt to change the destiny of things, gets trapped inside a prison where the warden, a person who considers prisoners as livestock, has some sort of sick game or contest which involves the false hope of leaving, of achieving freedom.
In essence, what we’re saying is that our protagonist is a person who is inclined to accept his destiny because it allows him not to experience the fear that defines him, and that he gets trapped inside a prison in which staying or accepting his destiny will only get him killed, because destiny inside this prison is to participate in a contest where prisoners compete in such a way that they suffer and risk their lives, driven by false hope of winning the possibility of escaping from this place, just to entertain a lot of people and make the mayor richer and more powerful.
Now, to face such a challenge, many prisoners would opt for fighting by themselves, adopting an individualistic approach to the matter, kinda like the antagonist’s position, remember?
“Our protagonist is bound to consider everyone as his equal, while the antagonist will surely engage others from a superior position”.
So, we already know that, to win this battle, the protagonist is going to have to break this false belief expressed in the big lie, that hope makes you suffer and gets you killed, which is what happens when you participate in the challenge and it’s also the antagonistic approach, which permeates in all of the prisoners who fight by themselves.
No, no. The protagonist will face the issue with his own version of hope, which comes from his selflessness. He will aid others instead of hurting them, he will seek help instead of stabbing someone in the back, he will build a new movement, a new way of thinking, a new hope.
Okay, so with all these elements in our plate:
A prison setting.
A selfless character inspiring new hope by achieving team work amongst criminals.
An antagonist who considers prisoners as inferiors and pins them against each other to profit.
A contest/challenge in which prisoners compete with the false hope of achieving freedom.
Here comes the originality.
Let’s say that the prison setting is in fact some sort of reality show in which the participants live all together in a small town, even with their families. Problem is, they can’t escape from this town, trying so would probably mean being shot in the head.
Let’s also say that, to maintain their families, these criminals have to participate in a series of challenges, either to win or to survive. But here’s the twist, if they fail, they have the opportunity to sacrifice one of their family members to keep participating, but if the participant gets killed every member of the family dies too.
Here’s the catch, the one participant who wins all of the contests can choose to become the new warden, and by doing so, they can choose the new rules of engagement, they can even choose to free all the prisoners.
So yes… the antagonist is a former winner!!!
I think we’re ready to try a logline now, what do you say?
It would be something like this:
A selfless and skillful person gets trapped in a prison town, where he will have to unite all prisoners to survive a sick challenge, involving the sacrifice of family members, to win his and everyone’s freedom.
That’s it for today, next time we’ll continue writing this story, which I have to say it’s becoming a true epic! We already have the introduction of the big lie, now we have to dive into the next part of K.M. Weiland’s template, the small introduction of the truth, which we already hinted at!
And so… here we are. And don’t be surprise by the ominous feeling we’re getting here, cause this time we’re diving deep into character development, probably the most painful and self reflecting part of the writing journey. Yes, it’s time to tackle the personal aspect of our story, about our protagonist and by consequence, of any other character in our roster.
It is time to talk about the Ghost/Wound.
But before going to crazytown, let’s make a quick recap of all the progress we’ve made so far, shall we?
First, we have our:
Big truth and character-specific truth:
If generally “Hope gives people a reason to live”, then specifically, “Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”.
And…
Big lie and character-specific lie:
If generally “Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives”, then specifically, “Hope can make you suffer and get you killed”.
Then, we chose “escape from prison” as the thing the character wants, and, “to understand that his actions not only reignited hope inside him but also gave hope to others, shifting the balance of injustice inside prison” as the thing the character needs.
Now, to understand how a proper Ghost/Wound works, and by that I mean it works for our story, we have to think for a moment about the thing the character needs. If we have a character that has to learn that “his actions can reignite hope for him and also give hope to others” we’re also talking about a character that has lost hope in the first place, but also, a character that can inspire others.
Taking these two ideas we can say that our character has something special about him, something that can inspire others, but it seems that they can’t see this at the start point, given that they have to learn this truth as part of the story objective. So, let’s ask ourselves, which type of character has no hope because they can’t see who they really are. Maybe this character can accomplish amazing feats but fails to see value in himself, so much that they need to be put in a catastrophic situation to learn their true value.
Here’s where the Ghost makes its appearance.
Let’s define this value first, right? so we can talk about the same thing moving forward.
The Ghost is a motivating event in your character’s past that represents the moment and reason the lie first took root in their life. The lie you say?
Hope can make you suffer and get you killed.
What we’re saying here is that something happened in the character’s past that makes them believe that experiencing hope is a dangerous thing, so much that in having hope they think suffering and death are inevitable.
Let’s say that, as a young boy, the protagonist lived in a war zone, where his mother takes the hopeful decision to stay at home, while all the other families fled because she had the hope that her husband would return to them as promised and couldn’t leave him behind, because of hope. And so, father never arrived, by enemy soldiers did, effectively killing her and the protagonist’s sisters.
From this point forward, our protagonist holds the belief that experiencing hope will inevitably lead to suffering and to the possibility of being killed.
Now, this Ghost from our protagonist’s past has produced a Wound on him, and wounds need to heal. Before you go on asking how can a wound heal, and I tell you right now, the answer is right there in the proposition, let’s talk a bit about it.
So, What’s this Wound thing exactly?
A wound is an aftermath of experiencing the ghost, it is often expressed through some fear that the character tries to avoid at all cost. Because of the traumatic nature of this experience, the wound acts like a defensive mechanism that prevents the character from being hurt again, but it also prevents them to overcome the experience and have a better life, beyond fear.
It is expressed as a personality trait (or a group of them) that protects the character from being harmed and maintains some control over their experience. At the same time, the wound makes the character see reality from a distorted point of view that prevents them from seeing the truth.
In our protagonist’s case, the wound of having lost their family over hope, their belief that experiencing it can lead to suffering and death, can be summarized in “fear of change“. What do I mean by that, I mean that the character will prefer to accept things as they come, building a comfortable and protected life, free of risk or gamble, to actually avoid the need of experiencing hope for better things. As long as the character stays “imprisoned” in his own lack of hope, they will at least not experience any suffering and will avoid death.
Now, what type of character traits can encompass a character that’s experiencing fear of change?
They will choose to not get involved emotionally.
They will not have an opinion on things that can cause backlash.
They will prefer enclosure.
They will not be as open as to trust others.
Etc.
Are you getting the idea? Okay, as you can see, a ghost from the past produces a wound that the character needs to overcome to have a proper life. Until then, they will keep suffering on their own accord, which summing up an external conflict and goals to achieve can make up a real recipe for disaster.
But, do not despair yet, because not everything is lost for our protagonist. Remember that at one point we talked about something special about the character? because the truth is that our protagonist can inspire others, to give them hope at the same time they discover it for themselves.
Now we’re talking about the Basic Action, which is also thought about as the “character’s weapon“, an ability or set of personality traits that have a positive impact and that can help them achieve their goal towards the truth.
And you know what’s the most incredible part of this Basic Action/Weapon?
Most of the time, the protagonist has it but, because of the Ghost/Wound/Lie situation, they can’t see it in themselves. That’s why they need to go through the ordeal that the story proposes, to understand their true value, to change the perception they have about themselves.
In our case, what could be the Basic Action of our protagonist?
Maybe this lack of hope leads them to be selfless, maybe even brave or painfully honest. Maybe lack of hope gives them a clear perspective on human affairs, the information they could use to achieve things. Maybe a life without hope has to lead them to be skillful not to rely on others.
To keep our story going, let’s say our protagonist is a skillful and selfless person, who has fear of change and so prefers not to attempt to change the destiny of things.
And that’s it for today! Next time we’ll use all of the information we have so far to start building our plot.
Okay, so last week we managed to find our story foundation using the theme template, remember? And making the effort to keep these ideas in mind while moving forward will make a ton of difference in the end product, I promise you that.
So, let’s continue!
But first, let’s make a quick recap of our previous endeavor, shall we? What we have so far is:
Big truth and character-specific truth:
If generally “Hope gives people a reason to live”, then specifically, “Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”.
And…
Big lie and character-specific lie:
If generally “Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives”, then specifically, “Hope can make you suffer and get you killed”.
Let’s think about our statements for a moment. Because, as we said before, contained in these sentences lies the conflict in our story. What we have here is a struggle between two POVs about the same idea, HOPE.
Does hope give you a reason to live or is it just an illusion that leads you to waste your life and suffer? This is the core movement of our narrative, solving this question is the goal of the protagonist’s journey and the reason for his change.
So, if the answer to this question is the goal for the character, that’s another way of talking about their want, which is our next step in K.M. Weiland’s theme template.
The thing the character wants
This one is a tricky fellow.
Theory indicates that the want is a representation of a larger, more abstract desire (e.g., to be loved), but it manifests as a concrete plot-based goal for the protagonist.
Remember our previous question?
Does hope give you a reason to live or is it just an illusion that leads you to waste your life and suffer?
Now think about it, what kind of person would be questioning themselves about these things? Let’s say our protagonist wants to find meaning in their lives.
Now, to find meaning in life is an abstract, larger desire. Let’s try to bring it down into a concrete plot-based goal. To do this, we need to at least know a bit about the setting of our story, because, at this point, we’re talking about actual plot elements.
Now, where do we find more specific information about our story if we haven’t written anything plot-related yet? As you remember, we do have a piece of specific information, our character-specific truth, and lie.
Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice.
Hope can make you suffer and get you killed.
Some elements are already talking to us about the setting of the story, words like injustice or killed talk to us about the genre, about tone, right?
If our abstract, larger desire is to find meaning in life, using John Truby’s levels of desire lines we can land on our plot-based goal:
Desire line Plot-based goal
Survive Escape from prison.
Take revenge Kill who wrongfully accuses you
Achieve something Achieving changes in the legal system
Explore a world Travel against all odds
Catch a criminal Stop the person destroying your life
Find the truth Clear your name from false accusation
Gain love Find love against the wishes of society
Bring justice and freedom Liberate people from injustice
Save the republic Over-throne a corrupt government
Save the world Defeat an alien invasion.
Okay, for the sake of simplicity let’s choose “escape from prison” as the thing the character wants, so we can move into our next stop in K.M. Weiland’s Theme Template!
The thing the character needs
As the character goes through the plot and execute actions to conquer obstacles in their way to the goal, they will also learn some truth about themselves. This is what’s often thought of as the thing the character needs, which is to understand/change/overcome some aspect of their own lives.
Ultimately, we’re talking about an understanding of the truth (specific to the character) but it’s also usually represented by a more concrete and specific outer-world objective.
In our story, the thing the character wants is to escape prison, as they do so (or try to, anyway) they will inevitably face some harsh realities about themselves. What if they have to leave someone behind to achieve a certain goal? What if they have to betray an ally? In their drive to gain the thing they want, the protagonist will come to understand the limits of their morals, how far are they willing to go. In doing so they will eventually come to terms with some deep truth about themselves that will change them and their lives completely.
So, how can you choose the thing the character needs? In a way you already have it, yet it’s expressed as an outer idea. Yes, it’s the character-specific truth.
Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice.
But, how can we express this idea in a way that speaks about our character and give us a sense of the plot?
Let’s recollect the information we already have.
What do we know about the character?
Well, we know he’s in a positive arc (refer to the 1st part of this topic if you didn’t read it here), which means they will start the story in a negative position, given by the character-based lie:
Hope can make you suffer and get you killed.
Okay, so what do we know about the plot? As we stated before, the setting of it is a prison, and the thing the character wants is to escape from it, right?
So, what truth can a person, who deep inside believes hope can get you killed, need to escape from a prison, from which they were unjustly imprisoned?
Taking into consideration that our theme revolves around hope, and that the character-specific truth is “hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”, we could say that the thing the character needs is:
To understand that his actions not only reignited hope inside him but also gave hope to others, shifting the balance of injustice inside prison.
Thus, making their last movement towards escaping, inevitable.
As we will see in our next session, the thing the character needs still needs some fine-tuning and we will use the Ghost/Wound to do so. Until then… GOOD LUCK IN WRITING!!
I’ve been studying story structure for some time now and I have to say, this is predominantly in screenwriting theory, that almost all the time, the learning process focuses on two aspects, the character’s main goal, and the plot. Current writing methods and available courses tend to revolve around the protagonist and their journey. Seems obvious, right? But, taking this route don’t be surprised if you end up with a series of disjointed events happening to someone for some reason.
Why is this? You may ask, well, I would say it’s mostly because there’s a misunderstanding about what the theme is and what is its impact on the story as a whole. Put it simply, the theme is everything, the characters, the events happening, even the decoration in the walls is a reflection of a core idea, repeating itself infinitely and giving the spectator a sense of “patterns” appearing again and again, talking to them about an idea the author is trying to convey.
Now ask yourself, but be truly honest about it… How can your story resonate with the audience if you don’t know what you’re talking about? Because you may come up with a plot that “makes sense”, especially if you’re reflecting on movies you’ve already seen. Maybe you’re telling yourself “I feel this is talking about something”, you may even feel there’s a pattern here and there, that’s great! But are you really in command of what’s going on? Are you discovering something intuitively or are you designing something like a creator?
Is there any way to be sure?
Of course! That’s the whole reason we’re talking about this, and K.M Weiland is here to give us a hand. In her book “Writing your Story’s Theme” she presents to us a template which we can use to figure out our story, but not using plot beats or prefixed structures, but by choosing our theme and using it to figure out these patterns, because these patterns are glimpses of the truth, we, as authors, want to convey.
So, let’s dive into this template as we also try to come up with a story to support the idea that it works!
The template goes like this…
Story’s Big Truth (main theme)
Your core theme idea is expressed as a premise. The universal principle of the story.
Example: Hope gives people a reason to live.
As you can see, it works best when you establish it as an intentional statement.
Story’s Big Lie
The flip side of the coin is the opposition to the big truth.
Example: Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives.
Now, as you can see, by choosing these two general aspects of your story, a theme expressed as a Big Truth and a counter theme expressed as a Big Lie, what you just did is define the conflict in the story.
This is important because, from this point forward, every time you’re thinking about conflict…
Characters you choose and their involvement in the story.
Character dialogues.
Plot beats.
Setting
Etc.
You have to keep in mind the decision you initially did with the Big Truth and the Big Lie. If, when adding something to the story, you’re not talking about these core elements, you’re drifting and wasting time and space.
Okay! Are you getting the idea? I hope you do. Let’s bring our initial statements back for a moment:
Big Truth: Hope gives people a reason to live.
Big Lie: Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives.
The template continues with…
Character’s specific Truth:
It’s any of the characters you choose a specific version of the Big Truth, and it’s specific regarding your story.
Example:
Main character’s truth:
“Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”.
Character’s specific Lie:
This is one of the most important elements of your story, period. It is also known as “the lie the character believes”. It branches from the character’s ghost/wound and it’s the seed of their want, which is the pillar of the plot and the antagonist and the setting. So yeah, this may be the most important information you’ll use to build your story, so treat it as such!
But hey… ease up a bit on the pressure, is not like you’re putting all your life at risk by choosing, right?
Remember the Big Lie?
“Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives.”
Normally, the relation between the protagonist and the antagonistic forces depends on the type of story you want to convey. From a character POV there are only three types of stories:
Positive Arc Story
Negative Arc Story
Flat Arc Story
We’re not going to talk about them at this point, let’s just state that according to our main character’s specific truth, we can infer that we’re dealing with a positive arc.
So, if we’re dealing with a positive arc, we have to start our journey from the polar opposite, from a negative place.
Now, what could be the negative of…
“Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”.
Maybe…
“Hope can make you suffer and get you killed”.
Look closely…
The relation between the Big Truth and the Character’s specific truth is stated like this:
If generally “Hope gives people a reason to live”, then specifically, “Hope can help you survive and be free from injustice”.
Now, let’s do the same with the counterpart.
If generally “Hope makes people suffer and waste their lives”, then specifically, “Hope can make you suffer and get you killed”.
Great! We’ve already designed the core idea behind our conflict, the engine upon which all of our decisions and plot making will be based.
Next time we’ll continue our exercise, using Weiland’s template, to go deeper into our story, building upon this strong foundation and moving into more specific details that slowly but surely will help us deliver a powerful story, keeping our theme always in the back of our head as guidance in this treacherous journey of fiction writing.
The titanium alloy builded cabine of the interstellar rollercoaster vibrates upon warp speed entry as Johnny, a teenage pulsar dj practitioner, changes tracks once again, undecided about the atmospheric melody which he would like to listen upon death by suffocation, tossed imaginarilly into space and time after loosing the incoming dj battle he’s about to face. Yet, the rollercoaster arrives to the nearest star at lightspeed, alongside the new beat in Johnny´s playlist; “excitement of a burning star”. The tune hits the cabin, some dude in the back starts moving his head with a smile that fastly spreads to more and more, increasingly excited, people.
I bet they won’t toss me into space after listening to this killer track.
Johnny accomodates his vintage headphones and let’s himself be carried away by the melody, but he’s quickly interrupted by the harsh bass on Azeroth, his contestant, hit track; “Cry of a pulsar”. The battle is on.
Johnny turns up the volume, along with the rising laser melody which welcomes the audience into the sudden fall of the rollercoaster and manages to take them away from the sad tunes of his adversary. But at the end of the fall, the melancholic pulse on the bridge of “Cry of a Pulsar”, pushes them back into the sadness of oblivion, conveyed by Azeroth’s feelings. Johnny concentrates on his previous sentiments, on the warm rising of the sun in the summer, but the melody only manages to upset the audience, completely caught up in sadness, and they love it. The rollercoaster spirals, taking Johnny off from concentration and giving Azeroth even more sad feelings to feed upon. Hanging in despair, Johnny notices Azeroth is looking right at him, probably feeding of Johnny’s desperation to add to his sad tune. And so, Johnny opens his safebelt and lets himself go in the middle of the rollercoaster spinning. The sudden fall of Johnny makes Azeroth laugh and the sad tune he’s conveing changes into an uprising beat, following his own feelings, and more so than that, merging with another rising tune, the hopeful arrangement that comes from Johnny’s heart, grabbing the side of the dj table and not letting himself go in the middle of the chaotic movement of the rollercoaster. Fighting for his own life, Johnny’s heart fuses with the melody from “excitement of a burning star”, transforming it into a new song; “Explosion of supernova feelings”. And the entire audience let’s themself go from their seatbelts, and the rollercoaster travels through space with a multitude of people hanging from their chairs, fighting to stay alive and not letting go.
The spiral tracks are behind and the rollercoaster stabilises near the heart of a gigantic galaxy, purple mist and the birth of new stars accompany Johnny´s triumphant coda, as “explosion of a supernova feelings” hits the end. The audience goes back into their sits, a couple rejoice by the window, kissing passionately. Azeroth´s song has stopped for some time now, not that anyone notices it and Johnny is the only one to say goodbye to him, before the floor opens and tosses him out into space, to die.
The modern cut glass door closes unexpectedly, hinges pushing forever forward towards the chiaroscuro street and the humidity of the sprinkling on the light green grass, on the blackened asphalt, on the unscathed puddles. And the barely occupied spaces of the sidewalk hide laughter, hide indecipherable plans for Thomas, a man of fine features and slender body, perhaps too slender and perhaps too relaxed given the situation. Truth is, for some time now, Thomas has been feeling that his life stops every time he stays in one place for a long time. He feels his feet burying in the ground, deep roots taking him from below. This sensation provokes a slight impulse forward, towards the new, the different, towards the pizzeria, where the pizza he hopes to enjoy on tonight’s date awaits…
The date… with his former girlfriend.
Cut to black:
Voiceover:
– Wait wait wait… you said he was running away to the new, the different, but it turns out he’s getting together with his former girlfriend.
– Steps my friend, these are steps he has to take, even though his life is moving into the future, paradoxically that future is shaped like his past. Perhaps because it is the barrier he has to cross before he gets to what is really different.
– Don’t cloud me with your metaphysical logic. Okay then, I’ll play along, but I’ll be watching.
Fade to:
Flashback
The living room of Thomas’ apartment.
Thomas wakes up next to the sunrise in the window, for the third day in a row he has fallen asleep on the living room couch. He gets up as quickly as he can and goes to the bathroom, brushes his teeth, eyes closing, but he slaps himself a few times to wake up completely.
Then, he rushes out the apartment door and into the hallway, where a group of people wait for the elevator to arrive.
Among these people is Gloria.
Thomas stops dead in his tracks on the ceramic tiles in the hallway, thanks to the specially designed rubber in his sneakers, guaranteed to produce controlled braking on any surface (patent pendant).
Escape options are limited, the most certain possibility of escaping unnoticed is to make a fleeting dash for the emergency door and descend to the first floor using the fire escape stairs. But the window of opportunity narrows with each passing second and a decision has to be made.
– To the ladder!
Thomas shouts without having thought about the possibility, very close indeed, that Gloria might hear him. Luckily he makes it across the threshold of the emergency door before she notices.
Ten or eleven jumps later, he makes it to the first floor of the apartment building, he happens to live on the third floor.
– I don’t think what I do is heroic.
– Whatever you say, sir. Have a nice day.
The concierge greets Thomas and bids him farewell at the exit door, but not before reminding him of something important.
– Sir, the common expenses.
– Yes indeed, the expenses. Very important.
– Sir… sir?
– Very important, thank you for reminding me.
Thomas waves goodbye, walks out the glass door to the street and finds himself facing the sidewalk and the walls tinged with light blue, other colors still waiting for the sun to come.
Perfect time to jog to the end of the street and back to the apartments’ entrance. Thomas has been running every morning for a year and four months now, every step he takes is a mantra that propels him forward, toward the future he longs for.
Insert: a photo of a happy family by the Christmas tree.
This image is the main reason Thomas feels that his life is a failure, he doesn’t have a family, but he wants a family, and he wants it more than anything else in the world. So… Why did he avoid Gloria in the hallway?
Cut to:
Thomas’s love nest.
Thomas on top of Gloria, to Gloria’s side, underneath Gloria, they are both naked and sucking each other’s bodies in search of pleasure. Then they rest lying on the bed. Gloria feels like talking.
– We should live together.
Cut to:
The chiaroscuro street.
Thomas, running alone down the light blue-tinted street after having escaped from Gloria in the apartment hallway, receives a phone call but does not answer, he is even annoyed because the incoming call interrupts the music he’s been listening to, which is a fundamental piece of this whole “I want and I act to get it” narrative driving him.
As he reaches the end of the street, Thomas turns on his right knee, the one that still hurts so much after landing with his whole body on a large round stone on the beach.
Insert: Thomas lands on the round stone on the beach.
Thomas takes the devastating image out of his mind and continues to move forward. This time around, the street goes upwards. The phone rings again, and Thomas prefers to answer.
– Hello? (kinda annoyed tone)
– Thomas? Hello, how are you?
– Excuse me, who is this?
– Paula? You don’t remember my voice anymore.
(Of course he does)
– Paula… Paula! Hi! How are you, long time no hear.
( He has been preparing for this occasion).
– I’m fine, you?
– I’m great, I just love living, you know.
(Strange answer, also, he doesn’t like living so much).
– How nice to hear you are so happy.
– Yeah, I’m so happy.
– Listen, I’m calling you because I’m in town for a few days.
– Are you? Great, if you want we can get together, and do something.
– What a nice idea, we do have a lot to talk about.
– We do! I’m free in the evening, 8… 8:30 is a good time.
– 8 is fine. Will you send me your address?
– Yes, don’t worry. I’ll send it now.
– Great, see you soon.
(Cute pause)
– Bye.
Thomas hangs up the phone and resumes jogging with a smile that defies gravity and fatigue.
He walks quickly, forgetting the steep path at first, remembering it back near the entrance of the apartment, where he meets Gloria, and he’s out of breath.
At this point, she has barely reached the first floor after waiting for her turn at the elevator for several minutes.
Cut to: (minutes earlier)
The hallway and the long wait.
Gloria waits in front of the elevator and next to a group of people. The light on the ceiling flickers constantly, generating almost imperceptible spaces of darkness that feed the general “why the fuck do I have to get out of bed” kinda feeling in the air.
An exasperating buzzing sound from the busted light makes the wait increasingly unpleasant.
The elevator opens and is already practically full, people inside making the supreme effort to squeeze into the limited space to allow Mrs. Nicole and her two children access to the elevator.
– They are very late for school. Thank you very much.
Mrs. Nicole utters a couple of incoherent sentences before the door closes, Gloria wonders if the lady was talking to herself or to the rest.
She also wonders about the competitive advantages of having children, the operation reports positive results in favor of singleness.
A quick glance at the rest of the people and the epiphany strikes her though… she will be the last to enter the elevator.
List of the other people in order of entry to the elevator:
– An elderly woman with no apparent direction.
– A rival woman very similar in appearance to Gloria, but with bigger cleavage.
– A guy in a suit with the face of a rapist (she’s not gonna enter with him).
Cut to:
Outside the apartment and the unexpected encounter.
The gloom in Gloria’s mind has not abated after the long wait in front of the elevator door.
The accidental, though completely avoidable, encounter with Thomas leads her to experience contradictory emotions. On the one hand, she recognizes a bond with the individual, a special affection that she would like to protect. On the other hand, Gloria preferred to wait in the elevator and not go down the stairs exactly because she saw Thomas avoiding her in the hallway.
Yes, she did…
– Hello, Thomas.
– Gloria, good morning. How are you doing this momorning?
– Momorning?
– Sorry, morning. This morning.
– I’m fine, I’m actually running a little late, talk later?
– Yes, later.
– I think I’ll be back by 8 pm.
– Oh, you mean like today. Later today.
– Sure… Later today, can you?
– Yeah obviously… I mean no, I can’t today.
– Oh, are you gonna be busy?
– Yeah, busy. I have to go out… and come back. Out and back.
– Ah, a short thing.
– Not that short, I think. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take me, but I’ll be back, don’t worry.
– Okay, that was weird. I guess I’ll talk to you another day.
– Yeah, of course.
– Well, see you then.
Gloria says goodbye to Thomas without kissing him and heads to the curb, where her Uber ride awaits to take her to work.
Before getting into the vehicle, Gloria wonders if Thomas noticed her saying goodbye without kissing him.
(He didn’t).
Also, the end of the flashback.
Cut to:
The initial sunset part II.
Thomas arrives at the pizzeria in search of the pizzas he has ordered to celebrate with Paula, the woman who abandoned him a year and four months ago, the woman who left a hole of hopelessness in the center of Thomas’ compulsive dream of starting a family.
The toppings on both pizzas are Paula’s favorites, Thomas remembers them completely, as he still remembers countless details about her.
– I’m here to pick up some pizzas.
– In whose name.
– In the name of love, my friend.
The cashier stares at Thomas, his gaze intrigued.
– You… you’re a romantic.
– I think so, my friend.
– That’ll be 13.95.
– How do you know what order I’m getting?
– Pizza with ham, extra cheese, and pineapple? Only a person looking to impress someone else chooses pineapple, dude.
– Only an extreme rhetorician chooses dualistic arguments. Dude.
– Touché. Here are your pizzas sir, enjoy your evening.
– Thank you very much.
Thomas receives the pizzas with honest kindness and walks towards the pizzeria exit, the journey is interrupted by a phone call, it’s Paula.
He leaves the pizza boxes on one of the restaurant tables and answers.
– Paula, hi.
– Hi Thomas, hey, I’m outside your apartment, I’ve just arrived.
Thomas’s gaze crosses witheringly through the interior space of the pizzeria and stops nimbly at the clock on the counter, it’s 7: 50 pm.
– You’re early.
– Yes, is that a problem?
Mental pause.
– “She’s early, she wants to see me, she misses me, she needs me! Do I have any condoms? I think I have some left in the medicine box, at least one strip.”
Continue.
– No. No problem. Wait for me there, I’m at the pizzeria.
– I’ll wait for you then.
Thomas cuts the call, takes the pizzas, and walks again towards the exit, but stops (again) when he sees Gloria arriving at the entrance of the apartment with another person, a man.
From the type of clothes this man is wearing, a leaden jacket with a typical white shirt, and those shoes polished to a boiling point, Thomas deduces that this man is a fucking bastard.
– What are those, solar panels?
– Excuse me, sir?
The cashier enters the conversation.
– Nothing, I was talking to myself.
– Of course sir, why would you be talking to me.
The cashier leaves the conversation.
Thomas looks through the small windows at the top of the door, those little windows that allow him to see the street outside.
He stares at the apartment’s entrance. First, he sees Paula standing near the edge of the sidewalk. Then he sees Gloria next to the unknown guy, saying goodbye to the Uber driver who has brought them back to the love nest Thomas thought he was the only guest there and now it seems he has to share it with someone else.
Gloria and the stranger enter the building, clearing the way for Thomas to decide to come out of hiding, but unable to stop the pizza boxes from crashing against the door with the little windows that close thanks to those hinges that are used to close to push people forward.
With a determined movement with his arm, Thomas manages to control the boxes without losing the momentum that leads him to cross the street next to the passage of one of those cars that always pass by unexpectedly and whose movement produces a light breeze that moves the hair of both of them, Thomas and Paula, as they meet again.
A flickering flash unleashes forgotten emotions when the eyes of both meet, like an eclipse that unleashes parallel universes, mystical universes of an unreal nature where affection is the law and where the concrete reality is completely shattered.
– Paula!
– Thomas!
– Hi, wow, you look good. Paula doesn’t hesitate to flirt with him.
– You too, hey, have you been working out? Thomas responds as freely as the situation allows.
– You noticed, yes, I have a routine that has worked wonders for me.
– I’m not going to deny the results. A mischievous smile from Thomas, more and more determined.
– So, what about you? Do you do weights?
Paula gently strokes the upper side of Thomas’s left arm.
– No, no. Not that kind of exercise.
– What do you do, basketball? Tennis?
– No, no. I do… Hey, I’m glad you came.
– Yeah, I was in a meeting with some clients but I finished earlier than I thought, so I came, I figured you’d be here by now.
(Clients? the word resonates in Thomas’s mind like a thorn against his skull)
– You’re guessing right. But come on in, come on in.
Thomas invites Paula inside the apartment, in passing he uses his super fast gaze to take a mental picture of Paula’s body, those exercises have really done wonders for her figure.
The beauty in front of his eyes leads him to look up to the sky in an unconscious movement, towards the row of balconies that extends to the roof of the building, he stops next to the third-floor balcony and finds Gloria looking down at him with an expression of disbelief.
Again that flash is triggered that invokes those emotional worlds that take over the spaces of all things and tinge them with colors and shapes that make sense only when you understand that Gloria and Thomas have actually just seen each other naked (metaphorically) for the first time since they met.
A shy response, a wagging salute on the fingers of his right hand is all that Thomas manages to conjure up in a supreme attempt to escape the blow of the judge’s gavel. Gloria finds herself in a similar situation, she prefers to let out a nervous smile and retreat into the interior of her apartment.
Cut to:
Tension mounts in the third-floor hallway.
The elevator doors open, and Thomas looks out before stepping into the hallway with that flickering light and that buzzing sound almost imperceptible to outsiders, but absolutely present and devastating to the locals.
He does so to make sure the place is clear. Paula is surprised by the “different” behavior of her companion but dismisses the matter.
They both walk down the hallway and every step they take echoes on the ceramic floor. Thomas remembers the properties of the rubber of his sneakers once again and Gloria bursts out laughing just as Paula crosses the threshold of her apartment door, which is on the way to Thomas’s.
Gloria’s presence prickled in the hallway and urging Thomas to move forward faster, this time without hinges to push him through. Seconds later, Paula and Thomas stop by the last door in the hallway. Inside, the lair of the man struggling to remain calm in the face of unfolding events.
– We have arrived.
The door opens, Paula goes inside, and a pale sigh echoes through the walls of the corridor. Thomas enters and closes the door slowly. The hallway is silent.
Cut to:
The moment of truth in Thomas’s apartment.
Thomas enters the apartment and leaves the keys on the table, on top of the pizza boxes. Paula sits on the couch in front of the TV screen, where she finds a new planter on the edge of the table, topped with a beautiful bunch of lavender flowers.
– Yummy, I love lavender.
– Yes, they smell so nice.
– Strange.
– What’s that?
– I didn’t realize you were a flower man.
– Oh, I guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me yet.
(What she really doesn’t know is that it’s Gloria who has placed the planter topped with lavender on the edge of the table, after diagnosing Thomas’s apartment as the lair of a deeply depressed person).
Thomas takes a couple of beers out of the fridge, hands one to Paula, and sits down across from her.
– So Paula, tell me, how have you been? What have you been up to?
Thomas swallows a long sip of beer before receiving the answer, perhaps it’s the architecture of her silhouette, the golden earrings, the golden curls, the seasonal clothes, or the combination of all of these items that leads to the foreboding conclusion.
– Well what have I done, so many things. As you know, I took that scholarship last year and I was studying abroad.
– I think I remember that.
Thomas takes another long sip of beer.
– It went well, I ended up finding a job in an international firm. Oh, you can’t imagine how many places I’ve seen. And the people, the best experience.
Thomas’ first beer is finished almost instantly.
– No kidding, that’s good, that’s great news. Quite a success.
– Yeah, taking that scholarship was the best thing I could have done in my life.
– Wow… that doesn’t hurt at all.
– Doesn’t it?
– Right, are you hungry?
Thomas opens the first pizza box, and the irresistible scent of melted cheese over tomato sauce overtakes the apartment…
– No thanks. I don’t eat dairy products.
… And it’s exorcised out of the place almost instantly.
– But relax, you can eat it if you want.
Thomas doesn’t take a bite of the pizza, preferring to close the box in silent defeat. Paula notices the movement but prefers to continue the conversation.
– And you, how have you been? Tell me, what’s been going on in your life during this time.
– Well, I’m… I’m in my projects, you know, doing my own thing, moving forward.
– Oh, what are you doing?
– It’s complicated stuff, work stuff. I don’t want to bore you with the details.
– No, don’t worry about it.
– But tell me, Paula, why did you call me?
Paula smiles when she hears Thomas’ question and takes a sip of beer before continuing.
– I don’t know, I wanted to see you. I was with my parents, friends, and acquaintances, but I thought, what is Thomas doing? So I came.
– Well, I’m glad you thought that.
– Yes, you can’t imagine the trouble my boyfriend gave me, he got jealous, can you believe it?
– Your boyfriend?
– Yeah, you’re gonna love him. I told him wonderful things about you, obviously.
– That’s great. I’m so glad.
Thomas does his best to endure the pain, the stab wound in the center of his heart makes it hard to breathe, as imaginary blood spills all over the walls of the apartment.
A keen eye tracks the position of the phone next to the pizza boxes, maybe there is still time to call an ambulance.
– I’ll be right back.
Thomas dismisses the initial panic and moves swiftly down the hallway and into the kitchen without wasting time to turn on the light, straight to the refrigerator, where he grabs another beer to drink almost half of it in one sip.
Stopped in the middle of darkness, partially illuminated by the line of light escaping from inside the fridge, Thomas makes a great effort to keep up appearances.
A hyper-massive black hole activates at the center of his thinking, threatening to absorb all the light in the universe. The spell fades when Paula receives a phone call.
Hi honey, yes I’m here. Everything is fine.
With Paula out of the “environmental consciousness”, Thomas takes the opportunity to cross the room, goes to the balcony, and indicates to Paula that he “will be outside” with a hand gesture. She gives a thumbs up, accepts the proposition, and continues the phone conversation.
Cut to:
Revelation by starlight.
The icy air and the echoes of the streets in the incipient night greet Thomas on the balcony, a new sip of beer and a controlled sigh do not deliver the calm that the movement was intended to grant.
Nor does the night seem to have endowed the stars with the loving light of hope that guided so many chosen ones and prophets in other eras.
The click of the lighter in Gloria’s hand leads Thomas to turn towards his neighbor’s balcony, where she is enjoying a puff of a cigarette.
– Thomas – She says.
– Gloria, I didn’t know you were…
– Me neither, I thought you were going out?
– Yeah, right, well, not really.
– She’s cute, is she your ex?
– Yes, how did you know.
– I didn’t.
The horn of a car honks across the nearby horizon, and a shorter one follows suit. Gloria takes another puff from her cigarette. Thomas follows.
– I saw you arriving with a friend, a male friend?
– We’re just friends, I don’t like him or anything.
– He looks nice, co-worker?
Gloria nods and puts the cigarette out in the ashtray, leaves it on the edge of the balcony, next to the lighter and gets up from the chair, prepares to enter the apartment.
– Do you want to watch a movie later?
– Yeah, sounds good. I’ve got pizza, do you want some?
– Okay, I’ll wait for you.
The window opens and Gloria disappears into the long white curtains. Thomas smiles and sighs long. He stays on the balcony for a while longer, still a bit after Paula finishes talking on the phone.
Wakeup.Mau 