Jaye n'haNaomi
orchestra@wingedharper.com
Beginning version
Due 6/20/1999
© 1999 by Jaye n'haNaomi. All rights reserved.
Genre: Juvenile (aimed predominantly at horse-crazy girls.)
1. Describe your original Protagonist.
"A", 13, lives with her single mother. She sees her problem as being overweight, nearsighted, clumsy and unpopular. Her basic, defining trait (which she does not see) is wanting great payoffs for very little work. She enjoys sleeping late, detests anything that gets her hands dirty, and resents not having any friends to copy homework from. She has never been near a horse, but loves books and movies about them, and she believes that her life would be perfect if she won a horse th at is being raffled.
2. Describe your Protagonist's objective, goal, intention, desire, -- what is your protagonist trying to accomplish?
When she wins the horse, she gloats at "B," the most popular girl in class, who had expected to win it herself since she had bought the most tickets. B offers a bet that A cannot learn to ride well enough to win a ribbon in the Summer's End Show, and A takes her up on it.
A's goal is to show J up and keep her horse.
She also would like to make some friends, but that is more at the back of her mind at least at first.
3. Describe what is PREVENTING (i.e. conflicting with) your Protagonist's achieving his/her objective.
She sees her obstacles as lack of funds, lack of experience and knowledge of horses, being overweight,
Her actual problem is lack of discipline and J's constant jibes and sabotage. Her conflict is primarily internal, but J's continued baiting and sabotage complicate matters.
4. Describe what your Protagonist is going to DO ABOUT that obstacle.
She knows she must learn to ride, lose enough weight to be comfortable in the saddle, and find ways to earn enough money for the horse's expenses, and she goes about finding ways to do those. She does not yet know that she must learn to earn success with consistent hard work.
5. Describe what the obstacle is going to do to fight back.
A's lack of discipline causes her to miss several riding classes and to get 3 F's on her report card, which her mother demands she must make up during the summer. J also sabotages A's efforts at every step.
6. Describe what your Protagonist does about the obstacle's obstinacy.
The turning point comes when A forgets to latch the feed bin and spends all night walking the horse to keep it from dying of colic. She suddenly sees how all her worst problems stem from her lack of self-discipline. With the encouragement and guidance of her riding instructor, she starts learning what she needs to do in order to become successful. (making to-do lists, going to bed in time to be fresh at dawn instead of reading all night, etc.) She also finds ways to study while she does h orse-chores, and passes the classes she failed.
EXTRA CREDIT: Describe how you would alter the above for different genres.
Instructors Comments