Basic Needs...Over there!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 28 Aug 1994 18:35:02 JST

and here they come again!

1. Pick two characters. Any characters you like!

2. Pick one of the following types of needs:

physical--food, shelter, water, etc.
safety/security--marriage, wealth, etc.
love/belonging--relationships, family
esteem--honor, rank, fame, etc.
self-control--decision, challenge, etc.
understanding--closure, patterning, truth, etc.
artistic--balance, symmetry
self-actualization--??

3. Refine it, define it, make it finely detailed and real. One of your characters (flip a coin? pick one!) NEEDS this...

...but doesn't know it. doesn't realize what they need, how badly they need it, what it would mean to have it met, how they could possibly provide for it...

4. List (another list? of course!) at least five ways that this need might manifest itself to another while staying misunderstood or unseen to the poor needy person. Make the ways this need is shown realistic--put some smells and sounds and sights on those puppet strings...

5. Your other character is going to (a) see the problem and (b) try to help... so, arrange two or three of the manifestations of need in order of increasing difficulty and stress. Consider how the needy character could lack understanding of their own problem, and what the other person could do to try to enlighten them...

6. Write up the scenes and disasters as your characters attempt enlightenment. Can the needy understand? Will the helpful busybody get their nose mashed in? Write all about it!

[7. BONUS: why is the busybody trying to help? what do they learn through sticking their nose into the grindstone?]

*look, I'm sorry about this, but my girlfriend can't win the gold with you around, so hold still while I bust your knees, okay? what do you mean, fame isn't everything? who cares about fame? we're looking at residuals--commercials, testimonials, and so on. * [details changed to protect Big Al--some stories shouldn't be faked...]