Story Summaries

Brayden Sathrum

2/7/23

DTC 354

5 Story Summaries

 

  1. Classic Aristotelian 3-part structure 

A teenage boy wakes up in a basement with no memory of how he got there. He quickly realizes that he is trapped inside and must find a way out. He encounters a mysterious entity that is trapping him inside and, after many failures, devises a plan to kill the monster. By the end, he discovers more about himself, for better or worse. The story would have thriller and horror elements with a twist at the end. The characters would be morally gray and forced to make difficult decisions. I think it would translate well to different kinds of digital storytelling with a few tweaks to the plotline. 

 

  1. Kishotenketsu 4-part structure.

  A lighthearted romance between two ghosts that meet each other in a library that they both haunt. They encounter a few issues, such as trying to scare the librarians and students, but they learn how to work together to accomplish their goals. Over time, they fall in love and become a couple. The story has a spooky atmosphere while still being warm. I would want the plot to be light on conflict and to mostly focus on the relationship between the two main characters. Their attempts at becoming good ghosts would also allow for personal growth. I think this fits best with the 4-part structure as it has a longer development period than that of my other story ideas.

 

  1. A story in an episodic structure.

A young transgender woman on her deathbed looks back on some of her key memories, structured as different episodes of her life. They span different time periods but contain similar themes. I want this to be a thoughtful exploration of time and death, but largely being a character study. I also want to illustrate how real world events impact the lives of marginalized communities. By using an episodic structure for this story, I can find unique ways to structure my mini arcs so that the plot becomes a full circle. In this way, seemingly unconnected pieces clearly form a picture by the end. I think this could be an interesting way of creating a character study. 

 

  1. A story in a surrealist or fantastic mode

A young man living alone in an apartment discovers that a ghost is haunting his apartment complex and targeting his neighbors. He has to overcome his fears in order to save them and himself. He ultimately succeeds, but at a high cost. I want this story to have a lot of mysterious elements to it and possibly a twist. Along with this, I’m hoping to build strong characters that give the storyline an emotional core. By using this idea, I could practice more with horror, which I haven’t explored too much. Creating this digitally would also grant me additional ways to explore the plot and be more creative.

 

  1. Personal Anecdote 

An examination of my relationship with my oldest sister and how we went from being best friends to strangers. I would want this story to focus on specific memories that span several years to indicate how things changed. My sister and I communicated frequently over text, so I want the majority of the dialogue to be from these conversations to add a greater sense of realism. Building off of this, I would want the story to be structured like a text messaging system with a few breaks for other illustrations. I think this would make my story more unique and give it a compelling structure. I also want to make sure that the focus is fairly narrow so I can dig deeper into the concept and the themes that arise from it.

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