Author: nforsyth23

Here is my video on YouTube!

https://dtc-wsuv.org/dtc354-luers/ravens-hollow.html

Here is the link to my hypermedia project. I struggled with figuring out how to end it because I felt like I could have gone on and on for a while. I wanted to keep it as short and simple as I could for this project because I do plan on my final being longer and more in-depth than this was.

I really enjoyed working with Twine for the hypermedia project so I’m going to use Twine for my final project as well.

For the hypermedia project, I kept it pretty simple and straightforward. For my final, I want to include more. I want to play around with how to make it to where you can’t progress to the next if you don’t find a certain item in one scene. I also want to include some images in the project.

My story for the final is going to be about a teenager whose grandmother goes missing. When the teen gets to grandma’s house, she finds it empty and has to search for clues as to where her grandma is. The clues will lead her to the woods behind grandmas house where she finds a cabin occupied by a witch. She’ll be given the option to return home or be transported to another realm where her grandma is being held. She won’t be able to get into the other realm if she didn’t find all the clues/items in her grandma’s house beforehand.

I always liked the “choose your own adventure” books as a kid, so I’m really excited about creating this project.

The first game that comes to mind for me is the game that sparked my love for video games when I was about 10 years old. Final Fantasy VII.

This entire game is one, very big, story. Each quest, side quest, choice and interaction helps the player understand the story as a whole and if you skip over parts, don’t do all of the side quests, etc. you may miss valuable information and items that help you understand what is happening. I think that characters, character development, and conflict is essential in THIS particular game, however, I’ve played other games that it’s not as essential. I think that for large, RPG-type games like this, it’s essential because without it the gameplay becomes monotonous and boring, not to mention if the player can’t become emotionally invested in the game somehow, they likely won’t care about what happens at the end and therefore not finish playing the game once they get bored.

For this game, the relationships between the characters are what sparked my imagination. As for emotions, we get so much story into these characters and their relationships that we start to really feel for them. When one of the main characters dies in this game, the player is already so invested that it’s devastating. This was the first time a video game actually made me cry.

The world building is key too. Each location has it’s own unique qualities and helps us feel as though we are a part of this universe when we play. Players have their favorite places and least favorite places to go and it makes it that much more engaging. This is also the first game I’ve played that had such an immense and open world for exploring and it makes the game that much more fun and interesting.

I chose to look in depth at Forever.

Symbols are described as relying on conventional usage for meaning. They are constructed for a given purpose. In this story, the biggest symbol that stood out to me was text messages. Since we all use text messaging daily, it’s easy to understand the dialogue and what’s going on through the messages on the screen. Showing us the green messages from one character and gray from the others puts us in that character’s shoes for the story. Also, when the other characters are typing and we get the three dots on the screen it’s showing us, without telling us, that there are responses coming.

Index is described as a point, reference, or suggestion for something else. There are 3 types of indices, tracks, symptoms, and designations. I think the one we see most often in this story is designations. these point or signify something while being distinct from their object. Each of the cut scenes that show us what their missing friend may be up to, can be a designation. When they talk about her being an orange dancer and then show a random video of the girl dancing on oranges, or the scenes where they are looking for her and it shows a variety of places, it’s not necessarily where they are, but it’s indicating a similarity to where they are looking and what they are doing.

Icons are split into three categories as well, Images, metaphors, and diagrams. I think these are all showcased in the story with images being the most prevalent. There are plenty of images in the background of the text that helps us feel emerged into the story.

I feel like each of the 3 pieces are a story, even though they aren’t all traditional stories and they aren’t all easily understandable. My Boyfriend Came Back from the War is not really a linear story. It doesn’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. However, pictures tell a story on their own, so even though this one was a bit confusing, the photos themselves tell a story.

How to Rob a Bank had a more clear storyline, characters, and character development. I liked that it was easy to follow along with the story, however I felt that it was a bit long and drawn out. I did really like the combination of media that was included. Having the text conversations, short videos, news papers, and social media posts all entwined made this story more engaging and interesting.

Those we love sucked me in at first. I spent WAY too much time “playing” around with this story. However, after a while it got redundant and I gave up before ever getting to the end so the story was never “finished” for me. I really did enjoy the mystery and engagement within the story though.

Personally, because I’m a writer/editor and NOT a visual storyteller, linear storytelling is very important to me. Therefore, the only one out of the three that really seemed to fit with my idea of a story, was How to Rob a Bank.

Here is the link to my Visual Narrative assignment

I used Dall-e and google slides shapes for all the images.

99% of the reason I’m late to most events is because of this little lady and her huge puppy dog eyes. Morning coffee with her is the best way to start my day!

The key differences I noticed were:

• The video left out the entire second chapter about the backstory of the main character. Instead, we get a flashback/visual image of Peyton’s wife and kids and judging by their clothing and home we can visually see that he is a wealthy man.
• Another key difference is that the gunfire/cannon fire is more impactful in the video version since we actually hear them, instead of just reading “aim, fire”.
• Also, in the story, we get details about the “life” that Peyton sees when he’s free from the water, whereas in the video there’s a song that plays that expresses this.
• In the story, Peyton travels for an entire day after getting out of the river but the video doesn’t clearly show how much time passes.

The film’s pacing successfully shows readers all of the events that happen when Peyton seemingly escapes his fate; with the exception of the scene where he is running through the forest since that scene doesn’t show exactly how much time passes before he reaches home. I think that the shot of the officer’s eye as well as Peyton’s eye was a great way to show the fear Peyton was feeling as well as the lack of emotion and even possibly anger that the officer was feeling. I also liked the scene where he dropped into the water. I feel like it was easier to grasp what happened in the video than it was in the story.

I’ve always been a writer, and as such, I’ve always had an issue with “filler” words and paragraphs. I have this idea in my head that every detail, every minute, of my story needs to be written and expressed. After reading the chapter about gutters in Understanding Comics, I’ve realized the importance of leaving some of those details out. This helps keep the story more interesting and less bogged down/boring for readers. I think the same goes for visual storytelling and for the visual narrative assignment I’m going to be working on leaving some of those blank spaces open and focusing more on the major plot points rather than the small details that readers should be able to pick up on themselves. I think this goes hand in hand with time frames as well. Showing the time that is passing rather than telling is going to be difficult for me, but I’m excited about the challenge. In my diagrammatic assignment, I used actual time in my frames to show the passage of time but I think I’m going to attempt to get more creative with this in my next assignment.

I had to leave class early, so instead of getting a story from a classmate, I had my 8 year old daughter tell me a story…. it’s the story of how, on Popcorn Friday at school, she met her very best friend.

If anyone has any tips on how to create consistent characters, and reuse those same characters in different scenes, with Midjourney… I’d love the help/advice!

1. Classic Aristotelian 3-part structure

Beginning: We have best friends, Katie and Ashley and their children (Katie has two kids, Aiden and Addy, and Ashley has one child, Avery) and they have decided to spend the day hiking up Multnomah falls. However, when they get there it’s incredibly crowded, so they head to one of the smaller trail heads further down.

Middle: On the way back down the out-and-back trail, once they are nearing the end, the women lose sight of Addy. She’s only 5, and Ashley thought she was behind her with Katie, while Katie thought she was up ahead with Ashley. They all make it back to the car, but Addy isn’t there. Panic ensues, police are called, and everyone worries.

End: Katie gets a call from the police before they even arrive on the scene. Instead of heading back down the smaller trailhead, Addy continued walking towards Multnomah falls where she was found by a nice couple. They fed her some snacks while waiting for her mom and everyone went home in one piece.

1. Kishotenketsu 4-part structure.

Introduction: A young girl living with a single mom gets a letter and a train ticket from her paternal grandmother so she can visit for the summer. She hasn’t seen her grandmother in years and is eager to go, hoping to see her dad while there.
Development: Upon arriving at her grandmother’s house, she finds the house in disarray and her grandmother is missing. After exploring the house and finding clues to her grandmother’s disappearance she is led into the woods behind the home.

Twist: In the woods, which the girl has explored throughout her younger years, she finds a hut she’s never seen before. Inside the hut is a woman claiming to be her grandmother’s sister. She tells the girl that her grandmother was taken to a different land by a mysterious force and that she has to choose to follow her and discover family secrets, or go home and continue living her life.

Conclusion: The girl unintentionally makes the decision to go home, ending the story.

1. A story in an episodic structure.

Common theme: Addiction

Act 1: We see a mom of 3 who struggles with addiction. She ends up getting her children removed from her custody after leaving her daughter to sleep outside one night. The daughter goes to live with her dad while the 2 boys go to live with theirs. The daughter meets a cousin who becomes her best friend and they grow up together.

Act 2: This act focuses on the cousin from act 1. She’s an adult now, and doesn’t struggle with addiction in the normal sense. She does however use various drugs for recreational purposes occasionally. She doesn’t see an issue with this, even though her cousin tells her otherwise. One day, the cousin’s friend brings over some cocaine for her birthday. The cocaine has high traces of fentanyl, and it ends up killing the cousin.

Act 2: The daughter from act 1 is now an adult with kids of her own. She’s struggling with the loss of her cousin and questioning why it didn’t happen to her mother instead. In her grief, her doctor prescribes her some anxiety and depression meds however, they don’t seem to help her get through her days. A friend offers her an Adderall one day when she’s struggling to get out of bed for her kids and she takes it. This starts a cycle of addiction in her that she never thought would happen to her.

1. A story in a surrealist or fantastic mode

There’s a young girl who lives with her single dad. Dad works a lot and the girl spends a lot of time in her bedroom alone after school. She draws fantastic pictures of strange worlds and lands and hangs them all over her walls. When she dreams, she’s transported to these places. She doesn’t know if the ideas for the pictures come to her in dreams before she draws them, or if her drawings are coming to life in her dreams. One morning, she wakes up to find a new picture on her wall that she doesn’t remember drawing. The picture is of her room, but it’s slightly different. The wallpaper is brighter, the bed looks cozier, and she has more toys in the picture. When she investigates the picture more closely, it seems alive, almost as if she could reach right through it and go inside, so that’s what she does.

5. Personal Anecdote:

We start with a mom who is just waking up on a Monday morning. She suffers from some mental illness and struggles to keep a normal routine. She has to get her kids up and out the door for school. There are some unspoken hints of conflict between her and her teenage son. The morning routine is a bit chaotic, and she ends up fighting with her son, saying things she wishes she could take back, but ultimately, she gets them all to school on time. She spends the day dwelling on the fight with her son and wondering what she’s done so wrong to make him hate her. At the end of the night, her son cuddles up to her on the couch to watch a movie and tells her he loves her, making her realize she’s doing something right after all.

Great Rock n’ Roll Pauses centers around the speaker, Alison Blake, and her family. She gives us insight at first into who each family member is and what sorts of behaviors they encounter in their home from each. The main plot of this story focuses on one day in their life. As for the story’s conflict, the simple answer is that Dad had a rough day at work and essentially takes it out on the speaker’s brother. This conflict is resolved once the dad has a chance to go on a walk with Alison and calm himself down. However, I feel that there is a larger conflict in play within the story. Based on this story alone, Alison’s brother seems to me to have a form of autism. The family clearly has different views and opinions of the brother and his obsession with pauses in songs, and this creates an underlying conflict between each character. However, this specific conflict is not fully resolved by the end of the story.

I liked the diagrammatic form that was used to tell this story, especially since she establishes early on that this form of storytelling is how she keeps a journal. I liked when she used basic shapes to help readers visualize the story. For example, when she’s talking about the wall between the bedrooms she uses a basic rectangle shape to show what’s happening/being said in each room on either side of the wall.

For my diagrammatic story, I want to use fonts and simple shape graphics to get my voice heard, rather than using words alone. I’m a writer, and I tend to ramble in my stories so I think this will be challenging for me. I like the idea of using blank slides and blank spaces to represent pauses and bring a sort of anxiousness to my readers. On page 15 of Diagrammatic Writing, Johanna talks about enframed text and how it can be used as a “side thought” to the other elements on the page. I think this would be a great way to show what my character is actually thinking about the scene or events unfolding around them. I also like the idea of aligning the next slide’s text with where the text ended on the previous slide to help the story’s flow and pacing. If you want the pacing to be slower or allow for a pause or change of idea in the next slide, you could start the text elsewhere, showing that it’s not particularly connected to the previous slide’s ideas.

In simple terms, Fargo is about a man, Jerry, who is desperate for money to fix his family’s financial situation. He hires two guys, Gaear and Carl, to kidnap his wife and hold her for ransom. He expects his father-in-law, Wade, to pay the ransom and Jerry tells the kidnappers he will give them a portion of the ransom. This plot drives each character to act according to which pieces of the plot they know and understand.

These actions reveal flaws and transformations in each of the main characters. Jerry for example reveals his flaws throughout the movie. His character tends to not think things through and his actions are usually desperate in nature. He doesn’t have h best communication skills and he has issues really understanding the reality of his situation.

Carl is one of the kidnappers and at first, he seems like a pretty low-level “bad guy”. He accepts the kidnapping job thinking it will be easy money, but his flaw here was in trusting Gaear to be his accomplice. Gaear is a more hardened criminal and Carl realizes this when they are pulled over by the police with Jerry’s wife in the trunk and Gaear kills the officer. This in turn causes the “simple kidnapping” to become a much larger ordeal and Carl panics as things get messy. The events cause him to murder two people and eventually lead him to his death.

 Aristotle argues, “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude. A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end” (14).  Based on this definition of tragedy, Fargo fits the description. A beginning, according to Aristotle, “does not itself follow anything by causal necessity, but after which something naturally is or comes to be” (14) and in Fargo, the beginning isn’t a tragedy on its own, but rather sets up the entire plot of the tragedy to follow. Aristotle goes on to say that the ending “naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it” (14). The end of Fargo wraps up the entire plot of the movie, and while the characters would likely move on and live their lives after the tragedy, the end of the movie ends the tragic incident that is central to the plot. Not only that, but it ends tragically with multiple deaths and devastation.

Hey Everyone!

I’m Nichole. This is my last term at WSUV. I’m a humanities major with a focus on English and communications and a minor in creative writing. I graduate this May and intend to continue my education at Portland State University in their publishing program.

I’m a freelance book/story editor and a mom of four. My favorite story media is, obviously, books (given my career choice). I spend nearly all my free time reading or listening to audiobooks. I do enjoy movies and games as well, but I feel there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

My favorite genres to read vary. I tend to gravitate towards fantasy and sci-fi stories most often, but I also highly enjoy YA books, horror, and the occasional romance.

I’ve been freelancing since early 2021 and finally have a client base large enough (for me) to turn my “side gig” into an actual business. I launched PNW Editing at the beginning of the year, which is incredibly exciting. I’m hoping one day to turn my small editing business into a small publishing company.

When I’m not in class, working, or shuffling kids around town I’m usually at home in my PJs reading and snuggled up with my cat, Flash.