Week 14 — Final Project Workshop

To Do This Week

Share with me on Slack: Describe your Final Project. What form will it take? What is the story or central idea? How will the work be structured and presented? Which class modules will you incorporate?

1. Character and Change

At the center of any story is a character who undergoes (or resists) change. This does not have to be dramatic or conventional. But something must shift— perception, emotion, understanding, or action.

• Who is your central character (or presence)?
• What do they want or desire?
• What is their flaw, blind spot, or limitation?
• What situation challenges or exposes this?
• What changes (or fails to change) by the end?
• Where do we feel this change—in action, image, language, interaction?

In 2–3 sentences, describe your character’s desire, limitation, and what changes (or doesn’t).

2. Plot as a Device

Plot is not the story—it is the way the story is told through events. It orders time, creates causality, or sometimes resists it entirely. Even “plotless” works make a statement about order, expectation, and meaning.

• What are the key events that must happen?
• In what order do they occur—and why?
• What causes what? Where does cause and effect break down?
• Is your story driven by progression, repetition, or drift?
• Where does something unexpected occur?
• If your story resists plot, what replaces it (pattern, mood, exploration)?

In 2–3 sentences, describe how your story moves (progression, repetition, drift) and one key event.

3. World-Building Through Details

A story world does not need everything defined. It needs the right details. A few precise elements can imply an entire world beyond what is shown.

• What are the 3–5 most important details that define your world?
• What can be implied rather than explained?
• How does the world shape what the character can or cannot do?
• What textures, sounds, or visual elements give the world presence?
• What references (real or imagined) inform this world?

In 2–3 sentences, describe your world using only 3–5 defining details.

4. Exposition: Revealing Information

Avoid starting with explanation. Let the story reveal itself through action, image, interaction, and implication. Trust the audience to discover.

• Where are you over-explaining?
• What backstory can be removed or delayed?
• How can information be revealed through action or interaction?
• What does the audience need to know—and when?
• Can you replace explanation with a detail, image, or moment?

In 2–3 sentences, identify one thing you can remove or delay—and how you’ll show it instead.

5. Creating Gaps (Sharpening the Story)

Strong stories leave space. Gaps invite participation, interpretation, and feeling. Removing excess often makes the work more powerful.

• What can you cut without losing the core of the story?
• Where does the story feel slow, repetitive, or unfocused?
• What moments lack emotional or experiential weight?
• Where can you leave something unsaid or unseen?
• Does each part connect to the character and situation?

In 2–3 sentences, describe one cut you will make and what it opens up.

6. Presentation and Readability

Your story is experienced through its form. Presentation shapes how it is read, seen, heard, and interacted with.

• Is your work easy to navigate or understand as an experience?
• How are text, image, sound, or interaction working together?
• Is the pacing readable—visually and temporally?
• Are there moments of focus and clarity?
• Does the presentation support the tone and meaning of the story?

In 2–3 sentences, explain how form (text/image/sound/interaction) shapes the experience.

Reflection

At this stage, trust your sense of the work. A story is not just constructed—it is felt. Use these exercises to refine, simplify, and strengthen what is already there.

How does the most basic story engage our participation? Look critically at your final project and ask how you might improve it by: (1) removing information, (2) generating questions and anticipation, (3) making characters and situations more compelling.

• Does the story feel coherent, even if open-ended?
• Where are you most engaged as a creator?
• Where does the work feel forced or unclear?
• What is the one thing this story is really about?

Small Groups: Share + Discuss

• Describe the current shape your story to your group. Summarize the plot, the character arc, world details, user experience/interaction, etc.
• Group responds:
  • One thing that is clear/working
  • One question
  • One suggestion

Storytelling Basics

“Put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens.” — Stephen King

• Character — action (or non-action)
• Plot — unity of time and place, cause and effect
• Complex plots — reversal, recognition, surprise
• Narration — objective, subjective, or user interaction
• Setting — selected details that establish mood, genre, and world
• Events — character actions or user interaction
• Theme — repeated (fractal) patterns across parts

Final Project: 30% - DUE April 30th

The final project is to be a digital story that incorporates at least two of the modules covered in this class: diagrammatic, visual, cinematic, hyperlinked/interactive, game-like storytelling. The work may be a significant reworking of a previous project or a new idea and direction.

The final project will be monitored in class by me during workshops in the last two weeks. There should be progress each week until it is due. Our class time will be focused on building these stories so that you can get help from me and your classmates. Do not leave everything to the last minute, or this will be reflected in your project and participation grade.

Project Description — 2% (DUE THIS WEEK)
Describe your Final Project. What form will it take? What is the story or central idea? How will the work be structured and presented? Which class modules will you incorporate?
Share with me on Slack

Project Critique — 8% (Last Class)
In-class critique based on progress and completeness. I will also provide feedback.

Final Project — 90% (Tuesday, DUE May 5th)
Revise your work based on critique and submit the final version. Post a link along with a short artist statement describing your goals and process.