Cheat Sheet For Chapter Construction

Cheat Sheet For Chapter Construction}

Fill in for each chapter/Vignette

1. What do I want Chapter__1__ to accomplish to move the story forward:
         I want to introduce Tray as the CC going about his normal way of life. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he comes to town for a drink at the bar. This just happens to on a Wednesday. News had spread of a bus accident in route to The Montana State Prison and the escape of 2 convicts. Deputy Marks is ordered to find Tray and bring him to the sheriff. Marks finds him at his trailer in the lower meadow where he sometimes stays after a night in town. ?him passed out on the pool table at the Fox.? Tray is told that he is needed to track them down because they are headed into the Tetons, an area that he knows well. Tray tries to refuse, but he knows that he could use the money to buy the materials that he needs to finish adding on to the cabin. Sheriff Briggs threatens him with the possible loss of the bounty because the Federal Authorities are sending in a US Marshall the next day to take over the investigation. Reluctantly he agrees to go and leaves. He thinks that will take him 2-3 days. Early the next morning he forced to return to town because he finds their tracts have split and Bess, his pack mule, is attacked and killed by a mountain lion and he needs to replace her and his provisions in order to continue the search.

Components - Chapter_1__:
         Chapter Name:
         The Hunt
         Central Character:
         Tray
         Before Snapshot:
         His secluded life in the mountains, setting traps, working on the cabin, his visit to the bar, and his way of tracking.
         Want - Need - Desire:
         In this chapter:
                   Want: Tray wants to finish adding on to the cabin before winter sets in.
                   Need: He needs the money to buy what he needs
                   Desires to return to his seclusive way of life
         Usual way of doing things (MO):
         Tray takes one day at a time. To rush through a project, job or a situation could set him up for failure or worse.
         He takes each day with caution.
         He has his own unique way of tracking; listening, tracking into the sun to avoid shadows, looking for both arial and ground spoors, checking streams and uses Wolf to pick up scents etc. and runs a cold camp.
         He equates tracking humans with tracking scared wounded wild life, in their hurry to flee and lick their wounds, they are not cautious about the signs they leave behind
         Story World:
         The Story World is the Grand Tetons Mountains
         A deeper more hidden problem:
         His concern over the disclosure of the tribe. With fugitives on the loose and the Feds threatening to swarm all over the mountains, he can not let that happen. That would end in death for somebody as well as his own way of life disrupted in a way that it would never be the same.
         Backstory:
         He is direct descendant of Black Elk residing in the mountains that he feels that he needs protect.
         Marcella had left him. It wasn't her leaving him for another man that upset him as it was feeling rejected. He wasn't use to that type of treatment, and it didn't set well with him.
         The Mountains was his home and he would do anything to protect it and his people.
         He had experience in tracking, a loner and didn't other people getting in his way.
         Info to be fed in a bit at a time
         Character Development:
         Feed in a bit at a time:
                   Personality
                   Description
                   Habits
                   Behavior/reactions
         Scene Setting:
         The scene starts on the edge of Jackson hole where the Prison bus went off the road, killing several and 2 convicts are unaccounted for, then briefly moves into the mountains in the lower meadow of the Tetons and briefly moves back into Jackson Hole, then back into the mountains and ends when Tray is forced to return to town.
         Exposition that moves the story forward:
         Background on other characters, events, and the settings
         Dialogue that moves the story forward:
         Dialogue between Tray and Marks, between Tray and Sheriff, Tray and the man on the street and Tray and the Feds.
         Foreshadowing:
         Tray's concern over this US Marshall showing up before he can get the job done due he feels nothing good will come from it. That it cause harm than good.
         Symbolism:
         A month long heat-wave suddenly breaks and the sky begins to darken with clouds and no hint of rain in the air. Inwardly Trays worries if that is a bad omen and danger lurks in the near future.
         Flashbacks:
         Undecided at this time.
         Internal Dialogue:
          Trays thoughts as he goes forward
         Subtext:
         Undecided at this time.

Needs:—DIG DEEPER!
         1. More back story of Tray
         2. A before snapshot of Tray before his LCE *More* Moods, personality going about business, how he handles himself in situations, what he thinking, feeling - perhaps dreaming - something he wants to accomplish,
         3. Physical description and what is going on inside.
         4. Show what Tray is dealing with prior to LCE
         5. More of WND's *dig deeper into Tray - make unique (reclusive mountain man wanting female company?)—some unusual aspect that makes him an individual
         6. More of a deeper or hidden problem
         7. Moving toward the cusp or verge of a LCE *What drives him towards it*
         8. A distinguishing quality or characteristic, a peculiarity
         9. Deeper synopsis—A condensed statement, as a narrative, Rundown, summing up, summary, summation
         10. More MO!

         TRY putting less focus on the tribe, not make them so secretive, like a small reservation up in the mountains and everyone knows of their existence. MAYBE Tray wants to start his own agency and needs a partner, AND get married and have children, but doesn't want to give up his lifestyle and he feels Dakota doesn't fit the bill. HOW to make his existence in his present lifestyle more comical and less serious and become accepting of other people. MAYBE make Dakota an intelligent person but naive and more of a bimbo. MAYBE Tray is really not as rough and tough as he portrays himself to be.

         Finding the right combination:
         I have:
                   1. Tray - a loner, mountain man, half Sioux, failed marriage, bounty hunter, skilled tracker, lives with a wolf, talented in art, rough and tough, understands, respects and loves wild life, in balance with nature.
         I don't have:
                   A deep need want and desire - something that puts the bur under his saddle each and everyday - something that drives him
         Need: counter balance}
         Bring in:
                   1.