Pure Imagineering

Hello! Do you have a story that you've always wanted to tell? Or maybe you want to start a new one, from scratch? Well, I can help you plan it out!

In my new online class-- Story Structure 101-- we walk through the steps of developing a simple premise into a satisfying outline. By the end of 10 weeks, you'll have an actionable plan to start writing (the best possible version of) your story.

I'm proud to announce STORY STRUCTURE 101

A class I always wanted to take... but it didn't exist. So I created it myself!

If you're interested & available, come geek out about storytelling w/ me?

"I would like to ask one thing of you. Don’t write about me in any of your books. And if you do? Don’t mention my name.”

Face / Babyface - Honorable, kind, does things the fans cheer for.

Tweener - Questionable morals, unpredictable disposition, does things for themselves.

Heel - Without honor, cruel, does things the fans will boo.

HuffPost spoke to three workers supportive of the organizing effort, who said they want to be treated like the professional entertainers they are.

They said the pay at Medieval Times tends to lag behind comparable industry work, with many performers starting around the New Jersey minimum wage of $13 per hour and working years before reaching $20. And they believe some workers end up with crucial tasks, such as handling horses, without sufficient training.

Every two-hour show at Medieval Times requires careful planning and rehearsal. The knights are essentially stuntmen, leaping from horses and smashing wooden lances on one another’s shields as they joust. The show includes complex dressage movements, as well as a falconer who handles a bird as it flies through the arena over the crowd. Performers often do two and sometimes three shows a day.

“They treat it like a normal job, and it isn’t,” one worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said of the company. “Today [managers] will call us a sports team; tomorrow they’ll call us a theater. But we are treated like a business, like a normal 9-to-5 job.”

Inadequate staffing in a tight labor market has led to a number of safety concerns, the worker said. Some performers have felt overworked during the rebound from the pandemic and fear an accident during a live show.

With limited security at the shows, performers are the ones left to enforce boundaries and police the crowd — including when guests reach out to touch the falcon as it flies overhead, endangering the bird and themselves. And workers say the rotating cast of queens is subjected to unwanted touching during pre- and post-show meet-and-greets with fans, especially with so many bachelor parties on the weekends.

“If you mix children, alcohol and animals, it can be a very interesting situation if you don’t have enough eyes on it,” explained another worker. “Not having enough event staff, that puts a lot of people at risk.” [...]

“It feels like the customer experience so greatly outweighs not only our employee experience but our safety and our well-being,” the employee said.

Thompson, 25, said he and his co-workers are passionate about their jobs and wound up at Medieval Times because they love their craft. He has spent much of his life around horses and helps tend to the two dozen at his castle, each with its own personality. [...]

Three issues he hopes the union can force the company to address are safety, pay and “respect.”

“They treat a lot of the professionally trained actors like anybody can do this job,” Thompson said. “They treat a lot of the stablehands like we’re fully replaceable and they consider it an entry-level job. I’ve worked entry-level animal care jobs. This is not that. You can get hurt or die doing this.” [...]

In Designing Games: a Guide to Engineering Experience, Tynan Sylvester describes his 3 objectives, when he's trying to immerse an audience into a video game. Here is my attempt to paraphrase them:

✅ Design your game around an activity that engrosses the audience. Once they get caught up in the flow, they'll forget their everyday concerns & and focus only on the game. This is a good place to show off for the audience, since they're paying close attention!

✅ Design the activity to get the audience pumped. Use the game to stimulate their emotions. Get them excited! Scare them! Flatter them! Pique their curiosity! Piss 'em off, until they're ready to fight back! Whatever's right for your game. It'll get the audience loosened up!

I love Joan Cusack's performance as Jessie.

Like, Pixar made a cowgirl character, but she doesn't have a southern accent. That's a choice! It easily could've been a distraction.