The hero's journey

This week I handed in three assignments and my two hour play with pitch. I put most of my time into the latter, I just did enough to get the assignments over the line (I hope). As it turns out, the pitch didn’t make it and the BEDS large cast play for next year will be Under Milk Wood. That is a little disappointing, as Under Milk Wood is perhaps not the boldest or most interesting choice, but I do understand they want a dependable play and if an improved version of mine is accepted in future it could certainly be a blessing in disguise because I think I can significantly improve upon it. The trouble is, I don’t know why it was turned down and I’m wondering if Nicholas and Bethany are holding back on something 'need to know'. I submitted the play to Nicholas just prior to pitching it and he said he was enjoying it but that was the last I heard. At the meeting on Tuesday he said nothing about it. Bethany was absent again but I messaged her on Facebook and said she would pitch it for me at the summer ball on Saturday evening but did not get back to me afterwards to let me know how the pitch went. So I messaged her on Sunday afternoon and she said there was definitely some interest in it but it wasn’t chosen. No reason given, odd that she didn't let me know before.

So that almost rounds off a disappointing year. My highest academic achievement will probably be the 80 I got for the Toyshop Essay but what does the fact that I didn’t attend any Toyshop lectures tell you? They might as well just give me the assignments on the first day of the semester and let me crack on with them. I’m already looking ahead to next year and thinking of skipping all lectures and taking the 5% hit on my marks. As for Diane's non-fiction class, this semester she has taught us how to write a blog post (feels familiar) and my end of term assignment is a travelogue (feels really familiar). But I've had the privilege of meeting Diane and that is enough.

Reservations about the course aside, All's Well that Ends Well, they say. You see, one thing I have learnt- I mean you can learn about it in all of about 2 minutes for free online, but it came up in my screenwriting course- is the three act structure. It's not fed into my writing yet, but it's made me think of it in relation to my own arc here at Bangor. Perhaps my "disappointing year" is the start of something good. Wikipedia describes the first act thus:

In the first act, a dynamic, on-screen incident occurs that confronts the main character the protagonist, whose attempts to deal with this incident lead to a second and more dramatic situation, known as the first turning point, which (a) signals the end of the first act, (b) ensures life will never be the same again for the protagonist and (c) raises a dramatic question that will be answered in the climax of the film.

The protagonist's story arc is sometimes called the hero's journey. So we could say my inciting incident was getting accepted at Bangor and the second and more dramatic situation was moving here. It was indeed a pretty hectic situation. The car was packed to the rafters, it was a long journey etc. Then came act 2, which Wikipedia describes thus:

The second act, also referred to as "rising action", typically depicts the protagonist's attempt to resolve the problem initiated by the first turning point, only to find him- or herself in ever worsening situations. Part of the reason protagonists seem unable to resolve their problems is because they do not yet have the skills to deal with the forces of antagonism that confront them. They must not only learn new skills but arrive at a higher sense of awareness of who they are and what they are capable of, in order to deal with their predicament, which in turn changes who they are. This is referred to as character development or a character arc. This cannot be achieved alone and they are usually aided and abetted by mentors and co-protagonists.

Ditto. I was getting away from my lonely life in Margate only to find Bangor wasn't the new social life I hoped for it was just as lonely in Bangor only with added humiliation (salsa, the den lesson, the aborted ghost hunt) and clearly I lack the interpersonal skills to overcome this 1980s dystopian body swap movie scenario without the actual body swap. So I've come against obstacles but about the mentors? Well, I consulted a medium in April virtually 20 years to the day after I last saw her. She didn't remember me, but she gave me some good advice the first time she saw me (if only I'd followed it) and she gave me some this time. She is my mentor. Bangor doesn't so mentors. Not yet. It does stuff like sending you copy and pasted emails- unless you count Kerrie, who helped me see my limitations. I don't know, I'll have to try and watch some films and understand the three act structure better. Suffice to say, I'm well into act 2 and if I am to succeed I must learn from my mistakes. Otherwise, it's just going to be like a computer game where you don't get past a certain level. And then you give up.

NEWS FLASH: This just in; after messaging Briony asking if she knew why the play wasn't chosen she gave me some info on the selection process. She said no feedback was given and she doesn't know what percentage I got of the vote but she spoke to actual human beings, with passports (I assume), platelets, hopes, dreams, irises, tibulas and fibulas who voted for my play. And she said she'd help me generate interest for the next pitch. Could Briony be a co-protagonist? Is she throwing me a light sabre?