Writing Excuses Master Class - Where Is My Story Coming From?

Originally, I was planning on putting this exercise off for a bit, but I'm realizing that I need help in this area. I actually went back to the Church of Book story I was working on for NaNoWriMo, and I decided that while the setting and idea were good, the plot I was putting together wasn't. I'm trying to come up with a new outline, and what do you know - March's theme for the master class was outlining! So, the writing prompt:

Take a favorite piece of of media (but not something YOU created,) and reverse engineer an outline from it.

Inspired by last night's Wrestlemania, I thought I'd take a stab at outlining one of the running storylines that was bumped up yesterday. This could be a little bit tricky, as wrestling storylines are pretty ad-hoc, depending on who's hurt in a given day. But let's try it anyway! Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the World Heavyweight Championship (spoilers ahead):

Roman Reigns starts as a member of the Shield with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins ends the Shield and turns on the other two members, forcing all three to continue as singles competitors
Seth Rollins wins the Money in the Bank ladder match, giving him an opportunity to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship anytime, anywhere
Roman Reigns has to leave for a few months due to legitimate injury and surgery
Roman Reigns comes back and wins the Royal Rumble, giving him a title shot at Wrestlemania

Fans are most displeased

Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan (a recently returned fan favorite) compete for that title shot won at the Royal Rumble, and Roman Reigns wins
Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, current World Heavyweight Champion, wrestle in Wrestlemania's main event for the title
Seth Rollins appears after the two main competitors have wrestled for ~15 minutes, cashing in his Money in the Bank opportunity and turning the one-on-one match into a triple threat match

In a triple threat match, the current champion does not need to be pinned in order for the title to change hands - any one competitor can pin/submit any other competitor to win

Seth Rollins pins Roman Reigns and wins the World Heavyweight Championship

So, it's not great literature or anything, but I feel like there's a pretty good storyline through this. It's obviously not over yet - that final match left story hooks for all kinds of revenge, team-ups and the like - but it has a pretty decent flow.

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Wanna Hear Me Talk?

I mentioned in my last post, but now I'm doing the official promotional thing. I'm going to be doing a couple of presentations at the Flights of Foundry convention next weekend! Specifically, I'll be doing a game demo for Rolling Realms on Saturday, September 28 at 1pm Pacific. On Sunday, September 29 at 3pm Pacific, I'll be doing a panel presentation on copyright and public domain basics; finally, also on Sunday, September 29 at 5pm, I'll be on a panel sharing my handwork (specifically my crochet, cross stitch, and blackwork) with a few other fantastic people. This is my first time doing this kind of presentation, and so I'm a wee bit nervous. Still, I'm super excited, and the fact that it's all online means that I'll at least be in my home, and the cats may or may not make an appearance on camera. So! If you're interested in what's looking to be a fabulous online convention (that's FREE!), come join us next weekend!

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