Here’s a breakdown of how my storytelling guidelines apply to a Daffy Duck story I wrote for the Looney Tunes comic.
After I send in the premise lines, (as seen in the previous post) Joan might make some suggestions. In this case, Joan asked that the coach be Tweety Bird, and that I use the established WB character of The Crusher for Daffy’s B-Ball foe.
Next Joan sends the revised ideas out to the WB for approval. The idea was approved, so I revisited my premise line to remind myself of the story. (Sometimes it’s several weeks between submitting a premise and getting an approval, and being an old dude, I tend forget easily!)
Let’s see how this story premise relates to our narrative basics.
SETUP = WHO, WHAT WHEN, WHERE, WHY.
WHO:
PROTAGONIST: Daffy Duck
ANTAGONIST: The Crusher
SUPPORTING CAST: Tweety Bird, various doctors and nurses
WHAT:
PREMISE: Daffy learns how much money basketball star Shlemieille O’Neal makes endorsing sneakers, and craves some of that easy dough. This ties in to one of Daffy Duck’s main character traits. He is greedy! (I know we haven’t discussed character yet, but we will soon!)
WHEN:
Modern day.
WHERE:
PRIMARY LOCATION: The gymnasium basketball court.
SECONDARY LOCATIONS: A city street, the hospital.
WHY: Greed, and inability to perceive one’s own limitations.
Daffy is lured into becoming a basketball star for the endorsement money, but he keeps coming back repeatedly after getting flattened by the Crusher, because he believes he is a natural athlete… which he isn’t.
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