*Spoiler warning*
As I have done before, let’s breakdown exactly how I structured my story.
With a musical being two acts, of course I ended up using an altered two-act structure. Brief explanation, the typical parts of the two-act structure are: Act 1 -Exposition, Inciting Incident, first (flawed) response, the major win (fakeout win), Act 2 – secondary inciting incident, proper response to the incident (effort to heal), and the final win. In my story, the “major win” is also the major poor decision, so while it feels like a win, it in fact causes more trouble. Which leads perfectly into the secondary inciting incident, thus displaying how Karel FG Segers of The Story Department accurately described the two-act structure.
ACT 1 –
Exposition: The story starts with Detective Newcomb, a young man set to solve his first case, the murder of a respected lawyer behind a church. The scene shifts to the seven deadly sins setting the stage for the audience and creating a false sense of comedic lightness. They also introduce some of the key concepts in the story: that they do not control people’s actions and they only appear to personify what is already present. Finally, with Naomi, we learn she has a neglectful father, she is struggling to support herself without him, and she has a justifiable frustration that presents in a very volatile way.
Inciting Incident: The sins confront Naomi and claim she owes them her soul in a deal, however, they can’t prove the soul deal happened, leading Naomi to agree to venture through limbo to find the contract. She confronts each of the sins trying to find which of them is hiding the contract, along the way learning her father sold her soul to extend his life, remarried, and had a new child while neglecting Naomi.
First Flawed Response: Naomi has so far failed to reclaim her record and is both demotivated and burning for the chance for revenge. Pride gives her the opportunity to make a deal of her own: steal her father’s soul to give in place of hers and be free, but if she fails, her soul is lost. Naomi agrees and returns to Earth.
The Major Win (Big Mistake): Naomi goes to find her father at his workplace and learns from his coworker (a divorce lawyer) that her father had her separated from her mother under false pretenses. Naomi finds her father at the church he had rarely attended with her and hesitates after seeing his innocent new wife. But when he attempts to gaslight her again, she loses her temper and takes his life, freeing her soul and getting her justice/revenge.
ACT 2 –
Secondary Inciting Incident: We return to Detective Newcomb as he proceeds with his investigation of the murder of the lawyer we now know is Naomi’s dad. His investigation leads him to his girlfriend, Naomi’s, door. At first, he wants to comfort her, but the evidence slowly comes together and Naomi battles to hide her guilt. She contemplates eliminating her boyfriend if he chooses his job over her.
Proper Response: Naomi chooses to turn herself over to her boyfriend, realizing she is a mirror image of her father, making the same selfish choices. She ends up on a trial that spirals into madness and finally wakes up from her nightmare.
Final Win: Naomi deciphers what was dream and what was real, and decides to confront her father and his lies. While she doesn’t ultimately change his mind, she learns how to sever herself from him and move on to live a better life in spite of his behavior.
I don’t know if I can honestly call this a story with a happy ending. It’s not a happy ending in the fairytale sense. But it is a happy ending in a realistic sense. One of the best ways a bad situation can turn out is having the opportunity to leave and start building anew without the past following you. There are obviously more layers of depth to the story that I won’t delve into here, such as Naomi’s habit of extending suffering to prove the legitimacy of her pain. But that might be a post for another day.
As always, find me on Instagram as em.thelogline and thanks for reading!
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