Task 4 2023: Break a story cliche

For this task, you will imagine a scene or plot that breaks a storytelling cliché, then make a storyboard that illustrates it.

Background

Clichés–stereotypical characters, events, or plot devices–are the bane of storytellers and listeners alike. Their familiarity often masks how unlikely they would be in reality (“OMG the enemies became lovers!”), but they are often crutches that let writers be lazy rather than challenge expectations.

This is your chance to capture the player, viewer, or reader’s attention by breaking a cliché. The task is similar to the story cliché exercise, except that your storyboard will break the stereotype by revising the original story or inventing a new character, plot, or setting to take its place. Breaking the cliché can happen in a single scene (as in the sample result below) or across the plot of the entire story.

Process

1. 1. Choose a cliché from a list of Console RPG clichés and pair it with a game, movie, book, or other story that leans on it.
   2. At the class website, start a new post and entitle it something like Task 4:Mary Gonzalez Pat Smith Sandy Park.  ⚠️ Please add the names before clicking the Save Draft or Publish button so they will show up in the post stub.
   3. At the top of the post, type the heading “Featured cliché:” and add the name of the cliché you chose and a description pasted from Console RPG clichés.
   4. Under this, add a new heading called “Breaking the cliché”.
   5. In a paragraph, explain how your story would surprise the reader by departing from the conventional trope (cliché).
   6. Add a heading for “Storyboard”.
   7. Create at least three images to represent different moments in or features of the story. You can modify existing images from the Web or draw them as stick figures or cartoons.
   8. Click on Add Media and upload these to the website. (Do not insert them into the post yet.)
   9. Back in your post, choose the Text tab and paste the following HTML template at the bottom (continue the pattern to add more than three images):

		<div style="display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr; gap: 20px;">
			<div>Description</div>
			<div>[image]</div>
			<div>Description</div>
			<div>[image]</div>
			<div>Description</div>
			<div>[image]</div>
		</div>

1. 1. 1. Back in the Visual tab, select the word “image” only (not the brackets) and click Add Media.
      2. After choosing an image, make sure Align Left and Medium or Large are selected, then Insert into Post.
      3. Replace each of the descriptions with actual text that explains in detail what happens at each moment.
      4. Select and delete the brackets [] afterward. ⚠️ Be careful not to delete the image by accident. You may want to find and delete the brackets in the Text tab.
      5. Select the category “Task 4” and publish your post to WordPress.
      6. Complete the feedback survey to get credit for this assignment.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Your team can add a single Post for this task, as long as you add everyone’s name to the title, eg “Task 4: Mary Gonzalez Pat Chen Sandy Berkowitz”.

⛑️ For help with the HTML, see instructions in the Story Cliché exercise.

💁‍♂️ Sample result: Breaking the sword fight cliché

Note that this is an example from an actual movie; your storyboard should be from your own invention.