Enneagram and Encaustic – Screenwriting, Lyrics, Art, and Investigation

WiP: Tribe of Liars

After publishing my last screenplay about a year ago, I hit a creative wall. Fort Defiance was such a bucket list project. Completing it was satisfying, which left me with little drive to find something new to write. I had a great and lengthy folder for Tribe of Liars with no plan how to develop it further. I liked the fragments I’d written, but it wasn’t grabbing me.

I believe in letting an idea cook, even if I remain creatively idle, rather than force my writing. It worked. I had a brain blast: I would blend Tribe of Liars with another (untitled) screenplay fragment. Neither was working on its own, but combined, I could envision the story arc.

This entry is a placeholder for how I’ll share my process.

I have four characters and their animal Companions. Each team needs a backstory before I can develop a proper screenplay. Gage and Wrigley are the furthest along right now. Not only do I have a Story Enneagram for them, but I have the fictional writing that digs deeper.

I’d like to post my backstory writings here. When the screenplay is eventually published, I’ll include these prologues in an appendix. It’s a complicated writing idea. Let’s rock!

Update 1:

When I wrote the beginnings of the Gage and Wrigley backstory I didn’t know how to develop the IP further. It was a writing exercise at that point. The ToL idea began as a video game, not a film, so I wanted to include the gaming aspect even in the fiction. The conceit I used — go into a first-person narrator voice for the details — is cringe to me now. However, I will probably continue with some variation of the narrator in the other three Companion stories. A lot of brainstorming went into the animal powers; I don’t want to lose the fun of that.

EDDIE AND PATSY, FOUR AND NINE

Okay, bear with me, lol. I’ve given the Sherlock Holmes tag to the Absolutely Fabulous duo. Let me explain.

When I was watching the Cumberpatch/Freeman Sherlock, their relationship suddenly made me think of AbFab. One of the team is a silly basketcase (Watson, as he’s written for this series), and one is completely cool. Now, Patsy is no detective mastermind, but within the fashion-oriented world of AbFab, she is a consulting savant.

Yes, I’m comparing Patsy Stone to Sherlock Holmes.

And Edina Monsoon, with all of her fake Buddhist chanting and colonic remedies, to Dr. Watson.

They are the antithesis of the Sherlock archetype. It’s impossible to get any further from it. I find it hilarious that, while watching a Sherlock show, I was reminded of these two. However, Eddie and Patsy are a Four/Nine duo living in the best aspects of their Enneagrams.

Patsy, as the Nine, is stoic and dispassionate. Eddie the Four feels everything — everything — for the both of them. Their lifelong friendship, even though it portrays a codependency, is loving and charming. The Cumberpatch/Freeman Sherlock is building something very similar, except the Enneagram numbers are flipped. A Four who feels nothing, as Sherlock does, will never build a healthy partnership with a Nine who carries the emotional load.

As you can see, this post is just an excuse to continue my complaint against the Sherlock series. It’s based, though, in a dedicated passion for AbFab, a ridiculous wonderment of female devotion. I continue to rewatch it every few years. Saunders and Lumley have created something true, even if it’s exaggerated.

(And even more hilariously, I’ve created an Eddie toon in my Fallout 76 playthrough. She’s a ghoul — a wrinkled, noseless, undying social reject. Like a classic episode of AbFab, Eddie pursued a questionable beauty treatment with unexpected consequences. It’s all good, though. She looks refreshed.)

Porthole Two

DÓNAL FINN’S MORIARTY, THREE

To make Holmes’ archnemesis his friend in Young Sherlock is a stroke of genius. For the majority of the season Moriarty is a straightforward companion. Only at the end do we see James become tempted by a different path.

Moriarty is no Watson, who’s a sidekick. James behaves like a hero with a daring streak. Sometimes he is sharper than Sherlock and more confident. And he’s not confined by pesky rules.

I could go Eight because of his leadership and boss-ness. I could go Three because of his charm and unwillingness to fail.

Ah, wouldn’t that be interesting! A Three who becomes a villain.

And if Holmes is a Six, as I’ve predicted, then we have strength/weakness numbers as buddies. James the Three would move to Sherlock’s Six in strength, making him a more law-abiding character. Holmes moving to Three in weakness would be more of a woe-is-me character, which we see in this season.

I enjoyed this show, but I’m not hyperventilating for the next installment. However, these Enneagram numbers excite me for the possibilities. I hope they continue developing the leads along these lines.

HERO FIENNES TIFFIN’S HOLMES, SIX

Goodness, man, lol. We need an overbearing studio head to give this actor a shorter name. Oh, he played Tom Riddle! And he’s Ralph Fiennes’ nephew. Nevermind.

Now he’s playing Sherlock Holmes in a new series, Young Sherlock, that has no connection to the 1985 Steven Spielberg movie. This is a Guy Ritchie production, the director of the Robert Downey, Jr. movie. The pedigree is obvious; this Holmes also previews his thoughts cinematically. So, is this Holmes a Seven like RDJ’s portrayal?

My gut says no. This Sherlock was traumatized as a child by his sister’s death. His lingering sorrow becomes the major plot point. Although he ends up in trouble with the law, Tiffin’s Holmes isn’t reckless like the Sherlock we expect. He’s curious and quick but he’s not as charismatic as previous portrayals.

Here’s the real twist, though: Sherlock’s partner is James Moriarty. At this point he’s not an arch-enemy. He’s his buddy crimesolver. They make a great team, and then add in our foreknowledge of what Moriarty is to become. It’s an excellent story hook.

However, Holmes is not the leader and he’s not remarkable (yet). Basically, he’s a college-aged man who has unresolved feelings about his lost sister. He’s wounded.

I want to say Heart Type, but he exhibits no envy. Is he a Nine, the heroic catchall for writers? No, he’s not particularly athletic or physical. He’s a Head Type.

Not a Seven, though. I think he’s a Six because of his tender heart. If indeed he’s a Six — someone who sees the world in black and white, not gray — he’s going to have a big problem with Moriarty as the seasons continue. Of course. That’s the point of putting them together.

Porthole One

Story Enneagram of the “Hogwarts Legacy” game

ONE

Ministry Official Osric, catching a ride with us to Hogwarts, shows Professor Fig the goblin-metal canister Miriam Fig sent him before her death. It may have some relation to the rebel goblin, Ranrok. Only I can see that the canister glows. Inside is a golden key.

A red-eyed dragon attacks, killing Osric and destroying the carriage. As Fig and I fall, he grabs the key, which is a portkey. We end up at a remote location. A magical doorway that only I can see transports us to Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

TWO

The portkey is for Vault 12, one of the earliest ever built. A guard with red eyes watches us proceed to our vault. After we step through the door, our banker, as per instructions from the original vault owner, locks us inside. Glowing symbols lead us through a dungeon and toward a pensieve with a locket floating above it.

THREE

In the pensieve’s memory, Percival Rackham and Charles Rookwood discuss the person who will eventually discover Vault 12. This person (me) will be able to wield ancient magic.

Hogwarts Legacy Finale

Before I can access and protect the final repository, I must take pensieve relics I’ve been collecting to Ollivander and have him craft me a wand. (I was pretty excited to get a special wand until the Keepers explained its only purpose is to get me through the vault door.)

As I exit the shop, Victor Rookwood corners me. He thinks we should work together against Ranrok to keep the power in the hands of wizards. I refuse. He then says, “Children should be seen and not heard.” My face indicates that I remember those exact words were used by the person who cursed Anne. (It wasn’t a goblin.) A henchman apparates in and grabs me. I’m taken to a poacher camp. It’s a fight to the death, including Rookwood’s attempt to overpower me with Avada Kedavra.

Natty will be pleased to know that Rookwood is gone. When Sebastian hears the phrase Rookwood uttered, he’ll at least know who harmed his sister.

San Bakar’s Trial

Lodgok has asked to meet me in a mine where Ranrok digs.

At the bottom of the mine are Ranrok and his Loyalists, who have just finished building their large drill. I collapse the supports, destroying the drill. Now, though, Ranrok confronts me. Victor Rookwood enters with Lodgok in his custody.

Lodgok carries a book. It’s Bragbor’s missing journal. He’s had it all along and kept it from Ranrok, who is — surprise — his brother. With the journal, which describes the location of the last repository, Ranrok needs none of these people anymore. He blasts Lodgok, killing him. Rookwood sees where this is headed for him and shoots an Avada Kedavra at Ranrok. It misses, but in the disorder I’m able to escape the mine.

The Second Triptych

I meet Sebastian at night on a distant coastline. He’s found another mine with a cavern swarming with Ranrok’s Loyalists. His temper is up; he accuses me of not pumping the Keepers for information. Either I’m not trusted by them, or I don’t care about Anne enough to ask hard questions, he says. I push back a little. Halfway up the mountain, though, he rushes into a fight with goblins, again angry and frustrated. I push back more. He apologizes and admits he’s so worried about Anne.

Sebastian’s character is changing, though. He’s becoming reckless, selfish, and cruel. He’s acting more stereotypically Slytherin.