Initial Narrative

To come up with a narrative for this unit, our tutor devised an exercise where we created a nine box grid comprised of three characters, three locations, and three props.

We were given an initial practise grid as a class and then were asked to create our own. Here is the grid I created to provide inspiration for my narrative. I chose three characters in the left column, three props in the right column and three locations in the centre.

I tried to chose a varied set of buzzwords that would allow me to create multiple scenarios and narratives.

Out of the nine boxes, I chose the character Elderly Man, the location Forest and the prop Boots.

These choices helped me to start thinking of a story, however I felt as though it was underdeveloped so I decided to create a second grid, expanding around my chosen words.

I stuck with the original themes and created two new human characters, two more locations around the forest theme, and two tools that you may find in such a location.

Out of the new choices, I decided to stick with Elderly Man as I felt it was an interesting character that I could experiment with. I found it very difficult to choose between the locations and so decided to combine them as one environment; the exterior of a Cabin within the Deep Forest on a Mountain. I liked the combination as I felt that it created a sense of isolation. I lastly chose Axe as I felt that it fit in well with the theme an gave me an array of possible narratives.

Next was for me to come up with a narrative using an elderly man, an isolated cabin and an axe. I had to think what would make an elderly man live alone in the woods? Here were some options I came up with:

- The elderly man committed an awful crime, and is now a criminal on the run, using the deep forest to isolate and hide himself. He uses the axe as a weapon against any intruders.

- The elderly man is a homeless carpenter whose business in the city fell through. He used his axe and set of handyman skills to build himself a new home in the forest where he has chosen to live free.

- The elderly man has a life threatening illness and so has isolated himself in the woods to quarantine himself away from others he could infect. He uses the axe to gather firewood to keep himself warm.

- The elderly man has been left alone after the bereavement of his wife. He decided to live alone in the forest to mourn his loss and find peace with himself. He uses the axe to create something in her honour.

- The elderly man is a sculptor who has moved to the forest in an act of art expression, using his time to perfect his craft. He uses the axe to create beautiful sculptures from wood.

Out of the five possible narratives I created I decided to go with the story of the elderly man as a carpenter, living free in the woodland.