World 1-1
Adventure
3-Act Story
Homer’s Odyssey: a Classic.
In this Greek story-poem, Odysseus goes on a crazy sea journey, leaving behind a luxury lifestyle on an island, & a bunch of his men, er, end up in Davy Jones’ locker.
Inspiring stuff! It brings out Odysseus’ best.
A traditional 3-Act story needs an Act 2 – where the character grows through failure. In Act 3 the hero now has a chance to beat the final boss or challenge.
Drastic Before and After
I still remember the ‘easy’ years of eating like a typical teenage male.
Big bowl of sugary cereal for breakfast, sandwiches and fruit for lunch, donuts and cookies for afternoon tea, a huge dinner, followed by dessert and later, supper. Not to forget all-you-can-eat restaurants on special occasions. 10 plates of mains? 4 plates of dessert? Yes and yes.
All while staying lean and never thinking about insulin, blood sugar, or eating tasteless ‘diabetic’ food.
After getting t1d, my blood glucose level (BGL) suddenly became a wild ride.
Adventures have pitfalls, dangers, and struggles…
… and so does t1d.
No-one Asks for Pain
I wouldn’t choose to have t1d. No-one would!
Pain sure doesn’t feel good. A broken leg doesn’t help someone run faster.
But pain isn’t totally useless – we can respond to pain. A burnt finger is a good warning to avoid a worse thing. It is almost – dare I say it – like fuel to bring good change eventually.
An adventure story without a villain/quest/pain or where the hero finds everything easy (looking at you, Star Wars VII) is the ‘fakest’ kind of story there is.
A good 3-Act story often has (in this order):
Courage
Endurance
Joy
Good and Bad
Few things are 100% good or bad. In a 3-act adventure, the bad in the middle is needed for the good end to really shine out.