Prep: Story Events

1. John and his two friends overhear a conversation from Johns father about rare diamonds in Russia.
2. John and his friends create a plan to go into Russia without being noticed.
3. They make it successfully into Russia but realize it is going to be harder than they thought to not be caught and throw in jail.
4. They find a hotel that they are able to stay at for an affordable price.
5. They run out of resources and money and have to steal to survive.
6. They get caught at the hotel by the Russian police after stealing from a local store.
7. They flee the hotel leaving everything they brought behind and head straight for the diamonds.
8. They resort to contacting John’s father who is a Russian spy to help them out.
9. John’s father is angry at his son but helps him out anyway so he doesn’t get arrested or killed.
10. John and his friends make it to the building near the mines that hold all the diamonds. All they have to do is find a way in and out with even the littlest amount of product and they could be rich forever.
11. The story will end with them successfully making it home with the diamonds but they will lose a member of the group along the way. They will split the money evenly and gift it to John’s friends family that passed away during the adventure

Elements of Story

1. Weakness and need: John has always admired his fathers work as a U.S spy. With his father not able to tell John what he does everyday at work, it has made John very curious to what secrets people in these positions hold. John is also upset with his father because although they have a good relationship he does not support the family as much as they need financially, primarily because he is usually never home. This all makes John a very curious individual with a feeling of need to provide for his mother and siblings himself. His curiosity helps him in a lot of ways, but has gotten him into some trouble in the past.

2. Desire: John’s desire is not only to acquire the diamonds to become very wealthy, but also to make his family proud of him for doing such a dangerous job for the benefit of the family. He also desires to use his curiosity to figure out secrets and do things differently than others.

3. Opponent: In the story, John’s clear opponent is the Russian government/police because they will be the ones he is plotting to avoid throughout his whole journey. This opponent is the most prevalent because in the story the Russian government has been known to have been corrupt recently and doing shady things. Another “opponent” i’d say the main character John goes against is his own will to prove himself to his father and family. His father cannot share any of his work with his son and this draws them far apart, John gets himself into trouble early in life because of his curiosity so one could say that is also an opponent in the story.

4. Plan: John’s original plan was to head into Russia with fake names and the help of the conversation he overheard from his father. He knows where the diamonds are, and the easily way to steal them. What he doesn’t know is how little planning he did and when he finally embarks on his journey him and his group need to make a lot of last minute adjustments to make things work. They are caught after stealing, questioned and rely on one source that John really did not have to rely on, his father to help them make it possible.

5. Battle: The critical conflict will be weather Johns father is willing to help them and how much he is able to go against his own job to help his own son. This battle as well as the ones along the way in the journey will be the main tests to weather John reaches his goal or not. Physically, they will have to endure long sleepless nights, starvation, the elements of weather. Mentally they will have to all agree on decisions that could either move them forward or get them killed or captured. They will have to dig deep in the depths of their own minds to make this journey happen safely.

6. Self-Revelation: The deeper understanding John and his friends will learn is to take risks but always be prepared for the unknown. John in the story will realize that his curiosity can get him into trouble and to use it in ways that will benefit himself. He will also realize that him and his father are a lot more alike than they may have known.

7. New Equilibrium: The new equilibrium and outcome of everything that has happened is that their original goal of all getting rich from the mission has happened, but they have greater understanding of themselves as people, each other as friends and the world as a whole.