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Matt Barninger Mastery Journal Full Sail University Creative Writing MFA

About Me

Matt Barninger writes short stories, books, and screenplays. He earned a BFA in creative writing from Full Sail University in December 2021. He has published flash fiction in the literary magazine, The Scarlet Leaf Review. He has been an active member of Full Sail's Creative Writing Club since June, 2019. In his free time, he raises children and dogs on a small farm in Arkansas.

https://www.mattbarninger.com/

http://linkedin.com/in/matt-barninger-a2a67992

Intention Statement

Welcome to my 2022 Full Sail University Mastery Journal. This journal will effectively catalogue my next twelve months as I navigate the MFA for Creative Writing.

I’m incredibly grateful to be here today doing what I truly love to do which is writing. I have spent the last three years attaining my undergraduate degree in creative writing from Full Sail University where I graduated with a 3.56 GPA. I learned the craft of storytelling under amazing instructors. Classes where we wrote episodic television scripts or learned the three-act story structure. World building and mythological classes where we dove deep into the nuances of character development and the hero’s journey.

My intention is to become a world-renowned author, screenwriter, and film maker. The first phase in this journey has already been completed, as detailed above. The second phase is to accumulate as much knowledge and mentoring as is possible during the next eleven and a half months. I intend to hone my craft of writing to mastery levels during my time at graduate school. Some of the things I hope to learn over the next year are writing for films, games, and animation. I’m looking forward to the class Art of Visual Storytelling and its sister class Advanced Visual Storytelling. The class I’m most excited for is the Script Analysis and Criticism class. I love diving into scripts whether they are short scripts, long scripts, funny scripts, or even horror scripts.

I intend to begin filming my short scripts this year. The first one in active production is The Day he Left. It tells the story of a listless man who can’t move past the disappearance of his brother twenty years before. I intend to write and direct three short films this year. My next short will focus on the Science Fiction genre with horror elements.

Inspiration

I have found Brandon Sanderson’s journey and philosophy incredibly inspiring. I can listen to him discuss plot, magic systems, or character development all day. He also has an entire year of classroom instruction videos on his YouTube channel that I would recommend to anyone interested in writing.

Sanderson, B. (2021, Jan 15). My Philosophy on Teaching Writing. YouTube. Retrieved January 16, 2022 from https://youtu.be/0cf-qdZ7GbA

LinkedIn Home Page
LinkedIn Interests

Su, J. (2020. Sept, 2). Top Five LinkedIn Profile Tips! Retrieved on January 25, 2022 from YouTube. https://youtu.be/BcfGWi8Qywk

I chose this inspirational quote because in its simplicity it really hits home to me. Like the old Nike slogan from the 90’s, Just Do It.

F. Scott Fitzgerald Quote

Goals

A discussion on the Art of Visual Storytelling

What an awesome little meme.

Keep Writing

Great meme
Keep Going

Media Convergence

A television show that started with four boys playing the Dungeons and Dragons game has come full circle. Stranger Things, the Netflix blockbuster which first aired in 2016 has taken the world by storm. The show has spawned multiple novels, comics, graphic novels, and one D&D 5th edition Stranger Things module. There are multiple video games, toys, and merchandise based on the hit show. And one globe traveling Stranger Things Experience. In addition, cast members often appear in D&D livestreams.

Stranger Things.

Critical Role, the celebrated live-streaming phenomenon began as a friendly pen and paper game of Pathfinder in the home of star Liam O’Brien. After a few months the little game was invited to stream on Geek & Sundry, on the condition they switch to 5th edition D&D, and the rest as they say is history. In six years Critical Role has come to dominate Twitch’s payroll, launch their own production studio, and publish multiple setting books based on their home brew world. Their livestream has been broken into three distinct campaigns. The first campaign titled, Vox Machina has a successful, albeit mature, cartoon on Amazon Prime complete with toys and merchandise. The characters are also available to select and play in the game Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire.

Critical Role

The Role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons was created in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arnson in Gygax’s basement. Its origin was a pen and paper dice game fueled by imagination. In its infancy players implemented theatre of the mind to envision the world. Since its inauspicious beginnings D&D has innovated an amazing toolset, from physical minis and battle mats to the precipice of the digital frontier.

The D&D brand has launched movies, comics, and multiple award winning video games. When I was a boy the industry was simply called the rpg industry. Three decades later the video game industry has long since snatched the rpg moniker from its predecessor, regulating pen and paper games to the table top moniker. Although, it appears as if that cycle has come full circle. It’s only fitting that D&D is once again innovating and changing the game in new directions. One D&D is taking the game and the hobby digitally with an immersive tabletop setting built in the Unreal game engine. The game that inspired so many video games throughout the years will now become video game like. I’m left reminded of a quote from Superman’s father to Superman.

“You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father, the - The son." - Jor-El,

Dungeons and Dragons

Trail of Deceit is centered around the search and capture of Goblin raiders responsible for attacking wagon trains along the Narrow March.

5E Compatible.

Keep Writing

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Matt Barninger
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