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The Island Story FRAMEWORK

The Island Story and the undergirding framework is inspired by ideas and experiences from Jason Montoya's personal life journey. This translated storytelling model / template is a story structure we want you to use in your books, movies, TV shows, and short stories.

In fact, the Island Story (Click To Read) itself has shifted and changed over the years telling the same story from different perspectives and focal points. We intend to encourage, inspire and equip storytellers to create, share, and teach powerful stories in providing this story scaffolding.

The Four Stages Of The Islander

The Islander is our main character and he/she starts out in the survivor stage on The Island (home/starting point). The journey of the story transitions the islander through four stages.

Survivor

Dreamer

Visionary

Achiever

As The Islander transitions from one stage to the next, so does his/her motivations.
  • The Survivor Is Primarily Motivate From Provision To Survive.
  • The Dreamer Is Primarily Motivated By Fun & Pleasure.
  • The Visionary Is Primarily Motivated With Meaning & Significance.
  • The Achiever Is Primarily Driven To Accomplish Their Goals.

The Four Distractions

The Islander meets each one of the four distracting characters in his/her journey.

Shark

Clownfish

Turtle

Swordfish

Each of the four distracing characters were/are an islander, but they got trapped in their journey.
  • The Shark is a jaded survivor. The Shark distracts the survivor from thinking beyond survival by luring him/her with easy provision.
  • The Clownfish is a jaded Dreamer. The Clownfish distracts the dreamer from living beyond fun by luring him/her with the best pleasures.
  • The Turtle is a jaded Visionary. The Turtle distracts the visionary from finishing by luring him/her with deep significance.
  • The Swordfish is a jaded Achiever. The Swordfish distracts the achiever by pushing him/her to do whatever it takes to accomplish his/her goals.

The Four Traps

Distracted, The Islander is led into one of the following four traps based on the stage they're currently in.

Riptide

Reef

Caves

Abyss

Each of the four traps is unique and personal to the stage of the islander and the distracting character that leads the islander into the trap.
  • The Riptide Of Confusion. While caught in this trap, the the survivor is dazed and confused fearful they won't survive.
  • The Reef of Avoidance. While caught up in this trap, the dreamer pursues enjoyment to avoid conflict or responsibility.
  • The Caves Of Abandonment. While caught in this trap, the visionary pursuit of significance leads to abandoning others.
  • The Abyss Of Destruction. While in this trap, the achiever is driven to destroy himself and/or others as the result of an obsession or fixation.

The Four Props

From the start to the end of our journey, we receive and find a variety of items. Some of these objects hinder us, some help us and other times their roles in our journey changes.

The Compass

Shiny Objects

Our Tools

Escape Vehicle

  • We follow our COMPASS which points to what we desire and value.
  • We find and collect SHINY OBJECTS to grow our personal treasure.
  • We receive TOOLS to help us build the escape vehicle that helps us leave the island and get to where we want to go.
  • We build an ESCAPE VEHICLE (boat, bridge, etc...) to help us get away from our pain and give us what we want.

The Redemptive Fisherman

The Fisherman is a transcendent character (inspired by Jesus Christ) that was in the islander's journey from the beginning and stays until the end. The Fisherman is revealing, rescuing, restoring, and refining the islander as part of His redemptive process.

Our Redemptive Journey Home

After we're rescued from the Abyss and taken back to the island, we receive gifts and revelation about our journey.
  • What was lost and was good, is restored and given back. This included the escape vehicle and the compass.
  • We discover we were the distracting characters.
  • We realize the Fisherman rescued us when we were trapped.
  • We're overwhelmed when we see others are going through the same painful, meaningful and difficult journey as we did.
  • Gratitude Overtakes us when we see the entire picture of the world.
  • We're faced with a choice to join in with the redemptive fisherman and pay it forward to those following our path.

Go Tell Your Stories

The beauty of the Island Story Framework is you can share and remix it in any genre such as sci-fi, fantasy, action, and romance. You don't literally have to have an island or sea creatures in it. The tropes here are simply symbols for the storyline, characters and stages.

While the Island Story shared on this website is of the Islander's perspective, there are also many other stories that could be told from the perspective of the distractions or the fisherman. The story combinations are infinite.

Let me know if you've published a story using the Island Story Framework and I'll be happy to post a link.

Free To Use Licensing

The Island Story Framework is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. This means you can share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to this page, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.