The Last Samurai Sequence

Monalisa Foster

Dec 18, 2023

∙ Paid

This is the landing page for my multi-part The Last Samurai sequence

So You Wanna Be A Writer?

Lessons from The Last Samurai Part 1

Monalisa Foster

December 10, 2023

The Last Samurai (2003 Warner Bros) is one of my favorite movies and it has popped up in both conversation and otherwise so often in the last month that I decided it was time to finally talk about it. I’m going to approach it from a writer’s viewpoint, not a historical one.

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So You Wanna Be A Writer?

Lessons from The Last Samurai Part 2

Monalisa Foster

December 12, 2023

We covered the first part of Act 1, the setup to the inciting incident in the previous post, here. Act 1, cont. Build-up Now we will discuss the build-up to the first turning point that caps Act 1. So now that we have emotional investment from the hero, it’s time to poke him with a sharp stick or two in o…

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So You Wanna Be A Writer?

Lessons from The Last Samurai Part 3

Monalisa Foster

December 14, 2023

We covered the second part of Act 1, the build-up to the first turning point in the previous post, here. So now that our protagonist has entered the adventure world we are in Act 2. And to clarify, he has entered the adventure world not because of a change in physical location, but because we are past th…

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So You Wanna Be A Writer?

Lessons from The Last Samurai Part 4

Monalisa Foster

December 16, 2023

For the previous post discussing Act 2A (the story between the 25% and 50% mark) see here. Once we’re past the midpoint (made up of the second turning point and the mirror moment) your hero has left the Wanderer phase and entered the Warrior phase. Up until this point, your hero has been reacting. Now he c…

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So You Wanna Be A Writer?

Lessons from the Last Samurai Part 5

Monalisa Foster

December 18, 2023

Act 3 (the 4th act in the 4-act structure) is also known as the Martyr phase. That doesn’t mean that the hero has to die or everyone has to die (I can’t stand movies where everyone dies) but that he has to be willing to die. [For the previous post, click

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