In service of the anxiety that surrounds the whole writing thing for me, I spend a lot of time writing about writing, and writing in order to write. I blog here, I keep a journal, and I have a notebook in which I jot down ideas for stories, make outlines, record witty observations, write “morning pages,” and occasionally even write fiction. Today I worked on a couple of techniques borrowed from Write Away by Elizabeth George: a character analysis for each of the main characters in a short stoy I’ve been working on that’s been going nowhere, and a hero’s journey plot outline for the story.
The hero’s journey is, as George says, “tried and true,” and kind of corny if you think of it in the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings sense. But those books are wildly popular because it is a classic plot. As Kempis said in a comment on an earlier post,
There are no new stories. Just retelling of the same one in a myriad of different ways. If you try hard enough you can find variations on any story at the library, movie theater (etc.,). It’s not the originality of the story- but the skill in how it’s told that makes the story entertaining.
Okay. So now all I have to come up with is the skill part…
Filed under: writing
Since you’ve heard of Joesph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” (I personally like the variation by Chris Vogler- “The Writers Journey- Mythic Structure for Writers.” It was originally written for Walt Disney Creative Executives as a guide for what to look for in a good [read cinematic] story). If you haven’t already heard of it- I would also recommend “The Hero Within: Six Archetypes we live by,” by Carol S. Pearson (PhD) .
It’s not a writing book but covers other types of “life’s journeys” or personal transformations- apart from the Hero’s/Warrior’s Journey that a character in a story might make.
They are journeys that might be less traditionally cinematic, but could make for good stories as well. Amazon dot com has a look inside feature which would do more justice to description than I could. But while you’re looking at it think about- mix, match, reverse or twist.
[...] Kempis has some good tips on using the hero’s journey to shape your stories in a comment here, including this: But while you’re looking at it think about- mix, match, reverse or [...]
I loved Write Away, it gave me momentum and is so positive!
I thought it was interesting that she keeps a journal (a la John Steinbeck) for each novel she writes. That would be a useful way to dissipate the self-doubts and complaints that the other people in our lives might not understand.