The Structure of the Monomyth

Joseph Campbell based his work on Greek hero stories like the Illiad. Christopher Vogler designed his process for writing Disney stories. By combining both approaches and fitting them into a standard three-act play structure, a comprehensive approach emerges.

 

ACT I: Departure

1. Ordinary World Start the story with a view of everyday life before the adventure.

2. Call to Adventure This is the hook.

3. Refusal of the Call Hero should resist change at first.

4. Supernatural Aid/Meeting the Mentor Hero stories always have someone who shows the way. Could be the character that represents purity/balance. This is where the hero receives knowledge, confidence and special weapons needed to win.

5. Crossing the Threshold to the Special World This is the Trigger/start of the Adventure.

6. The Belly of the Whale Exploring the new world.

ACT II: Initiation

7. The Road of Trials Crisis

8. The Meeting with the Higher Power The hero must interact with the purity/balance character.

9. Temptation This is the Struggle.

10. Atonement Epiphany

11. Ordeal, Death & Rebirth This is the development of the Plan to beat the enemy (acting on the Epiphany)

12. Reward/Seizing the Sword This is the Climax.

ACT III: Return

13. Refusal of the Return The hero resists all change, even going home.

14. The Magic Flight Something drives the hero to return home.

15. Rescue from Without A final assist from the mentor proves to the hero that the mentor is no longer needed.

16. Resurrection The hero has changed as a result of his adventure.

17. Crossing the Return Threshold The hero is hailed by his family/friends.

18. Master of Two Worlds The hero has changed as a result of his adventure but is still a part of his original world.

19. Freedom to Live Happy ending.

 

Vogler goes on to describe the hero’s inner or emotional journey, which he calls the Character Arc. He maintains that even though there is something the character wants from his adventure, there may be some cathartic experience that he actually needs to become a true hero. In my next blog post I’ll take a look at Vogler’s Character Arc.

All of the brainstorming exercises described in this blog series can be found in my Scrivener template on Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGNFy181nZiM0J5TGI3WXJyUkE/.

For non-scrivener users, Personal Noveling Assistant (PNA) pages are at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzGNFy181nZiczA2aGJrTnN1X2c/.

For more about my stories, check out my author page at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.

Vogler's Hero

While working as a story consultant for Disney in the mid-eighties, Christopher Vogler wrote a seven-page memo intended to help screenwriters develop heroes for Disney movies. He based his analysis on Joseph Campbell’s work and titled the memo “A Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces.” Later he turned this effort into a book, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers (ISBN 978-1-932907-36-0), which is widely regarded as a must-have reference for all fiction writers. He currently works as a Hollywood development executive as the President of the company, Storytech Literary Consulting, and teaches his techniques all over the world in leading Masterclasses.

Found at http://dramatica.com/articles/how-and-why-dramatica-is-different-from-six-other-story-paradigms

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers assumes that most successful stories are comprised of a series of common narratives and character archetypes.

In Vogler’s Hero's journey, the stages are as follows:

1. Ordinary World - Vogler starts story with a view of everyday life before the adventure.
2. Call to Adventure - This is the hook.
3. Refusal of the Call - The hero should resist change at first.
4. Meeting with the Mentor- Hero stories always have someone who shows the way. This is where the hero gets the knowledge, confidence and special weapons needed to win.
5. Crossing the Threshold into the Special World - This is the Trigger/start of the Adventure where the hero overcomes his reluctance.
6. Tests, Allies and Enemies - Crisis and Struggle
7. Approach to the Innermost Cave - This is Vogler’s Epiphany.
8. The Ordeal with Death and Rebirth - This is Vogler’s Plan and the Climax.
9. Reward - The hero achieves a reward for surviving death.
10. The Road Back - This is Vogler’s ending, everything that happens after the climax.
11. The Resurrection - The hero has changed as a result of his adventure.
12. Return with the Elixir - Happy ending.

In my next post I’ll put the two approaches together for a comprehensive approach to developing the character arc of a hero.

All of the brainstorming exercises described in this blog series can be found in my Scrivener template on Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGNFy181nZiM0J5TGI3WXJyUkE/.

For non-scrivener users, Personal Noveling Assistant (PNA) pages are at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzGNFy181nZiczA2aGJrTnN1X2c/.

For more about my stories, check out my author page at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.

 

Campbell's Monomyth continued

Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey goes something like this:

 

ACT I: Departure

1. Call to Adventure
This is the hook. Your main character experiences an event that forces her to make a change in her daily life. For example, Harry Potter receives a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 
2. Refusal of the Call
The hero should resist the change at first. Who can resist when Harry Potter says, “I’m not a wizard. I’m just Harry.”
3. Meeting the Mentor
Hero stories always have someone who shows the way. It could be the character that represents purity or balance. Harry Potter meets Dumbledore through Hagrid’s eyes.
4. Crossing the Threshold to the Special World
This is the Trigger or start of the Adventure. This is also the point where the hero leaves the ordinary world and travels somewhere never seen before. Harry Potter first experiences magic when they travel to the Leaky Cauldron Pub and Diagon Alley.
5. The Belly of the Whale
The hero explores her new world. Harry first enters Hogwarts.

ACT II: Initiation

6. The Road of Trials
The hero experiences crisis and struggle. For Harry, both Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape have it out for him. The mountain troll Harry and his friends face on Halloween is the perfect example of a hero’s challenge.
7. The Meeting with the Goddess
Campbell thinks the hero must interact with the purity/balance character. For Harry, this event occurs when he has a conversation with Dumbledore about not visiting the Mirror of Erised.
8. Woman as Temptress
Unfortunately, Campbell saw all women as villains (or maybe it was the ancient Greeks who felt this way). I interpret this part of the journey as increased conflict and suspense through a a greater crisis and struggle. In Harry’s case it would be his first face-to-face encounter with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forrest..
9. Atonement with the Father
This is Campbell’s Epiphany, or the point at which the hero realizes she must be the one to save the day. Firenze, the centaur, helps Harry understand Voldemort’s plan to be restored with the Sorcerer’s Stone.
10. Apotheosis This is where the hero develops a plan to win the final battle (acting on the Epiphany). Harry and friends decide to get past Fluffy, the three-headed dog, and retrieve the stone before Voldemort can find it.
11. Reward, Seizing the Sword This is the Climax. Harry faces Voldemort, beats him and takes the stone.

ACT III: Return

12. Refusal of the Return
Campbell thinks the hero resists all change, even going home. In Harry’s case, he’d rather stay at Hogwart’s year round.
13. The Magic Flight
Something drives the hero to return home. From Harry’s perspective, he’s forced to return to the Dursley’s because Dumbledore insists. We find out later that the protection spell his mother cast only works as long as he spends part of the year living with a blood relative, that is, his Aunt Petunia.
14. Rescue from Without
A final assist from the mentor proves to the hero that the mentor is no longer needed. In the movie, Hagrid reminds Harry that the Dursley’s aren’t aware that he is forbidden to use magic at home, which gives him some leverage over his bullying cousin, Dudley.
15. Crossing the Return Threshold
The hero is hailed by his family and friends. Harry says goodbye to Ron, Hermione and Hagrid.
16. Master of Two Worlds
The hero has changed as a result of her adventure but is still a part of her original world. Harry has more confidence now that he has seen his own potential.
17. Return with Elixir 
This is the happy ending. Harry knows he’ll be back in the magical world in two months.

Joseph Campbell believed that this process of success and self-discovery was cyclical throughout a hero’s life. In Harry Potter’s case, he goes through the cycle six more times before completely destroying Voldemort.

Christopher Vogler has a more modern take on the Hero’s Journey. I’ll review his theory in my next blog post. I hope this gives you an idea of how to develop your own hero or heroine.

Don’t forget to check out my trilogy, The Queen of the Night series at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=series_rw_dp_labf?_encoding=UTF8&field-collection=The%20Queen%20of%20the%20Night%20Series&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text/.

The Hero's Journey

In 1949, American comparative mythology scholar, Joseph Campbell, published The Hero With a Thousand Faces. In it he introduced the concept of the monomyth. He observed that throughout classical literature, especially ancient Greek mythology, a pattern existed in the development of the main characters. He called it the Hero’s Journey. Even if your main character is not a classical hero, you may benefit from working through this character development exercise. If nothing else, it will help you develop a story arc for your character. In the best case, it may form the basis for your plot outline.

It goes something like this:

ACT I: Departure

1. Call to Adventure

2. Refusal of the Call

3. Meeting the Mentor

4. Crossing the Threshold to the Special World

5. The Belly of the Whale

ACT II: Initiation

6. The Road of Trials

7. The Meeting with the Goddess

8. Woman as Temptress

9. Atonement with the Father

10. Apotheosis

11. Reward, Seizing the Sword

ACT III: Return

12. Refusal of the Return

13. The Magic Flight

14. Rescue from Without

15. Crossing the Return Threshold

16. Master of Two Worlds

17. Return with Elixir

In my next blog post I’ll dissect each step in Campbell’s monomyth. Using this outline to develop your characters is a good way to really get to know them better. I believe that the antagonist of a story is often someone who took the hero’s journey but didn’t finish it successfully. Try brainstorming this outline with your major villain to see where he failed.

 

Keep writing, remember, Nanowrimo is just three months away!

Don’t forget to check out my trilogy, The Queen of the Night series at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=series_rw_dp_labf?_encoding=UTF8&field-collection=The%20Queen%20of%20the%20Night%20Series&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text/.

 

How to Make Your Characters Dynamic

The most interesting characters are those that change throughout the story. Examining what events will affect the characters perception and personality will not only help you understand the character better, it will start the process of developing the plot of the novel. I think that both the protagonist and the antagonist should be dynamic characters. If the novel is a romance, the love interest should also change as the story progresses.

Here are some questions that will help you determine how your major characters change throughout the novel.

What is the character’s self-image at the beginning? Is she an introvert or an extrovert? Is she an optimist or a pessimist?

At the beginning of the story, what makes the character happy or sad? What does the character want most? If she could change one thing about her life, what would it be?

How do others perceive the character at the start of the story?

Now, envision the character changing events that will become part of the plot. What obstacles are overcome? What decisions does the character make? What are the character’s significant successes or failures?

As a result of these events, what personality traits change throughout the story and are those changes desired or undesired? Do they make the character a better person or a worse person?

After brainstorming the major events in the plot that change the character, you should revisit the questions on self-image, things that make the character happy or sad, and what the character wants most at the end of the story.

Finally, how do others perceive the character at the end of the story? Who is affected by the changes in the character and how are they affected.

The main character in my self-published trilogy, The Queen of the Night Series, starting with SEEING MAGIC, is Maggie Stewart. At the beginning of the trilogy she is a self-absorbed, materialistic, shallow teenage girl from California. Her biggest worry is whether to hang out at the beach or the mall with her girlfriends. After her mother’s battle with cancer, and her own battle against the goddess of the Moon, she transforms into an environmental activist and community leader. Find out more about Maggie and her transformation at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.

Maggie is definitely a heroine and my next post will examine two studies of the Hero’s Journey. One examines the concept from the perspective of the great Greek heroes in classical literature. The other started as a primer for scriptwriters of Disney fairytale movies for kids. Until then, keep developing those characters. By the time Nanowrimo starts in November, they will be good friends and the words will flow from your fingertips.

 

Is It Okay to Talk to Your Fictional Characters?

I find that if I know my characters well before I start writing my novel, I’m less likely to develop writer’s block. For that reason, I spend a good deal of time developing my characters before I ever start writing the book, or before I develop the plot.

Every story has a main character. The main character is usually the good guy, or the protagonist. The main character is always dynamic. Throughout the course of the story, the main character will change. Either their personality will evolve, their career path, or purpose in life will become clear. Whatever the story, at the end of the novel, the main character will not be the same person he or she was at the beginning.

In order to conceptualize this change, I want to know everything about my main character. More importantly, I need to like her. Most of my stories feature bright, capable young women who reach beyond their fears and limitations to achieve something great. That means my main character is a heroine, changed by some event that she could not have anticipated.

I start with a detailed character sketch. I ask the questions, what is/are…

·                     Her name, and/or nickname,

·                     Her physical appearance,

·                     Her family, or who lives with her, including pets

·                     Her closest friends and her mentor,

·                     Her love interest (if any),

·                     Her worst enemy,

·                     Her personality traits, i.e. introvert/extrovert, quirks, assumptions, secrets, regrets, weaknesses, vices and past trauma,

·                     Her goals, dreams and fears,

·                     Her special skills or innate abilities,

·                     Her religion or moral values,

·                     Her likes and dislikes, i.e., favorite color, food, music, etc., and

·                     Her most significant childhood memory, and character changing events in life so far.

How do I find out the answers to these questions? I ask her. So yes, it is okay to talk to your fictional characters, provided they don’t really talk back. After all, as Hermione said, “Hearing voices is never a good thing.”

Good luck getting to know your main character. In the next post, I’ll discuss how a character changes over the course of the story and how to develop that change as part of your character sketch.

 

Remember to check out my books at

www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites

Prepping for Nanowrimo 2016

What’s the trick to writing a good novel? I don’t know, and I’ve written eight of them. I do know that every novel must have three things: interesting characters, fascinating settings and an intriguing plot. This year, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to develop these three things for my own novels. I’ll discuss exercises, templates, outlines and examples of how to develop these elements of novel-writing before starting a new novel, and hopefully, become better prepared for Nanowrimo 2016 this November.

I use Scrivener to organize my novels. My Scrivener template will be available on my Google Drive for anyone who wishes to download it. Just follow the link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGNFy181nZiM0J5TGI3WXJyUkE/

My template is organized into the following sections:

1.      Manuscript – Chapters and Scenes

2.      Plot Development – contains exercises and the final outline

3.      Character Development – contains useful exercises for developing characters

4.      Setting Development – contains links and ideas for visualizing settings

5.      Front Matter – Contains elements needed for publication like copyright notices and dedications

6.      Research – a repository of all research including web pages and scanned items

7.      Marketing – a repository for submissions to agents, contest entries and advertising

If you want to get your own copy of Scrivener, go to their web site at http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php/.

My next post will examine how to develop an interesting character, and don’t forget to check out my self-published novels at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.