TECH: Yet Another Writing Structure (YAWS!) aka The Writer's Journey

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Jan. 30, 1995

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters by Christopher Vogler (ISBN 0-941188-13-2) 1992

paperback $22.95 (try The Write Stuff Catalog--$20.20! phone 1-800-989-8833 for details)

Chris Vogler has abstracted and organized an approach to storytelling based on Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with A Thousand Faces." Here is the worksheet he includes as Appendix 3 of his book:

The Hero's Journey

1. Ordinary World
2. Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Mentor
5. First Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
8. Supreme Ordeal
9. Reward (Seizing the Sword)
10. The Road Back
11. Resurrection
12. Return with the Elixir

Archetypes

1. Hero
2. Mentor
3. Shapeshifter
4. Trickster
5. Herald
6. Allies
7. Shadow
8. Threshold Guardians

Another version of the steps is given in the first chapter of the book titled "A Practical Guide." (p. 13 to 31--the core of the book)

1. Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where
2. they receive the CALL TO ADVENTURE.
3. They are reluctant at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but
4. are encouraged by their MENTOR to
5. CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter the Special World.
6. Here they encounter TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES.
7. They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second threshold
8. where they endure the SUPREME ORDEAL.
9. They take possession of the REWARD (Seizing the Sword)
10. and are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World.
11. They cross the third threshold, experience a RESURRECTION, and are transformed.
12. They then RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure to benefit the Ordinary World.

Frankly, I'm still reading the book, but thought it was interesting enough to summarize at this point. One of the critical parts of the book is that even though he has this skeletal plot and set of characters, he also provides discussion and consideration of alternative ways of dealing with each step and archetype.

I'm also planning on using it for critiques, and thought it only fair to mention which background theory I'll be referring to.

Keep Writing!

TECH: Show a little life...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Sat, 17 Jun 1995 13:28:35 EDT

He pressed a key on the keyboard, then stared at the screen.

On the bookshelves over his head, a foot-tall plastic "Creature from the Black Lagoon" lifted its arms over copies of computer documents with large "X" marks on their covers, strange dragons being slain by armored programmers, and other peculiar pieces of computer lore. The computer screen sat over a flaming pink pig's nose flanked by two bulging pink eyes--bloodshot, naturally.

"Christ, they think I know everything," he muttered.

He pressed a twisted combination of keys involving his little finger holding down Ctrl while his other fingers danced on the regular keys, and a new window opened in his editor, complete with email headings and flashing cursor.

Then he started to type. He typed a few words. Then he deleted them. Then he typed them in again. He added more.

He stopped and glanced through a paperback "Webster's New World Thesaurus" once. The front backing was bent, and the edges discolored where his thumb rubbed. He flipped to one part, read the entry under "books," then flipped to another part and looked for "tome." Finally, he set the book down and typed "peculiar pieces of computer lore."

A few sentences later, he stopped again. He leaned back, pressed the up arrow key, and then read what he had written so far. He fixed a typo (blodshot, indeed), then changed the order a bit, and fiddled a bit more.

He leaned back, rubbed his nose, pushed his glasses up, and shook his head.

"How can a writer show, not tell? Let's see--use third person. Details. Senses. Stay out of the character's head--if you're tempted to get inside, figure out what kind of action, what kind of movement or dialogue, something the character can DO that would show what they are thinking--and put that where you snuck into his head. And, sadly, practice, practice, practice. Then rewrite."

He talked to himself, re-read what he had written, scratched suddenly at the soft skin inside his elbow where his shirt had slid down, and took a sip of cold coffee.

He grimaced.

Then he read the whole thing a few more times, from the beginning. He added a few words here, deleted some there. He cut out the part about the soft skin inside his elbow suddenly itching--only the character would know it itched. He grumbled and decided not to use "hesitantly" to describe his typing--instead he described hesitant typing and let the reader figure it out.

He typed out a summary of the key points. Then he backed up and tried to work it into the scene he'd described. It didn't fit very well, but after trying several things, with a curse he stopped trying to make it a natural part of the scene and just summarized the attempt to work it in.

So he scrolled down, and looked at the screen with its list of points.

Tink's quick and dirty guide to Show, don't Tell.

1. Use third person impersonal.
2. Use details.
3. Use senses--sight, sound, feeling, taste, smell.
4. Use actions, dialogue--stay out of your character's heads
5. Practice.
6. Revise.
7. Use scenes. Scenes are in a setting, they have people doing things, they are not summaries.

He let his fingers curl on the keyboard, took a deep breath, and saved the file. Later he would log in and post it.

[well, it ain't exactly Hemingway, but maybe it will help? If you're looking for an exercise, take a scene from a T.V. show or wherever you find one and write it up in your own words. Then go back over it and pick out every spot where you summarized or snuck into the characters' heads. Then rewrite. Review it again. Rewrite...]

(I was asked for advice on how to show, not tell...this is the result. would anyone else like to take a crack at the problem? it isn't easy, and I don't think I've done a very good job on answering it...)

You've been reading Oprah?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

I have a confession to make. While I didn't appreciate Oprah on TV in the United States some time ago, I have started reading the occasional columns from CNN, and find them possibly useful for writers.

If you haven't read one, they usually point to some kind of problem that most of us face sometime, and then lay out several possible variations of the problem and solutions. See, these are proven items of interest to the general public. And some clues about how to handle the issues. So all you have to do is pick one, add characters and scenery, and . . . you've at least got the basis of a story, eh?

For example? Okay, here's one about the lonely season at http://www.oprah.com/spiritself/omag/ss_omag_200502_mbeck.jhtml (interesting, that's not the link that CNN gave me, but when I went to find the thing, I ended up going through the Oprah.com home page at http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml and their search - and that's the same article, at least). Aha, if I use the CNN search, I get http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/04/23/lonely.season/ which is the page I remembered.

Sorry about that diversion into the minutia of finding articles on the web. Back to the main topic.

The problem that this article raises is loneliness. Martha Beck suggests that there are three kinds of loneliness, and provides quick fixes and long-term solutions for each kind.

First is absolute loneliness, a feeling that no one understands us and no one wants to. This kind of isolation hurts. The quick fix is to force interaction. Go out one way or another and meet people. The longer-term solution is to start developing social skills. Try to understand others and help them understand you. Try three steps: show real appreciation or an honest compliment (my gloss: or at least a comment that shows you are looking at them), followed by curiosity -- a question. The third step is optional, sometimes when they are clearly interesting or charming, volunteer some information about yourself. You don't have to start with deep revelations, just keep the conversation going.

There's hardly a teenager alive who hasn't run into this one a few dozen times and bloodied their head on it.

Second is separation loneliness. Changing jobs, changing homes, traveling -- modern life sometimes seems to consist mostly of separations. The quick fix is to use the separation to remind yourself or motivate yourself to reach out to the people you miss. Make that phone call, summarize your day in an e-mail, maybe even use the letter paper or postcard in the hotel room. Ask them what they've been doing, and pay attention to the answer. Long-term: think hard about whether that new job or whatever is causing the separations is really worth it. Decide what you want at your very heart and then go for it.

Running through the storms of middle-age, this kind of loneliness is a neverending windstorm. (You knew I would get a metaphor in here somewhere, right?)

Third is existential loneliness. Every human sometimes has to face the fact that no one else really can take the risks for us, face our losses, or give us self-esteem. In some ways, we each face life alone. A quick fix is art. Whether it is great art, genre novels, dance contests on TV -- let those people remind you of the inspiration. Long-term: consider your own life as art. You don't have to be a great artist, but think about what conveys your real self, and use your own creativity to reach out to others.

(Please sing a verse of The Impossible Dream . . . one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove . . . the unreachable star! Hankies, anyone?)

Interesting article -- and if you take a number from one to three, I think any one of these could be the core of the story. A character facing absolute loneliness? You can meet them in so many places, but show one breaking out of that pickup line of dishonesty into real interaction. Sounds like a good story to me. Or how about separation loneliness? How does the traveling salesman manage to keep in touch with that four year old? What about existential loneliness? When the world is just too much -- write?

Go ahead, dig through some of those Oprah articles, and see if they don't suggest some stories.

Did I tell you the one about the ten guys that women should avoid? Good basis for something over in the romance field, maybe? Take a look at http://us.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/02/25/O.bad.men/index.html

(to try when your arms are too weary . . . )