Gather 'round…
Fuel for the fire... Meeting with the Mentor, whatever form the Mentor takes, will propel our Hero on into the journey. Stage 4 is about our Hero finding that Mentor, that source of direction and strength. Mentors have great potential to add layers to our story that would not otherwise be present, and help bring... Continue Reading →
Who really answers the call right out of the gates? No Hero worth reading very much about. Our Heroes, those Heroes who are true onions, those Heroes who are interesting, will be a bit apprehensive, and possibly scared to death at the prospect of entering into the journey that lay before them. Stage 3 is about... Continue Reading →
Time for a change... The Call is just that, something that calls our Hero to inevitable change, growth, or both. Stage 2 has one mission, and one mission alone: to change the playing field for the Hero. It is a great place to use all kinds of artistic tools to show the need for change,... Continue Reading →
Act I is all about the Ordinary World. It is where we meet our Hero. Where they live - most of the time. Eventually our stories will rocket them into a Special World, but before we go there, we need to have a strong sense of what normal is for our Hero and our world.... Continue Reading →
First off, we need to understand the language Christopher Vogler utilizes. His is the mythic story structure model, and as such, it employs mythic vocabulary. The whole thing is a giant metaphor that we will, should we choose to follow his advice, recreate within our own pages, with our own hero, our own quest, and our... Continue Reading →
OK, I'm a bit behind schedule. Summer and all that. Let's get through the Hero's Journey a little faster. I'd like to finish it up before my next writers' group meeting, so it looks like roller-coaster ride ahead. Buckle up! First off, did you do your homework? You're not allowed to read on until you... Continue Reading →
So there we have it... after a brief Boundary Waters-induced hiatus... Larry Brooks' Story Engineering structure model in a nutshell. It was necessarily abbreviated, quite severely. But it gives us an idea of what he believes needs to happen in our novels. I hope that my notes help you a tiny bit in your quest... Continue Reading →
Finally... Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Part Four, the final ~25% of our story. And here we are. We've made it to the culmination of all our hard work. The end in in sight. Time to bring it all together into a satisfying sign-off. Our hero has come through a lot, and has earned the... Continue Reading →
I learned more about the words I'd written when reading aloud than I ever have learned about anything I've written. ~Neil Gaiman
Get ready... Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Second Plot Point, the turning point at the 75% mark of your story. Again, it is time for a change of context. This time were shifting into the resolution box of our story, and our hero is becoming the martyr, the selfless heroic champion of everything good and... Continue Reading →
Attaaaaaack! Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Part Three, the next ~25% of our story. Up until this point our hero has been rather un-hero-like. He's a great guy, and we all love him, but he hasn't done anything exceptionally heroic, at least not in regards to the story at hand. That is all about... Continue Reading →
Keepin' the wheels a-turnin'... Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Midpoint, the turning point in the... umm... middle. OK, we're halfway there! It's time for a revelation, for our hero, and our reader, to keep us plugging along. The midpoint serves up a new bit of information that changes the understanding of the reader, or of... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Nexus 