Tag: #HerowithaThousandFaces

  • Outlining a Story

    On Friday afternoon, during my brief writing time, I sat down and outlined a story that I have been trying to write for a couple of weeks. I have been speaking about my need to focus better during the short amount of time I have to write a day, and also the need to have an executable plan when I sit down and write. Hence, the outline.

    I was going to try and follow a simple Three Act structure; first act to establish characters, second to start plot, and third for the climax. (I’m a theatre guy, so I’m relying on what I know.) I also thought about the Joseph Campbell/Dan Harmon “Hero Cycle” structure, which is more about the emotional journey the hero takes. For that “cycle” to work, the hero needs to learn something by paying a heavy price, to return home changed.

    So, I’m trying something new with outlining, which is causing me to go outside of my comfort zone when it comes to creative writing. But, I also need to be honest with myself and admit that writing when the mood hits me has not lead to an inconsistent output of material. I also feel bit amateurish to make this admission; I mean, shouldn’t I know to do this? Well yes, I have known this information, but I didn’t want to admit to it. I didn’t want to admit that this is work, and could be unsexy, hard work.

  • Novel Structure, Out of the Comfort Zone

    I took the kid to the park this morning, and it was good weather, so we stayed for over an hour. The nice thing about this age is that I really don’t have to stay on top of the kid, as in watching what she is doing every second. This gives me the ability to journal. Normally, I get about 30 minutes in, but today, I got a full hour in.

    With this extra time, I started to work on a couple ideas for the novel. Mainly, I am having an issue of wrapping up the “First Act” of the story to lead into the “Second Act,” and previously I thought it best just to move forward, put something down, and then come back to it later to fix. It is a first draft.

    That hasn’t been sitting right with me. I’m having a hard time thinking that I can move forward on the second act, if I don’t know where the character is at the end of the first act.

    So, with the extra time today, I thought that I should tackle this situation. And as I sketched out ideas, I was reminded of two things that are intertwined; The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, and the Story Circle by Dan Harmon. To make this simple if you don’t know them, Campbell basically said that all humans have a prototype hero story that, which involves the hero leaving safety to go out in the world, overcome a challenge that changes them and the world, and then proceeds to return home to share this transformation. Harmon broke the hero story down into eight steps, which can be used to tell just about any story. And Dan co-created Rick and Morty.

    Thinking about Campbell and Harmon, I had to ask myself some additional tough questions, which is; do I want to outline this story? I have done the outline thing before when I was helping people with their projects, and I won’t lie, it really does help me complete stories. The downside is, and this is whinny, that it doesn’t make me feel creative. And when I say creative, to me that means spontaneous. But I have been writing spontaneously since forever, and it hasn’t garnered any substantial success.

    It’s funny, but doing this work, structuring and planning, is actually taking me out of my comfort zone. But I am committed to doing and trying new things this time around, so let’s see if Joseph and Dan can help me out.