188+ stages of the Hero's Journey you need to know about...

Heh. Where was this when I was writing the second Goblin book? (Which includes a satirical "How to be a Hero" book, based very loosely on Joseph Campbell's work.)

Personally, I'd start with some of Campbell's work. Sometimes he can get a bit carried away with his emphasis on the unconscious and Jungian theories, but some of the basic analysis of story structure and the development of a hero is quite useful for a writer.

The "deconstruction" of Kal will come about shortly. There's no such thing as a template for success. But there is one of greed, and Kal reeks of it.

No argument here. I'm tempted to coin the term, "First Post Pimp" for folks like this, but it sounds a bit too nasty.

Still, it was helpful for me to read through Campbell's work as a basis for understanding some of the basic structure of a story. 188 stages is a bit much for me to swallow, but more archetypical story components -- the temptation of a hero, the discovery of the mentor, the mentor's untimely and nasty death while the hero is away on some silly errand*, it's good stuff to know.

I just figured we might redirect the spam to something a bit more interesting and productive.

*Okay, this last stage is one I added for my Hero's Manual in Goblin Hero.

Have you noticed, J, that you and I are at precisely the same post count?

Until this very second, of course. Ha!

Silver King said:

The "deconstruction" of Kal will come about shortly. There's no such thing as a template for success. But there is one of greed, and Kal reeks of it.

Click to expand...

Thing is, it's already been done. Chris Vogler wrote "The Writer's Journey" and published it four or five years ago and it is an interpretation of Campbell written for screenwriters. Vogler was a story guy at MGM and wrote a memo to staff writers back in 97 or 98 in which he outlined the Campbell hero's journey and suggested they employ it in their work. Questions arose, discussions were held, Vogler took notes, wrote new memos, and eventually decided it all belonged in a book.

He was a chief story consultant at Disney and made big contributions to the writing of pictures like "The Lion King."

I've studied his take on Campbell and consider it to be a very compelling interpretation ... and it is wriitten with the screenwriter in mind. All of his examples and illustrations of points are from movies. Vogler is a movie-movie guy. I think he understood Campbell, and he makes it plain that the thinking all goes back to him.

"The Writer's Journey" will serve any screenwriter well, as well as any work on the subject can and better than most, or all, near as I know.

There is no "template for success," as you note. Chris Vogler would be the first to agree. There are, however, princples, and conventions, and this is what he explores, how to apply principles, how to employ conventions, and the "why" of even doing it.

There is knowledge, but templates? Uh uh, that dog don't hunt.

It's been done, easily available in a five dollar book.

Hmm, this is spam but it's interesting spam, everyone should be aware of the Hero's Journey so by all means visit the site, read the analysis, judge the value of what's on sale for yourself, maybe do a Google search and see what else pops up. There are also a couple of links to Hero's Journey articles in the tips thread. I'm closing this thread so it sinks down the list in the fullness of time, PM me if any problems.

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
I walked right to that office -- that's what I did -- and I reached across that desk and I grabbed him by his fat head and I said, "Listen, man! I'm not going to jail for you or for anybody!"