Monday, November 10, 2008

The Hero's Journey

This weekend I had the privilege of hearing Deb Dixon speak on both Goals Motivation and Conflict (a writer's bible of sorts) and the Hero's Journey. She used a lot of movie examples and we dissected movies. LOL she said we'd never be able to watch a movie purely for enjoyment again.

I tend to think of the hero, and by the way, when talking about the Hero's Journey, we're talking simply the protagonist, not specifically male, as going on a quest with this template. But she showed it applied to books without some quest as well. Like a romance. She said in a romance, you can have one character drive the book and another as its heart.

Which of course made me think about my own books. And how to apply this to what I write. I already do that in a lot of ways. I always think about my story as a journey. My character(s) tend to change throughout the novel. Not just romantically but usually the inner workings in some manner as well. I think I'm going to go back and revise an old story and really put this framework to the test. After I've done it (and don't hold your breath...I'm a deadline LOL for another story), I'll come back and report how it went.

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com
http://www.melanylogen.com

1 comment:

N.J.Walters said...

Good luck with the revisions, Mechele. Let us know how it works out.