#IWSG: Favorite Craft Book

 

Happy Insecure Writer's Support Group Day. IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. We are rockin' the neurotic writing world!

The awesome co-hosts for the August 4 posting of the IWSG are PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox!

 

This month's question: What is your favorite writing craft book? 

Kudos to whoever came up with this question. I have many writing craft books. Some have been great, while others were a waste of money. (Not because the book wasn't good, but it didn't help me.) Like much of the advice given to writers, you need to find what works for you. That's true of craft books.

Amazon

My favorite craft book is Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. For years, Vogler's evaluated scripts for Disney based on Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey. Campbell came up with the progression that all heroes went though in ancient myths. Vogler makes understanding that journey easy.

If you've read my blogs, you know I love movies, especially action movies. I fell in love with Star Wars: A New Hope when it came out. No matter how many times I watch that movie (and it's many, many times), I get caught up in the story. Thanks to Vogler, I can see the steps the hero, Luke, goes through. The stories I write appear in my mind as a movie. Even before reading The Writer's Journey, it seemed instinctual to follow that format. 

Years ago, I made a "template" of the hero's journey (according to Vogler). With each new story, I fill in the steps my hero makes on her journey. Whenever I get stuck, I go back to the checklist. Inevitably, I find that I've missed a step, causing the problem.

As many of you know, my writing journey pretty much came to a halt over the past year. Your supportive comments (and prayers, healing thoughts) have meant so much to me. That's what this group is all about--support for writers. We're all on the journey together. Sometimes, we're the giver, and other times, the receiver of support. I hope in sharing my favorite craft book that I've given back a little of the support you've given me. 

Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.

Happy Writing!

Quest Stories

Who doesn’t love a good quest story? Remember Beowulf going off to slay the monster/dragon Grendel? Or Bilbo Baggins seeking a treasure? What about Luke Skywalker’s journey to join the rebellion?

In his book The Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell shows the commonality of myths and legends—the journey each hero takes to accomplish his goal. When Christopher Vogler worked in the development department at Disney studios, he came up with a memo based on Campbell’s mythic journey for determining a good screenplay. That memo eventually became The Writer’s Journey, a must-have reference book for all writers.

Since I love adventure stories—in books, movies, and TV shows—I also love writing them. While my characters aren’t mythic, I find using the Campbell/Vogler’s structure makes the stories easier to write.

Writers tend to describe themselves as plotters or pantsers. Some writers have to plot the whole story before writing it. Others write by the seat of their pants—they start writing with only a vague idea of where the story is going. When I first started writing, I just sat down and started typing away. Those first stories will never see the light of day. LOL Like any craft, you learn by doing. The more I wrote, the better the stories became. Sort of. Until I discovered Vogler’s book. Prior to that, I’d read LOTS of how-to books. While I took bits and pieces from each, I didn’t connect with any until reading The Writer’s Journey. Maybe it was because he used Star Wars (my all-time favorite movie) to illustrate the structure. Whoo-hoo! The lightbulb over my head lit up.

I’m still a pantser, but . . . And here’s the big but—I have a basic structure to follow. If I go off on a tangent (as pantsers often do), the structure hauls me back. As an example, I started writing One Red Shoe back in the mid-nineties. It was rejected, rewritten, rejected, rewritten, etc. When I finally applied the mythic structure, the story became much better and was published by The Wild Rose Press.

According to Campbell and Vogler, the story begins in the hero’s ordinary world. Think Luke Skywalker on the moisture farm, grousing because his friends have gone off to the Academy and his uncle won’t let him leave, too. In One Red Shoe, my heroine Daria is leaving home (Iowa) for a writer’s conference in New York City. Her overprotective brothers are still trying to dissuade her from going, but she’s determined. This conference is going to be her big adventure. Or so she thinks.

In the next step of the journey, the hero hears the call to adventure but refuses. Luke meets Obi Wan who wants him to learn the way of the Force and become a Jedi knight like his father. Luke has a number of reasons why he can’t go and refuses the call. Daria finds a wounded man who needs her help to get out of a building without the bad guys seeing him. At first, she dithers. But when Sam nearly falls over she knows he can’t make it without her. But she can only help him so far, though. She has to get back to her conference. She has a great opportunity that she can’t miss. She continues to help him a little more, but each time she tells him that’s it, no more.

For each hero, an event pushes them over the edge and they accept the call. For Luke, it’s returning home and discovering his aunt and uncle have been killed and the farm destroyed. For Daria—savior of every wounded animal that’s ever come into her life—accepting the call isn’t so dramatic. When Sam falls asleep in her car and she can’t wake him up for direction to the next stop, she makes her decision. If she leaves him, he’ll surely be captured. Not only can’t she leave him, her journey is about to get worse. This isn't the adventure she thought she was embarking on when she left home.

If I’ve piqued your interest, One Red Shoe is available at:

One Red Shoe buy link: http://amzn.com/B00FDXRHZA

The Wild Rose Press: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1082

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/book/one-red-shoe/id792432966?mt=11

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/one-red-shoe-1

 

Blurb:

When elementary teacher Daria Mason left Iowa for a writers’ conference in New York City, she didn’t expect to come home with a wounded spy. Sam Jozwiak works for a shadow agency that gathers intel vital to U.S. security. From the moment he steals digital files from a Russian Mafia kingpin, Murphy’s Law takes over. No matter how he covers his tracks, the kingpin’s assassins find him. What’s worse than getting shot in the butt? Accepting help from an Iowa tourist. Thus, begins a road trip that takes Sam and Daria cross country with the assassins right behind them.