The Pile Diminishes

Hot summer days, perfect for lolling about with cool drinks and catching up on books in my pile. Here's what I've read recently:

Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book. One of the creepiest beginnings of any story I've read (that's meant as a compliment, by the way). Rather dark for a kid's book, and I believe Gaiman once said he didn't intend it as one. The tale of a boy raised by ghouls in a graveyard, loosely based on Kipling's "The Jungle Book". Not as terrifying overall as the jacket blurb claims, but certainly worth your time.

Noel Langley – The Land of Green Ginger. I came to this book via a recommendation from Gaiman (one of his interviews, I think). The original story has been around since 1937. This version comes from the man who wrote the screenplay for The Wizard of Oz. You could go crazy counting all the adverbs and dialogue tags, but the writing is witty and engaging. If you like flying carpets, floating gardens, genies, and Asian intrigue, this book is a treasure.

Diana Wynne Jones – Castle in the Air.  A follow-up of sorts to "Howl's Moving Castle", this tale follows a merchant who buys a rug with an attitude, falls in love with a princess, and rescues her from a wicked djinn. A good book to curl up with on a lazy afternoon.

Christopher Vogler – The Writer’s Journey. A book about mythic structure discussed in a previous post (6/15). This fabulous resource belongs in every writer's bookcase.

Robin McKinley – The Hero and the Crown. Often mentioned by Kristin Cashore ("Graceling") as a major influence. The story of a scorned princess thought to be powerless who discovers otherwise and finds herself torn between love and duty. I knew McKinley from a fairy-tale retelling ("Beauty"), and this book definitely lived up to my high expectations.

Kate DiCamillo – The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane. I know, I know, I idolize DiCamillo. I held off on this one, though, thinking the story of a haughty china rabbit wouldn't hold my interest. Should have known better. I devoured it in one setting and closed the book with tears in my eyes.

Familiar with any of these?

Synchronicity

Carl Jung described synchronicity as “meaningful coincidence”. Two events occur and you may not see the connection until later. I'm pretty sure that happened to me this past week.

While reading Vogler’s book on mythic structure (see previous post), I kept thinking about my first story, the one shelved after querying about a dozen agents. Too few, you say? Perhaps, but upon close inspection it was clear the writing needed work, lots of work.

Even so, I always believed the tale itself had a solid foundation: a girl on a quest to retrieve an ancient power stolen from the sea.

Quest? Did someone say “quest”? What every hero undertakes?

Fingers crossed, I made a list of Vogler's 12 stages of the Hero's Journey to see if they matched elements from my book.

Eccola!

Not only does my story cover every stage, but there's also a healthy batch of archetypes (a term also coined by Jung). All I need to do is find the proper words to captivate my readers. Easy, right? ;-)

I didn’t know that buying this book would bring me back to a story waiting to be rewritten, but that's what happened. Synchronicity in action!

How about you? Ever realize that two things you thought unconnected were actually linked?

Mythic Structure – A Tool for all Writers

Don’t let the title fool you. Mythic structure works for all genres, not just fantasy.

My crit partner recommended this book, which I bought and then set aside, thinking it applied solely to “quest” stories. Was I ever wrong!

I've read Joseph Campbell and know about the Hero's Journey, but Vogler's approach is geared exclusively toward writers. He explores each of the Journey's stages and gives examples from memorable books and movies in a surprising range of genres. It’s truly a format anyone can adopt.

Vogler’s scope can't be addressed in one blog post, but I think you’d be surprised at how easily stories fit this structure. Does your main character have a goal that involves stepping outside a comfort zone, challenging norms, righting wrongs? Bingo! There’s your Call to Adventure.

Having trouble figuring out a character's purpose? Check out the Archetypes and you'll find a wealth of choices, each with its own psychological and dramatic function. How cool is that?

This is a hefty volume (nearly 400 pages) and I’m only a quarter of the way through, but already I’m approaching my work with a new perspective.

I think you will, too.