No man is a Hero if his girlfriend is a shapeshifter and his barber is wearing the mask of Loki

I finally figured out why the new manuscript is warping right along at light speed. It's Vogler. It's a Vogler Thing. For those of you unfamiliar with his theory and need a 101. He wrote a book called Hero's Journey. Allegedly it's the tome of all knowledge, the Holy Grail handed down by God himself upon whatever mount is closest to the Vogler Homestead in tablet form and is THE key to all successful screenplays and novels as it takes into account the elements that Homer used when writing his immortal works. It's a very large amount of stuff (at times mindboggling and sometimes I feel as though it actually is in Arameic) and there are graphs (which Mr. Novelchick thinks are cool).

But I kept writing and I kept thinking this all sounds so familiar and finally I went out to the garage and dusted off Vogler (who I have poo-pooed on his theory for YEARS) and damned if I'm not right in the middle of a Hero's Jounrey using his exact archetypes and model theory. Yes, I got Heros (reluctant and willing), I got Tricksters, Shapeshifters and Threshold Guardians, I have Innermost Caves and Seizing the Sword AND the Elixer. It's so embarressing.

It's too much to explain honestly so if you're a budding novelist or screen writer I'll toss this workshop example questionnaire at you. It's in PDF and licensed as view only. But the examples are solid and I think you can get where he's going. If it floats your boat you can either make your own worksheet, with limitless time and a love of typing. OR you might go down the list of questions and answer on a spreadsheet (The NovelChick Method). If this is the sort of thing that peaks your interest, and you have nothing else to do and you like charts, you may want to pick up a used copy. Happy Journey!

Three Takes on Hero's Journey