The hero's Jounrey - revisited

Last week I was ticked off by Liz for not posting on the rest of the hero's journey. They were two reasons why I trailed off on blogging on the subject. Firstly, Her Parenthood Assignment had just been released and I wanted to blog on the background ideas, characters and setting. Secondly, I was having a bit of a love/hate thing with the hero's journey as I revised the current work in progress.

I had used it to help plot out English Lord, Ordinary Lady and, although I had tried to apply the principles to both the external and internal journeys, I'd ended up with too much plot. I had wanted to explore the relationship between the heroine her daughter more, but had run out of room, as the book had already gone in 2000 words over the 55,000 word limit.

It took my clever editor to point out that I should just cut a lot of the first few chapters and replace what I cut with scenes to up the emotional story (lots of forehead slapping went on at this point). The first three chapters had, quite frankly, been a huge pain in the bottom ever since I'd started writing the story. I had written them and rewritten them and rewritten them and I still wasn't getting it right.

The backstory contained there was relevant to the present day, but just needed trimming in favour of scenes that tapped into the emotional heart of the story. I learnt a good lesson in writing for the Romance line editing this book: never ignore the emotional hotspots in your book. In fact, if you can find an emotional angle that you haven't explored deeply, you need to do so. Mine it. Milk it. But not so much it becomes melodramatic. Easy to say, harder to do in practice.

Anyway, before I get all excited about another new book I'm reading, I thought I would finish blogging about the hero's journey. Here is a recap on the steps of covered so far with a link to the relevant posts here (start at the bottom of the page and work upwards):

• The ordinary world – the hero's ordinary life before they embark on the adventure that is to follow.
• The call to adventure – the trigger or catalyst. The moment when something happens to change the hero's life and throw them into a state of turmoil, forcing them to take action.
• The refusal of the call – the adventure is going to test the hero to his very limits. He is right to hesitate. He may even refused outright until the stakes are raised and he is forced to go on willingly forward.
• Meeting with the mentor – preparation for the quest may come in the form of a person to help and train the hero.
  

I'm at the beginning of a new book & going to ask myself the questions for each of these steps again, but this time I've learned my lesson. For a short romance, it's important to keep tightly centred on the hero and heroine and their emotional journey and that's what I'm going to map out this time – and try to keep the external plot in the background.

The Hero's Journey: Meeting with the Mentor

This is a feature in the hero's journey which I've seen less often in the books and films I've been reading, but it's still interesting.

The mentor is one of the character archetypes that Vogler mentions in the beginning section of his book. You know the the kind of character: the wise old woman or man in the fairy tales that imparts wisdom and sometimes gifts to help the hero as he starts his quest. The most obvious examples would be Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, Obi Wan Kenobe in "Star Wars" or Mr Miagi in 'The Karate Kid'. (Seriously, who can forget "Wax on. Wax off."?)

Now, Vogler stresses that the archetypes are not necessarily hard and fast character types in a story. A very non-wise old woman-ish person may wear the mask of the mentor for a time.

This is a preparation time in the story where the hero may need to equip himself for the task ahead: a best friend may give some advice; the hero may need to learn some new skills; he may need to arm himself or listen to his conscience.

Mentors may not appear in every story and they may appear at other key points, not just as the hero embarks on the quest, it's just that, in many myths and fairy tales, the presence of a mentor at this point is common.

Shrek doesn't really have a mentor as he leaves the swamp and travels to Duloc. He is only just tolerating donkey - although at other points, donkey wears the mask of the mentor, teaching him about friendship.

In a similar way, in French Kiss, Luc teaches Kate how to live life, despite her attempts to return things to the stale, secure state they were once in. I suppose, in a loose way, the scene where he annoys her on the aeroplane to distract her from take-off, is him passing on his knowledge.

Questions for 'Meeting with the mentor'

1. Does your hero have a mentor?

2. If so, are they:

• A full-blown mentor?
• Another character that wears the mentor's mask?
• An inner code of ethics?

3. What dramatic function do they perform?

• Teacher - many mentors impart wisdom or teach new skills. What does the mentor teach the hero?
• Gift-giver - the gift may come in the form of a weapon or something useful for the journey.
• Motivator - helping the hero to move past her fears and embark on the journey. Helping with mental preparation is in important function of the mentor.
• Do they give the hero information or plant a prop that the hero will find useful later?

4. In what form do they appear?

• Traditional mentor
• Dark mentor - Sometimes the villain (shadow archetype) can be the hero's mentor.
• Fallen mentor - A hero who has been on his own journey but has stalled. Helping the current hero may help him finish his journey.
• Continuing mentor - someone like 'M' in the James Bond films.
• Multiple mentors - there may be a groups of teachers all with different skills and lessons to impart.
• Comic mentor
• Inner mentor - the hero's own conscience or inner set of beliefs may teach him.
  

5. Is the mentor a cliché and how can you avoid this?

6. Is the mentor what the hero/reader believes them to be?

• Sometimes the mentor may seem benevolent, but has his/her own agenda.
• Is the hero being duped?
• If so, at some point he will need to break free of the mentor and finish his journey on his own.

7. Does this story need a mentor?

• If so, at what points?
• Don't just shove a mentor in because you think you ought to have one.
• every character needs to earn their keep - especially in a category romance where the word count is around 50,000.

The Hero's Journey: The Refusal of the Call

In many stories, even the most gung-ho hero may have a moment of hesitation before embarking on the adventure. A reluctant hero may dig her heels in and refuse flatly.

I think the important part of ‘The Refusal’ is that it allows us to see that this quest is not going to be easy for the hero. If the journey is going to be easy, it’s not going to make an interesting story. Really exciting stories challenge the hero to their very core, whether this is physically, mentally or emotionally.

This section of the journey is a good place to show or voice the hero’s goal, motivation and conflict:

In ‘Shrek’, he tries to ignore (refusal) the fairy-tale animals that have invaded his swamp, but in the end, he snaps and sets off to petition Lord Farquad.

In ‘French Kiss’, in the very first scene, we see Kate refusing the call to adventure most vehemently. She is afraid of flying and is in a flight simulator trying to overcome her fear. When asked what her calming mantra is, she yells: “We’re going down! We’re going down! We’re going down!” Clearly, she is not ready to answer the call.

In the following scenes we see Kate giving all the reasons why she can’t follow her fiancé to Paris: she hates the French, she hates the cheese, she’s afraid of flying and – actually a valid reason – she’s not supposed to leave Canada while she’s waiting for her citizenship application to be approved.

This is quite a long refusal. Some heroes only have a flicker of doubt before diving headlong into the quest. But this lengthy refusal works. Kate wants a home and a family and she is holding onto this dream of security so tightly she is scared to let it go and live. It is a very important part of her character and it needs to be set up so the audience understand how difficult the following challenges will be for her.

Sometimes a hero just gives a list of weak excuses, stalling tactics. Sometimes it takes digging deeper within themselves to summon the courage. In Kate’s case she would never have left Canada unless her motivation had been deepened because the stakes were raised to the highest level: her dream of a home and family with Charlie is threatened because he has met a French woman and fallen madly in love with her.

Now Kate’s reason to fly is not just to enjoy a nice trip to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower. She needs to cross the Atlantic to convince Charlie they are meant to be together. It is only the prospect of losing her strongest innermost desire that drags her into the adventure.

Some heroes may not show any doubt at all. But often, at this point, another character in the same situation will back down and totally refuse the call to adventure, giving the reader a chance to see the high stakes and danger ahead.


Questions:

1. Does the refusal:

• Make the stakes clear?
• Examine the quest?
• Review consequences?

2. At what level is the hero refusing the call?

• A moment's hesitation
• Flat refusal
• Something in between

3. Does another character show the consequences/dangers if the hero is willing?

4. Why does the hero refuse the call?

• Past experience?
• If so, what motivates them to accept?
• if you've already set up your backstory and character well, the reader will understand why the character falters.

5. What excuses and delaying tactics does the hero use, if any?

6. Are there two conflicting calls?

• Does the hero have two possible paths to take, each with their own challenges and rewards?
• A hero may have to choose between success and family. Following one path may rule out getting the goal from the other.
• Which one will the hero choose?
• What effect will this have?
  

7. Is there a positive refusal?

• For example, a hero may be offered something that it would be wise to refuse.
• What if a hero needing money turns down the offer to do something illegal?
• This decision may have consequences that propell the hero into the adventure.

8. What is the hero afraid of?

• If you are going to make your hero face up to and overcome their deepest fear, you might as well know what it is!
• Is this a real or false fear?
• How do they express this fear?

The Hero's Journey: The Call ot Adventure

The second step on the hero’s journey is The Call to Adventure. Other terms I’ve read for this same point are the ‘trigger’ and the ‘catalyst’. In other words, something happens to start the story. If it didn’t, your protagonist would just trundle along in her ordinary life and we’d all…..zzzzzzzz.

I had a bit of a quick think of what was the call/trigger/catalogue in some well-known books and films:

Pride and Prejudice
Mr Binlgey arrives at Netherfield. Without this event the poor Bennett sisters would have continued doing up bonnets, embroidering and bickering until they were old maids.

A Christmas Carol
Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley.

Shrek
Shrek is disturbed by fairy-tale characters hiding out in his swamp. This is in direct opposition to his goal – to live alone and happy in his swamp. He has a choice to make: live with the squatters or leave the swamp and visit Lord Farquad. One and a half hours of Shrek shouting at the three little pigs etc. would not have been a satisfying story, and he wouldn’t have learnt anything or grown at all.

Pretty Woman
Edward gets lost and has to stop and ask a hooker (Vivien) for directions.

French Kiss
Kate’s fiancé asks her to go to Paris with him.

There are as many different ways for the call to come as there are stories and characters. It may be a very obvious call – a telegram asking for help from a long-lost uncle, a friend who asks the hero to accompany them on a dangerous trip, war breaks out. Some calls come from within the character themselves – a vague feeling that they have to do something or die of stagnation, temptation, or a dream or vision.

Here as the questions I asked myself after reading Christopher Vogler’s chapter on the subject:

1. What is this character's call to adventure? Is it:

• A message
• An event
• A new character
• Something within the hero
• Dream/vision
• Hero's fed up with the status quo
• The last straw
• Synchronicity (lots of little things coincidentally pointing them in the right direction)
• Temptation (money, love, travel to exotic places)
• Lack or need (do they need money or are they searching for a lost dog?)
• No more options
• Something else.

I decided to identify which, if any, of these calls applied to my current story. I then pondered whether the call would be more effective if it was given in another way. In the end, i stuck with what I had already written.

For Will, it was a letter from a solicitor, informing him that at the death of a distant relative he was now Lord Radcliffe and owner of Elmhurst Hall. None of this happens in the book. By the time we meet Will he has received the letter and travelled back to England. This is because the story starts with Josie receiving her call – the arrival of the new lord. Life at Elmhurst Hall is going to different and Josie has to decide whether she's going to dig her heels in or welcome him enthusiastically.

2. Is there a herald to present the call?
Sometimes there’s a character who delivers the call

3. Is the hero unsettled or confused?
Is the hero a willing or reluctant hero? Being asked to step out of the ordinary world can be disorienting or even downright scary.

4. Should the call come earlier/later in this story?

5. Does the call have an interesting twist so it's not a cliché?

6. Does your story have a succession of calls? If so, what different levels of adventure do they have?