How To End Your Story

A story’s ending should conclude the story’s plot and theme satisfactorily to the reader. The last thing you want to do is create an ending or dénouement that struggles in its conclusions. The kind of ending you choose for your story will depend on the kind of story you are telling: one that rises to [...]

A Hero’s Journey – Part 3: The Journey’s Map

Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer’s Journey, describes a 12-stage journey based on the three-act storyline of the Greeks. It is also based on Joseph Campbell’s 8-step transformation model.
The twelve steps fall within the three Acts, which consist of:

Separation: ordinary world; call to adventure; refusal of the call; meeting with the mentor; and crossing the [...]

A Hero’s Journey – Part 2: Archetypes

The world of fairy tales and myth is peopled with recurring character types and relationships. Heroes on a quest, heralds and wise old men or women who provide them with “gifts”, shady fellow-travelers—threshold guardians—who may “block” the path, tricksters who confuse and complicate things and evil villains who simply want to destroy our hero. Joseph [...]

A Hero’s Journey – Part 1: The Journey

“Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost.” — Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy)
“Summoned or not, the god will come.” — Motto over the door of Carl Jung’s house
According to Christopher Vogler (author of The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers) “all stories [...]

The Novelist: Common Pitfalls of the Beginning Writer

Have you ever wondered how an editor decides not to read your cherished tome past the second paragraph of the first page and has pegged you as a beginning writer? This used to really bug me… Well, as a published author and occasional mentor, I do from time to time read manuscripts (please don’t send [...]