Full circle, from the tomb of the
womb to the womb of the tomb, we come: an ambiguous, enigmatical incursion into
a world of solid matter that is soon to melt from us, like the substance of a
dream. And, looking back at what had promised to be our own unique,
unpredictable, and dangerous adventure, all we find in the end is such a series
of standard metamorphoses as men and women have undergone in every quarter of
the world, in all recorded centuries, and under every odd disguise of
civilization.
This quote by Joseph
Campbell appears in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (first printing 1949), the metaphorical bible for those
wanting to write a classic hero’s journey story. Campbell, an eminent
mythologist, looked at myths going back in time and across cultures and noted a
number of similarities. He explicated those in The Hero with a Thousand Faces as well as others of his works.
Campbell identified
archetypes he noted in myths, which we added into our repertoire of tropes. Tropes
aren’t so bad. They are shortcuts and signal character traits so we can focus
on other aspects of story. A while back, on another of my blogs, I wrote two
posts, Part One and Part Two, on how tropes make writing easier but not easy.
Stereotypes are the extreme
end of tropes. Where is the fresh take? Unreliable narrators as in Gone Girl and
Code Name Verity turn the hero’s journey into a non-predictable path. The
danger with tropes and archetypes who must complete every step of the Hero’s
Journey is falling into predictable and mediocre stories. Universality is a
strength and a limitation.
Using Campbell’s
description of the Hero’s Journey in myths became the chichi (pretentious and
overelaborate refinement) thing to do when writing one’s protagonist, male or
female. The fact that it didn’t quite
fit every story structure or didn’t quite
fit females who operate differently in interactions, didn’t affect the
popularity of creating the Hero’s Journey positive character arc.
In reaction, I suspect, The Virgin’s Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative, Spirtitual, and Sexual Awakening (Kim Hudson), was
penned. What stage is your female character? Virgin, Mother, or Crone? Each has
her journey, but the same female journey, like Campbell’s fell into identifiable
stages:
Dependent world
Price of conformity
Opportunity to shine
Dresses the part
Secret World
No longer fits her world
Caught shining
Gives up what kept her back
Kingdom in chaos
Wanders in the wilderness
Chooses her light
Re-ordering (rescue)
The Kingdom is brighter
While the Hero’s Journey
and the feminine journey make perfect sense to me when analyzing traditional literature
(folk/fairytales, myths, and such), using them as a template for writing is not
as easy. For me, anyway. I often felt I was force-fitting or having to retrofit
to include all the stages.
This may be the most common
arc in character development and change, but I’ve found these formulae
restrictive. Does a character have to go through each stage? Are the stages
appropriate in all genres? I can see the application in fantasy, but what about
cozy mysteries? Does one need all of
the stages?
I posit that not all of the
stages are appropriate in every genre.
After all, Campbell was
analyzing myths. I’ve never read that he thought the Hero’s Journey should be a
template for writing stories. I wonder what he’d say if he learned his Hero’s
Journey had become THE formula for writing character development.
Interesting read? Please
share on social media. Here are some copy/paste posts to help.
Facebook:
The positive character arc is most commonly tied to the Hero’s Journey. Is that
always appropriate? Maybe not. http://bit.ly/2oO6szK
Twitter:
The Hero’s Journey may not fit every positive character arc story says
@Good2Tweat. Why not? http://bit.ly/2oO6szK
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