The Heroine's Journey: Let's Make New Connections
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As writers, many of us have craft books sitting on our shelves. How many of them do you read in its entirety? Most of us barely don't get past chapter two.
Maybe the words in the book aren’t for you right now. Maybe it’s asking for too much focus when you’ve got a wailing toddler and a hungry partner who burns water. Maybe the amount of work it calls for overwhelms you.
I get it. But when a craft book comes along and pulls me to the last page, it’s something we should talk about. This book made rounds in both my book clubs. I swear I should go around the coffee shop and pass it out like mints for coffee breath.
The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger taught me things I didn’t know I wanted to know. On her back cover, she says,
“Change your perspective. ”
First, it’s not about books for girls. The Heroine’s Journey is genderless. Say that out loud twice.
Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-white-crew-neck-top-reaching-for-the-like-3314294/
A man staring up at heart button with zero likes.
Star Wars is a blueprint of the Hero’s Journey. This style of writing is almost one hundred percent of all blockbuster movies and books. The New Hope movie adheres to this prescription for writing a good story. The entire thing can be melted down into good versus evil. Luke wants to be the good guy and a Jedi like his father. Luke is after a thing.
She mentions Twilight as a blueprint of the heroine’s journey. Bella wants to protect her family. Bella isn’t after a thing. She’s after connection. The story appealed to so many because we all crave connection. People can argue about her writing, but I’ll always remind you she’s made millions.
(I’ll point to the uptick in depression and anxiety as we try to put Covid-19 to bed. We lost connection, and that lack of connection was harmful to us.)
“Thus, when someone criticizes romance, I love to clap slowly and praise them for participating in two hundred years of misogyny. ”
There are beats that may apply to a heroine’s journey. I won’t list them because I want you to go buy her book at your favorite retailer. I will point out one thing that may help authors find out what kind of story they are writing.
“Revenge and glory are not important. ”
If we go back to Twilight, Bella wants to be with Edward and her mom and dad safe in their separate lives. She isn’t looking for retribution. In fact, I’m not sure it would even occur to her as she’s written in the first book.
I’ve write heroine’s journey books. At least I think so. While editing, I’m keeping notes of beats. Not all the beats have to be there, but most of them should correspond in your core story.
One holdover for me is the guide. I love eclectic guides. Most of mine are older. In this current book, the guide is young, but older than time. I can’t help myself. Gotta write in a guide. It’s that wacky lady across the street who bedazzles her pink flamingos. I’ve done earthy woman guides. Sparkly ones. They’re all over my stories.
While it doesn’t “fit” in the heroines’s journey, per se, I can see it as a piece of the connection the hero/heroine yearns to find.
Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/leaves-hang-on-rope-1389460/
Different color leaves hanging from a string.
I’ve been sitting here flipping through my highlighted copy of the Heroine’s Journey. Here’s a quote that came up in both my book clubs.
They (readers) will write to you begging for the backstory of that fantastic Peruvian lesbian jaguar you wrote.
This section discussed making your side character interesting and real. Plus, I want more about that guy, too. He should have his own book.
One of my writer friends is writing a new book out of an old one. She’s amazing. Where I would flail in fear, she steps out and gets on with it. In writing a rough document to nail down some beats, she found herself frustrated. How did her book that was about connection not have all the beats in the book?
In the end, it came down to you writing the story you’ve got in front of you. You can’t squish the story in the framework of anyone else’s beat rhythm. But I will say, most writers do this without the need to hen peck the book to death.
What I want to make sure you take away from this is how monumental the book has been for me and the few writers I’ve gotten to talk about it with. This is a book that should be in every writer's book shelf with well-loved pages, flags, stickies and such.
Have you read it? Let me know what you picked up from it. Such good stuff. Happy Writing!!!
