The Key, How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth by James N. Frey:
This is a great book. I worked through it extensively with Malachai as the subject and will use this as a template for future stories. I wasn't sure that my book could fit into this format, but I found that using the archetype model really strengthened my plot and characters.
I have already read How to Write a Damned Good Novel I and II and found them to be very helpful. In this book he builds on the information provided in the first two. I like how Frey uses concrete examples from well-known novels to illustrate his points. Through his lists and examples, I was able to use this book to work through my characterization. I'll include that later in my blog.
He begins the book by showing examples of how the power of myth affects our lives. One thing that was particularly relevant was the Muslim belief that if a person dies in a jihad, a holy war, the person's soul will ascend straight to heaven. The myth of the Marlborough Man ropes in scores of new smokers every day. And we all know about how the myth of Adam and Eve has affected us throughout the ages. (Oh yes, you women! It's all your fault!)
I learned that people become physically addicted to romance novels, because reading them causes the brain to manufacture endorphins, the chemical equivalent to morphine. (So that's why those things are so popular.)
I found myself trying to apply his list of qualities the hero possesses in a myth-based story to my own novel as follows.
A hero:
Is courageous: Jenna will find courage in order to overcome Malachai.
Is clever and resourceful: She must find a creative solution to escaping her demon.
Has a special talent: She's an artist.
Lives by her own rules: This was one of the most surprising traits to me, that the hero must be an outlaw of sorts. When you think about it, it's true; most heroes are renegades and work outside the system to achieve their ends. As far as Jenna goes, I had to think about this one. She goes outside of the norm by contacting the supernatural, she is an outsider on the island and at school. She will have to go outside of the rules to fight Malachai.
Is good at what she does: She's a good student and a good daughter.
Takes the lead at some point: At the crucial moment when Malachai wants her to kill Eric, she refuses to do his bidding.
Has been wounded: It's been difficult for her to make the transition from living in the city to Smith Island. She is wounded by her parents' marital problems. She trusted Malachai to be the peaceful, John Smith, and she found that he lied to her. And she will be wounded when Eric leaves her for another girl at school – possibly enough to kill him.
Is idealistic: Jenna believes in the power of love.
Is sexually potent: She definitely wants Eric.
Frey says that leaving out any of these qualities in your heroic protagonist is like leaving a spark plug out of your car.
Then there is a list of qualities the hero MAY have:
May have hubris (a big head): No
May be stoical (accepts pain and suffering without complaint): Maybe. She keeps her problems to herself.
Is usually loyal: She is very loyal to Matti and to Eric.
Is usually considered sexually appealing: Yes
Sometimes Physically superior: No
Sometimes has a special birth and a special destiny: No
Sometimes has a special scar or mark: No
Is sometimes cynical: Yes, especially in the beginning, she is very cynical about life on a small island.
May be known as sharp-tongued or a wise-guy: Somewhat. I could probably emphasize this.
Frey creates a fictitious story and works through it with the reader, which is semi-helpful, because the story he is creating is pretty lame in my opinion. Still it gets his point across.
He suggests writing a journal from the viewpoint of the hero, and gives us an example of such an entry with the protagonist of his fictitious story. It's the best way for writers to get into the heads of their characters. (Funny thing, though, I found that the first person journal entries Frey wrote for his characters were much more entertaining than the resulting story he wrote from it.)
"Characters should have a fresh attitude toward life, an individual angle." They do things in unorthodox ways.
The next most important character is The Evil One. "The role of The Evil One is to hatch an evil plot and carry it out." I had never thought that a villain had to have certain characteristics, but Frey says this is just as necessary as the hero having certain traits.
The Evil One must:
Be clever and resourceful: Malachai masquerades as a friendly ghost in order to win over Jenna and have her help him with his mission, to kill Eric for revenge on his family.
Be wounded – He or she uses the wound as an excuse for doing evil: Malachai was wronged by Eric's family in the 17th century.
Have a special talent (which is used to perform evil): He can make himself seem very sympathetic and appealing. I need to make him nicer at the beginning of his dealings with Jenna.
Have great sex appeal: Yes. At one point, Jenna is unsure of who she's in love with, Eric or Malachai.
Is motivated by greed, lust, lust for power, vanity, etc.: Malachai wants revenge.
"The Evil One is like a greedy, spoiled adolescent wholly concerned with Me-Me-Me. The hero is an adult, concerned with sacrificing himself for others and bringing a boon to the community."
Never acts out of idealism: Yes
These are possible traits the villain can possess:
Is often cruel: Yes
May win by luck (often lucky in the beginning and middle of the story): haven't worked this out yet
"The obligatory scene is the scene in which the main story question, the central story in question, which is a product of the core conflict, is answered." It's common for luck to be on the side of The Evil One until the obligatory scene and on the side of the hero thereafter.
Is not forgiving: Yes
Might quit, but only at the very end. This shows an inherent cowardliness: Toward the end he comes back with a vengeance and tries to destroy Jenna.
May wine and grovel: Yes. He pleads with Jenna to continue with the automatic writing.
May not be stoical: No
May not be loyal: Not sure
May not be physically superior: Malachai is a powerful entity.
Structure of the story:
It's important to begin the novel by allowing the reader to see the hero in his everyday life. This creates sympathy and identification and pulls the reader into "the fictive dream." But, there should be "terrible trouble" right from the start.
The premise of your story should contain:
1. Character – Have a circumstance that will test your hero's character.
2. Conflict – Struggle toward some resolution with something at risk.
3. Conclusion – Final state of being after the struggle.
4. Conviction (of the author) – The author should be making a statement about life.
My premise might be: Struggle to overcome a demon leads to self-confidence.
To recap, the writer should show the hero in his daily life with some conflict. He must receive a call to adventure from the Herald. He could take on help from a Magical Helper or from a Sidekick. He might have a tearful parting with a Loved One or meet a new Lover. A Wise One helps him. According to Frey, these characters are all essential to the mythic story.
For my own story, I'm not sure how all these characters fit in.
Herald – This could be John Smith asking Jenna to write his story.
Magical Helper – Midnight the cat
Sidekick – Matti
New Lover – Eric
Wise One - I created a new character for this category, an old woman who owns the bookstore where Jenna bought her spell book.
According to Frey, the Hero's Lover is an antagonist, standing in the way of the hero's goals. He should be the total opposite of the hero. This is critical. The two lovers are repelled, yet strongly attracted. "It's the kind of inner conflict that brings the reader so strongly into the story world that the real world goes away." I haven't done this, so it's a point I can work on between Eric and Jenna.
Secondary characters can be the Evil One's sidekick, the Rival, the Trickster, the Crone, the Fool, Woman-as-Mother, the Femme Fatale, the God with Clay Feet, the Shape-Shifter, Woman-as-Goddess, the Saint, the Temptress, the Nymph, Woman-as-Bitch.
Mythological Motifs:
The hero is rescued by "divine" intervention. This should not be used more than once in a story: N/A
The hero is rescued by allies – (Also should not appear more than once): N/A
The hero shows a willingness to die for a cause: Yes
The hero attends a celebration: Not sure
The hero faces natural fears: – Jenna has a fear of the supernatural. I need to work this in earlier.
The hero has a change (or altered state of) of consciousness: Jenna goes into automatic writing trances.
The hero uses magic: Not sure
The hero has magic used against him: Not sure
The hero falls in love – Jenna falls in love with Eric.
The hero rescues a captive - N/A
The hero is betrayed - Yes, she is betrayed first by John Smith, then by Eric.
The hero is marked - N/A
The hero loses an ally to death - N/A
The hero may die – Jenna could die from being possessed.
The hero explains him or herself – Jenna explains why she is the way she is to the reader.
Frey states that no single myth ever covers all of the elements of the myth. We should ask ourselves which mythological elements best serve our story.
The monomyth is in three sections, the separation, the initiation, and the return home.
The separation:
This is Jenna's life as it is on Smith Island.
The Initiation begins:
The hero experiences a death and rebirth. Jenna flies into a rage when she finds out that Eric is seeing another girl. Malachai uses her rage to try to get her to kill Eric. When Jenna overcomes her jealousy and in doing so overcomes Malachai, she is reborn as a strong, independent person.
Confronting the evil one. Usually happens in the evil one's lair. If the hero lives, a prize is taken. If the hero dies, usually his spirit passes on to another hero. This will happen in Jenna's bedroom.
The journey home:
This will show Jenna getting back into some semblance of a normal life after her tumultuous times.
The journey home is an important part of the hero's journey. The hero is seen in sharp contrast to the way he was before the initiation.
It's interesting to note that the separation (or life as it is) and the journey home are often minimized in modern American fiction and films. This indicates the great importance we place upon the individual and that self-sacrifice for an ideal or a community is foolish. And it's true. We have no tolerance for long introductions establishing life as it is for the hero. We want to get right into the conflict. And we have no patience for the return home. Once the problem is resolved, we lose interest and want the story to be over.
The Evil One, having lost the prize, goes after the hero. The hero is now better equipped for the challenge. Often the Evil One is either killed or captured here. This happens when Jenna refuses to kill Eric – Malachai goes after Jenna with a vengeance.
(I have to interject here that the next book I'm reading, Writing Horror by Edo Van Balkham, states that one of the conventions of YA horror is that the evil entity is only momentarily defeated and may return to upcoming generations. I like this idea and will probably insinuate that Malachai will return for more revenge on subsequent generations of Bradshaws -- Eric's family.)
"Identification, the mysterious ability people have to live inside the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others, is what allows people to dream the fictive dream." This is what I've been wanting to find out more than anything – How do you get readers to suspend belief and become totally drawn into the writer's world. I think I will read John Gardner's, The Art of Fiction to obtain more answers to that question.
Overall, this book was extremely helpful. It caused me to examine my plot and characters and motivated me to make changes that will result in a tighter story.
I did go back to change and add some characters based on the advice of this book.
This is a great book. I worked through it extensively with Malachai as the subject and will use this as a template for future stories. I wasn't sure that my book could fit into this format, but I found that using the archetype model really strengthened my plot and characters.
I have already read How to Write a Damned Good Novel I and II and found them to be very helpful. In this book he builds on the information provided in the first two. I like how Frey uses concrete examples from well-known novels to illustrate his points. Through his lists and examples, I was able to use this book to work through my characterization. I'll include that later in my blog.
He begins the book by showing examples of how the power of myth affects our lives. One thing that was particularly relevant was the Muslim belief that if a person dies in a jihad, a holy war, the person's soul will ascend straight to heaven. The myth of the Marlborough Man ropes in scores of new smokers every day. And we all know about how the myth of Adam and Eve has affected us throughout the ages. (Oh yes, you women! It's all your fault!)
I learned that people become physically addicted to romance novels, because reading them causes the brain to manufacture endorphins, the chemical equivalent to morphine. (So that's why those things are so popular.)
I found myself trying to apply his list of qualities the hero possesses in a myth-based story to my own novel as follows.
A hero:
Is courageous: Jenna will find courage in order to overcome Malachai.
Is clever and resourceful: She must find a creative solution to escaping her demon.
Has a special talent: She's an artist.
Lives by her own rules: This was one of the most surprising traits to me, that the hero must be an outlaw of sorts. When you think about it, it's true; most heroes are renegades and work outside the system to achieve their ends. As far as Jenna goes, I had to think about this one. She goes outside of the norm by contacting the supernatural, she is an outsider on the island and at school. She will have to go outside of the rules to fight Malachai.
Is good at what she does: She's a good student and a good daughter.
Takes the lead at some point: At the crucial moment when Malachai wants her to kill Eric, she refuses to do his bidding.
Has been wounded: It's been difficult for her to make the transition from living in the city to Smith Island. She is wounded by her parents' marital problems. She trusted Malachai to be the peaceful, John Smith, and she found that he lied to her. And she will be wounded when Eric leaves her for another girl at school – possibly enough to kill him.
Is idealistic: Jenna believes in the power of love.
Is sexually potent: She definitely wants Eric.
Frey says that leaving out any of these qualities in your heroic protagonist is like leaving a spark plug out of your car.
Then there is a list of qualities the hero MAY have:
May have hubris (a big head): No
May be stoical (accepts pain and suffering without complaint): Maybe. She keeps her problems to herself.
Is usually loyal: She is very loyal to Matti and to Eric.
Is usually considered sexually appealing: Yes
Sometimes Physically superior: No
Sometimes has a special birth and a special destiny: No
Sometimes has a special scar or mark: No
Is sometimes cynical: Yes, especially in the beginning, she is very cynical about life on a small island.
May be known as sharp-tongued or a wise-guy: Somewhat. I could probably emphasize this.
Frey creates a fictitious story and works through it with the reader, which is semi-helpful, because the story he is creating is pretty lame in my opinion. Still it gets his point across.
He suggests writing a journal from the viewpoint of the hero, and gives us an example of such an entry with the protagonist of his fictitious story. It's the best way for writers to get into the heads of their characters. (Funny thing, though, I found that the first person journal entries Frey wrote for his characters were much more entertaining than the resulting story he wrote from it.)
"Characters should have a fresh attitude toward life, an individual angle." They do things in unorthodox ways.
The next most important character is The Evil One. "The role of The Evil One is to hatch an evil plot and carry it out." I had never thought that a villain had to have certain characteristics, but Frey says this is just as necessary as the hero having certain traits.
The Evil One must:
Be clever and resourceful: Malachai masquerades as a friendly ghost in order to win over Jenna and have her help him with his mission, to kill Eric for revenge on his family.
Be wounded – He or she uses the wound as an excuse for doing evil: Malachai was wronged by Eric's family in the 17th century.
Have a special talent (which is used to perform evil): He can make himself seem very sympathetic and appealing. I need to make him nicer at the beginning of his dealings with Jenna.
Have great sex appeal: Yes. At one point, Jenna is unsure of who she's in love with, Eric or Malachai.
Is motivated by greed, lust, lust for power, vanity, etc.: Malachai wants revenge.
"The Evil One is like a greedy, spoiled adolescent wholly concerned with Me-Me-Me. The hero is an adult, concerned with sacrificing himself for others and bringing a boon to the community."
Never acts out of idealism: Yes
These are possible traits the villain can possess:
Is often cruel: Yes
May win by luck (often lucky in the beginning and middle of the story): haven't worked this out yet
"The obligatory scene is the scene in which the main story question, the central story in question, which is a product of the core conflict, is answered." It's common for luck to be on the side of The Evil One until the obligatory scene and on the side of the hero thereafter.
Is not forgiving: Yes
Might quit, but only at the very end. This shows an inherent cowardliness: Toward the end he comes back with a vengeance and tries to destroy Jenna.
May wine and grovel: Yes. He pleads with Jenna to continue with the automatic writing.
May not be stoical: No
May not be loyal: Not sure
May not be physically superior: Malachai is a powerful entity.
Structure of the story:
It's important to begin the novel by allowing the reader to see the hero in his everyday life. This creates sympathy and identification and pulls the reader into "the fictive dream." But, there should be "terrible trouble" right from the start.
The premise of your story should contain:
1. Character – Have a circumstance that will test your hero's character.
2. Conflict – Struggle toward some resolution with something at risk.
3. Conclusion – Final state of being after the struggle.
4. Conviction (of the author) – The author should be making a statement about life.
My premise might be: Struggle to overcome a demon leads to self-confidence.
To recap, the writer should show the hero in his daily life with some conflict. He must receive a call to adventure from the Herald. He could take on help from a Magical Helper or from a Sidekick. He might have a tearful parting with a Loved One or meet a new Lover. A Wise One helps him. According to Frey, these characters are all essential to the mythic story.
For my own story, I'm not sure how all these characters fit in.
Herald – This could be John Smith asking Jenna to write his story.
Magical Helper – Midnight the cat
Sidekick – Matti
New Lover – Eric
Wise One - I created a new character for this category, an old woman who owns the bookstore where Jenna bought her spell book.
According to Frey, the Hero's Lover is an antagonist, standing in the way of the hero's goals. He should be the total opposite of the hero. This is critical. The two lovers are repelled, yet strongly attracted. "It's the kind of inner conflict that brings the reader so strongly into the story world that the real world goes away." I haven't done this, so it's a point I can work on between Eric and Jenna.
Secondary characters can be the Evil One's sidekick, the Rival, the Trickster, the Crone, the Fool, Woman-as-Mother, the Femme Fatale, the God with Clay Feet, the Shape-Shifter, Woman-as-Goddess, the Saint, the Temptress, the Nymph, Woman-as-Bitch.
Mythological Motifs:
The hero is rescued by "divine" intervention. This should not be used more than once in a story: N/A
The hero is rescued by allies – (Also should not appear more than once): N/A
The hero shows a willingness to die for a cause: Yes
The hero attends a celebration: Not sure
The hero faces natural fears: – Jenna has a fear of the supernatural. I need to work this in earlier.
The hero has a change (or altered state of) of consciousness: Jenna goes into automatic writing trances.
The hero uses magic: Not sure
The hero has magic used against him: Not sure
The hero falls in love – Jenna falls in love with Eric.
The hero rescues a captive - N/A
The hero is betrayed - Yes, she is betrayed first by John Smith, then by Eric.
The hero is marked - N/A
The hero loses an ally to death - N/A
The hero may die – Jenna could die from being possessed.
The hero explains him or herself – Jenna explains why she is the way she is to the reader.
Frey states that no single myth ever covers all of the elements of the myth. We should ask ourselves which mythological elements best serve our story.
The monomyth is in three sections, the separation, the initiation, and the return home.
The separation:
This is Jenna's life as it is on Smith Island.
The Initiation begins:
The hero experiences a death and rebirth. Jenna flies into a rage when she finds out that Eric is seeing another girl. Malachai uses her rage to try to get her to kill Eric. When Jenna overcomes her jealousy and in doing so overcomes Malachai, she is reborn as a strong, independent person.
Confronting the evil one. Usually happens in the evil one's lair. If the hero lives, a prize is taken. If the hero dies, usually his spirit passes on to another hero. This will happen in Jenna's bedroom.
The journey home:
This will show Jenna getting back into some semblance of a normal life after her tumultuous times.
The journey home is an important part of the hero's journey. The hero is seen in sharp contrast to the way he was before the initiation.
It's interesting to note that the separation (or life as it is) and the journey home are often minimized in modern American fiction and films. This indicates the great importance we place upon the individual and that self-sacrifice for an ideal or a community is foolish. And it's true. We have no tolerance for long introductions establishing life as it is for the hero. We want to get right into the conflict. And we have no patience for the return home. Once the problem is resolved, we lose interest and want the story to be over.
The Evil One, having lost the prize, goes after the hero. The hero is now better equipped for the challenge. Often the Evil One is either killed or captured here. This happens when Jenna refuses to kill Eric – Malachai goes after Jenna with a vengeance.
(I have to interject here that the next book I'm reading, Writing Horror by Edo Van Balkham, states that one of the conventions of YA horror is that the evil entity is only momentarily defeated and may return to upcoming generations. I like this idea and will probably insinuate that Malachai will return for more revenge on subsequent generations of Bradshaws -- Eric's family.)
"Identification, the mysterious ability people have to live inside the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others, is what allows people to dream the fictive dream." This is what I've been wanting to find out more than anything – How do you get readers to suspend belief and become totally drawn into the writer's world. I think I will read John Gardner's, The Art of Fiction to obtain more answers to that question.
Overall, this book was extremely helpful. It caused me to examine my plot and characters and motivated me to make changes that will result in a tighter story.
I did go back to change and add some characters based on the advice of this book.
posted by Sally Bosco at
9:05 AM
