Sandra here to welcome one of my favorite guests, Laurie Schnebly Campbell. She taught us about The Hero's Fatal Flaw and today she is going to give us points for the heroine. I made a pot of chocolate velvet coffee and have a kettle of hot water going for hot chocolate and tea so grab a cup and let's visit with Laurie.
The Dazzling Dozen,Plus One
We'veall heard of the Twelve Steps in the Hero's Journey, right? Maybe even writtennovels or screenplays using those steps, read Joseph Campbell's book, or takena workshop on it.
Confessiontime: I've never really GOTTEN the hero's journey. I know there are thousandsof writers who swear by it -- there's clearly some value in those twelve steps.
Butfor some reason, they've just never quite worked for me. My heroes don't meetwise mentors, don't face dark caves, don't return with elixirs... My heroes arejust regular guys who hear advice from equally clueless friends, occasionallyget rained on at the ballgame, and maybe return with a can of Coke.
Sameis true for my heroines. Swell women, all of 'em, but they're sure not outthere staging interplanetary raids and facing down corrupt sheriffs andrescuing secret formulas.
No,their journey is more internal. Even if they're taking off from their everydaylife and flying to Cleveland, the challenges they face aren't the kind that'llhave movie-goers crunching popcorn at twice the usual speed.
"Myhusband doesn't understand why I need time to write." "My best friendleft the company and nobody else is as close." "I wish I could makeMom understand why I didn't choose her way."
And,like most of our heroines, we occasionally settle for being less than we canbe.Ofcourse, by and large, we do a pretty good job of looking out for our loved onesand ourselves. We speak up eventually when something bothers us.
We try somethingnew every so often; we recognize that even if our dreams aren't practical theyaren't stupid. Buteven so, we don't always live up to our highest self. We're not always thestrongest, healthiest, wisest, best person we can be.
And neitherare our heroines.
That'swhere we get to the Heroine's Journey. Just like every action hero goes throughtwelve steps, a heroine who hasn't yet achieved the victory of being her trueself needs to go through thirteen steps.
(Hmm,what does it mean that women have more steps then men?)
Eachone of those steps takes her from being a person who depends on others forself-worth to a person who's innately worthy in her own right. She might startand finish the book as a scullery maid, but along the way she'll make adifference in her world and become her own person...usually for the first timein her life.
She'llgo through the steps that Kim Hudson, author of The Virgin's Promise, calls thePrice Of Conformity, Dressing The Part, Caught Shining, and ten intriguing others.And each one takes her closer to the ultimate triumph.
What'scool about this is that the heroine, like each of us, is involved with otherpeople throughout her journey. Whether they're her parents, friends,co-workers, children, fellow peasants or students or country club members,she's engaged in some kind of society. Increasing the tension of the book, thepeople in this society want to keep her where THEY (often with the best andmost loving intentions in the world) think she belongs, rather than where shegradually discovers she can truly become her best self.
Sothat's where we get the payoff of the lucky thirteenth step -- because onceshe's her best self, she doesn't just go off and forget where she came from.She makes things better for those around her, as well, and that's what makesher a REAL heroine.
We'llget into more detail on that next month at my WriterUniv.com class on "The Hero's Journey, For Heroines," butmeanwhile I'd love to hear some real-life examples. If you've ever managed togo beyond the limits that other people set for you, could you say what you did?And if you'd rather I DIDN'T use your comment, please mention that...butsomebody who comments will win free registration to the October class!
Laurie,who'll be at my writers' group annual dinner tonight but checking for commentsall day and relying on Sandra to post a winner this weekend
Laurie Schnebly Campbell always wondered what was wrong with her, not really GETTINGthe Hero's Journey, until she discovered its feminine counterpart. Then she gotexcited -- not only by the premise, but also by the chance to create a brandnew class for WriterUniv.com. She can'twait to see who else shares her enthusiasm for characters making discoverieswithin themselves, as well as within the world...no matter what their gender.
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