Everyone who’s read a blog post on the Hero’s Journey can spot the Hero and Mentor archetypes, but what about a Threshold Guardian, or Herald, or elusive Shapeshifter?

Are these actual story archetypes or just personifications of the early stages in the Hero’s Journey? Do they play a significant role in modern narratives? And just how sexist is Christopher Vogler, in his book The Writer’s Journey, going to get in his descriptions of the femme fatal/temptress Shapeshifter? Find out what we have to say about these three archetypes in this episode—and boy, does Renee have things to say.

As a bonus, we draw upon Diana Wynne Jones’s book, Howl’s Moving Castle, for examples.

In response to Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousands Faces, aka The Hero’s Journey, folklorists and academics (many of them female) countered some of the major steps and archetypes that Campbell claimed were universal.

In today’s workshop we explore the some of the ideas of The Heroine’s Journey with author and academic, Elana Gomel. Using her just published dark fantasy Nine Levels, Elana shows how her protagonist doesn’t follow the Hero’s Journey, but the Heroine’s Journey, and eventually takes her own path entirely.

Check out her book here.

The Mentor — arguably the second most identified archetype from The Hero’s Journey (after the eponymous hero). In his book, The Writer’s Journey, Christopher Vogler has a lot to say about the mentor: why they are important, what they do, what kinds of mentors there are, and whether you actually need one in your story (okay, the last one might just be us).

In this episode, Kim and Renee discuss these points using examples from Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn!

Also, if you like what you hear and read, consider supporting us with a TIP!

Last episode we explored the concept of the hero archetype as presented in Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. But analysis is one thing; we wanted to see if we could use the ideas to create/develop an actual protagonist.

Renee’s has a Frankenstein story idea (she so badly wants to read that she’s willing to write it herself). In this workshop she applies Vogler’s hero archetype concept and prompts to develop her protagonist and plot points.

Whether every protagonist is a Hero is open to debate (and debate it we do in this episode) but on it we can agree that the vast majority of protagonists in genre fiction are heroes (if not always heroic). In today’s episode we go deep into Christopher Vogler’s chapter on the Hero Archetype from his book, The Writer’s Journey.

To explore his this Archetype, we’re referencing The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Despite being written almost sixty years ago, Beagle’s fairytale feels modern and makes for an excellent sandbox to dig around in for support and opposition to whether the story’s hero (he Unicorn, obviously) conforms to Vogler’s hero profile, and also if Vogler’s Hero’s Journey is a good framework for understanding her quest.

Also, check out our Hero’s Journey Study Guide in which we apply the 12 Steps of Vogler’s formula to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

Writing Workshop with Kim & ReneeThe Writer’s Journey Subscribe to our Newsletter The Hero’s Journey Study Guide The Writing Workshop Exercise Map your Novel according to Vogler’s The Hero Journey. Last episode we mapped all 12 steps of Christopher Volger’s Hero’s Journey (as presented in his book, The Writer’s Journey) to J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit….

We’ve officially started our new book, Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. And boy is there a lot in the first two chapters!

First (or first after Kim’s rant) is an overview of the Hero’s Journey, yes, dear listener, we cover all twelve steps. And as examples for those steps we turn to… The Hobbit (the OG book version, not the movie). After that, we move to archetypes, what they are and what they mean for your story.

It’s a very informative episode. Also, check out our show notes.