Crossing the Threshold
Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s JourneyStage Four: Meeting with the Mentor&Stage Five: Crossing the Threshold Subscribe to our Newsletter So much has happened you haven’t even made it to the Special World! But that’s about to change. Your Hero has received the Call! They’ve Refused it! The Mentor gives them...
Writing Your College Application Essay
In today's episode we take a break from discussing and analyzing creative fiction to examining possibly one of the most important, and certainly most stressful, nonfiction projects in a young person's life: writing their college application essay. Our guest, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Martha Mendoza, has been helping high...
Answering the Call to Adventure
How do you shift your book’s hero from their nice, cozy ordinary world into the adventure? According to Christopher Vogler’s, The Writer’s Journey, you have them answer the call. In this episode we discuss the various forms the Call to Adventure can take, and also why, even the most...
Workshop: Plotting a Murder with Colette Clark
Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey The Hero’s Journey Study Guide Subscribe to our Newsletter Does the mystery genre follow the Hero’s Journey? According to historical mystery writer Colette Clark. Not so much. Join us for our discussion about how Colette structures her novels and figures out who the murder...
You are Now Leaving the Ordinary World
If you have read even just the first part of a blog post on the Hero’s Journey, you know the hero starts off in the Ordinary World before embarking on their epic adventure. But the Ordinary World is more than a boring place the hero is itching to leave. According...
Boy Bands & Archetypes
In our regular podcast, we’ve successfully made it through all of Vogler’s archetypes (from his book, The Writer’s Journey). Armed with this knowledge we decided to see if we could identify the archetypes in Kim’s novel, What our Comeback Tour is Slaying Monsters (coming out this October). Along the...
The Role of the Trickster and Other Archetypes
Are we done with archetypes now? Almost! There are just three more archetype chapters in Christopher Vogler’s book, The Writer’s Journey, and we have issues with two of them. The Shadow feels more like a force than a character and anyone from a legit supporting actor to unnamed gofer can...
Tests, Allies, and Enemies, Oh My!
What really happens between “accepting the call” and facing the big bad? Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey skims through this crucial story phase with vague talk of Tests, Allies, and Enemies. But Kim and Renee aren't settling for that. Armed with John Scalzi's Kaiju Preservation Society (and ditching those...