Using the Heroine's Journey for Plotting Your Book

Years ago, I read “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers” by Christopher Vogler. It's based on Joseph Campbell’s work with the Hero's Journey (also referenced by George Lucas for Star Wars). What I didn't know, was that there’s also a Heroine’s Journey.

 That journey is the inner journey for the heroine to face her deepest fears and desires. When she finally faces them, she can come to terms with herself and her place in the world.

Using that structure has been helpful in plotting my own novels. That's often been my least favorite part of working on a book. So, I'll refer to the Heroine's Journey when I'm stuck on a plot point (or two).

There are different versions of the Journey, but this is the one I usually use.

1. Perfect World – the heroine’s everyday world

2. Realization/Betrayal – an inciting incident and decision point

3. Awakening – decision to take the journey

4. Descent – the heroine faces her fears and can’t turn back

5. Eye of the Storm – tests and ordeals

6. The Death – an actual or symbolic death

7. Support – help comes, possibly from the larger community

8. Moment of Truth – rebirth and facing the biggest challenge

9. Full Circle – heroine returns to the perfect world with more self-awareness

My story may not include every step, but usually I'll include these: Awakening, Taking the Risk, Dark Night, Learning to Trust, and Transformation.

 Awakening

Usually the Heroine is being called to level up and experience something larger.

Taking the Risk

The Heroine answers the call and takes a leap of faith out of her comfort zone.  

Dark Night

It may seem like everything is falling apart, but it’s really falling together. Unfortunately, the Heroine has to experience this in order to get what she wants.

Learning to Trust

If she wants to move forward, the Heroine has to accept support and help from others.

Transformation

Stories start out with a character wanting something. The Heroine has to get from her starting point to achieving her desires at the end. At the conclusion of the Journey (and the story), she’ll be transformed by her experiences.

  

The Heroine's Journey & The Hero's Journey

Even though it’s called the Heroine’s Journey, it isn’t gender specific. Your Hero can also take this journey for his emotional transformation. (And, female characters can take the Hero’s Journey as well.)

For instance, in my fairy tale inspired novella, "Once Upon A Princess: Heart of Stone," the princess goes on a quest to find riches. She needs them to help her people, who are suffering after dark magic has devastated her lands. But, she's also on an emotional journey that begins when she meets a shifter who offers her assistance.

LIFE LESSONS

Stories entertain and can also teach us how to deal with adversity. They allow us to feel exhilaration when the conflicts are resolved.  

 As your characters explore their worlds, your readers will be right with them. By using these journeys as inspiration, you’ll create stories that your readers will find impossible to put down.

If you'd like to learn more, there are variations of the Heroine’s Journey, including one by Victoria Schmidt and a version in Kim Hudson’s book, “The Virgin’s Promise.”

Looking for more reading material while you're sheltering in place?

My book, "Once Upon A Princess Duet: Two Paranormal Fairy Tales" is on sale for 0.99 on most online bookstores until April 30^th. Included are the novellas, Heart of Stone and Beauty & the Faun.

Universal buy link: https://www.books2read.com/u/m2odkO

A closer look at what I write

I’ve been working my way through Stealing Hollywood by Alexandra Sokoloff (it’s analytical—or at least the part I’ve gotten through is). And it’s been really interesting looking at the kinds of stories that I like…and the stories that I tend to tell.

I tend to like dramatic stories with high stakes, extraordinary events, but I like ordinary heroes. Or as my husband put it, I love an underdog. I especially like the kind of character that would usually be overlooked as hero material, maybe they aren’t that good at anything, but they are persistent and they won't give up.

I also like wounding my characters, they often end up shot or stabbed or otherwise bleeding on the page. I’m sure they signed a waiver before agreeing to be part of the story, although sometimes it must go a bit like this…

Character: this is so cool I’m the hero! And this world is amazing, I have magic you say? 
Me: yes now this is the villain and they are going to stab you in the leg and the gut, you then need to get away and pick a lock before they can kill you.
Character: er…what?
You should probably find something to fight with—you do know how to fight?
Character: this isn’t what I expected, this was meant to be a romance novel…where is the romance. Arggghhh!
Me: hmmm…well that happens later if you live
Character: *bleeding* what do you mean if I live? I’m the hero!
Me: and you will be, by the end ;)

I’m sure I’ll make other discoveries as I go. So if you like to analyse films and the books you write, you might like Stealing Hollywood too.

How I Plot a Book

Due to circumstances both in my head and in my environment, the finale of my Muse trilogy has been ridiculously delayed. But a miracle occurred a little over a week ago. I finished it. Finally. It’ll be out in May. (Guess what I’ll be talking about here next time!) Time to move on to the next project – book two of the Djinn Haven series, To Seize a Wayward Spirit.

So, here I am at the beginning again. The beginning is glorious! The beginning is exciting!

The beginning is terrifying.

I am a hardcore plotter. I cannot possibly begin a book without knowing all the plotlines, how they fit together, how the relationships of the main characters will change and grow, the first line, the first scene, and how it ends. (I’m sure the pantser folks are rolling their eyes right about now.)

The turnaround on this book is tight. I have to have it to my editor mid-July. No problem. But I’m also considering a novella project that would have to be finished by around the same time. Now it’s getting tricky.

I’ve allowed myself two weeks to sort out the plots of both projects. If I can’t get solid outlines for both, I’m dropping the novella (which isn’t contracted.) So, a week and a half into those two weeks, here’s how it’s going:

Mickey is my friend. He knows how to distract me.

1. In a sudden belief that my work isn’t dark enough, I’ve grown a fondness for the television show “Snapped.” Wow. You never know who might go off the deep end and chop up her husband so she can burn the parts at someone else’s house. 
2. I started taking a new swimming class. It combines “elements of yoga and tai chi.” I took this to mean there would be no cardio. Lies. All lies. 
3. Visited two separate lakes yesterday because driving helps me think and water relaxes me. Have you tried the new Bistro Boxes from Starbucks? They’re pretty good. Make sure you add a cakepop to cancel out your healthy choice.
4. Halfway to the lake, the first scene appeared in my head, word for word. I did not have a recording device handy. I could not write it down because I was driving. 
5. Oh, my gosh. We really need to go to the comic book convention later this month. It’s crucial to my storyline! My husband was totally cool with this.
6. Hey! I haven’t started building my LEGO Cinderella Castle yet. I promised myself I could build it once the book was finished. This is going to take awhile. The first four stages took most of Saturday. There are fourteen stages. 
7. I cannot believe the laundry is caught up. That’s so weird.
8. I have come to the conclusion that writing darker fiction wouldn’t suit my brand. I’m trying to write True Blood when my style is more like a supernatural version of Psych. Stick with what’s working.
9. Well, crap. My cover artist is booked until August. If I’m going to write this novella, it’ll cost extra to rush the cover.
10. Paused what we were watching on television last night to talk through my plot with my husband. He helped fix the problems I was having. Looks like I might have the plot figured out. Wait. Wait. I need to write a blog post for Here Be Magic first. 

 So, there you go. You might think I could sit down and whip up an outline out of thin air, but my brain isn’t focused enough for that. Still, I think I’ve got the whole story worked out for Djinn Haven #2. As for the novella, I think Extinguished Cupid might be a go after all. A male cupid who doesn’t believe in love?

 I think can handle him.

Rachel writes stories that drop average people into magical situations filled with heart and quirky humor.

She believes in pixie dust, the power of love, good cheese, lucky socks and putting things off until the last minute. Her home is Disneyland, despite her current location in Kansas. Rachel has one husband, two grown kids and a crazy-catlady starter kit.

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A Tale of Three Partials

I’ve written three partials in three weeks. Not out of some creative urge or crazy deadline but simply because I had a break in my schedule that allowed me to catch up. Plus I discovered that writing longhand on my lunch breaks at the day job was really effective.

Let’s call the stories SFR, PR and FR (Yeah, they were all different genres)

Each book I write comes out a little differently. And even though I’ve plotted the stories there is no guarantee.

For example SFR was clear in my mind I knew who the characters were and how they sounded. I had plotted it in detail and when I wrote it flowed out of me easily. (Those books are awesome!)

FR, it’s first person and while I knew the heroine’s journey and who she was I really didn’t get a feel for her voice and her deeper character until I was about 2 pages in. Once I was in it was great until my carefully constructed plot got ignored…next up commence re-plotting of the rest of the book.

PR, despite my careful plotting and my knowledge of the characters and the existing world I was 2.5 chapters in before I got a handle on the story and it actually started to get a feel and shape that I liked.

2.5 chapters out of the three I was writing were just me trying to learn how to tell the story. Sigh and rewrite.

I'll need to reform those first 2 chapters. And I’m really not sure about the first scene as I think the second has more impact. I’ve learned not to start hacking away without a second or third opinion though, as what I see in my work is different to what an impartial CP does :)

After getting those three done I’m now back into edits. I probably won’t look at the partials again for anther month then they’ll be cleaned up and ushered out the door, hopefully to find a home.

How Online Gaming Influenced My Writing

Hi again, Here Be Magic readers! With my fantasy novel Valor of the Healer dropping tomorrow at CarinaPress.com (about which I'd just like to remark YAY! and also HOLY CRAP I have a book coming out!), I'd like to chat with you all about some of the background of the story. And in particular, my online gaming background that influenced aspects of all three of the viewpoint characters.

Out of all the things I've written to date, Valor of the Healer has the longest-running history throughout my life. Way back in middle and high school, I was writing novels that eventually formed the basis of the backstory for Valor's world. And sometimes I was even writing them during class, while pretending to take notes! (One advantage to writing out a story longhand in a spiral-bound notebook!) I still have those stories, and while they are very, very much the products of a young writer, I keep them around nonetheless for nostalgia. In those stories, you can see the very earliest versions of the nation of Adalonia, and the character who eventually became the Anreulag in Valor of the Healer.

Later on, once I'd gotten out of college, I discovered MUSHes. The name is an abbrevation of Multi-User Shared Hallucination, and they are a type of online, text-based roleplaying game. Generally they were based on the setting of a work of SF/F, and the idea was that you'd be able to create a character in that environment and roleplay with other characters in real time. I played on several of these games, including ones set in the worlds of Elfquest, The Dragonriders of Pern, and Star Wars.

The character of Kestar Eyrian Vaarsen is in fact named after a couple of characters played by my friend Amanda, with whom I roleplayed extensively on PernMUSH back in the 90's. The character in my book was originally a lot more like the characters of K'star and E'rian, but he eventually evolved into his own person. Nonetheless, he's named after those characters, in homage to all the awesome roleplay fun I had with Amanda.

But sometimes the settings were entirely original, like AetherMUSH, which was the creation of Astra Poyser Laughlin, who you'll see called out in the Acknowledgements of my book. The reason? AetherMUSH was the place where the first versions of Faanshi and Julian were created.
I found my MUSHing experience surprisingly useful for developing writing skills. On several of the games I played on, if you wanted to play characters with special abilities or "feature" characters--i.e., the game's versions of characters that appeared in the original canon, such as Han Solo on Star Wars MUSH--you were generally required to create an application for those characters. You'd have to think about questions of backstory for the characters, what they may have done before if you were inheriting them from previous players, and what sort of plots you'd want to roleplay with those characters while you had them. It was immensely helpful for character development skills.

And on the best MUSHes I played on, such as Aether, huge emphasis was placed as well upon one's plotting skills. You'd often be called upon to create "tinyplots", interactive plots where your fellow players could join you in carrying out a particular story. Again, valuable writing experience. You'd need to sketch out the broad details of the story, while also accounting for alternate ways for the plot to go depending on the actions of your fellow players.

Eventually, I got to the point where I kept regular running logs of all of my characters' activities. To give readers of the logs more of a sense of continuity, I'd also write "What has gone before" introductions to them, and sometimes side prose snippets as well to link them together. Once I started doing this, people started telling me that reading my logs was just like reading a novel.

Once I committed to writing for real, I had to give up MUSHing--due to not only time constraints, but also due to how the skills I'd come to feel were required to MUSH effectively were ones better spent on my writing work. But to this day, I look back on my MUSHing time with great affection and I still have my archive of roleplay logs. In those logs, you can find the original versions of Faanshi and Julian in particular, characters that never actually interacted with one another in their first incarnations! Bonus fun fact: the AetherMUSH version of Julian had wings!

How about you, Here Be Magic readers? Are any of you gamers of any sort? Fellow Here Be Magic author Tia Nevitt is a fellow former MUSHer, and I'd love to hear about any of the rest of you who have gaming backgrounds, especially if your gaming experiences influenced your writing in any way. What were your favorite games to play? Do you have any characters from your gaming days who are insisting you tell stories about them now? Tell me all about them in the comments!

How the Villain Stomped on My Outline

I outline.  In the world of writers, I am a plotter, not a pantser, an architect, not a gardener.  For the most part I follow my outline, though the story usually stretches and grows as I go along and new, juicy ideas are added.  I’d never really run into the well-known phenomena of a character refusing to do as I wanted—until Soul of Kandrith.

After having written book one, Gate to Kandrith, I knew my two main characters quite well.  Lance may have grumbled a bit, but neither he nor Sara gave me any serious trouble.  All was going along swimmingly until my villain, Nir, the high priest of the God of War, strode onto the scene.  He snorted with contempt at my neat little outline.  “That wouldn’t stop me,” he said, and he stomped it flat.  His actions wrenched the storyline into a much darker place than I had originally intended to go.

When I sat down to do the second draft, I made a note to myself: “Make this less dark.”  And I tried, I did, but Nir dug in his heels and refused to cooperate.  I eventually conceded that he was right, that it would be out of character for him to act the way my outline dictated.  And the darkness and peril made the storyline more compelling.  Furthermore, I came to realize that lightening the darkness too much would take away from my themes of slavery and sacrifice.  So I let it be. 

So when you reach that section, just remember it wasn’t my fault.  It was Nir’s.  Blame him.  Hate him.  And cheer when he gets taken down at the end.

 The conclusion of the Kandrith duology

Lance is a healer and wielder of slave magic, a power that demands sacrifice. He gave up his health to gain the ability to heal others, but he's powerless to cure his beloved Sara, who sacrificed her soul to save Lance and all of Kandrith. Returning her soul would negate her gift, at the cost of his life and the freedom of his homeland.

Now Sara is but a shell of the noble, spirited woman she once was. All that Lance saw and loved in her is gone, but he refuses to give up on her. Charged by his sister, the ruler of Kandrith, with a mission to encourage a budding rebellion within the aggrandizing Republic of Temboria, he leaves with Sara in tow. But not before Wenda's soulsight detects a spark within her.

Amidst the escalating dangers in hostile territory, Lance will have to risk both his beloved and his homeland in a final gambit to save them both…

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