I was late to Vogler's classroom. (It's funny but nearly everyone with whom I discuss The Hero's Journey has heard of it before. I find searching for someone unfamiliar with Vogler's analysis of Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces (first published in 1949) as futile as trying - all these years after it has hit Netflix-level saturation - to surprise a friend with the eye-popping plot twist at the end of The Sixth Sense.) But Christopher kindly allowed me to stay after class and catch up with the other students. And catch up I did!
If you have never heard of The Hero's Journey, stop reading this right now and go google it! (And then please give me credit for exposing you to it!) You won't ever be able to watch a movie or read a book with the same blind unawareness of, as Vogler defines it, "the pattern that lies behind every story ever told."
In 1985, Vogler wrote a seven page memo describing Campbell's story insights and gave it to a story analyst friend and to a couple of key Disney executives. The rest, shall we say, is history. "The Memo," as it has come to be known, transformed EVERYTHING in the story-composing world. His exceptional book, THE WRITER'S JOURNEY, is required reading for anyone seriously attempting to craft a captivating screenplay or novel.
I have taken copious notes on everything Hero's-Journey-related that I can find. I have even created a three-ring binder designated exclusively to The Hero's Journey for use in my present and future novel-writing projects. It would be impossible for me to summarize his analysis in less than thousands of gushing words. Therefore, you are left to just trust me and go study it for yourself. You will thank me someday!
In my next update, I will focus my attention on the extraordinary K.M. Weiland, the award-winning and internationally published author of the Amazon bestseller, Outlining Your Novel, and numerous other similarly helpful books. No one has influenced my writing more than Katie. Check back soon to discover why that is!
If you have never heard of The Hero's Journey, stop reading this right now and go google it! (And then please give me credit for exposing you to it!) You won't ever be able to watch a movie or read a book with the same blind unawareness of, as Vogler defines it, "the pattern that lies behind every story ever told."
In 1985, Vogler wrote a seven page memo describing Campbell's story insights and gave it to a story analyst friend and to a couple of key Disney executives. The rest, shall we say, is history. "The Memo," as it has come to be known, transformed EVERYTHING in the story-composing world. His exceptional book, THE WRITER'S JOURNEY, is required reading for anyone seriously attempting to craft a captivating screenplay or novel.
I have taken copious notes on everything Hero's-Journey-related that I can find. I have even created a three-ring binder designated exclusively to The Hero's Journey for use in my present and future novel-writing projects. It would be impossible for me to summarize his analysis in less than thousands of gushing words. Therefore, you are left to just trust me and go study it for yourself. You will thank me someday!
In my next update, I will focus my attention on the extraordinary K.M. Weiland, the award-winning and internationally published author of the Amazon bestseller, Outlining Your Novel, and numerous other similarly helpful books. No one has influenced my writing more than Katie. Check back soon to discover why that is!
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