Using the Hero’s Journey
Re-Cap
In a prior post, I laid out the Hero’s Journey and how I interpret and apply. It was a timely post for me, since I’m re-structuring a series of related stories into a single novel-length work. I thought I’d take a break from working on the story to show how I am using my own approach to make the tale stronger.
Warning, the story described below has links to NSFW content. While this post is Safe For Work, the stories themselves are not.
Prologue
The concept for the novel began with an off-the-wall question; “How would a dominant masochist act” and “Could their be such a thing?” That idea/question turned into a 19,000 word story with a rich world created as a back-drop. Of course, as I iterated on the idea and the world, the focus shifted to explore more of the culture that world was set in and the main character took on a life of his own. 140,000 words later, the same main character is continuing his heroic journey.
The key fact I realized as I was editing the novel is that the first story is not actually the beginning of the tale. It is really the “Crossing the first threshold” in the structural arch, so the end of Act One. It also has strong BDSM elements in the first two written parts of the story, which could put readers off if they have not context for the “what” and “why” of their use within the story.
As part of my writing, I had snippets and short chapters that helped explain some of the world, forming fifteen chapters. I’m writing what I hope will be the final act in the novel and realized restructuing was needed. To illustrate the amount of re-ordering done to fit the story into a comprehensive structure, I’ll put the chapter titles in bold or as links if versions are available online, and then in parenthesis show the order they were originally written in.
Act One (Setup)
Where we go from the ordinary world through crossing the first threshold to the Belly of the Whale):
Novel Prologue (11) - introducing the flight of man from Earth. This intro simply hints at why mankind is fleeing Earth, setting what the early characters must consider “the ordinary world”. It is not going to be ordinary to the reader, so I wanted a very brief sketch to help orient them to the broader world view.
Inception of Empire (7) - the novel is set in a future world where colonists have segregatted themselves into differing groups based on the level of tehcnology they want to live with. Having just fled horrors on Earth of their own creation, this neo-ludite view is easily understood, but not accepted by many of the colonists. This chapter is a blend of the call to adventure and refusal of the call.
Humble Beginnings (15) - a short bridge chapter to bring the reader from the expected story of the early empire’s struggle to get established to the “present” world filled with sophisticated, but sometimes decadent beahvior.
In the Red Wing (1) - the intial installment of the story, introducinc the main character and the world that the empire has evolved into. This chapter has the “meeting with the mentor” as well as “crossing the first threshold” stages of the journey. It also acts as it’s own “first act” since it establishes the new “ordinary world” that the main character will be living in.
Light of a Gray Dawn (2) - Crossing the threshold and landing in “the belly of the whale”. The main character leaves what felt like his ordinary world and is thrust into the politics of the empire and his family’s unique position. It continues to explore some of the social differences that have evolved and sets up the main conflict of the overall story. I could argue that this chapter is the start of Acto Two, since it is clearly “the road to trials”. However, this is one of the reasons I prefer the simpler lables adopted by Vogler over Campbell. In the end, I’ll leave it up to readers to decide where the breaks between acts actually is.
Act Two (Confrontation)
These chapters focus on the challenges the main character faces, both social, emotional, and intellectual.
Sixth Day (3)
Seventh Day (4) - these two chapters set are the first test the main character faces.
The Season Parts 1-4 (5-10) - Several new tests are shared in this section, including the impetus moving the broader story forward. These four chapters follow the heroic journey arc as well, but on a smaller scale.
Into Autumn Parts 1-3 (12-14) - This part of the story includes elements of “meeting with the goddess” and “woman as the temptress”. The MC has to progress and balance their quest with their emotions. The end of this section sets up the final conflict of the series/novel.
Act Three (Resolutions)
The Cold Blade of Winter Part 1-3 (16-18)
The Cold Blade of Winter Part 4 (19) - this is where I am currently writing, working to bring all of the plot conflicts together to a satisfying conclusion.
Appendix: The Imperial Constitution (7)
With luck, this novel, “Families of The Empire” will be completed before the end of 2023 and published via Amazon.