Hero's Journey Template

Recently I had a great discussion with an old friend about writing, publishing and story structure. Pantsers grow queasy with any mention of an outline or planning and Outliners develop the shakes without an agenda to follow. There's not a right way or a wrong way. Like a good Libra, I fall smack dab in the middle of the two. The artist in me wants the autonomy of free expression and no rules when I write. However, the even keeled, disciplined part of my head requires at least some signposts along the way to reassure me.

Enter, once again, Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. There are no shortage of tools and diagrams available for you to peruse, just fire up the Google. I married a few concepts together to create a storyboard template. I used the boxes above each stage to map a story I was working on that I knew lacked something, but I couldn't figure out what. Using this method made it painfully clear my story fell apart in the beginning of ACT III.

I used this template to help find and fix a structure problem. You can use it how ever you would like. Maybe to plan your next story, brainstorm alternatives or just print it out and doodle on the back.

Doesn't matter to me, just keep writing.
 

Building A Writer's Character; 25 Tips, Prompts and Warnings

Below are 25 ideas around building a better character from my forthcoming book, “Write Advice II; More inspirations, tips and thoughts specifically for writers”


Let me know your favorites.

1. If you know every characters’ internal and external motivation before you start writing, you’ll be less surprised by their actions. 

2. Give your protagonist a nervous tick or habit that reveals their character. Make them fold a napkin, slurp a straw, twirl their hair, check their phone incessantly.

3. To find fictional names, open up a magazine and scan the masthead of editors and contributors, then combine the first or last name with a noun. 

4. Often the best villains are the ones that practically mirror the main character except in one or two areas.

5. Are your characters developing? 

6. If your antagonist showed up in an art gallery what pieces would they gravitate to and how long would they stay?  

7. How would you feel if you were in a cafe and you learned another writer was looking at you, getting inspiration for their villain? 

8. What trait do you personally have that would serve your antagonist well?

9. What would happen if you changed the sex of every character in your story and started over? Would your characters be the same if you changed their race, or age? If not, you might not have enough life in them yet. If you change those identities, your characters should change. If they don't, you’ve got some more work to do. 

10. What would your story's antagonist blog about?

11. Put your characters in conflict. Make them uncomfortable and write them out of a predicament.

12. What would happen if one of your created characters tweeted you?

13. Pick up on a random conversation at a cafe and then imagine the backstory or create a new one.

14. Characters that have at least one thing that others admire about them, and one thing that makes them an ass, gives them realism.  

15. Run your characters through something like a Facebook 20 questions and see what they would answer. 

16. Sit your characters in front of Google. What would they do?

17. Would you like to have dinner with your character, or are you worried that they may think you're too boring? Would they pick up the tab? 

18. What’s an interesting and potentially awkward dinner topic to have with the characters you create?

19. Be careful of developing crushes on your characters, they don't love you nearly as much. 

20. Interview your fictional character. 

21. Open Cosmo or whatever they would read and have them take one of the quizzes.

22. Do you know if your characters are left or right handed or are you just assuming? 

23. Insult your characters and pick a fight with them. See what they do.

24. Your characters will tell you when the words don't feel right. Until then, let them talk. 

25. Give your villains something to love and your heros something to hate.   

Look for more in Karl Bimshas’s forthcoming book, 

“Write Advice II; More inspirations, tips and thoughts specifically for writers”


Can't wait? Click Here for the Original

Quick Plotting

A "Back of the Napkin" Illustration

Plotting a story can be daunting for a writer, particularly if they view themselves as an "artiste" and prefer to write by the seat of their pants to see what moves them.

A story well told is one well planned. There's no need to account for every last detail, your muse, inspiration or deadline will take care of those. You just need a general map to get your bearings. 

Who's your Hero and what's their Goal? 

Pretty cut and dry and if your hero and their goal is so compelling and interesting, that may be all you need.

It's probably not.

To add more flavoring, determine your hero's biggest Wants and Fears.

Make those wants and fears tangible by thinking about the Sacrifices and Rewards your hero is willing to make and likely to get. 

Now, let the story unfold and alternate your hero's wants and fears with sacrifices and rewards along the way toward their goal.

If you can plot a story you want to write, you can plot the life you want to lead. You're the Hero in your life. What's your goal? What are your wants and fears? What sacrifices are you willing to make to reach your goal? What rewards have you already enjoyed?

Go. Write. And live the life you've plotted.

Is Your Writing Better Than Sex?

The Great Writer must compete for Attention and Induce Action

Writing is very personal. It’s a seemingly magical method of capturing images and thoughts from your imagination and putting them on the page in a way that very few other disciplines can. Painters, musicians, sculptors, architects, maybe engineers and extemporaneous public speakers are perhaps the only vocations that demand the inspiration that comes from within go straight to the blank canvass before them. This means they may need to throw away more of their creations than others because they are unfit for public consumption. Everyone should study their craft to continually improve, but the writer has a unique challenge in that they must compete with the rest of the world for the readers attention.

A painting can hang unobtrusively on the wall or be visited in a gallery. Portable music has become the personal soundtrack of many people’s life. A building, regardless of the fluidity of it’s lines, does not move.

To be read, the writer needs to compel the reader to make the time for them. The reader always gets to choose when to pick up your book, or fire up the Kindle and read your work. As a writer, you have no control over whether you will be carried along with your reader, or left on the nightstand, relegated to the bathroom, or placed on the coffee table like an ego stroking trophy for guests to see and enjoy.

Your work has to compete for attention against screaming toddlers, the television, Facebook and countless other distractions.

As a writer your work should endeavor to be your reader’s travel companion and lover. It, (meaning your work, and since writing is personal, it, meaning you) should be called upon during long waits in line, aboard flights and ferries, trains and busses. You should be brought to bed at night where you are chosen over sex or sleep, for at least for a little while longer. If your writing isn’t at that level you will lose. If you achieve that tier of preference, you can be considered a very good writer. To be a great writer, you need to do more.

The great writer doesn’t settle for winning the competition over preference. The great writer induces the reader to think about and do things differently. Perhaps to be a better parent, or to be discerning over which television channel to watch, which websites to visit, which airline to fly, or which revolution to fight. The great writer must seduce and challenge the reader. The great writer, leads with their words. 

You don’t have to be a great writer, but you should try.

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