I just picked up a book I’ve had on my shelf for a long time but neglected to read. The Writer’s Journey, Mythic Structure for Storytellers & Screenwriters, by Christopher Vogler, provides a guide for writers to universal mythic structure, drawing on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Vogler examines how this pattern of the hero’s journey has been used in motion pictures, including his work on Disney productions.
My copy is the first edition, dated 1992. It’s been updated since, with a 2nd edition from Michael Wiese Productions in October 1998, ISBN: 0941188701. You can find more information at Vogler’s website, The Writer’s Journey.
Vogler’s work is a boon to the writer. I first came across his work during a conference in Beaumont, Tx. For the past year I’d been working to adapt Campbell’s hero’s journey to writing ficiton. Imagine my surprise when this fella gets up and starts telling us how to do just that. At the time he only had some notes and a rough draft that he had in a binder. I still have that one. Later he came out with his book and writers across the genres embraced his suggestions. I find the journey pattern to be a great diagnostic tool after a complete draft has been written.
So far I’m impressed. Yes, I also see how it would help to analyze a draft. In fact I keep relating it to my current work as I read.
Barbara, thanks for the comment and insight on my blog
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That sounds interesting, the whole idea of a template layout for a given genre, which I know is reductional analysis I instinctively resist. But the proof of 3,000 years of literature is hard to ignore.
Welcome, Tabitha.
Mark, it’s great for analyzing the pattern a story is taking. A lot of the early critics of Vogler’s ideas called this a formula, but it’s not really. Template makes more sense to me. I’m taking this book slowly, and find I’m absorbing a lot of useful insights.