STEP FOUR: MEETING WITH THE MENTOR

You all know them. Merlin in Arthurian legend, Dumbledore in Harry Potter, Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. Even if there is no actual character in this role, your hero must always make contact with some source of wisdom; something that gifts them knowledge and/or confidence to continue on their journey.

1. Is your Mentor a character? If so who are they? Were they once the hero of their own story?
2. What gifts does your hero receive from the mentor? Knowledge? Confidence? Tools? Weapons?
3. Other characters can wear the mask of the mentor as they teach your hero things. Do any of your other characters wear the mask of the mentor at times? What purpose to they serve by doing so?

View high resolution

STEP THREE: REFUSAL OF THE CALL

The hero responds to the call to adventure, often with hesitation or even refusal. This tells the audience that the adventure is not a frivolous undertaking – that the risks and stakes are real and high.

1. Is your character a willing hero? If so, how is the weight of the adventures undertaking expressed? Do other characters warn them off?
2. What is your hero afraid of? How are those fears expressed? Do they feed into their refusal of the call?
3. In what ways does your character refuse the call and what are the consequences?

STEP TWO: THE CALL TO ADVENTURE

The trigger or catalyst that gets the ball rolling. The call to adventure can be as overt as a letter or herald delivering a message or as subtle as a hero’s internal need for change driving them forward.

1. What is your call to adventure? Is it overt or subtle? External or internal?
2. Do you have a herald? Someone to deliver the call? Are they a positive or negative force?
3. Have you found an interesting or unique way to present the call? Are you working with tropes or subverting them?

View high resolution

STEP ONE: THE ORDINARY WORLD

The hero is introduced and the ordinary world set up, so that it may be contrasted with the fantastic that is to come.

Eg: In Stardust, Tristan is introduced as a luckless small town romantic, mooning over the prettiest girl in town. His ordinary world is Wall, but it’s also his place in it as the small-town boy who dreams of bigger things.

Questions:

1. What is your ordinary world? How is it different to the world your hero will enter upon starting their journey?
2. Think about your opening scene or image. How will it hook your reader? Does it convey the theme of your story?
   
3. What does your reader need to know about your world and your hero before the story starts? How can you get this information across in a way that’s not going to bore the pants off your reader?
4. Who is your hero? Describe their likes and dislikes, what drives them? What challenges them?
5. Does your hero have both an inner and outer problem? ie: Do they have an outward challenge (Tristan’s retrieving the star) as well as an inner, moral one (Tristan’s gaining self-confidence).

What’s the deal?

For the next twelve days, we’re going to explore the twelve steps of the Heroes Journey, a basic story pattern used in (arguably) most narratives.

For each day I will post a series of questions and exercises relating to each step. I’ll be leaning on Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey for most of my content because it is a goddamn fantastic resource that deserves to be lovingly stroked by every writer in the world.

Why?

For anyone struggling with plotting, the Heroes Journey can be a really nice jumping off point. If gives your story a base structure to work with and highlights elements you may be lacking.

When?

I’ll be posting the first step directly after this introduction (ridiculous o’clock on Wednesday the 24th of April). Each following step will be posted between 12am and 1am Australian Eastern Standard Time each day.

There’s not going to be a deadline on these babies, so you can work through the exercises at your own pace.

How?

If you’re wanting to publish your progress, either reblog the post and add your answers OR copy/paste the questions and create your own post (this is better for those who want to keep track of their notes).

If you like, you can tag your fills #fictionminionacts so we can perve on what other writers have been up to.

Any questions, drop me an ask.

Day 3: Deliberately Cute Child →

This is a kid who has all the stereotypically adorable childlike mannerisms: thumb-sucking, lisping, Puppy-Dog Eyes, and so on. Really, though, they’re just faking it all; they’ve figured out it’s a good way to get what they want.

Your character meets such a child. What is their reaction? Are they sucked in?

The hell is that?

A prompt will be posted once a day for 30 days. The goal is to write something with an OC for each prompt.

Why the hell?

The point is to get to know your OCs by throwing them into random situations. You may be trying to get a grasp of writing them in prep for a longer project. Or you may just like tossing them in the deep end to see if they sink or swim.

When the hell?

I’ll be posting the first prompt on Saturday the 2nd of March. A prompt will be posted between 12am and 1am Australian Eastern Standard Time each day.

How the hell?

To participate, either reblog the post and add your fill OR copy/paste the prompt and create your own post (this is better for those who want to keep track of their notes).

If you like, you can tag your fills #DB30days so we can seal clap over all the pretty character drabbles.

Who the hell?

This little foray into madness has been setup so that myself (Stacey - you may know me as Hatteress) and Mel (aka hungrylikethewolfie) can get our asses in gear and start working on our original novels. DETERMINATION, THY NAME IS.

I’m setting up this post as an open invite to anyone who’d like to join us in the 30 days of character madness ahead.

Any questions, drop me an ask.