In my quest to better grasp the structure of story I’ve been reading Chris Vogler’s the Writer’s Journey. The book is basically broken down into two section: a list of narrative archetypes and a list of steps a hero traverses in his journey.
I found the first archetypes section of the book to be not all that beneficial. The problem is that if taken literally, a writer might feel the need to include seperate characters that inhibit Vogler’s archetypes. Does my story really need a “threshold guardian” character that prevents my character from initiating his quest? Or, if I use the archetypes as masks, like Vogler suggests, the terms become so abstract to the point of being practically useless. Is my supporting character a “trickster” in this scene? Or, perhaps she has taken on more of the “shadow” role due to her secretly plotting against my hero?
As I penetrated the second section of the book, the hero’s journey, I began to appreciate some of Vogler’s points. His breakdown of the jounrney’s step is a useful tool for finding the patterns in existing stories. It is through this understanding of the patterns that lets me examine whether my story is following or deviating from other stories’ structures. I also liked the questions posed at the end of each chapter. Vogler asks the reader to find these patterns in famous movies or in the reader’s own past. I caught myself stopping after each chapter and pondering life experiences where I had gone through these journey steps.
As I approach the book’s end, I do seem to enjoy it more. Perhaps I’m being a little harsh because I’ve become such a fan of Mcee’s Story and this book is simply not on the same level. However, I do think I will take away some useful principles for understanding story structures.