Hero's Journey

Today I was determined to get a new entry written and then work on subplots for STARVED. Here it is, though, past 10:30, and I'm just settling down to work. I had to contact a representative from an educational publishing company to get copyright info on a math problem that I found on the web for HUNGRY. I got a letter from him last year, but there was some technicality to look into. So . . . behind schedule!

Much of my energy this week has been spent packing for our trip to Chile (leaving soon!) and working with a district committee to hammer out our English Learner program (dealing with boring stuff like forms, so all the schools in the district are on the same page).

Back to plotting: as a writer, plot is the hardest thing for me to deal with. I do outline after outline, but what seems to be logical often doesn't work when I'm actually trying to write. My good friend and mentor Bruce McAllister (a great writing coach: http://www.mcallistercoaching.com/) suggested I get the book Myth and the Movies, by Stuart Voytilla and study how the hero's journey, the archetypal "template" that all good stories follow, is applied to various film genres: science fiction, thriller, romance, romantic comedy, history, etc. The process works just as well for all stories: movies, novels, short stories.

I find that I don't enjoy a lot of movies anymore because I know what's going to happen: toward the end of the movie, the protagonist gets his or her reward which signals that the biggest hurdle is on its way. I was a little reluctant to use the process when I first read the book. Now, though, looking at it again after a year, I see what a powerful tool it is.

I've drafted the main plot of STARVED (at least I've done a first run of it) on a circle chart using the elements as described in Myth and the Movies: starting in the ordinary world, encountering a mentor, refusing the call to adventure, accepting it, crossing the threshold to a special world, facing tasks, symbolically dying through an ordeal, coming back into the ordinary world with a reward, being resurrected on the road back to the ordinary world, and returning with an elixer. There is also a character arc that correlates with plot points. Having this structure really did make the story I want to write easier to conceive.

I want to do the same process with the two subplots for STARVED later today. All three circles (or more if I have time to do character archs) will go with me to Chile. I work best when I give myself deadlines, so I've promised myself that I'll have a strong beginning for the book before I return.

Since I write about the hero journey today, the peace dove is for the young men and women in Iraq. I hate this war and don't believe in it, but my heart goes out to those who are in the middle of it. I just heard that one of my former students is headed for the army. I know that there are many kids I used to teach over there. I wish them safety, a swift return home, and peace for everyone in that tattered country.

Horrors

Earlier this year while deciding which DVD to rent at the video store here on Cobb Mountain, I watched a family out of the corner of my eye while they were making their decision.

Dad and Mom, a boy about ten, and a younger boy who was probably five or six, wandered in and out of the rows. I think what caught my attention was the affection the parents had for their boys. To my surprise, the movie they decided to watch (family consensus) was SAW 2.

The day before I'd taught a writing lesson to first graders. The objective was to write using sensory details. The classroom teacher suggested that the students write about a dream they'd had. One child volunteered that Chucky was in his dream, and then one child after another talked about Chucky showing up in theirs. Chucky's one busy boogeyman. I asked the class how many of them had watched a movie with Chucky in it.

All but one or two kids raised their hands; even the sweetest little girls who usually wrote about rainbows and ponies were enthusiastically waving, wanting to share their favorite scenes.
I don't have children, but I have a feeling I'd be "old fashioned" about what I'd let my six year old watch.

At the video store, this was on my mind as I watched the family happily leave with SAW 2 tucked under the eldest son's arm. I rarely speak my mind in public, but maybe because the lesson was had just happened, I made a comment to the owner of the store about the purchase.

A man standing behind me overheard and asked, "How old is old enough for kids to watch horror?"

Taken off guard, I said, "I don't know. Twelve?" (If I had had my wits about me, I'd probably have said an older age.)

He stepped forward and pointed his finger at me, "You're saying my 11 year old isn't old enough to watch Saw 2?"

I told him my story about the first graders, and he then asked me,"But weren't they giggling?"

At this point I was almost in tears, but I managed to sputter, "Yes, they were . . ."

In a louder voice, the man asked, "And so what's wrong with it?"

I tried to say that I felt kids are growing up too fast, that I wanted them to be innocent for as long as possible, that I hated for kids to become inured to violence, having graphic violence implanted in their brains from the time they're born, and how hard it has been at times to get certain students to write something that doesn't come canned out of a movie script with heads blowing off right and left. I wanted to tell him about my worries about our society becoming desensitised to violence. I wanted to site studies about how video games have been linked to acts of violence among young men, and the anger and dread I felt when I read about how players get more points in Grand Theft Auto from shooting prostitutes after raping them.

I was flustered and couldn't talk. I managed to pay for my movie and got out of there. Then driving home, I thought about HUNGRY. Okay, here I was upset about SAW 2 and Chucky inhabiting the dreams of first graders. . . and what had I written? Deborah and her family eat people, for goodness sakes! Does the humor justify the violence in the book?

When I was writing the novel, I didn't take the Jones family dietary habits seriously because of the humor, and I didn't think anyone else would either. Willy, Deborah's best friend, and his parents are into horror movies, but when I was thinking classic horror, like Dracula and The Birds, (a movie I wasn't allowed to see when I was six or seven.) Deborah struggles with her family and culture's idea of what makes a good meal, so will kids see the importance of this?

I hope so. I hope the novel will put what is gratuitous in context and will give the little Estefanies and Gabriels a point of reference as they grow older, that they'll understand Deborah's delimma, and not just get off on the feeding she does.

Did the parents of the boys I saw in the video store talk to their kids about what they were watching after Saw 2 was over? I hope so. I hope parents will take to their kids about HUNGRY, as well.

In Front of the Refrigerator

I've been craving chocolate. Grumpiness level moderately high. Fell asleep yesterday at four p.m. and slept (almost) through until six this morning. Sure signs summer vacation is sorely needed.

Bill's hammering, putting stained glass panels above our sink. He's been painting our house white and laying paving stones and redoing the deck. Working on the house in case we decide to move. We're off to Chile later this month to see if I fall in love with the country as much as he did when he went earlier this year. I haven't put away my winter clothes. The temperature in Santiago was down to freezing last night.

If we decided to live in Chile, it won't be for at least another year, though the changes we're doing (I'm using the royal "we" here, as Bill's the craftsman) will make it hard to give up this place. I found the countdown clock for my novel HUNGRY on my HarperCollins' page this afternoon, and I only have a millions things to do before October!

I'm a fretter by nature. Will kids really like the book? Will some parents be concerned their children are reading about a girl who might have her best friend for a snack? As charming as I think Deborah is, will others feel the same way?

At my church (come on by: http://stjohnslakeportparish.googlepages.com) or at meetings in the diocese, people ask me what the book's about, and I say, "Flesh eating aliens;" no one has crossed themselves or pulled out a crucifix. So far everyone has laughed. I always add: HUNGRY is about a girl who has to struggle with the values of her home and culture and the difficulty of doing the right thing.

I'm glad we're going away. Working on preparation for the publication in Internet cafes in South America probably is the best thing that could happen to me! Plus, I'll be in a new atmosphere to start seriously writing a new book.