Really interesting little series Scott. Am just working through Vogler's "The Writer's Journey" which is heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell. He uses 12 steps, but I think some of them are really sub-steps of the major beats in the story as you have outlined above. Really interesting book for a novice though.

Vogler's book is a must-read, but I get concerned when I hear about producers and reps complaining about the Hero's Journey leading to formulaic scripts when that so far removed from what Campbell was about. In some ways, that's why I think a meta view of broad movements is more helpful to a writer. Think like that, then connect with the characters to the degree that they come 'alive' for you, then you are much less likely to write formula, and more likely to write something vibrant, surprising and emotionally resonant. I feel like I should follow up with a series on five primary character archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster. Haven't hit on that in awhile and it fits hand in glove with this meta view of screenwriting. If anyone is interested in that, let me know.

only Hell Yeah!

I'll second what Turambar said. I'm already looking forward to that series. Scott, some of the comments really clicked yesterday, and I think I was able to put together another connection for myself. You mentioned: "it is about recognizing the adult potential that ALREADY exists within the initiate". So, for Prep writing, should I focus most of my effort on making The Life Before FADE IN and the Initiation connection, since this leads to the core essence of the protagonist? For example in Gladiator for Maximus: Life Before Fade In is he's a soldier who just wants to serve his emperor father figure and go home to his family. He's a farmer who really doesn't have a connection to Rome or seems to care to. At the initiation part, he's initiated into the gladiator club where he literally has to fight for the crowd (Roman citizens) against Commodus. And it's here where he finds his essence (adult potential) -- to lead Rome to a republic. But, as you said, he arouses this and doesn't really gain it. It's already there: he's a natural leader (of his army), loyal servant, and I think it's implied in the movie he grew up under Richard Harris's tutelage, who certainly cared for Rome. And it's during this initiation passage he arouses the need to free Rome from Commodus. So for the prep writing, is it most helpful to focus on that connection or am I missing an aspect? Thanks again for the series. I've found it to be really instructive and it's always fun to dive into these movies.

Holly, glad you've found the series to be helpful. Re your question: My advice is to understand as much about your characters as possible on all fronts. The 'lens' I've been laying out in this series is, I hope, helpful in providing a different perspective on what is generally called the characters arc. Everyone talks about arcs. But what does it mean? Even if I say, "Metamorphosis" as being the primary one [and a positive one at that], what does that look like? So here we have five movements: Life Before FADE IN, Separation, Initiation, Return, Life After FADE OUT. There is a continuum to it, a character's arc evolving incrementally from beginning to end. As I've suggested, we may also look at as moving from Child to Adolescent to Adult. Here is another 'lens' through which to look at arc: Disunity - Deconstruction - Reconstruction - Unity That is how I typify the metamorphosis process. You can see the parallels, Assuming Life Before FADE IN represents backstory: Separation / Disunity Initiation / Deconstruction Return / Reconstruction Life After FADE IN / Unity These are not stages per se, rather ways of thinking about a character's development, in effect tools. If they help creatively, great. Use them. If not, I'm sure there are other metaphorical approaches that can work equally as well.

Hi Scott, I think Vogler does stress that.....that his Writer's Journey is a template and he recommends the writer to develop their story with the journey stages and character archetypes in the back of their mind. He doesn't describe them as a definitive template for stories, but as reference to come back to to help solve problems and recognise characters and beats in your won work. And that does work. Reading it I am always thinking back to my own work and thinking, "...oh yeah, I have that character type...", or, "...yeah I hit those beats..." but I am now less worried if there are specifics that I haven't used. And I think the examples he uses from the Wizard of Oz help... as I don't think all of them sit perfectly within the films own running time to fit exactly within a tightly specified structure of the hero's/writer's journey. It is a great book and I am enjoying working my way through it. It contrasts to books like Snyder, which I think I have mentioned before which are good for a novice, but have the potential to "trap" new writers into very forumlaic writing as they encourage sticking to rigid structure.... and it has become very clear to me very quickly, that this is dangerous and stifles creativity. Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent now... maybe this is something for a blackboard discussion? Might have a think about that for later, but I need to get out of bed and sort the kids out for school! But, yes, as series on the archetypes would be very welcome.