The heroine in all of us

Today I'm giving a talk at a local library on the Hero's Journey, which is a writing theory about story structure. So I was going over what Chris Vogler has to say in his book, The Writer's Journey, starting with the first two phases of the journey, the Ordinary World and the Call to Adventure.

You know what I noticed? This stuff isn't just for heroes. 

All of us have an ordinary world. Work, school, chores, fun, friends. But do we all have a call to adventure? Define adventure, exactly. And how does the call come? Would a person know a call if she heard it? 

The deal with the ordinary world is that there, the hero has some kind of a lack within herself. And the adventure's purpose is to fill that lack, so that by the time she gets through all the stages of the journey, she's a different person than when she began and can handle what she's called on to do. But the call, you say. What's the call?

When I'm cooking up a new story, the call is that shivery feeling on the back of my neck that says, "Oooooh. This one. This is the one you need to write about." My brain may not know it yet, but my heart does. In Be Strong and Curvaceous, book 3 of the All About Us series, Carly's call is the call to friendship . . . to a person she doesn't even like and has nothing in common with! But God has plans for her, and Carly's response to that call creates the story--and her adventure.

I firmly believe that when God's still, small voice whispers to us, it's a call to adventure. We may not be outfitted to set out on the journey (in our opinion), but He'll take care of us every step of the way. 

Bring on that shivery feeling!

Love ya,

Shelley

http://www.shelleyadina.com