I was drinking an extra tall vanilla latte, blinking back the sand in my eyes as Sally came in. A glorious Monday morning, the sun winking off the frosty waves of Lake Superior, the sky a triumphant eggshell blue, the snow glistening under all that grandeur like diamonds. Good thing, too, because I’d stayed up late watching both Casablanca and Pearl Harbor to prepare for our conversation this morning. I knew, after meeting with Sally for three weeks, she took our conversations seriously and wanted to be on my game. She sat down and pulled off her knitted mittens. “I started a notebook from last week, like you suggested.” She pulled out a hardbound journal with a leather cover and handed it to me. I opened it and to my […]
Read the RestTag Archives | How do I create the Inner Journey?
The Value of the Lie in building the inner journey of your character
We talk a lot at My Book Therapy about “The Lie” journey. It’s an easy way we examine and layer in the Internal Journey of the character, and even tap into the spiritual element of the journey. The Lie is essential to every story because the lie defines the over arching emotional journey of the protagonist. And the truth is… we all believe a lie at some point in our life. We probably weave in and out of various lies our whole lives – from what others think about us to what we think about ourselves to what God thinks about us. Talking with one of my spiritual daughters, I learned she feared God would bring her to a certain place, then pull the rug out from under her. Let […]
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The Noble Quest Up Close and Personal
We’ve been talking Character creation a bit here on MBT, in the Team Member Forum, as well as on the site, and while talking with my Mentee the other day, we were trying to flesh out her heroine’s Noble Quest. What does she want? What is this story about? What journey does she embark upon? This is an essential part of the Hero/Heroine’s journey that is key to the story. My mentee’s first response was, “Well, she wants to start a clinic for children.” Great goal. Very noble. But that’s not the heroines real Noble Quest. The clinic, if she accomplishes her dream, is the end result of the Noble Quest. It is her specific, measurable and realistic goal. (and if you can add a time-sensitive element to it, it […]
Read the RestThe Final Battle: Wrapping up the Inner Journey for your Hero
We’ve been talking the past two weeks about the Black Moment, and the importance of it in our hero’s and heroine’s journey. Just to reiterate, without the Black Moment, there is no point to the journey of our character, no moment of change. It’s in the Black Moment that they discover why they’ve gone on this journey. If you’ve added in a romantic thread, it’s when they lose the one they love, and realize they can’t live without them. It’s also when they learn they must change in order to get what they want. (or accomplish the goal they’ve set out to at the beginning of the story). Now that our hero has confronted his Black Moment and seen the light, then we’re NEARLY ready to finish our story. But, […]
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