Annt. Bib. #5

Voglar, Christopher. “The Writer’s Journey”. Stages of the Journey. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1998. 107-125.

Summary

The “Refusal of the Call” is found in practically every story. It’s very useful to writers because it really gives a dramatic affect and also makes the hero more relatable to the audience because it shows that he/she has fears like the rest of us. Its very natural for anyone to not want to go on a dangerous adventure that they may not return from. We all have come across those times where we really don’t want to do something and we make come up with any kind of excuse to get out of it. The reading also talked about how heroes sometimes persistently refuse the call, which in turn leads to some kind of tragedy. Most stories need the hero to overcome the fear of adventure for the story to begin. However, there are also stories that have what Voglar calls, “willing heroes”. These are heroes that accept the call to adventure immediately or even seek after a call to adventure. Also, in some stories, the refusal of the call doesn’t really come from the hero, but from other characters that may act as threshold guardians, powerful figures who raise the banner of fear and doubt, questioning the hero’s very worthiness to complete the task.

The second part of the reading covered the “Meeting with the Mentor” stage. This stage of the journey is also very important to writers because it to has the ability to create very dramatic scenes. The mentor is very important in a story and is present in almost every story. The mentor is a source of wisdom, protection, guidance, testing, training, and sometime magical gifts. Mentors are also important because they are usually the character that keeps the story going. Some stories tend to come to points where they could get stuck, but with the help of the mentor, the story is able to continue. It was mentioned in the reading that in every Greek story, there is some kind of mentor character and the word “mentor” actually comes from the character “Mentor” in the story The Odyssey.

Reaction

I agree with Voglar about both these stages being important to any story. Although I do believe its possible for a story to be good even without these two stages, but they are seen in almost every story known today. The one line I found interesting was, “When you are getting to ready to undertake a great adventure, the Ordinary World knows somehow and clings to you.” I like this line because I think it’s so true. Even in life, when we are about to make a big change or venture to someplace new and unknown to us, our Ordinary World seems even more inviting and comforting, and it makes you want to stay there all the more.

Questions

1. Can you think of a story where the hero does not come in contact with some source of wisdom before committing to an adventure?

2. Is a story with a “refusal of the call” stage necessarily better than a story that doesn’t have that stage?

3. How would you create a mentor character without falling into the clichés?