Dealing with Creative DOUBT

Dealing with Creative DOUBT

 ----- Original Message -----
...I'm at the point where nothing seems right. Everything I write down is cliche, badly written, and has bad pacing. Yet when I was younger I would turn out stories one right after the other like a non-stop machine. But now...thanks to all those instructors and classes, the creative edge is now limping along like a dog with only one leg.

...I don't have an agent or anything published in the first place. So that does paint an extra layer of doubt upon the situation. 

...when I discuss this, usually I'm berated with people saying, "Stop being so emo." As if depression were something that one can simply switch on and off.

...I guess what I'm doing here is ... trying to find some kind of sign, revelation or clue that I'm not a bad writer or that I'm just another writing loser.

You're not a bad writer or a loser of any kind.
-- You're NORMAL.

The truth is all artists of every kind have to deal with Doubt, from the rank beginner to the professional. All of us, without exception.

The dividing line between an artist and a loser is actually simple; sheer, mule-headed, Stubbornness. Losers give up. Artists won't.

Those of us writers (and artists) that actually make it to publication are monumentally stubborn. We write / create in spite of being less than perfect, in spite of being depressed, or angry, or tired, or blind, or crippled...

The best of us, like Niel Gaimen, Stephen King, and Nora Roberts USE that doubt and stubbornness to improve our skills by refusing to settle for 'good enough'. We dig up every trick we can find and scribble our discoveries into notebooks, on notepads, (or into writing tips,) and Practice them in little stories (or fan-fiction,) until we can actually make use of them.

NO ONE is perfect, but that doesn't mean we can't tell a good story -- that we're not Artists.

Be stubborn. Seriously. It will carry you far further than anything else will -- even skill.

Think I'm kidding? Well then, how about hearing it from one of the pros?

A Pep Talk from Neil Gaiman  

from: NaNoWriMo.Org

Dear Author,

By now you're probably ready to give up. You're past that first fine furious rapture when every character and idea is new and entertaining. You're not yet at the momentous downhill slide to the end, when words and images tumble out of your head sometimes faster than you can get them down on paper. You're in the middle, a little past the half-way point. The glamour has faded, the magic has gone, your back hurts from all the typing, your family, friends and random email acquaintances have gone from being encouraging or at least accepting to now complaining that they never see you any more--and that even when they do you're preoccupied and no fun.

You don't know why you started your novel, you no longer remember why you imagined that anyone would want to read it, and you're pretty sure that even if you finish it it won't have been worth the time or energy and every time you stop long enough to compare it to the thing that you had in your head when you began---a glittering, brilliant, wonderful novel, in which every word spits fire and burns, a book as good or better than the best book you ever read---it falls so painfully short that you're pretty sure that it would be a mercy simply to delete the whole thing.

Welcome to the club.

That's how novels get written.

You write. That's the hard bit that nobody sees. You write on the good days and you write on the lousy days. Like a shark, you have to keep moving forward or you die. Writing may or may not be your salvation; it might or might not be your destiny. But that does not matter. What matters right now are the words, one after another. Find the next word. Write it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

A dry-stone wall is a lovely thing when you see it bordering a field in the middle of nowhere but becomes more impressive when you realise that it was built without mortar, that the builder needed to choose each interlocking stone and fit it in. Writing is like building a wall. It's a continual search for the word that will fit in the text, in your mind, on the page. Plot and character and metaphor and style, all these become secondary to the words. The wall-builder erects her wall one rock at a time until she reaches the far end of the field. If she doesn't build it it won't be there. So she looks down at her pile of rocks, picks the one that looks like it will best suit her purpose, and puts it in.

The search for the word gets no easier, but nobody else is going to write your novel for you.

The last novel I wrote (it was ANANSI BOYS, in case you were wondering,) when I got three-quarters of the way through I called my agent. I told her how stupid I felt writing something no-one would ever want to read, how thin the characters were, how pointless the plot. I strongly suggested that I was ready to abandon this book and write something else instead, or perhaps I could abandon the book and take up a new life as a landscape gardener, bank-robber, short-order cook or marine biologist.

And instead of sympathizing or agreeing with me, or blasting me forward with a wave of enthusiasm--or even arguing with me--she simply said, suspiciously cheerfully, "Oh, you're at that part of the book, are you?"

I was shocked. "You mean I've done this before?"

"You don't remember?"

"Not really."

"Oh yes," she said. "You do this every time you write a novel. But so do all my other clients."

I didn't even get to feel unique in my despair.

So I put down the phone and drove down to the coffee house in which I was writing the book, filled my pen and carried on writing.

One word after another.

That's the only way that novels get written and, short of elves coming in the night and turning your jumbled notes into Chapter Nine, it's the only way to do it.

So keep on keeping on. Write another word and then another.

Pretty soon you'll be on the downward slide, and it's not impossible that soon you'll be at the end. Good luck...

Neil Gaiman
www.neilgaiman.com

Feel better now? I know I do.

SMUT Does Not = POPULARITY

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Stuck on a SHORT Story?

10 Second Tip:
Stuck on a SHORT Story?

Stuck on what to put in your story?
-- This is the list of things I check off when I create a story:

Do you have a Setting in mind?

• - Sci-fi
• - Historical
• - Modern day

Do you have ONE big Main Event for the story to focus on?

• - A battle
• - An escape
• - A love scene
• - An act of revenge
• - A sacrifice
• - A treasure to claim

Do you know what you want to SAY with your story?

• - Love sucks.
• - Friendship is forever.
• - No good deed goes unpunished.
• - A snake can only ever be a snake.
• - Sometimes you have to take chances.

Do you know where you want to END your story?

• - A wedding?
• - A funeral?
• - A bloody battlefield?
• - An empty street?
• - The bottom of an ocean?

Do you have your three central Characters ready?

Just to make things interesting, any one of these three could be the Hero, the Villain, or the Ally.

• - A main character that personifies what your story is trying to say?
• - A main character that personifies an opposing opinion of the same topic?
• - A buddy / friend/ love interest of one or both to personify Joe Normal stuck in the Middle?

Why did I mention Characters Last?

Instead of making a story for my characters, I do the opposite. I make characters for my story.

Some people can come up with a cool character and then build a story around them. Sadly, I am not one of those. I can build a back-story just fine, but my back-stories are never good enough to be the Main Story. A back-story is how a character GOT his Issues. The main story is how they FIXED those Issues. See the difference?

Anyway...
-- When I'm stuck on a story, I try thinking on these questions and often, they'll jog something loose.

Enjoy! 

Choosing a Story's Title

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Plot Device: Foreshadowing...!

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What KIND of story are you telling?

10 Second Tip:

What KIND of story are you telling?

 

EVERY story is in fact a tale about the relationship of an individual (your main character) to society -- symbolized by their workplace, school, their immediate or extended family, the gang they belong to, a best friend, a lover...

• A comic story (one with a happy ending,) describes an isolated individual achieving social integration either by being accepted into an existing society or by forming his own. This integration is often symbolized by a wedding or party. 

• A tragic story (one with a sad ending) describes an integrated individual who becomes isolated. Death is simply a symbol of this isolation.

Keep in mind...! 

 -- The plot should keep us in suspense about what kind of story we're reading. 

• Even if we already know it's a comedy, the precise nature of the comic climax (the punchline that carries us to the happy ending) should come as a surprise.

• If we already know the hero is doomed, his downfall should be caused by a factor we've been told, but didn't realize was significant.

Don't give everything away by the fourth chapter! A story we can guess the ending to before we're done is NOT a story worth finishing.

Enjoy! 

Morgan Hawke

www.DarkErotica.Net

You Don't ALWAYS have to Show. Sometimes you Can TELL!

You Don't ALWAYS have to Show.

Sometimes you Can TELL!

Plot Pacing and Narrative Summary
By Randy Ingerman

Featuring: Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If there's one thing that any writer is guaranteed to hear too many times, it's the dictum, "Show, Don't Tell."

There is a lot of truth to this rule of thumb. The purpose of fiction is to give the reader a Powerful Emotional Experience. And the best way to give the reader that Powerful Emotional Experience is by "showing" the good parts, rather than "telling" them.

In short, at the points of highest action in the story, you ramp up the pace by spending more words, "showing" everything in brilliant, Technicolor, slow-motion detail.

But, um, what about the boring parts? Should you "show" those too?

Some of my agent and editor friends have complained to me in recent years that the manuscripts they are seeing these days "show" too much. Sometimes, it just plain makes sense to "tell," rather than "show."

The technical term for "telling" is Narrative Summary.

In Narrative Summary, you summarize what happens, moving rapidly over time and sometimes distance. However, it isn't a good way to give your reader those emotional hits that every reader wants.

In other words, Narrative Summary can be either a good choice or a bad choice. The key question to ask:

"What is the purpose of this passage?"

If the purpose of the passage is to give the reader some particular Powerful Emotional Experience, then showing" is probably your best option.

But if the purpose of the passage is to set the stage or to give the reader some essential facts or to get a character across town or across a country, then "telling" might be the better bet.

One of my favorite examples of "telling" is the opening of Book 1 in the Harry Potter series. The entire first page is all "telling." And it works.

Why does it work? Let's analyze it to see.

As I said before, the key question to ask is:  

 -- What is the purpose of this passage?

In my view, the central problem early in the Harry Potter series is to get the reader to buy in to the concept that in this ordinary world of ours, there are people who are genetically capable of magic.

The natural question for the reader to ask is why nobody knows about these magical people. The reader needs to be led, step by step, to the conclusion that these magical folk are hiding out.

That is the premise for the entire series. If you can't buy into this premise, then the story just won't work for you.

There is a second problem that needs to be solved.

The reader is going to wonder whether these genetically magical people might be the "bad guys." How can the reader be led to the conclusion that the magical folk are the "good guys?"

The solution is to introduce some exceptionally unsympathetic characters, the Dursley family, who are antagonistic to anything weird or magical. In the first chapter, Mr. Dursley sees a number of strange people ("weirdos") and some strange occurrences (owls in broad daylight). One of the weirdos even hugs Mr. Dursley and calls him a Muggle.

The Dursleys respond to this evidence by ignoring it.

The tactical problem is to present all this to the reader as quickly as possible, and then get on to the story.

How to do that?

The solution is Narrative Summary, which is very efficient.

Let's look at paragraph 1 of the story:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Randy sez: In two sentences, we have a broad portrait of the Dursleys.

• They are "proud," which instantly makes them a bit unlikable.
• They are "perfectly normal" -- which is pretty unnatural. Most people are abnormal in some way or another.

Most importantly, the Dursleys have no sense of mystery. That is their big failing. Part of being human is to be curious, to be capable of awe, to be inspired by the mysterious. The Dursleys might just as well be robots.

Let's move on to paragraph 2:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Randy sez:

• Mr. Dursley sounds quintessentially boring.
• Mrs. Dursley sounds like a gossip.
• Dudley sounds like a brat.

Notice that we aren't "told" these things. We deduce them.

• We are "told" that Mr. Dursley is director of a drill company, and we deduce that he has a boring job.
• We are "told" that Mrs. Dursley cranes her neck over fences, spying, and we deduce that she's a gossip.
• We are told that Dudley is considered the finest boy anywhere, and we deduce that he's as spoiled as last year's milk.

This is a key point in making Narrative Summary interesting -- tell the facts and let the reader make the value judgments. Readers prefer to make value judgments for themselves, rather than being told what to feel about the characters.

Now we come to paragraph 3, and this is the key to making this chapter succeed.

Here are the first three sentences:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This sets the hook for the reader. Every reader is interested in secrets. Every reader is interested in fears.

When we learn that these wretched Dursleys have a secret fear, we must know it. When we learn that the Dursleys are ashamed of the Potters, we must hear more. When we learn that the Potters are the exact opposite of the Dursleys, we instantly like them, because we already dislike the Dursleys.

So there you have it. In just two and a half paragraphs of Narrative Summary, we are prepared to meet the "weirdo" Potters and to like them. We are prepared for them to be mysterious and different. We are even prepared to understand why they might conceal some of their oddities -- because of people like the Dursleys who hate anything mysterious or strange.

This sets the stage for solving the two problems I discussed above. As the first chapter unfolds, we learn that the Potters have been murdered, but their son Harry has mysteriously survived. And we see a number of "weirdos" who use magic as if it were perfectly natural.

By the end of the chapter, most readers have bought the premise of the story -- there is a hidden society of people with genetically magical abilities. One of those people, young Harry Potter, is extraordinary, even among these magical people. He ought to be dead, but he isn't. Harry is "the boy who lived." Therein lies something deep and mysterious. Why did Harry live?

And the story is launched.

If that isn't an effective use of Narrative Summary, then I don't know what is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, "the Snowflake Guy," publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine every month.

MEMORY Training

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Writing HORROR

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13 Hours ~ the Fairytale Heroine's Journey

13 Hours
The Fairytale Heroine's Journey

There is a ton of information on the Heroic Cycle, or Hero's Journey, but what about the Heroine's?

Being a female that prefers to write stories with a female lead, I decided to do a bit of my own research into the myths and fairy tales that feature Heroines rather than heroes. What I found was a little...startling. While many things in the Hero's Journey still apply, Her journey is not quite the same as His because the path the Heroine takes through the labyrinth is guided by her Heart not her head--or her sword. 

There are Thirteen stages in the Fairy Tale Heroine's Journey. 

Thirteen hours in her clock of adventure--one for each full moon in a year.

Fair Warning: The fairy tale examples used here are my opinionated interpretations of the oldest and Grimmest versions I know.

1. Upon a time ~ Secret Betrayal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Too pretty, too smart, too loyal, too friendly, too obedient, too good at housekeeping, or sewing, or spinning, or making the flowers grow--someone is always out to get the Fairy Tale Heroine. Though it's usually a jealous (aging,) female relative that betrays her, male relatives do too--by trading her skills for cold hard cash.

• Snow White, Cinderella, Psyche, and Vasilisa were so pretty they inspired jealousy in the other women they lived with.
• Beauty's father steals a flower and the cost is Beauty.  
• The father of Rumpelstiltskin's maiden bragged ridiculously about her until he was finally told to prove it, or die.
• The princess in the Goose Girl was too rich and, too Passive, for her maid to resist bullying.
• Rapunzel's mother couldn't get enough parsley.
• Bluebeard's wife, on the other hand, was out to get him.

2. The Herald ~ Bearer of Bad News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the Catalyst--a friend, family member, enemy, or object that reveals the deed, promise, or debt for which she is being held accountable, or the deadly danger she's being sent into.

• The Huntsman tells Snow White that her stepmother wants her heart, among other internal body parts--to eat.
• Cinderella's stepsisters brag that all the chores she's been given are specifically to keep her too busy to make a ball gown for herself.
• Beauty's father finally reveals that he has been asked to trade her life for his--and blames her request for a flower that he stole.
• In Rumpelstiltskin, the maiden's father sends her to the castle knowing full well that she cannot do as he bragged, and will die.
• A witch offers to buy Rapunzel for a sheaf of parsley.
• In the Goose Girl, the talking horse, Falada, tells the princess that her maid intends to betray them both.
• Vasilisa's stepsister brags that she won't be coming back with a live coal to light their fire because the witch, Baba Yaga, will eat her.
• A letter from her sister tells Bluebeard's future wife that the man killed her--and why.

3. Refusal of the Call ~ Obedience to the Call
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unlike her male counterpart the Hero, the fairy tale Heroine either doesn't want to refuse the call to adventure, or isn't allowed to. She may argue, fight, weep bitterly, or bolt outright, but someone's life or honour is usually if not always on the line--frequently her own. Ruled by her heart rather than her head, she has no choice but to answer it.

On a side note, when these stories were originally told back during the Dark Ages, women were taught from early childhood that to be Feminine they must be passive, faithful, and obedient. Only men were allowed a Choice. 

• Cinderella knew exactly what she wanted and went right after it--a prince and escape from her step-mother's home. However, her stepmother and stepsisters didn't have any problem refusing for her--by ripping up the gown she'd painstakingly sewed.
• Against her father's will, Beauty sneaks out of the house and takes off for the Beast's lair.
• Rapunzel's father refused quite a bit, but her mother was thoroughly addicted to the witch's parsley.  She had no problem trading her daughter for her drug of choice. (Makes one wonder if it was actually parsley, no?)
• The princess who became the Goose Girl couldn't do anything about her maid's bullying--royal etiquette wouldn't allow for it.
• Vasilisa considered refusing, but her magic doll advised her that going to see Baba Yaga was the right choice.
• In Bluebeard, the maiden deliberately sought him out because she wanted revenge for her sister's murder.
• In another version, he refused her because of her youth. She actually had to drop her clothes to prove she (had pubic hair) was old enough to marry.
• In yet another version, he sought her out specifically because she was the sister of his last wife. 

4. Mentors, Tricksters & Costly Gifts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A mentor/trickster comes offering gifts. The Mentor is one who actually cares for the Heroine and wants her happy. Tricksters however, are out for themselves. They want whatever they can get out of the Heroine. If what they grant makes her happy, that's nice, but not necessary. Occasionally, a Trickster such as Baba Yaga can become a Mentor, but that normally takes a lot of pretty impressive work on the Heroine's part.

The gift could be:

• A gown, slippers, and transportation to a ball.
• The favor such as weaving straw into gold.
• The answer to a riddle that hasn't been asked yet.
• Magically long hair.
• A curse of sleep instead of death.  
• A spell to call the breeze and make a dead animal's head talk.
• A family heirloom doll that talks.
• A glowing skull.
• A golden key to a deadly room.

In all cases, there is a life-altering price on such gifts. Sometimes the payment is a trinket such as a necklace or ring, but more often it's a promise to be delivered later, or a first kiss--meaning her virginity. Occasionally it's a body part such as her hands, her voice, her hair, her finger, or her firstborn child--the medieval euphemism for her virginity and continued sexual favors until pregnant. In other words, a common law marriage.


5. Enter the Labyrinth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She gives in to temptation and takes the offered gift, crossing the threshold to the labyrinth and committing herself to a path where there is no turning back.

This scene can be played out as a rescue which usually includes the demand of a reward such as a kiss--the symbol for outright seduction.
~~~~~~~~~~

• Snow White is rescued by the Huntsman when she escapes into the forest. The price for his silence is a kiss.
• Psyche is saved from a fall off the cliffs by an invisible Eros and is carried off to be his lover--but not his wife.
• Rumpelstiltskin's skills at spinning save his maiden from certain death on the sword of the greedy prince, but also put her continued survival firmly into his own hands.

This scene can also be played straight.
~~~~~~~~~~

• From her mother's grave, Cinderella gains a heavenly maiden's robes, tiny fur slippers, and a magical clay horse. (The earliest Cinderella is Chinese!)
• In another version, the gifts include a coach, and come from a fairy godmother. 
• In yet another version, a tree that grows from her mother's grave gifts her with three different gowns. 
• In still another version, she is gifted a branch with three hazel nuts from her mostly absentee father, and they yield a huntsman's garb, a ball gown plus glass slippers, and a wedding gown.
• Beauty walks boldly into Beast's castle to pay for her father's life with her own.
• Red Riding Hood takes the basket her mother offers hen trots off into the woods toward grandmother's house.
• Lonely Rapunzel happily accepts small gifts and conversation from a prince who visits her tower.
• Accompanied by her talking nesting doll, the ever obedient Vasilisa marches off into the snowy forest to find Baba Yaga's chicken-legged hut so she can ask for a few live coals to light her hearth.
• In almost all versions of Bluebeard, he gives his wife a golden object designed to betray her.  

Or in Reverse.
~~~~~~~~~~

• The princess in the Goose Girl is forced by etiquette to submit to her maid's bullying--and loses her mother's gifts.

6. Secret Allies, Secret Enemies, Deadly Gifts & Scary Promises  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Entry to the labyrinth has been gained, but there's another, even more dangerous task or temptation to deal with. Another gift is offered with an even higher price-tag, a more chilling promise. She has every intention of fulfilling her bargain, but she has secret enemies.

• Snow White has survived the forest and arrived at the home of the seven dwarves. All they ask is that she be wary of strangers.
• Cinderella arrives at the ball to seduce her prince, but has promised to leave by midnight.
• Beast finally allows Beauty a visit home, but she must return by a certain day.  
• Psyche survives the flight into the clouds, but has promised not to look at her new lover.
• In the third and final room of straw. Rumpelstiltskin's maiden promises her first born child--a common law marriage--to the dwarf that's helping her.
• Red Riding Hood has promised not to talk to strangers.
• Rapunzel promises not to let anyone, but the witch climb up her hair.
• The princess exchanges clothes with her maid and swears to never reveal the switch to another living thing. She becomes the Goose Girl.
• Vasilisa is told not to snoop in Baba Yaga's house or ask questions.
• Bluebeard makes his new wife promise that she will not open one certain door.

7. Treachery ~ Broken Vows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Through trickery, lies, theft, temptation, ignorance, or outright wilfulness, her promise is broken.

• Even after needing to be rescued from a poisoned comb and a poisoned corset, Snow White bites into an apple offered by the same stranger.
• While the clock is striking twelve, Cinderella finally notices the time.
• Beauty's sisters jealously steal her magic ring delaying her to return to the Beast.
• Psyche's lover is revealed by candle light to be beautiful beyond compare.
• Rumpelstiltskin's maiden marries the prince--instead of leaving with the dwarf.
• Red Riding Hood talks to a wolf.
• Rapunzel lets her prince climb up into her tower--more than once.
• Her horse killed for his ability to speak, the Goose Girl offers gold to the local knacker to nail Falada's head under a certain bridge. She then proceeds to speak to him daily--right in front of the goose boy.
• Bluebeard's wife opens the forbidden door to discover hideous contents.

Or not.
~~~~~~~~~~

• Despite several dangerous tasks, one of which is cleaning the interior of Baba Yaga's house--plus make dinner, Vasilisa doesn't pry or ask questions. Because her doll does all the dangerous tasks while she cooks, she sees nothing she isn't supposed to.

8. CRASH Point ~ Center of the Labyrinth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aware that she must pay the price for her broken vow, she bravely goes forth to--find a way to dodge the consequences.

• Snow White's dwarves dodge her death by putting her in a clear crystal casket.
• Beauty has a hair-pulling fight with her sisters to get her ring back.
• Cinderella bolts for her clay horse knowing full well that it won't make it all the way home.
• Psyche throws herself at Aphrodite's feet and swears she'll do anything to get her lover Eros back.
• Rumpelstiltskin's maiden bargains for her freedom--his name. She then sends huntsmen all over the kingdom to discover the dwarf's name--before he can get her pregnant.
• Red Riding Hood eats the meat the wolf gives her, takes off her clothes, and climbs into bed with him.
• Rather than admit that she's pregnant, Rapunzel tells the witch that she ate too much.
• Before the king, the Goose Girl reveals that she is being held by a vow of silence--which makes her look even more suspicious. A peasant wouldn't bother to keep such a vow, only a princess would.
• Because of her dead sister's warning, Bluebeard's wife saves the key from being bloodied, but not her slippers.
• Vasilisa's ability to accomplish miracles and keep her mouth shut surprises Baba Yaga. Suspicious, the old woman offers to answer a question--but warns that some answers are deadly to know. Vasilisa asks about the three horsemen she saw. The answer is harmless: Black Night, Red Sun, and White Morning Star.

9. Ordeal ~ The Darkest Hour
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She faces her greatest fear and death. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any actual weapons at her disposal but her wits. Back then, women weren't allowed to touch things like swords or knives. Fighting wasn't feminine.

• Snow White is locked in a coma--and a crystal casket.
• About the same time that the prince announces that he is looking for a woman that fits a certain sized slipper, Cinderella's growing waistline is noticed and she is locked in the attic.
• Beauty returns to the Beast, but he seems dead.
• To gain Aphrodite's approval, Psyche goes to the kingdom of the dead to fetch something from Persephone, the Queen of Death.
• Rumpelstiltskin's maiden goes through name after name with the dwarf trying to keep him too busy to impregnate her.
• Red Riding Hood starts questioning the wolf.
• To get around her oath to never speak of her situation to another living thing, the Goose Girl is encouraged by the king to speak to a fireplace--while he waits at the chimney.
• Bluebeard's wife's runs all over the castle dodging her furious husband while waiting for her brothers to arrive.
• Knowing exactly how dangerously impossible her tasks were, a puzzled Baba Yaga asks how Vasilisa accomplished them. Knowing that one cannot lie to Baba Yaga and live, yet sworn to secrecy about her doll, Vasilisa dodges with "My mother's blessing."

10. Rewards & Punishments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If she survives the Ordeal, she is rewarded with release from the heart of the labyrinth--or punished by expulsion. Either way, she is permanently marked by her experience.

• Snow White's crystal casket is discovered and carried off by a necrophiliac prince. On the journey to his home, the apple stuck in her throat is jarred loose, allowing her to awaken.
• Cinderella finally gets the chance to reveal her other slipper--and her growing belly to her prince.
• Beast awakens and turns into a handsome young man.
• Aphrodite tells Psyche to "go home."
• Rumpelstiltskin's maiden finally hears back from one of her huntsmen.
• Red Riding hood gets eaten for being too stupid to know that she's in danger.
• Rapunzel is shorn of her hair and thrown from the tower for preferring a man. Shortly afterward, the witch catches the prince, blinds him, and throws him out of the tower too.
• The king has his wife's women clean up the Goose Girl and dress her as befitting her station.
• Vasilisa's diligent work and obedience is rewarded by a kiss of protection on her brow. She is then given permission to take one of the skulls for fire, but she must not touch it, or look directly into its eyes.
• In another version, Baba Yaga asks a question of her own: "Why go back?" Vasilisa's reply: "I want them to love me." Baba Yaga responds by grabbing her and dunking her into a vat of gold. Not only has her dress turned to gold, she comes out blonde and milky-skinned. Most remarkably, when she speaks, gold coins and jewels fall from her lips. She is then advised to face the crowing rooster at the gate.
• Bluebeard's wife's brothers finally arrive.

11. Release from the Labyrinth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She heads back to the Ordinary World with a mission to accomplish. At the last threshold, she replays her very first act of commitment, a keepsake gift, a vow, or a kiss.

• Snow White kisses her astonished (and possibly disappointed) prince.
• Cinderella leaves with her prince.
• Beast and his castle finally rejoin the mortal world.
• Psyche goes home to find Eros on the cliff where she first met him. Unable to live without him, she jumps off the cliff. He rescues her again.
• Rumpelstiltskin's maiden finally says thank you and uses his name.
• Free at last from the tower, though bald and saddled with twins, Rapunzel goes looking for her blinded prince.
• Awakened by her twins suckling for milk, Briar Rose, the Sleeping Beauty rises from her long sleep to go looking for the man that knocked her up while she was unconscious.  
• The Goose Girl turned Princess once more, attends the local King's wedding feast for his son--who was supposed to be her bridegroom.
• Vasilisa uses a tree branch to take one of the flaming skulls mounted on Baba Yaga's gate and goes home to face the stepmother who cast her out into the snow.
• In another version, she merely stops at the skull-lined gate to face the crowing rooster and is granted a star on her brow.
• At the gate where she arrived, Bluebeard's wife meets her brothers and leads them straight to the bloody chamber.

12. Confrontation & Rebirth ~ Parties & Payback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She returns to face her original betrayer. She needs them to acknowledge what they have done to her. This scene is often played out as a visit to her home in her bridal finery and a huge feast. However, this is also when the wicked are punished.

• Snow White's mother dances to death in molten iron shoes.
• Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters lose their eyes to Cinderella's friends the birds.
• Beauty invites her family to the castle to meet her new and extremely handsome husband.
• Psyche's rumour-mongering sisters are transformed into birds.
• Rumpelstiltskin rips himself in half.
• In another version Rumpelstiltskin literally throws himself into her body (a poorly euphemistic rape,) right in front of the whole court. He's ripped out of her--and in half--by her angry Prince husband.
• In the Goose Girl, the false princess is set in a barrel of nails and driven around the castle walls 'til she dies.
• Under the direct gaze of the magic skull, Vasilisa's nasty stepmother and stepsister are burned to ash. She then buries the skull to keep it from harming anyone else.
• In the other version, Vasilisa's stepsister is so envious of Vasilisa's golden appearance--and the jewels she literally coughs up, she marches off to spend time with Baba Yaga herself, only she ends up in a vat of pitch. She comes out black-haired, dark-skinned, and spewing slugs and toads when she speaks. At the gate, when she looks away from the rooster she faces an ass and gains a donkey's tail on her brow.
• Bluebeard is hacked to pieces.

13. The Last Promise and Ever After
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After all her final goodbyes are said, she returns to the Labyrinth to take her place there and receives one last gift, normally a crown or wealth, and makes one final promise. Sometimes it's merely a wedding vow, sometimes it's not.

• Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty, the Goose Girl, Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty, and Rumpelstiltskin's maiden all become queens who vow to rule wisely.
• Psyche accompanies her husband Eros to Olympus and becomes a demi-goddess who vows to stay by his side forever.
• Vasilisa's cleverness is noticed and she becomes advisor to the Tsar. She vows to always tell the truth.
• In another version, she merely makes her family rich enough to move into town where she ends up meeting a rich merchant's son. After yet another spiteful trick from her step-family, she marries him.
• Bluebeard's widow uses his gold to give every woman in the bloody chamber a proper burial and takes over his castle, but vows never to marry again.

So how does one use something like this for Writing?

Consider this a Plot Arc, a map of the major turning points in a story. You can use it to plot the major turning points in any sort of heroine based adventure story, but it's far more effective as Relationship Journey for navigating Love, not life -- and not necessarily a purely female one.

Act One
~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Upon a time ~ Secret Betrayal
-- Their own body betrays them by wanting sex -- and love.

2. Herald ~ Bearer of Bad News
-- "That person Likes you!"

3. Refusal of the Call ~ Obedience to the Call
-- "Let's go see them!"

4. Mentors, Tricksters & Costly Gifts
-- First impressions

Act Two
~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. Enter the Labyrinth
-- First personal Encounter

6. Secret Allies, Secret Enemies, Deadly Gifts & Scary Promises
-- The dating game.

7. Treachery ~ Broken Vows
-- "They haven't told you everything."

Act Three
~~~~~~~~~~~~
8. CRASH Point ~ Center of the Labyrinth
-- Spying, Prying, and Stalking--oh my!

9. Ordeal ~ The Darkest Hour
-- They know that You know that They know...

10. Rewards & Punishments
-- To Trust and go on, or Not to trust and dump them?

Act Four
~~~~~~~~~~~~
11. Release from the Labyrinth
-- Truth & Consequences

12. Confrontation & Rebirth ~ Parties & Payback
-- Showing off the new Lover (spouse); usually in front of the Old lover (spouse).

13. The Last Promise and Ever After
-- Marriage or...?

Simply fill in the blanks.

Wait, FOUR Acts, not Three?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Correct. The Fourth Act is the main character's resurrection from their Ordeal, their rebirth and exit from the labyrinth. Only Tragedies, like Red Riding Hood finish at the end of a Third Act because the main character (or the relationship) does not survive the Ordeal.

Enjoy!

Morgan Hawke
www.DarkErotica.Net