I took a break from editing to go to Dave Wolverton/Farland's writing seminar over the weekend. I picked up a lot more information than I initially suspected and I would highly recomend it to anyone interested in writing, it would not have to be just someone writing in sci-fi/fantasy.
One of the things that hit me between the eyes the hardest was how much my book/series 'Heroes of the Fallen' has the classic 'Hero Journey' as described by Cambell's, Hero of a Thousand Faces. I resisted reading Campbell because of some comments that were quoted to me I disagreed with, can't even remember what they all were, one was about the Iriquois cinderella legend, which as far as I was concerned weren't even close, so his connection was moot.
But I will now give it a read because as we were discussing Archetypes and Dave mentioned the classic hero journey tropes, I was astonished at how much I used them even while striving for originality and new takes on things. Had I known of these archetypes, I would have avoided them but the book is already written and going to be published in a few short months and I am very happy with it. I have a lot of characters in the book(s) so no one character follows all the formula's but across the board almost everything Dave mentioned is in there somewhere.
That and it was cool to meet a bunch of fellow writers like Candace Salima, Christine Bryant, her friend Becky, Lisa Peck, and Bruce Eschler.
5 comments:
Sounds like a great workshop! I've read some things about the character archetypes as well, but haven't really studied them.
It was really eye-opening, I had no idea how much I must be sub-consciously influenced. But then it's all good, it will should resonate with a lot of my other favorite works, Tolkien and such.
It was great meeting you and hanging out. I can't wait to read your book. When is it coming out and who is publishing it. Also, have you heard anything else from Candace. Valor has had my book for over 3 weeks now and I'm about to go NUTS. LOL Will let you know when I hear something.
Good I would like to hear what Candace says. My book is with WiDo Publishing and is scheduled to be released in October of this year.
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