Evon Davis

An on-going workshop that guides students who are working on specific projects or just want to improve their writing. The workshop covers all aspects related to the craft of writing, including structure, the elements of compelling stories and characters, and scene writing, so you’re able to accomplish a major writing project such as a novel or memoir. Free-writing exercises help stimulate creativity, as each week you’ll write new scenes and watch your manuscript grow. To get your creative energies flowing, you are welcome to read scenes aloud and get feedback on your writing.

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The Structure That Holds It All Together

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In Stage 7 of the mythic structure, Approaching the Innermost Cave, we are now approaching the climax of conflict and tension in the novel. What is happening in each person’s novel now?

Thus far, we have seen the character’s ordinary world; the character has been called to an adventure; and we have seen him refusing the call or being blocked in some way. With the help of the mentor, the character fully commits to the adventure. Your character has faced a series of tests, and discovered who his allies and enemies are.

Let’s look at this stage in Star Wars, Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, and Avatar.

In Star Wars, this is the part of the story where Luke Skywalker is inside the Death Star on a mission to save Princess Leia. The character is approaching the part of the story where he or she will soon be in such danger that we don’t know if he will succeed or even live through it.

In Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his friends travel to the Ministry of Magic at night. They go into a phone booth and down into the earth. Because it’s at night, there space is dark and empty. It has a very cave-like feeling about it. The are now approaching the Chamber of Prophecies where they will have to battle the Death Eaters.

In Avatar, Stage 7, Jake Sully has been pulled out of the Avatar bed and is being held for questioning. He and the scientist manage to convince the Corporation to allow them to go back to talk to the Navi and try to talk them into leaving. The situation is very dangerous for them. They are unsuccessful and the Navi tie them up and hold them captive. They are straining to get free and the aircraft come in and start shooting missiles at the Home Tree in order to destroy it.

As you develop Stage 7 for your own novel or memoir, you will want to create a cave-like setting in which the scene takes place:

1) Create a setting that is dark, enclosed, dangerous, where the character may be held captive;

2) Slowly move the character closer and closer to the first battle through rising tension.

By the time the hero reaches the first battle, the reader should be on the edge of his seat. Stage 7 is the way you move your character toward the first battle.

In Stage 6 of the mythic structure, Tests, Allies & Enemies, the hero begins to learn the rules and ways of the new world he has entered. He will be tested and has to move through the challenges in order to prove that he is ready for what is eventually coming.

Thus far, we have seen the character’s ordinary world; the character has been called to an adventure; and we have seen him refusing the call or being blocked in some way. With the help of the mentor, the character fully commits to the adventure. Now your character must face a series of tests, and discover who his allies and enemies are.

Let’s look at this stage in Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire and Avatar.

In Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, Harry has to face several tests in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The first test is to capture a dragon’s egg, but in order to do this he must first successfully perform a spell called “accio broom” in which he calls his broom to himself. Once he has his broom, he is able to fly around the dragon and capture the egg.

Next, he has to figure out the purpose of the egg because it will help him in the next test. After several tries, he discovers that if he opens the egg under water, he can hear the message. He knows he will have to rescue Ron from the lake, but first he has to get his hands on some gillyweed. All of these tests are forcing him to express his cleverness, ingenuity, strength, and courage. The final test in Stage 6 comes when he has to get through the maze in order to reach the Cup.

In Avatar, Stage 6, Jake Sully is now being trained by Netyri in order to learn their ways and how to survive in the “hostile” environment of Pandora. One of the first things he has to learn is how to ride a horse. Netyri teaches him how to bond with the animal. Then he has to learn how to hunt and give thanks to his “brothers” the animals when he takes a life for food. She teaches him about the circle of life, how to swing through the trees, and fall to the ground safely. His final test is to capture one of the flying creatures and bond with it. She also tells him the story of the Last Shadow.

As you develop Stage 6 for your own novel, think of all the things your character will need to know and be able to do in order to successfully survive the first and second battles (these will be in Stages 8 and 11):

1) Create a series of tests that the main character will have to overcome; hopefully each one will be more difficult than the last;

2) Through his or her relationships with other characters, we begin to discover which of these will be his allies and which ones his enemies (notice how in both Avatar and Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire the truth about who his allies and enemies are isn’t really disclosed until later in the story).

By the time the hero reaches the first battle, we have to believe that he is capable of surviving. Stage 6 is the way you prepare your character for that eventuality.

In Stage 5 of the mythic structure, Crossing the First Threshold, the hero finally commits to the adventure. There will still be many conflicts to deal with, but the character has to move through the experience and find out for himself what the outcome will be. 

Thus far, we have seen the character’s ordinary world; we have seen the character being called to an adventure; and we have seen him refusing the call or being blocked in some way.  With the help of the mentor, something has now changed.  Either the character is ready to fully commit to the adventure or something happens to make it impossible for the character to turn back, or both.

Let’s look at this stage in some popular novels and films, like Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, The Alchemist, and Avatar.

In Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Harry crosses the threshold when he enters Sirius’s house, which has become the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.  Shortly after that, he makes a statement that is a clear indication of his commitment.  At the end of chapter 5, he says, “I’ll join, I want to join, I want to fight –”

In The Alchemist, when Santiago crosses the threshold, this is expressed in three ways.  The first is when he sells his sheep; we see that internally he has made the decision to commit to the adventure.  Then he sails across the Mediterranean Sea.  This is a physical representation of Crossing the Threshold.  In other words, there is a literal crossing of a threshold, a large body of water.   When he arrives, he hires a guide who later turns out to be a thief and who steals all of Santiago’s money.  In the story, this is important because it’s a situation that makes it impossible for him to turn back.

In Avatar, Stages 5 & 6 are reversed.  Stage 6, “Test, Allies & Enemies” comes first, and then Stage 5, Crossing the Threshold where the character is Committing to the Adventure.  This is represented by his desire to go through the ceremony to become a brother of the Navi, then he makes love to Netyri, bonding them for life, and finally, he smashes the cameras on the Corporation’s bulldozer.  He has made it clear through these three acts that he has switched his loyalty from the Corporation to the Navi.  Up until this point, he still seemed ambiguous, but now he is fully committed and has done something that makes it impossible to turn back.

As you develop Stage 5 for your own novel, try to express this stage in 3 ways:

1) Show that the character has internally committed to the adventure;

2) Show the character crossing a literal threshold (this becomes symbolic for the internal commitment);

3) Create a situation for the character that makes it impossible for him or her to turn back.

The more multi-layered you can make this stage, the more interesting it will be for the reader.

In Stage 4 of the mythic structure, the main character meets someone who becomes his or her mentor.  In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker’s mentor is Obi Wan Kenobi.  Ironically, the mentor can also represent the Shadow aspects of a character, such as Han Solo.

Thus far, we have seen the character’s ordinary world; we have seen the character being called to an adventure; and we have seen the character refusing the call or being blocked in some way.  The purpose of the mentor is to take the main character by the hand and lead him (or her) down the path he has been called to travel.

Let’s look at this stage in some popular novels and films, like Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (page 78), The Alchemist, and Avatar.

In Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius Black is Harry’s mentor.  The interesting thing about the Harry Potter books is that he has several mentors throughout the series.  Dumbledore is always his mentor, and Snape is always his shadow mentor, but in each book someone else takes a mentoring role as well.  In book 5, it is Sirius who takes on that role.  And Doloris Umbridge is his shadow mentor because she forces Harry to carve the words, “I will not tell lies” into the back of his hand until a scar forms.  The interesting thing about book 5 is that it’s the absence or failure of his mentors that forces Harry to grow up.

In The Alchemist, Santiago meets his mentor in the form of Melchezidik, also known as the King of Salem.  He has received the call to adventure in the form of a recurring dream and a fortune-teller’s advice, but has chosen to ignore the signs and go about his ordinary life as a shepherd.  It’s when the King of Salem shows up and talks to him about his Personal Legend that Santiago begins to take his call to adventure seriously.  The king leaves him with 2 stones to help guide him, and along the way he encounters other mentors as well.

In Avatar, Jake Sully’s mentor is Netyri, the beautiful blue girl of the Nav’i who takes him to her tribe and then is assigned the task of training him in their ways, to see if his “insanity can be cured.”

So in these examples, we see the ways in which mentors appear in the character’s life and the roles they play.  Star Wars and Avatar have the most clear-cut examples of mentors.  In each of these films, it’s very clear who is mentoring the main character, and they always work in the character’s best interest. 

The Alchemist is different in that Santiago meets consecutive mentors along the way.  In truth, they all come from the same spiritual source; they just appear to him in different forms.

The Harry Potter books represent the most complex way that mentors appear in a character’s life.  For Harry, nothing is ever straight-forward.  His mentors are rarely around when he really needs them.  They don’t trust him with information he really needs because they think he’s too young to know the truth.  They are often letting him down.  But the key to recognize is that the absence and failure of Harry’s mentors is fully intended by the author.

So when you are thinking of a mentor for your main character, consider the wide range of options available.  Consider giving the mentor some flaws.  Consider creating more than one mentor, but be sure that they are distinctly different and unique.  Consider creating a shadow mentor. 

Be careful not to turn the mentor into a two-dimensional prop.  In other words, the mentor is not simply a crutch for the main character.  He or she should be a fully-formed character in his (or her) own right, with a history, with personal motivations, with both strengths and flaws.

In Stage 3 of the mythic structure, the main character refuses the call to adventure, or is blocked in some way.  This sets up the beginning of conflict in the novel. Why doesn’t the character want to accept the call? Is it fear? Is there something in the character’s past that is holding him or her back?

There may also be factors outside the character that are standing in the way. For example, a character falls in love, but is already married. This character must then deal with a whole range of emotional and ethical issues.

Let’s look at this stage in some popular novels and films like Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (page 26), The Alchemist, and Avatar.

In Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Harry is forced to use magic to fight off the Dementors, calling forth his patronis, the white stag.  As soon as he and Dudley return home, an owl shows up with a letter from the Ministry of Magic telling him that he will have to relinquish his wand and appear at a hearing in which they may decide to expel him from Hogwarts.  This is an example where the main character isn’t refusing the call, himself, but is being blocked.

In The Alchemist, Santiago receives the call to adventure when a fortune-teller tries to convince him that his recurring dream is true.  But he refuses to believe her and dismisses the dream.

In Avatar, the refusal of the call manifests in a unique way.  Jake Sully isn’t refusing the call (it’s too late; he’s already in the midst of his adventure), nor is he being blocked from the adventure.  Rather, what we see in the scene after he is separated from his own people, but before he meets Netyri, is a seasoned soldier who is truly terrified and vulnerable.  He’s doing his best to protect himself, but he and everyone else believes he will be dead before sunrise.

So, in these three examples, we see three ways that Refusing the Call can express itself.  One way is to block the character, another is for the character to simply refuse to answer the call, and a third way is for the character to be completely overwhelmed by his (or her) circumstances, such that he surrenders to his fate.

In Stage 2 of the mythic structure, the main character receives a call to adventure. For example, in The Odyssey, Odysseus is called to war against Troy. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker receives a message from Princess Leia. This is also known as the “inciting incident.” It is the event that sets the story in motion. It sets the main character on a journey, whether that be an inward journey of discovery, or an outward journey. Often it is a combination of the two.

Let’s look at this stage in some popular novels and films like Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (page 16), The Alchemist, and Avatar.

In Harry Potter 5, the call to adventure occurs when the Dementors show up. Everything up to that point was ordinary and nothing unusual would have come from it. It is only when the Dementors arrive on the scene that things become extraordinary (even for Harry). He is forced to use magic to fight them off, calling forth his patronis, the white stag. Not only is it unusual for him to see the Dementors in Little Whinging, but the fact he has used magic means he has broken the rule against “the underage use of magic” and he used magic in front of muggles. Now he may end up being expelled from Hogwarts.

In The Alchemist, the call to adventure comes when Santiago has a recurring dream of a child telling him that he has to go to where the pyramids are and find his treasure there.

In Avatar, the call to adventure comes when Jake is placed in his Avatar body. He goes out on a reconnaissance mission with the science team and ends up separated from his group. It’s really the event of being separated that sets him on his journey because that’s what leads him to meeting Netyri and the other Nav’i.

In mythic structure, the story begins with the Ordinary World. For example, in The Odyssey, the story begins with Odysseus tending to his land. In The Frog Prince, the story begins with the little girl playing with her golden ball. It isn’t necessary to follow this structure exactly. It’s more a way of getting started with ideas.

Let’s look at this stage in some popular novels and films like Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (pages 1-15), The Alchemist, and Avatar.

In Harry Potter 5, the story begins with Harry sitting on a swing in a park in Little Whinging. Dudley and his friends start picking on him. Harry is at a point now where he’s not afraid to stand up for himself and he threatens Dudley back. That’s Harry’s ordinary world.

In The Alchemist, the young shepherd Santiago is tending his sheep. He sometimes camps out. One night he sleeps in an old abandoned church. The roof has long since caved in and a sycamore tree is growing up through the middle of it.

In Avatar, Jake Sully is waking up on a ship after being in hibernation. The ship has just reached the planet, Pandora. He disembarks onto the planet and listens to the officer’s warnings about the dangers on Pandora. Although this seems extraordinary to us, it’s Jake Sully’s ordinary world. He is a soldier in the future. For him it is perfectly ordinary to be shipped off to a “war zone.”

One of the best ways to begin writing a novel is to think about and describe your character’s ordinary world. Describe your character’s typical day. Take us right into the scene.

In the novel I’m currently writing, my character is unemployed. She’s searching for a job. Doesn’t know what to do with herself. Feels bored and depressed. Thinks obsessively about her most recent lover. She lives in London, but he lives in Washington DC. So even in her ordinary world she’s got conflicts.  Eventually she stumbles upon magic, a sorceress enters her life to mentor her, and she discovers her own latent powers (what they are shall remain a secret here; I will only say it has nothing to do with faeries, elves, witches, vampires, werewolves, trolls, or dragons).

When you describe your character’s ordinary world, it’s sort of like you give us a peek into the character’s daily life.  This is before the inciting incident occurs that sets her on her journey. Yet you will want to begin planting the seeds of your character’s troubles from the beginning.

For example, we wouldn’t want to see Jake Sully living a boring life on planet Earth. We want to start with him being deployed, and in this case James Cameron gives us his brother’s death as back story. He could have started us out at the funeral; that would have worked too. But these events are still considered ordinary. The inciting incident is when he’s placed in his avatar body and then gets separated from his group.

So remember:  ordinary, but not boring.