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The Heroine’s Journey
 Posted by Michelle Butler Oct 2 2011, 7:30 pm in inspiration, Michelle Butler, Michelle Mondays, Writing Last week I mentioned how helpful Barbara Samuel’s voice workshop was at my last local writers’ meeting. What I did not mention was that I found her afternoon workshop on the heroine’s journey even more helpful. She gave me a new analytical tool to use when I think about a book’s structure and plot. Many of you have probably heard of the hero’s journey. Drawing from the work of Joseph Campbell, particularly the hero with a thousand faces, Christopher Vogler calls the 12-step hero’s journey the basic plot of most stories. In his book The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers & Screenwriters, Vogler identifies the 12 steps as: 1) Ordinary World This structure can be seen in most male adventure stories, but it’s not always relevant for women’s fiction. While men are going out in the world to prove themselves, women, Barbara pointed out, often are coming to terms with themselves and bringing that knowledge back to the community. This can be more of an inner journey than an outer journey. If the hero’s journey is not a helpful plotting device for some women’s stories, is there something out there that can be helpful? A writing friend of Barbara’s recommended the concept of the heroine’s journey, as it was outlined by Victoria Lyn Schmidt in her book 45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters. Schmidt has a chapter devoted to the heroine’s journey, and she breaks it down into 9 steps. Act 1 – Containment This plot structure can be very inward-focused and capture the inner journey of a character. It seems immediately relevant to women’s journey stories that are so prevalent in women’s fiction and some romance fiction, such as Harlequin SuperRomance. This structure really resonated with me and captures the journey I’ve gone through in various, big life transitions. I think it could be very helpful when plotting a women’s journey type story, but it could also be helpful when plotting the inner journey of a character when there is a strong, external plot. What do you think of the heroine’s journey? Has it given you any insights on storytelling? Can you name a story that you think follows the heroine’s journey? Do you think you’ll use it in a future story?
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I wasn’t able to stay for this part of the workshop, so I’m so happy to see you’ve posted the gist of it here. Thanks Michelle! And I can absolutely see why this would apply to romance fiction so much better than the traditional hero’s journey.
It is helpful, isn’t it?
Barbara also sketched out this entire journey for Rose in the Titanic and gave some other examples Schmidt included in her book. B. also asked for an audience volunteer to share how this journey was applicable to her own, latest manuscript – all the examples really helped illuminate some of the steps.
Thanks for sharing this, Michelle. I’ve always struggled to see how the Hero’s Journey matched with my stories. I’ll have to think this one over.
I hope the concept of the heroine’s journey ends up being helpful to you.
I flipped through Schmidt’s book a lot after Barbara’s workshop, and it looks really insightful. I plan to buy and read it. When I do, I can let you know if I found it worth the time/$. I think you can search inside it on Amazon.com too.
Maureen Murdock who was a close friend of Joseph Campbell wrote a book entitled The Heroine’s Journey back in 1990.
It is very good and there is a ton of women’s fiction which follow this model. Elizabeth Lyons in her book The Manuscript Makeover Revision Techinques that No Ficiton Writer Can Afford to Ignore mentions such books as Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and Joy Luck Club.
Murdock gives a great structure for those wishing todevelop a more psychological story than an event driven one.
It can be used though in most women’s fiction.
If you haven’t read Murdock’s book, I really recommend it.
Thanks, Michelle! I’ve never heard of Maureen or her book – or the Elizabeth Lyons’ book. I’ll definitely look them up.
Michelle –
Do. the Elizabeth Lyon book is like gold dust. I swear by it as do a number of authors I know such as Jessica Hart.
The Murdock gives slightly different stages — speration from the feminine, identification with teh masculine and gathering of allies, road of tirals: meeting orges anddragons, finding the illusory boon of successs, awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity: death, initiaition anddescent to the Goddess, uregent yearnings to reconnect weith the feminine, healing the mother/daughter split, healing the wounded masculine, and intergration of masculine and feminie to become the essence.
Thanks for sharing the stages – very interesting.
Interesting stuff, Michelle. And it makes a lot of sense. Could explain why sometimes it’s difficult to complete outlines for my books using the typical Hero’s Journey steps.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the hero’s journey – perhaps because I tend to struggle more with the inner than the outer journey, and the hero’s journey does not have a lot to say about the inner journey.
The heroine’s journey definitely does though, and that may be why I was so impressed. I particularly find it helpful how it names the 3 different acts. I find that so helpful when working on character arcs. I’ve seen Jenny Crusie do that with her 4-Act structure/plotting talks, and I do try to do that for my wips.
Thank you so much for posting this, Michelle! Fascinating stuff. And the book recommendations will be so helpful, I’m sure. Considering I’m targetting SuperRomance, this is timely and very useful for me. Have a great week!
Thanks, Kathy! Best wishes with your super!
Since I just joined Weight Watchers three weeks ago (tomorrow will be my fourth meeting), I’m obsessed with food and dieting. Seems to me The Heroines Journey could be applied to our weight loss/getting healthier journeys!
Diane, I think that’s why it resonated so much with me – it reminded me of the journey I’ve been on – and particularly the first year or two. Best wishes with Weight Watchers!
Michelle — thanks for posting this. I was sorry to miss the workshop so the notes help.
Marjanna, Deborah, and I tried to identify the heroine’s journey steps in “Catch and Release” which we thought would be a good one to try, as it’s definitely a woman’s journey. But it was still really really HARD. Interesting things we noticed along the way, but I didn’t feel like we really nailed it.
Do let me know if you try it out on a movie/book!
Thanks, Yvonne, for sharing your experience. Was it hard because the steps seem so internal and how do you “show” that externally?
I love finding other writers who are working with the hero’s journey and the heroine’s journey. While writing my heroine’s journey novel “Sarabande,” I began keeping track of my favorite references, including Maureen Murdock’s “Heroine’s Journey” and Valerie Estelle Frankel’s “From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey through Myth and Legend.” The resources page on my blog for “Sarabande” has a list of source materials.
Best wishes,
Malcolm