The Monomyth (tum tum tuuuum)

Wonderful Sunday Morning to Everyone!

Sundays are magical. They really are. Some use it for silent contemplation or to connect spiritually. Others enjoy downtime with friends or loving family (or the recovery thereof). Yet others like to sleep in late, stroll through a park or keep the curtains closed and enjoy a good movie. However the activity, the air always seems pregnant with a content quiet. A stillness before the storm. A collective breath being held before the excitement of the week takes hold of us again.

I like to think Sundays are the balancing out of creative spirits. So much time is put into browsing through sensory stimuli, making logical decisions and dealing with the emotional consequences thereof that we fail to nurture our child like imagination. Saturday is usually for letting out our built up frustrations of the week - a reaction if you will to reassert control of our lives. Shopping to show we make our own choices, dancing to lose control in an accepted manner, spend time with the kids, because we couldn't during the week. Saturday is to react. Sunday, however, is to reflect and heal. And although I am fortunate enough to incorporate my creativity into my week, Sunday allows my farm of imagination to blossom with ideas.

And on one Sunday I discovered Joseph Campbell's Monomyth theory. Seventeen steps in three acts that describe the transformation and balancing of a Hero's journey. Whether it is Hercules, Frodo the Hobbit, Luke Skywalker or Neo, the classic and modern heroes of fiction go through their version of the monomyth, allowing us the chance to unconsciously connect to their story. To examine the 17 steps go to Wikipedia or better yet, read the book 'A Hero with a Thousand Faces'. But it basically helps you to examine/dissect the path of a classic hero through the story. I've spent some time looking at it and was amazed to how much already corresponded with my plot. Of course this could just be my own imagination...

It's a fun activity to do, matching the monomyth with your favorite novel, movie or play, and it gives me great pleasure to do so, because there is something about the human mind that relates better to a story when it is balanced out this way. It distinguishes the great from the so-so stories, the blockbusters from the bombs. So just like Sundays balance out a busy week, so do the elements of the monomyth for a young adult heroic novel. And to give you (possibly) the most important hint to the series of books Nancy and I are writing yet: it's all about balance and the connections made to restore balance.

Tum Tum Tuuuuuum (dramatic exit)