WIWA Sponsored Workshops

Take advantage of these WIWA sponsored workshops to improve your writing craft, find new inspiration and meet other local writers. For more information, contact wiwa@whidbey.com or call (360) 331-6714. To register, send your name, address, phone number, e-mail, and check for tuition to:

WIWA

P.O. Box 639
Freeland, WA 98249

Mythic Structure for Writers: An exploration of plot, subplot, and characters.

This workshop will take a long look the ways writers may use mythic structure in fiction and the implications for plot, subplot, and characterization, using as references Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Handouts will assist both those who’ve not read either book as well as those who have read one or both. We’ll explore the use of mythic structures in building central plots, and also in subplots built around secondary and supportive characters.

Keep in mind that, as Vogler himself points out, a hero may be a warrior but may also appear in such forms as “pacifist, mother, pilgrim, fool, wanderer, hermit, inventor, nurse, savior, artist, lunatic, lover, clown, king, victim, slave, worker, rebel, adventurer, tragic failure, coward, saint, monster, etc.” In addition to discussing the various possibilities of the hero archetype in developing characters, we’ll look at the ways writers can use such other archetypes as the mentor, threshold guardian, herald, shapeshifter, shadow, ally, trickster, and eternal youth. Of course we’ll discuss the quest, which in Vogler’s and Campbell’s formulation includes many other mythical elements.

Most of all, we’ll explore how writers move from these ideas, which can seem terribly theoretical, to the actual creation of plots, subplots, and characters.

Directions to Windermere Real Estate Office, Oak Harbor:
From South Whidbey:
Head NORTH on SR 525 to Oak Harbor
At second stoplight turn LEFT onto SR 20 and go 1.4 miles.
End at 32785 SR 20, Suite 4.
 

photo by Bob Richardson