Three words: Guidebook, Inspiring, Instructive
The guidebook that became a Hollywood storytelling bible is eminently useful for novelists as well! Based on Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces model, Christopher Vogler expounds on the common tropes and beats that every aspiring storyteller should know and use. The archetypes covered include Hero, Mentor, Threshold Guardian, Herald, Shapeshifter, Shadow, Ally, and Trickster. If it all sounds very medieval, never fear. These types, or energies, appear across all genres and take many forms (hence the “thousand faces.”) As for story beats, Vogler covers it all from the Call to Adventure through Return with the Elixir. Here, too, “elixir” is more of an energy than an actual magical item. In fact, the pattern of the hero’s journey plays out in tales as disparate as Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Beverly Hills Cop, Titanic, and Pulp Fiction. Really any successful Hollywood movie adheres to this model. I would argue that at least understanding these rules is necessary before deliberately and mindfully breaking them in fiction. This study of form is by no means an invitation to write by formula. Rather it equips writers with the tools necessary to create an infinite number of successful and satisfying stories, if only they have the artistry to wield them.
Luke Stephens 