9th step Passion, storyteller's log 1-24-2013

The 9th step of mapping your story is a doozie, as they used to say in the cartoons. I had a very interesting surprise in my writing this blog- as if I was actually living out this story! I thought about what I discovered a lot, and whether to write about it. I cannot write about it right now. It would ruin the effect I've been trying to create, which has been to demonstrate how we feel at different parts of a story. Once the overall pattern is exposed, I will share it will you.

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On to the 9th step, our character has hit rock bottom, and like the proverbial Phoenix they have risen from the ashes.

Here's what my Mac's dictionary has to say about the Phoenix:

          •(in classical mythology) a unique bird that lived for five or six centuries in the Arabian desert, after this time burning itself on a funeral pyre and rising from the ashes with renewed youth to live through another cycle.          • a person or thing regarded as uniquely remarkable in some respect.

This is interesting. Even the dictionary suggests our character can be described as remarkable like a Phoenix.

From here, there's no where to go but up. But, as in all good storytelling, it's also all uphill from here.

Let's check into where we are. The character has turned towards hope as they've been reborn. What is is it that guides us where to go from here?

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Earlier when our character started up towards hope, they ignored the lesson and took the wrong path. This time they have learned the lesson so now they're doing the right thing. What they've learned has transformed them. They see a bigger all inclusive picture that involves others. They're less selfish.

As I mentioned earlier, writing stories is literally weaving stories together. Each piece is connected to the tapestry of the whole. Doing the right thing is connected to the wrong path. They're opposites. This is key as we'll see when we look at how to use our map to weave our stories. The lesson is also a key component.

The lesson was first woven into the goal when it was shown to be a false goal. That's because the lesson was ignored. 

The next path of the lesson was woven from the" lesson ignored" to the "lesson learned" in the symbolic death. It all fits together logically and more importantly emotionally.

There is something else brewing in our story. According to Aristotle, this is the peak, on his mapping, where the audience should have maximum involvement in the story. But now we know how we got there.

With the character so well prepared, how do we keep the audience hoping against fear? The hero has learned, BUT so has the opposition. And they're sore losers. They'll throw everything they've got at our hero. So our roller coaster has more peaks and valleys. 

The opposition will be so desperate that they'll even throw the kitchen sink...