Writing Inrochester

Reporters are busy people. On any given day they are fielding dozens of phone calls, making calls of their own, reading stacks of newspapers and magazines and rushing to meet deadlines. So how do you break through all the noise to get a reporter or an editor on the phone to listen to your pitch?

In my 15 years as a magazine journalist I’ve fielded hundreds, if not thousands, of such calls. The following tips are what I’ve told many authors and publicists. The ones I eventually wrote about are the ones who listened and learned from the conversation.

1.) Ask If the Reporter Has Time to Speak to You

Make “Is now a good time?” the first question you ask when you get a journalist on the phone. Don’t assume that if he or she is busy, they won’t answer the phone because sometimes a reporter on deadline has to pick up. They might be waiting for confirmation from a source or to connect with a colleague in the field, and Caller ID doesn’t always give enough information for proper screening. There were many times when I was on deadline and answered my phone only to find, to my chagrin, a non-stop pitch on the other end. But the callers who impressed me would ask immediately if I was on deadline. All I had to say was “Yes” and they′d say they would call me in another day or so and hang up. Totally cool. I made sure I made time when they did call back. Sometimes I even checked my mail to see if I could find the caller’s press release so I would be ready for our talk.

2.) Understand This: The Fact That You Wrote a Book is Not a Story!

You may have written the best book in the world, but unless you’re Stephen King turning to pulp fiction (as he did recently) or Terry McMillan publishing your first novel in several years and getting divorced at the same time (as she did recently), you and your book are not a story. I’m sorry but that’s the plain truth. Of course if you land on the bestseller lists then we’d have something to discuss. There is one instance, however, when you would be a story and that’s when you…

3.) Connect to a Story Already in the News

When promoting your book you should be reading the newspaper and watching the news (local and national) daily. You’re looking for stories related to the subject matter in your book. Ideally you would have something to say and you would offer that up to a reporter. For instance, if you’ve written a book on cronyism in official government posts you could have put out a press release and called up a reporter during the Hurricane Katrina disaster with information such as, “This kind of cronyism has caused mishaps in government response before. I can tell you how it happens and where it has happened before.” The press release would list the details in easy-to-read bullet points. It would be easy to see you’d make a great interview subject.

This can work for novels as well. Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones is an exquisite book in its own right, but it got a huge publicity boost because it happened to get published at a time when several stories of missing girls were in the news.

4.) Ask What the Reporter is Working On

If the reporter isn’t interested in your story, don’t just cut and run. Engage the person in a friendly conversation and find out what types of stories he or she is working on for future issues. This way you get to cultivate a relationship–important because good media contacts are difficult to come by. You’re also learning what is newsworthy so you can either tailor your message for other outlets or come back to the reporter when you do have information he or she can use. I used to love it when the latter happened–it made my job easier!

One last note: Always follow up on the press releases you send out. You might be thinking, “Well, if they’re interested they’ll call″ but nine times out of ten it doesn’t work that way. Your press release could be in the mailroom, in someone’s office under a pile of papers or in the garbage unopened. It definitely hasn’t been read! Don’t be afraid to make the call. Whatever the outcome, at the very least you’ll be able to use what you learn for your next publicity effort.

© 2005 Sophfronia Scott

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can! While not a condition, I would appreciate receiving a copy and/or link to the issue and include this blurb with the story: Author and Writing Coach Sophfronia Scott is “The Book Sistah” TM. Get her FREE REPORT, “The 5 Big Mistakes Most Writers Make When Trying to Get Published” and her FREE online writing and publishing tips at TheBookSistah.com/ TheBookSistah.com/

Sophfronia Scott, “The Book Sistah,” is author of the bestselling novel, All I Need to Get By.
If you liked today’s issue, stay tuned for more because The Book Sistah also offers FREE audio classes, FREE articles, workshops, and other resources to help aspiring authors get published and market their books successfully.

The Book Sistah, 230 South Main St. Ste. 319, Newtown, CT 06470
203-426-2036, mailto:Info@TheBookSistah.com Info@TheBookSistah.com

There are many ways which the web marketers use these days to promote a web site. The web marketers are always busy finding new ways of promoting a web site. The number of web sites on the web is increasing at a very fast pace. By now the World Wide Web has become really crowded. In this situation, marketing and promotional efforts have become really important to the success of an online business. Until and unless you promote your web based business, you cannot be sure about its success. Article marketing is one of the ways which the internet marketers use these days to promote their web sites. Article marketing is a somewhat newer method of marketing online. It may take some time in producing its effects, but most often than not its effects are lasting.

You can make a lot of money through article marketing. If you are able to write good articles, you have a chance to earn good money. There are millions of web sites which need fresh content every now and then. Articles which are well written always have a demand in the market. If you are a good writer, you can find lots of opportunities on the web to earn through article marketing. Write good quality articles and submit them to the article directories. These articles will help in the promotion of your web site. As a result you will be making money through your online business. If you are a professional writer, you can write these articles for others and get paid for your services. In this way article marketing can help you in making a lot of money.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here:

Imagine being able to work from your own home, doing a job you love, and getting paid handsomely for doing it. Wouldn’t that be great?

Well, the good news is that this is not just a fantasy. It is a prospect that is well within your reach. Today, millions of people worldwide have established highly-successful careers as freelance professionals. Writers, designers, programmers and many other home-based consultants have discovered that freelancing offers the perfect combination of freedom, creativity, flexibility and profitability.

So do you need years of experience and fantastic qualifications to join these lucky people? Not at all. You just need a skill that you can offer to potential clients, and the willingness to learn how to run a home-based business.

Of course, the biggest challenge for new freelancers is finding enough work to justify giving up a day job. How can you be sure that you will keep yourself busy with lucrative work? This used to be a concern, but thanks to the advent of the Internet, things are now much easier.

Now there are a number of job sites dedicated to helping freelancers find work and stay busy. Freelance Work Exchange, for example, brings you hundreds of fresh freelance jobs like these:

Write for Discussion Boards: $1200 per week, plus bonus
A writer is needed for an ongoing writing project. You will need to write copy to stimulate others into joining the discussion board. The writer needs to actively encourage regular and meaningful debate on the relevant discussion board, with some moderating of the content. You must have solid writing skills and good ideas.

Administer a Web Business from Home: $4000 per month
A successful e-commerce venture is seeking a part-time virtual assistant to act as a home-based office manager. You will deal with email correspondence, update site content and deal with general admin issues. You should have your own computer and Internet access.

Transcribe Author’s Notes: $80 per hour, flexible working
A publishing company is seeking a freelance with an eye for detail to transcribe authors′ notes and recordings for a range of ongoing projects. You must have a good grasp of English, be able to edit content into readable form, and be able to submit work from home by email.

Get started on the road to freelance success right now!

tkqlhce.com/click-2143409-10356950″ target=”_top Freelance Writing Jobs

CJ Maguire is an Internet Entrpreneur/World Traveller. She makes her living
by running various Internet Based Businesses. You can visit her
website at: best-home-business-guide.com/ best-home-business-guide.com

Grief is not always sad and depressing, but can be inspiring and encouraging. Everyone deals with grief differently. Writing is an avenue through which healing begins. Something inside is unleashed, as a creative literary embryo develops and is born. This newborn combines tear jerking memories and a dash of optimism to turn melancholy into joy and productivity.

After tragic events like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Hiroshima, The Tsunami of 2004, The Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion of 1986 and The Vietnam War, many novels and documentaries were born. Despite these single disasters, so many eclectic, emotionally charged voices were heard through the written word.

Your “best seller” doesn’t have to be a novel, but can be an essay, article, poem or a piece of writing so compelling, that others are sold by your sheer poetics. Some of the positive attributes that therapeutic writing invokes, but are not limited to, includes:

1. Creating documented history with frequent and better journaling

2. Unleashing your creative juices by writing personal unedited emotions

3. Your story can help others get through their grief period.

4. Writing will make you sit down and slow down

5. Helping you realize the importance of spending quality time with those you love

6. Never take a person or situation for granted, including you.

7. Bringing closure to a grief stricken circumstance

Prior to my mother’s death, the joy of personal, developmental writing took a back seat to the writing projects for my career. After my mother was buried and everyone returned home, I dove back into my job thinking that staying busy was the best remedy for me. How very wrong I was. As I began journaling about the pain of loosing my mother, the quality and quantity of my writing increased. You have the ability to turn an apparently debilitating situation around, after experiencing some form of loss and grief, such as:

• A divorce or major breakup of a relationship

• Loosing someone you love through death, disappearance or abandonment

• Finding out that you or someone very close to you has been diagnosed with a terminal illness

• Surviving a natural disaster or an unexpected occurrence

• Loosing a job after years of dedicated work

Journaling or simply picking up a notebook and pen, then candidly begin writing down your struggles, memories, anger, joys, the pain of your loss, or any epiphany, can evoke the healing process. Writing out your emotionally charged grief, may not be shared respectfully by many, but there will be a considerable amount of your reading audience who will applaud your willingness to share something so personal that probably inspired them to do the same.

Although writing can possibly bring closure to a grief stricken situation, this doesn’t mean that you will forget. The words won’t let you. As the final chapter of a novel brings closure to the book, you certainly won’t forget the story. Once you close the book and put it on the shelf with other classics, you move on to the next book with a new set of chapters yet to be lived. Where there is no closure, the wound remains open. This metaphor compares to the scenario of the last few pages of a novel being ripped out, leaving you to wonder what the end would be.

Read some classical literary compositions and notice how they were written with life experiencing emotion, good and bad, drawing you into the story. Whether the author’s sentiment was personal or one they lived through someone else, you travel with them to a time and place where the journey meanders through an unpredictable path.

If you’re writing fiction, changing real character names to protect the innocent, relocating a venue or placing the time in another era, can still allow reality and emotion to permeate through your pages. Who knows where therapeutic writing can take you? So many wonderful and positive projects, as well as healing, can bloom from just one grieving experience.

Kym Gordon Moore has over twenty six years of writing experience throughout her corporate career, in various industries from fashion and special event coordination to marketing, public relations and sales. Many of her articles, essays, short stories and poems appeared in a variety of magazines, newspapers, ezines and anthologies.

Thank you Christopher,

That was indeed an answer to my question, yet I still have some doubts. Isn’t article production not competing with writing books?

This is important for others too I think, because everyone may have their own objective (in writing) and this is more than a single target of numbers although not unimportant.
It would help people to write more if they would be in a race for writing a (virtual) book.
This is what will help you in communicating a complex business change. You are to picture a vision. And writing a book could be something like that: A daring, far away, yet possible target.

First the process. This is what I always look at when dealing with business and consulting. Writing a set of articles is production (part of your personal productivity) and writing a book is also production, but yet the process of both varies.

Article production can be done by using a “simple” template. You think about any topic, you choose a problem and you write (the beginning of) a solution. This pattern - as architects would call it, doesn’t fit the book production process.

Writing a book requires a leading thread, which you must investigate first. A book requires a lot of analysis, literature investigation, etc. that fills your day. Time spend which you could not use otherwise. Not on writing articles (I think).

Besides the process, you are talking about competences. I can shoot pictures, of people, nature, of a pair of forgotten shoes in the sand near the beach. Yet I do not know the first thing about producing a film.

Although having doubts, I think there might be a solution. But I’m also curious how others think about this topic.

© 2005 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of astorwhite.com/” target=”_new Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a astorwhite.com/service_logon.htm” target=”_new free demo account

Having been involved in the field of education for 33 years, the fear of putting a pencil to a piece of paper is terrifying as I have long observed. Many very intelligent human beings are reluctant to put their thoughts on paper. Many individuals get a psychological block that prevents them from coherently recording their ideas. We do learn more when our ears are open and our mouths are closed.

We learn using the modalities of sight, hearing, touch, and experiential activities. When learning to over come the fear of writing, it is helpful to think of the positive aspects of a completed article rather than the negative aspects involved with the intricacies in the process of writing. The writer should make use of his/her best learning modality. Some are stimulated to thought by looking at an image and comparing it to a known object or experiences in comparing a long bridge to something in which we are involved or with which we are familiar.

Other writers are stimulated by hearing birds, songs of nature, a babbling brook, or various types of music. They can often give themselves permission to respond to what they are hearing, and the end result may become a beautiful piece of prose or poetry, a strong piece of sales copy, or a book.

Writers are sometimes urged to put on paper their thoughts about or after a significant experience in their lives. Seeing a child excel, a spouse receive recognition, or a parent suffer a significant illness causes emotions to rise and find their own voice.

Intuition is that small still voice from within that cries out to be heard. We may try to push it down, but eventually, we must accept the fact that we have “something to say”. Get your thoughts on paper and forget the troublesome mechanics until your first draft is finished.

Since most Americans speak from 90 to 150 words each minute, it is difficult to write or type quickly enough to capture their ideas. A minor investment in a small digital recording device can quickly solve the problem for many writers. The pause feature allows transcription at a slower pace than ordinary speech.

A doctorate level vocabulary is not required to become an excellent writer. There are well-over 2,000 socially acceptable four-letter words which can be used to construct 19.8 billion sentences. The key is in using each word appropriately so the reader is not distracted by errors. Writers need the readers to totally focus on the content being presented.

I developed a love of words at a very early age, and my Grandmother said that I was “born thirty years old”. Being an only child for the14 years that I was young meant listening more than talking, and maybe I did mature too fast for my years. Have you ever “really made a conscious effort to listen?” Most of the time we are thinking of what we want to say next. We need to remember that the written word is very much like the spoken word. We need to realize that the readers′ mind will wander to their thoughts instead of focusing upon the written content.

Get yourself a journal and keep all of your successful writings. Call it a swipe file or whatever you wish, but learn to use it as a crutch.

It would be my pleasure to help you along the road of discovery as you, also, develop a love of and an appreciation for the written and spoken word. Get those articles written to give yourself name recognition and establish yourself as an authority on the topic. Write that “drop dead” sales copy that will persuade the readers to open up their wallets, write a check , or lay down a credit card to get whatever you offer. Learn how to present your offer in terms of benefits to the reader. The reader doesn′t care about the features of the program except as they relate to his/her needs.

You are a writer!!! You just may not know it. Many of you are excellent writers. Others are very good writers, needing just a bit of refining, and some have still to discover their joy in writing. Please call me if I can be of any help at all. My second series in the four-part interactive class on Writing to Win will begin on Saturday, March 31, 2007 in the Veretekk Training room. You must be a Veretekk member to attend, but you can get a free lifetime Silver Membership at: gwenfoote.veretekk.com/” target=”_blank gwenfoote.veretekk.com/
Otherwise you may contact me by Skype; GiGi316. Email me at mailto:Footehold@GMail.com Footehold@GMail.com. My toll-free number is 866-461-3668. My mailing address is P.O.Box #291324, Kerrville, Texas 78029-1324 in case you want to mail me some of your work.

Productive, Successful Writing to Win is in your future.

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I am a Senior Citizen who refuses to sit in a rocking chair all day when there are people to meet, things to do, and fun to have.”If you don’t have time to do it RIGHT, when will you have time to do it OVER?” We don’t get a second chance much of the time.

I was a student who was “put ahead” in school instead of being taught at whatever level of education I could master. I “dropped out” of formal education at the age of 15, only to discover that I could not be a role model for my children unless I had achieved a good level of education. There was no such thing as a GED at that time. The President of the local community college allowed me to enroll, but I must make nothing lower than a “C″, and my objectives became focused. I was the Valedictorian when the Sopohomore Class graduated. My journey enabled me to earn several degrees, including a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Psychology, and Education. I was employed in the field of education for just over 33 years, and I received many awards and much recognition in the process. After trying to retire three times, I surrendered to the fact that retirement just wasn’t for me. My entry into Internet Marketing exposed me to new thought, several scams, and more than a little frustration. Happily, I have found a cooperative group of professional Internet Marketers under the leadership of Jim Gras.

If you have spent any time researching internet marketing then you have heard some buzz about article marketing. Perhaps you are even intrigued by the idea (after all, any FREE marketing method is worth checking out) but the hype surrounding article marketing makes it seem too good to be true. Does article marketing really deliver?

Yes, article marketing really does deliver. It delivers both long-term and short-term benefits that can rapidly increase your income and exposure on the web. Writing articles can help position you as an expert in your field, gain valuable targed traffic for your web site, drive leads to your products, grow your email list, and quickly multiple your site’s text links.

When you submit your articles to article directories and/or distribute them to publishers you increase your chances of your article getting picked up as supplemental content by ezine publishers. They take your article and send it to their email newsletter membership or add it to their website.

OK, that sounds good, but you still aren’t sure why you should provide this service to others for free. After all, you are an expert and they are receiving the benefit of your expertise and hard work. The answer to that question is simply that you really aren’t giving your article away for free. Yes, you are not getting paid, but you are receiving value in return that is worth much more in the long run than earning a one-time fee.

When good publishers reprint your article they leave your article intact and provide you with an active link back to your website. In addition, if those issues are archived or published on the web then you will receive not only the initial traffic spike but continual traffic plus your link popularity will increase which will in turn positively impact your web site’s rank with the major search engines.

Article marketing is not entirely free. You don′t need to spend cash but you will need to invest your valuable time, energy, and knowledge to make it work effectively, but the payoff for that investment will be surges in traffic to your website this year and many years to come.

Each article you write (multiplied by the number of directories you submit it to and the number of ezines, sites, and blogs that reprint it) provides a backlink to your site plus a traffic referral for any internet reader exposed to your article.

Your network of articles is out there working for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and often increasing exponentially daily and weekly until you have an incredibly powerful traffic network working for you. It really is a simple strategy. Want more traffic? Create more articles.

Article marketing can deliver traffic and potential customers to your site, but it can do a lot more than that. It can also establish you as a leader in your field — perhaps even a guru if you work at it. To brand yourself in your field you will need to focus on quantity and quality and consistency.

You need to regularly create new content and continually promote your new and old content. Keep your name and your ideas front and center in your niche through consistent article marketing.

So whether you are looking for more traffic, more customers, or more recognition then article marketing can be the most effective internet arketing strategy you employ.

Learn more about answersaboutwriting.com/articlemarketingcampaign.php Creating Your Article Marketing Campaign by visiting AnswersAboutWriting.com AnswersAboutWriting.com or NowLearnMore.com NowLearnMore.com Sign up for our free Article Marketing tutorial to read the full article and many more helpful article marketing tips.

Effective screenwriting relies on the good understanding and use of structure.

Inexperienced screenwriters may believe that structure inhibits creativity, but experienced writers know that following a template helps them to problem identify, generate ideas, select good ideas and develop them to reach that all important words-on-paper first draft – structure is not a hindrance but an enhancer of creative output.

If doubts about structure still exist, then they are soon eliminated – when screenplays are presented to decision makers for evaluation, writers soon learn that structure becomes an important part of the evaluation process.

A writer, through an individual and tortuous process of trial and error, may develop templates, or he or she may use one of the classic templates such as the Hero’s Journey. But a writer will rarely admit to the use of templates (it reduces the perception of originality) or he or she may be only mildly aware that they are following a process.

The Classic Hero’s Journey story structure template contains 106 sequences and more than 30 in the final act alone. It is an evolution of Campbells’ original model, containing only 17,18 or 19 sequences, depending on who the interpreter is.

There is a theory that there are only five jokes in the world. Similarly there is a theory that there is only one story in the world. An analyses of nearly all the stories produced by Hollywood bears this out from a certain perspective and the Hero’s Journey would be this universal template.

But from the one universal template are derived many descendants, and one of those is the NO WAY BUT DOWN story structure. In it, the anti-hero heads for self-destruction as a result of his own misdeeds and the betrayal of a shape shifter, allies and goddess et al. It is more exploratory of the darker side of human nature and behaviour and there are no happy endings…but it still makes for a fascinating story.

The Classic Hero’s Journey and the No Way But Down story structure templates can be found at managing-creativity.com.

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on managing-creativity.com managing-creativity.com

When stressed or blocked it is wise to make a change so that
we don’t stay in that place. Yet, many times we forget some
of the simple things that we can do for ourselves, quickly
and easily to bring our inspiration back and increase our
creativity.

1. If you usually type your speech first, hand write them.
Nothing compares to seeing the ink mesh into the paper and
display what you created.

2. If you spend too much time at the computer, take a break
every hour. Go for a walk or just sit outside in the sun.
Even five minutes in a winter sun does wonders for a mood
and creativity.

3. Flip through magazines or books. Their colors and ideas
will give you sparks and switch your attitude. Blue and
green can reduce your stress levels by 30% or more.

4. Add strong smells to the room. Light scented candles
around you, visit the fruit isle at the grocery store, or go
to a store that is heavily scented. Find an orange or
strawberries and smell it. Both will change a mood or
create inspiration. Smells awaken your creativity. Smells
trigger memories and are a great method to rekindle stories
from the past.

5. Go see or rent an inspirational movie. Relaxation time
is important. Watch the movie with a notebook and record
inspiring phases or ideas that pop in.

6. Read a book on the topic that stirs and sparks your
creativity. Poetry can do the same.

7. Look at bold and bright colors for a few minutes. These
change your mood.

8. Talk with a friend about your topic to flesh out ideas,
titles, and content. Tape-record the conversation so you
don’t miss anything. You would be surprised at how much we
think we hear and how we actually do.

9. Write an email to a friend to tell him or her what you
want to accomplish. If you are stuck, say so and ask for
help.

10. Check in with your vibrational energy and do something
to switch it into high gear. Take a shower. Go for a walk
or dance naked in the moonlight.

11. Hire someone to transcribe your recording so that you
can stay focused on the creative end of the speaking.

12. Authentic, flat-out, raw laughter frees the psyche and
opens the creativity process.

13. Find a setting with lots of trees and flowers and feel
nature. If the weather permits, take off your shoes and
socks and feel the grass between your toes. Nature has a
way of freeing our spirit to let the flow out of our best
material.

14. If you are used to practicing your speak in a quiet
place, create noise and practice. You will learn to speak
with distractions.

15. Go for a quiet leisurely drive and practice your vowels
outlook expand your voice range.

That was exciting, wasn’t it? Post this list in a
conspicuous place so that it is readily available when
needed. Do one or two of these daily to keep your thought
process clear and attracting. Your audience is waiting.

Catherine Franz, a eight-year Certified Professional Coach,
Graduate of Coach University, Mastery University, editor of
three ezines, columnist, author of thousands of articles
website: abundancecenter.com abundancecenter.com
blog: abundance.blogs. abundance.blogs.

FORWARD

The 188 stage Hero’s Journey (Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188 stage template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.

[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].

THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY

THE 188 STAGE HERO’S JOURNEY:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharses, of which there are usually four).

d) Tells you what to write. For example, at a certain stage of the story, the focus should be on the Call to Adventure and the micro elements within.

ABRIDGED TIPS, EXCERPTS AND EXAMPLES:

(simply go to heros-journey.info/ heros-journey.info/ for full details)

*****Others Absent Themselves from the Sacred Meeting*****

A Sacred Meeting between the Hero and Supernatural aid quite often takes place, before the embarkation on the Journey. Others absent themselves from this meeting. In Wall Street (1987), when Carl takes Bud aside, his friends leave them alone. In Star Wars (1977), R2D2 turns himself off during the meeting between Ben and Luke. In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indy and Sallah and Indy and Marcus are alone (Marion plays with the Sallah’s children).

*****Threshold Guardian*****

As is normal, a Threshold Guardian blocks entry into the First Threshold. In Bonnie and Clyde (1967), the teller says that there is no money; the bank failed three weeks ago. This is a time of the Great Depression.

*****Hero’s Private World*****

Obstacles to the Hero are somehow overcome and the Heralds are invited into the Hero’s Private World. This is a special place where the Hero spends much time alone, where he (or she) is safe and at home.

As with the Hero’s Ordinary World, it is representative of the Hero’s psychological state (often idyllic if the Hero is unwilling or repressive if the Hero is willing). In The King of Comedy (1983), Pupkin lives at home.

It is possible that the Private World is alluded to. In Dances with Wolves (1990), the General gets his personal surgeon.

Learn more…

WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at monomyth.info/ monomyth.info/

188 stages of the Hero’s Journey can also be reached from story-structure.org/ story-structure.org/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.