[DIANNE] Weeks 3-4: Plotting Along the Curve

So after the first week of exercises, Anah and I sat down and figured out the conflicting climaxes problem—the answer turned out to be an entirely different third climactic moment that we agreed was more appropriate as the key to the story's resolution.

I went into the third and fourth weeks of exercises thinking about that problem, and coming at it from that perspective helped me a lot in my effort to make the story conform to the Mythic Journey and Heroic Cycle plot formats.

The heroic cycle seems to work well for James's character arc—he sets off on a grand adventure in terms of bringing Nico into his life, and he comes home when he grants Nico "insider status" in his family, rather than the outsider he's been up to that point in the story.

The mythic journey feels more appropriate for Nico's arc. He escapes the "cage" of his childhood and sets off a road of trials, facing James's conflicting needs as well as temptation from his friends. He defeats the Dragon by proving himself as a member of the family and not just an employee, and reaches home when he attains insider status in the family.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Anah comes up with!

The Story So Far: Dianne discovers that the heroic cycle and mythic journey are more fun to apply to contemporary romance when the stages and thresholds aren't taken at face value.