I've finally gotten back to regular entries on my blog for The Scribbler's Guide to the Land of Myth.  Or at least, begun the process of being regular (let's see if I keep it up).

This time out, I'm tackling the issue of Father Figures.  There just aren't that many good ones out there, by and large, so I wanted to highlight what makes a certain one very effective: Leroy Jethro Gibbs on the show NCIS. 

You can read it all RIGHT HERE.

I'll have to start drawing up a list of possible topics for further blogging purposes.  If you people have suggestions, feel free to mention them.  After spending all the effort to write The Scribbler's Guide, I need to keep my skills honed.

Sales on my book, The Scribbler's Guide to the Land of Myth, have slowed down the last few months.  (Well, let's be honest, they've been almost non-existant.)  Now, a large part of that is that I have not done a lot of book promotion on it.  I'd been waiting to get some detailed information on one matter before I started planning what to do next.

So, today I got that information and it's a little bit discouraging.

( Read more... )

This time out, I'm tackling the cable show Burn Notice.  I discuss how the show handle its Constant Jeopardy Syndrome construction (it does it well!).

I'd actually meant to write about some other mythic motifs in regard to this show (Michael as Savior and as Shapechanger), but with the summer episodes' cliffhanger, I was struck with admiration on how the show continually lets Michael make progress toward his goal, and yet also changes the nature of the goal both as a professional object and a personal one.

So, yes, I am once again sending you to the Scribbler's Guide blog!  Enjoy, and comment where you will (I will find you! ;-) )

So, at the end of Comic Con on Sunday, I finally caught up with one of the editors I like to chat with each year, Matt Idelson.  I enjoy talking with him, as just another person, of course, but I also chat him up because... well, he's an editor I'd like to get a writing gig from.  As one of the editors for DC Comics, he currently oversees Superman and Wonder Woman.  The last few years, he and I have chatted about a second book for the Wonder Woman "group" (which is only one title right now), focused on Wonder Woman's sister, Donna Troy.  He likes the idea of having it, and he knows how much I want to write it, but when it comes to company properties, they often have to wait on "big event stories" and sundry other things.  And so the Donna Troy idea sits in waiting.

But Matt's a good guy, and he knows I've got more going on than just trying to get a writing gig out of him.  Last year, I'd given him a copy of The Scribbler's Guide to the Land of Myth, and he asked how things were going with that.  I had to admit that things are currently a little bit stalled -- there are marketing matters I need to sort out, so that it can be carried in stores, and I need to retool my advertising approaches.  But, I added, I had started a blog, to do little bits on popular entertainment, drawing from aspects of the book.  He thought this was a good idea, and asked if I had done  (or was going to do) anything on comics.  I said no, not yet.  He observed that he'd have thought it would be right up my alley.

At the time, what crossed my mind was "More on comics? I don't know.  I mean, I've covered Batman and Superman in the book."  But on my drive back from San Diego, I thought about his question.  "Why not do something on Wonder Woman?" I thought.  My friend, Gail Simone, is currently the writer for the title, and I love what she is doing.  But even so, I keep running across people who say that they don't "get" Wonder Woman.  They don't know how to plug into her character.  So it occured to me to write up something about the difficulties in the character -- why she isn't easy to write or to connect with. 

So, here it is, the latest in my "Mythic Motifs at Work" -- THE PROBLEM WITH WONDER WOMAN.

Hope you enjoy it.

I certainly had not meant to post another one of the motifs blog things this soon.  I have intended to spread them out a bit.  But these thoughts on Disney-Pixar's Up have been bubbling for a while, so I went ahead with it.

You can check it out HERE.

If you have not seen Up yet, you should get out and do so.  One of the most charming films I've seen in a while.  But even if you have not seen it, I don't think my comments will spoil it for you at all.

After spending more time wrangling with the Mythcon program book's lay out (somehow it got plagued with some ghost headers that messed up some pages), I was finally able to post the next installment  on the Scribbler's Guide blog. 

This time, I take on Dr. Gregory House, misanthrope.  He's "divine" did you know?


More of these short analyses coming -- and all of the ideas I'm drawing on can be found in The Scribbler's Guide to the Land of Myth.  Try it!  You'll like it!

Colleen Doran let me guest blog on her site again, and this time I decided to have some fun using all my hard work on mythic archetypes for The Scribbler's Guide to the Land of Myth, and analyse Captains Kirk and Picard from the Star Trek universe.

READ IT HERE

Yeah, I'm stirring the pot a little bit.

So, there I was, reviewing the visitor stats for my website ( www.scribblerworks.us/_index.htm ), and I checked out the search strings that brought some people to the site.  It's kind of interesting to see how people get there (well, once you get past realizing that the high number of hits are spambots prowling about, alas).

Anyway, one thing that shows up consistantly are searches for "heroines"  - and "heroes" and "quest".

These are aspects of mythic patterns in stories, of course, which I wrote a whole book about (heh -- hype! hype!), www.scribblersguidetomyth.com.  But that book grew out of my studies into matters connected to heroes and heroines and quests.  Because of that, I thought it would be interesting to do some musing on the nature of heroines these days, particularly in modern fantasy works (whether set in pseudo-medieval worlds or in contemporary urban settings).  What's going on with them?  What has changed in how heroines function in stories these days?

So, first off, I went back and reread the column I wrote a long time ago about heroes and heroines.  It's posted on the website at http://www.scribblerworks.us/articles/Mythopoesis-Heroes.htm .  Admittedly the "writer's voice" in that column is much more scholarly and impersonal than the one I use these days.  But once I got past that, it did set me to thinking about some things.

The "traditional" role of heroines was that they were the objects of the quest, the princess to be won, or rescued, or freed.  She was certainly not the active character in the story, making the choices and moving the plot forward.  In the column, I described the function she served in the story as being the representative of the Essence of the tale.  The nature of the heroine served to represent the goals of the quest the hero pursued.  Dividing the Action and the Essence of the story into gender roles was a convenient shorthand for storytellers.  It didn't really reflect the capabilities of either sex when confronted with real quests.  But for a long time, because the social position of women was limited greatly, no one thought about that distinction.

These days however, women have the freedom to do almost everything that Society allows men to do.  I say "almost", because in America, women are prohibited from direct combat roles - mostly because in many ways, America is a very conservative society.  England, Israel, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Iceland -- (and that's just off the top of my head) all those countries have had women heads of state, long before America, the supposedly progressive nation, has even put forward a truly viable woman candidate for national leader.  But when it comes to stories, we do put women to the forefront.

The thing is, what we have now are "female heroes", not "heroines".  We have female characters who are taking the principal role of action, driving the story forward.  But forward to what?  What is it these days that serves as the embodiment of the goal of the story's quest?  The figure that personifies the socialization of the Hero at the end of the quest?  Because we do not really cast male characters into that somewhat objectified role.  We still shy away from putting male characters into the position of being rescued, freed, won for marriage and, in a word, inactive in the plot.  There are very few male counterparts to Sleeping Beauty.  Perhaps the Prince Charming of many Cinderella versions does serve that purpose, but even in that story, he does have to go out and find the owner of the magical footware.

Now, don't mistake me.  I do think it a good thing that modern stories allow female characters to be more active, to be, in fact, the hero of the story. I've always liked stories with strong female characters.  But I've been wondering what we're losing on the symbolic level by transforming the Figure of Essence into the Figure of Action. 

I don't have any answers on this.  The modern sensibilities would certainly sneer at the immobile traditional fairy tale princess who only exists to be won.  Quite rightly, from the social perspective.  But I don't know that we've found a substitute for the Figure of Essence in stories yet.

(Yes, I guess I've just now coined two new story terms: Figure of Action and Figure of Essence. I wonder if they'll be useful?)

I though I'd post the Table of Contents for The Scribbler's Guide, just to give you all an idea of what I'm up to. I'll include some explanations of sections.

I'm getting so re-jazzed by this project! I've had it sitting around for too long, so it's very energizing to be getting back into all of it. I've just gotten a couple of very nice blurbs for the book, which is humbling and exciting too. I'll hold on to them until later. It's especially cool in that they are not just "make nice" blurb - the writers have read sections of the book, and are responding with their genuine reactions. Color me happy.

Anyway, onward to the contents.  My added notes will be in italics.

I spent about four years working on a book about mythic motifs for writers - screenwriters mostly, but all writers eventually. And after I finished it, I began the process of trying to find an agent and/or publisher for it. Now, that's not an easy task when you've got a 40 hour a week job in the entertainment business. You do come home from work a bit brain-fried.

The manuscript for The Scribbler's Guide to the Land of Myth (with a more pragmantic subtitle of "Mythic Motifs for Storytellers") has actually received consideration at three publishers. But..... there were always "buts". "But" the senior editor didn't think the title worked. "But" it's a rather long manuscript and a 400 page book from a "no name" might be a difficult sell. "But" it could work if it were three volumes and not one.

BUT.....

First off, the material was designed to be ONE volume. One reference book on the shelf. All in one place. ONE. VOLUME. Oh, yeah, I could divide it into three volumes. A good friend was urging me to go that route, since it would be "more money". But... I'm not actually doing this particular work to make mega-bucks. It's the ONE reference book I wanted.

Yes, it's a longish book, but I've made it as readable as possible. And the three people who have read it all the way through are enthusiastic about it. As it is.

As for the title... well, yes. It's offbeat. It's intended to be so. To be "not so intimidating", given it's big and comprehensive. That first senior editor, when he was critiquing the title, commented (paraphrasing here) that he didn't think the word "scribbler" was going to mean anything to the public, in this day and age of computers. On the other hand, so far, I have not have ONE writer who did not get the whimsy of using the term "scribbler". It's always been greeting with a smile. Which was the whole point.

So.... after the various frustrations of the book not getting anywhere nearer to being in print and in front of the target audience, I've decided to go the route of print-on-demand. There are such better conditions for this route these days, what with Amazon, and many of the POD publishers having means of delivering to bookstores as well as the individual purchaser. I'll certainly have to do A LOT of the legwork myself in marketing and promoting the book. But more and more that's becoming the case, even when a book comes from an established publishing house. So... I'm actually getting jazzed by this prospect.

I'm preparing the manuscript for print layout. (Eeek. Converting a 162,299 word manuscript into a document that has the layout, with headers and fonts and breaks that I want... a lot of work. But after only about 3 days working on it, I've gotten about a quarter of it done.) Once the layout is done, I have to send it to a friend who is going to build the index for me (it NEEDS an index). I'm expecting to receive the cover art in another couple of weeks, and that will have to be prepared for the cover. All these little nit-picking things.

But... I'm hoping that in about another four months, The Scribbler's Guide to Myth (the short title for it) will be ready to be taken in hand by everyone who wanted to know how a mythic motif worked in some piece of writing. 

And of course, I'll have to set up a website for it... and get my own website updated... and send out postcards announcing........

Yeah. A lot of work ahead of me. But, strangely, I'm looking forward to it.