Psy-Center

Were under attack by some really mean, rude, no good for nothing, spammers!

Go away Spammers.  We don't want your comments here.  Why must you always ruin a good thing?

*sigh*

It was planned in advance. Every precaution was taken. We had a full group, ten to be exact. So off we trudged to face Malygos in the Eye of Eternity.

Malygos is a Blue Wyrm Dragonkin.  He has 6,972,000 health points. In retrospect it may not have been the best of plans. However we had fought long and hard inside Naxxramas to earn the key and the right to enter Malygos’s domain.

Our group consisted of myself, a paladin, a mage, two hunters, two death knights, a druid, and two warriors.

We failed on virtually every front.

Not enough healing. Not enough damage. Not enough avoidance. It was total chaos for the first few attempts.

We come away from the encounter knowing that our healers need to gear up, our dps needs to hit harder, everyone needs to avoid taking damage better, and everyone must learn positioning better.

Point of view is the perspective that you tell a story from. There are many different perspectives that you can use.

·         First person point of view

·         Omniscient point of view

·         Second person point of view

·         Third person point of view

Each point of view can further be broken down into objective, or subjective. An objective point of view only offers what a camera would see. A subjective point of view can delve deeper into touch, smell, and the full range of human reaction.

In a first person point of view your protagonist is telling the story. I, me, and my, are used frequently. This is a confining method because you cannot let your protagonist know anything other than what they can see or learn for themselves.

An Omniscient point of view allows the author to be all seeing. You can be objective or subjective for any character or inanimate object in your story. This offers the most freedom, but requires greatest skill.

The second person point of view is less popular. It is almost never used for an entire novel. When you use the second person point of view you are putting your reader in the story as one of your characters. You and you’re, are used frequently in this method.

Third person point of view is a cross between first person and omniscient. This point of view allows more freedom to describe things not directly known by the character when told from a subjective view point. It is the most popular point of view to tell a story from.

A Heroes Journey

Christopher Vogler in his book The Writer’s Journey outlines 12 basic steps that he believes all heroes progress through.

1.       Ordinary World

2.       Call to Adventure

3.       Refusal of the Call

4.       Meeting with the Mentor

5.       Crossing the First Threshold

6.       Tests, Allies, Enemies

7.       Approach

8.       Supreme Ordeal

9.       Reward

10.   The Road Back

11.   Resurrection

12.   Return with the Elixir

Many other authors have put fourth similar theories about the basic structure as well.  For instance some talk about Acts I, II and III instead.

1.       Departure, Separation

2.       Descent, Initiation, Penetration

3.       Return

In the end, it really doesn’t matter what you call the structure. Just remember that the Heroes Journey is an outline or roadmap that you can use to develop your story. By knowing a tried and true basic progression you can avoid many rewrites later.

Create your outline on a blank piece of paper before you actually begin your novel. Then fill in one or two paragraphs in each of the steps to help you get a feel for how you will layout your story.

Within these pages I plan to develop a series of fictional short stories. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy writing them.

When I grow up, someday, I hope to write a full blown novel.

I've stumbled across some basic elements of a story. This might be common sense for most people, but for me it helps to put it to paper and study it. By understanding the basic elements of a story I can be aware of my writings and make informed decisions. This is definitely a learning experience for me.

Exposition: The exposition is all the information you give about your protagonist. It's the background surrounding your story.  

Problem: A problem is what your protagonist tries to work through.

Conflict: A conflict can best be described as the struggle between your protagonist and your antagonist.

Rising Action: When you’re telling a story you need to continue to raise the level of action, or events, or conflicts. This increases suspense and drama.

Foreshadowing: The art of foreshadowing is giving hints about events to come. Foreshadowing can help to heighten the rising action.

Crisis: An emotionally stressful event or traumatic change in a person’s life. A typical crisis for your protagonist will include heightened drama, emotional tensions, and higher consequences for your characters.

Climax: The point of greatest intensity of force in an ascending series of progression. The climax for your story will be the highest point of drama or action. This is where your protagonist’s problem is solved.

Denouement: The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot. This is the outcome of your story.

Epiphany: A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.

I plan revisit this list from time to time to help me stay on track with my writings.