Thoughts on the Monomyth

A while back I started reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. I am not sure if I will finish the book or not. First off, it is a dry read (think college history textbook). Second, after reading Stephen King's opinion that good fiction almost never proceeds from theme to story, I have come to the conclusion that it would be a bad idea to write my story with Campbell's "monomyth" in mind. I like this quote by author Neil Gaimon on the subject:

"I think I got about half way through The Hero with a Thousand Faces and found myself thinking if this is true — I don’t want to know. I really would rather not know this stuff. I’d rather do it because it’s true and because I accidentally wind up creating something that falls into this pattern than be told what the pattern is."

So odds are I won't finish The Hero with a a Thousand Faces. The image above is a cartoon illustration by Austin Kleon of themes found in the writings of Joseph Campbell.

A Chapter Book?

Recently, a friend of mine asked me if the book I was writing was a "chapter book". I replied "yes", but the more I thought about it, the more I began to doubt my answer. In a previous post,  I relayed how I came to the conclusion that "Middle-grade" was the appropriate category for my book. But is MG a subset of  a broad "Chapter Book" category or is "Chapter Book" a category unto itself? An initial Internet search only brought more confusion. The New York Times Best Sellers list has a division called "Chapter Books" which includes everything from Lego books (ages 7 and up) to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series (which is considered by many to be Young Adult in the tradition of Harry Potter). Finally, under a Children's Fiction genre definition at findmeanauthor.com, I found definitions I was satisfied with:

Chapter books - "For ages 7-10, Chapter books are transitional books that help children move from early readers to full novels. Most chapter books deal with contemporary situations that are familiar to the readers, and are often humorous books."

Middle-Grade Novels - "This is the golden age of reading for many children, ages 8-12. A novel, unlike the picture book, relies entirely on text to tell the story. Kids get hooked on characters at this age. Fiction genres range from contemporary to historical to science fiction/fantasy."

Spacemouse 9 fits better in the MG Novel category. So, the next time someone asks me if I am writing a chapter book I will say "No, I am writing a Middle-grade novel". ;)

Ray Bradbury on Writing

Over the holidays I managed to finish reading Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing. The book consists of  a series of essays which originally appeared in other publications. Having just read Stephen King's On Writing, I was struck by the fact that both Bradbury and King have strong beliefs about how stories "write themselves", flowing naturally out of character development. Here are some quotes by Bradbury on the subject:

"Find a character, like yourself, who will want something or not want something, with all his heart. Give him running orders. Shoot him off. Then follow as fast as you can go.  The character, in his great love, or hate, will rush you through to the end of the story."

"The time will come when your characters will write your stories for you, when your emotions, free of literary cant and commercial bias, will blast the page and tell the truth."

Compare Bradbury's quotes with Stephen King's quotes here.

Also like King, Bradbury wrote of the insecurity from which writers often suffer:

"We all need someone higher, wiser, older to tell us we're not crazy after all, that what we're doing is all right... But it is easy to doubt yourself, because you look around at a community of notions held by others writers, other intellectuals, and they make you blush with guilt."

Given the fact that two established authors have had much the same experiences, there must be some real nuggets of truth in what they are saying. Wide eyed, I am listening. :)

The Ray Bradbury portrait above is by Pixar artist Lou Romano for the cover of Written By magazine.

Appendix Entry: Rothi Numeral System

The numbering system used by the Rothi has as its basis the number four.  For the Rothi, the significance of the number four comes understandably from the fact they have four fingers on each hand. The Rothi numeral system has similarities to the system developed by the ancient Roman Empire on Earth. First, neither system has a symbol for zero. Secondly, both systems are additive.  For example, the Rothi symbol for the number ten is a combination of the symbols for the number two and the number eight (2 + 8 = 10). The symbol for the number sixteen might be seen either as a combination of the symbols for twelve and four or a combination of two fours and an eight. The spacesuit and spacecraft of Spacemouse 9 are imprinted with a circle and slash, which to the Rothi, represent the number nine.