Book Review: The Writer’s Journey

Today on Fuel Your Writing, we kick of a series of writing book reviews by Eric Kuentz. First up for review is Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey

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The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

by Christopher Vogler

Inspired by, and directly based on, Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey from his The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Christopher Vogler uses classic story archetypes to explain in great detail, and through great example, the process of what makes the classic mythic structure.

In Joseph Campbell’s book (which we will also review here soon), classical stories are broken down into their simplest elements, and it is revealed that all successful stories, when you boil them down, consist of the same raw ingredients: the Hero, the Villain, the Mentor, the formulaic story arc, etc. Vogler elaborates on these basic ingredients and, with a dash of the Cliff’s Notes version of Campbell’s work, provides a veritable recipe for crafting a story into a successful dish.

This is NOT a plug-and-play writer’s book. The initial response to the paper that eventually became The Writer’s Journey was negative, claiming that the book would “dumb-down storytelling.”

“It’s too formulaic.”

“It will ruin the industry.”

On the contrary, this does not spoon-feed you a successful novel or screenplay. This does not craft a universal story for you. This book is a study of the basic elements of story and structure. Any tool in the wrong hands can be dangerous, but anyone wishing to learn more about the craft of writing needs to know the basics.

The Writer’s Journey is your guide to those basics.

While not a beginner’s guide, The Writer’s Journey certainly has the blueprints that any novice can understand and follow along on their first draft, or use as inspiration to form a story arc. But the true art of writing, the very craft of storytelling, will require more study. Just as a master chef can turn flour and water into more than just paste, an experienced storyteller will use The Writer’s Journey to enhance their story beyond ordinary and make it universal.

Aims

Writing a structural guide with textbook-like precision, Vogler takes the rawest of story ingredients, teaches them for those who have not read Joseph Campbell, and gives numerous examples of how and why these basic elements work throughout history and across many cultures. With charts and graphs to map story arc and progress, the elements and patterns of story are explained so vividly they leap off the page and smack you in the face.

Citing examples from current and classic films, The Writer’s Journey gives you more than enough explanation and evidence to support why this mythic structure is indeed timeless. While this book is aimed at screenwriters, the principles are just as universal to any literature, fiction or non-fiction.

Pros vs Cons

Vogler does an exquisite job weaving practical implication with expert advice. Just as you are wrapping your mind around a concept, each concept is illustrated with either a visual graphic like a chart, or an excerpt from a well-known screenplay. With thorough explanations, examples and visual aids, every concept is made crystal clear to even beginning writers.

The Writer’s Journey reads like a well-written textbook. Divided with headings, subheadings and both a table of contents and index, The Writer’s Journey is easily utilized as a reference guide to keep near your keyboard during your first draft.

Pros	Cons
Thorough and Precise Easy to Understand Graphics & Examples illustrate points Easy to Review/Reference	Dry language Didactic at times

PI Scale*

* Since most writer’s guides vary in a range from practical advice to inspirational wisdom, I have developed the Practical/Inspirational (PI) scale. I feel these qualities rank on a continuum rather than exist exclusively. While a book may certainly have both qualities, the included graphic is meant to illustrate where I personally rate this book on the Practical/Inspirational continuum.

The Writer’s Journey is overflowing with practical advice and examples. Every page exists as another step along this journey. Its inspirational qualities come from seeing this advice being put into action, reading how others utilize the advice and see that these principles not only exist, but work.

Conclusion

The Writer’s Journey is perfect for beginning writers, writing classes, those struggling with their first draft, anyone needing a desktop reference guide, or anyone looking to further their craft. Christopher Vogler has written a guide that belongs on every writer’s shelf.

Stay tuned as next time I’ll take a look at the inspiration for The Writer’s Journey: Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

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Since reading this book, a new edition has been published. This review is based on The Writer’s Journey 2^nd Edition. The Writer’s Journey 3^rd Edition is available from booksellers everywhere at the date of this post.