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INTRODUCTION

—— VOGLER ——

The tools and techniques in this volume are the result of many years of spirited debate and collaboration between myself, Chris Vogler, and my friend and colleague David McKenna. Both of us do many jobs, but most of our careers we have been professional story analysts, meaning that we read and evaluate stories, screenplays, and novel manuscripts for the story departments of major movie studios. Between the two of us we estimate we have critiqued over forty thousand stories in one form or another, plus working together on dozens of writing projects.

In order to do this work, we have had to build up an inventory of terms and concepts to describe what we're dealing with: essential elements of stories such as structure, character, and theme. We've asked a lot of questions and made up our own theories and language to manage this unruly subject, but we are just the latest in a long line of questioners stretching all the way back to Aristotle. We are grateful for the work of our predecessors, and want to set down in this book some of the things we learned from them, along with our own insights and interpretations. And then we'll hand it over to you in the hope that you will find the mysteries of story as fascinating as we have, and that you will continue to ask these questions and add to the body of knowledge.

THE TOOL KIT

We think of this book as our mental tool kit, a collection of essential instruments that extend our reach, improve our aim and efficiency, and make our craft much easier. There are many kinds of tools in these pages, tools for defining characters, laying out structures, determining themes, clarifying intentions, and intensifying the pleasure of the audience.

Those who have read my book The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers know that I based my approach to designing and troubleshooting stories on the work of the great mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904-87). I adapted his work into a twelvestage outline of the typical “Hero's Journey” narrative structure as expressed in movies, and attempted a theory of character archetypes based on work done by Campbell and the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung.

Useful though they are, Hero's Journey structure and archetypes are only two among many instruments in the storyteller's tool box. In my daily work with stories I reach for many other tools such as the legacy of vaudeville and the theatre, the traditional wisdom of Hollywood, the know-how of Walt Disney, the language of psychology, as well as principles borrowed from music, dance, painting, martial arts, architecture, and the military. David has other tools acquired in his training and experiences as an actor, singer, voice-over performer, acting coach, pickup basketball player and theatrical director. And we both bring to the tool kit everything we learned at the greatest school of all, the Academy of Hard Knocks.

In these pages we will share with you what we consider to be the essential principles and techniques for creating good stories.

So, what is in this tool kit we are offering?

First, we will give you the essential tools of structure, character, and theme. I will briefly review the twelve-stage structural model of the Hero's Journey and the gallery of character possibilities embodied in the eight major Archetypes, tools covered in a deeper way in The Writer's Journey. I will expand on structure and character with some new material, describing tools that I've used for years but never written about until now, such as Vladimir Propp's analysis of Russian fairy tale structure and a clever little book on character types written by Aristotle's follower Theophrastus. David will introduce the powerful tools of Polar Opposites, Reciprocal Action, and The Want List, all basic storytelling equipment. We'll have something to say about the essential story department tools of Log Line and Synopsis, and how they can help any storyteller clarify themes, characters and intentions.

A major section of the book will be David's presentation of something he calls the Six Environmental Facts, which is a way of looking at characters and entire stories through six different prisms: the economic, social, religious and political conditions in the story as well as the influence of time and place. David's exploration of these Environmental Facts is a development of a method for analyzing plays and preparing scenes pioneered by a University of Texas professor, Francis Hodge.

Taken together, these six environmental factors build up a complete, multi-dimensional picture of the subject, allowing actors and directors to make informed choices that will express the theme more dramatically. We believe they can be equally useful for screenwriters and producers of theatrical films, for designers of games and interactive media, or for anyone wishing to harness the full power of stories.

The book will close with David's suggestion that you make a Five-Year Plan, and I will have a few words of encouragement before unleashing you upon the world to make better stories.

One thing we both feel strongly about: None of this will make sense or be worthwhile unless you put it to work. More than a tool kit, you might think of it as a well-equipped garage waiting for cars that need to be repaired or customized. We have found that when you put a theory to the test, when you apply some principle to a particular work, there is a strong payoff that seems to defy the laws of physics, returning more energy than you invested. Try it for yourself; take any of the tools in this book and apply them to a movie you've seen, a book you've read, or a project you are working on, and you will find a surprising amount of energy will be released. You will only truly possess these tools once you have put them to work; until then they are just theories.

So go ahead, make the most of it, and add your own experiences to the legacy of storytelling.