The 17 stages may be organized in a number of ways, including division into 3 acts:

1. Departure (also Separation),
2. Initiation (sometimes subdivided into IIA. Descent and IIB. Initiation)
3. Return.

In the departure part of the narrative, the hero or protagonist lives in the ordinary world and receives a call to go on an adventure. The hero is reluctant to follow the call, but is helped by a mentor figure.

The initiation section begins with the hero then traversing the threshold to the unknown or “special world”, where he faces tasks or trials, either alone or with the assistance of helpers.

The hero eventually reaches “the innermost cave” or the central crisis of his adventure, where he must undergo “the ordeal” where he overcomes the main obstacle or enemy, undergoing “apotheosis” and gaining his reward (a treasure or “elixir”).

The hero must then return to the ordinary world with his reward. He may be pursued by the guardians of the special world, or he may be reluctant to return, and may be rescued or forced to return by intervention from the outside.

In the return section, the hero again traverses the threshold between the worlds, returning to the ordinary world with the treasure or elixir he gained, which he may now use for the benefit of his fellow man. The hero himself is transformed by the adventure and gains wisdom or spiritual power over both worlds.

What is a story?

Curiosity is what hooks the reader and drags them into the story. A story is what captivates the brains and hearts. A story is about how the plot affects the protagonist. A story is…

• How what happens (plot)
• Affects someone (protagonist)
• In pursuit of a difficult goal (problems)
• How she changes (this is what your story is about. Story is internal. Not external.)

The steps to creating a story: 

1. We created a main character or protagonist 

2. We pitted her against an antagonist 

3. We communicated our message through a 3-act structure 

4. We outlined the chapters and grouped them under each act 

5. We added dialogs and dramas in each chapter 

6. We edited and edited and edited 

Checklist for writing well:

• When in writing mode, use nope app and write poorly
• Write shorter sentences
• Be very clear e.g. Replace instances of the word “very” with more descriptive language. Remove the word “that” and observe how your sentences still work just fine. Remove “I think” and just say it!
• Use simple words that even a 5th grade kid will understand
• Show don’t tell e.g. identify the places where you’ve told the reader something where you can instead show them something. Provide some examples and invite them into the scene!

The Thompson Manifesto

This is the precious thing at the heart of your creativity by John P. Weiss

• Let go of caring what others thought.
• Let go of conforming.
• Let go of following the rules.
• Let go of worry if others would like my work.
• Let go of trying to win competitions.
• Let go of getting likes.
• Let go of photographing ‘the right way.‘
• Let go of trying to please others.
• Let go of others’ expectations.
• Let go of my fear of criticism.
• Let go of everything.

Haruki Murakami

Elements of my stories:

• Music – Gut-wrenching sad love songs. Song trivia tells you in what year the story happened.
• Cats – Bunny, Tiny, who also serves as symbolism throughout the stories
• Surrealism / Social – Manipulate my dream consciously. The ‘What if’ or Sci-fi. What is the social issue to overcome?
• Metaphors – You do not touch the person you loved the most for fear of other people will find out | Ivy is led by love. The world is moved by love. It kneels in front of it in awe (The Village)
• Riddles – ??
• Loneliness – We feel alone in this world. It’s a universal feelings until we found out we are not. What to overcome?
• Cooking – Pasta and ramen are my go to food!
• LGBTQIA+ – At least one character is from this group.

Where my characters come from? I don’t choose them. They choose me.

You have to read a lot of books in order to write novels, to write about people you need to know a lot of them. By “know,” I don’t mean you have to really understand them deep down. All you need to do is glance at people’s appearance, notice how they talk and act, what their special characteristics are. People you like; ones you’re not so fond of; ones who, frankly, you dislike—­it’s important to observe people, as much as possible, without choosing whom to watch.

So you shouldn’t just avert your eyes when you decide you can’t stomach somebody; instead, ask yourself, “What is it I don’t like about them?” and “Why don’t I like that?”

haruki murakami

Checklist for my story:

1. What social issue or sci-fi is happening in the background? The ‘what-if’? e.g. when a rogue planet collides with earth, then came the end of the world.
2. How has this social issue caused a catalyst for change? e.g. Tovey was invisible until she found self-love.
3. What’s the goal of protagonist? Is the reader aware of the protagonist’s specific expectation? Can the reader see the causal link between what happened and why they reacted the way they did? e.g. when Carrie wants to meet Mr. Right, then fall in love and live ever after.
4. What kind of goal does the protagonist have? A protagonist always has 2 goals. There is an external goal e.g. Carrie experimenting with sex and love in the city for her column in New York. There is always an internal goal e.g. Carrie wants to fall in love with Mr. Right and live happily ever after. Often, the protagonist’s internal goal is a secret. Sometimes from everyone else in the story, sometimes even from himself. But never from the reader, because it’s the protagonist’s internal goal that gives meaning to what he does, the reader must be aware of it. Once you have a solid understanding of what your.
5. Is there a way the protagonist can have both their wants (external goals) and their needs (internal goals)?
6. Who is the antagonist? e.g. Mr. Big who was Mr. Right but was not in love with her.
7. What causes the characters do what they do? What is the motivation? e.g. when someone does something, it is usually when they are chasing their future or running from their past.
8. Do characters display compelling behaviours? e.g. clumsy, makes bad choices, has bad temper, speaks before they think, ignores early stage problems, is unaware of developing issues. They are all my behaviours at one stage of my life.
9. How do you cause trouble a lot of trouble and throw them at the protagonist? e.g problems or stuffs that will go wrong. Basically I need to be very very good at making trouble!
10. What does she need to overcome? e.g. loneliness, abandonment issue.
11. What metaphors are you chasing in the story? e.g. I don’t know where I’m going but I’m on my way.
12. Does the story raise awareness about LGBTQIA+ community? e.g. a gay best friend.
13. Who is the comic relief? e.g. a shameless character like Samantha. Also Absurdity in any situation makes a story really funny too!
14. What kind of music does the protagonist listen to? e.g. Aggresuka listens to heavy metal and takes her time educating the audience everything about the song.
15. What kind of food does the protagonist cook and eat? e.g. ramen and pasta. Give the audience visual of what the food taste and look like.
16. What is the riddle? e.g. the story ends and leaves the audience with a big question.

Checklist for good storytelling:

Everyone’s an Author

You can find a series of videos for this short course here.

Chapter 1 – Creating characters:

1. List 4 favourite characters from favourite books or films: 1) and then ask what do they have in common?
2. List all main characters in my story, and then give each a character profile e.g. name (google cool names for male/female/animal | their name should tell something about the character). You then describe physical appearance of each character. And then give each character a backstory e.g. Who are they? Where they come from? What has led them to my story? Why are they interesting?
3. Write the very first sentence of my story! She was exactly where she needed to be.

Chapter 2 – Developing dialog:

1. Think of the idea of paragraphing. Always start a new paragraph when a new character talks.
2. Only include information that is important to your story and move your story forward.

Chapter 3 – Story ingredients

1. Start with a question you need to solve in each story e.g. I wonder what would happen if I collided earth with a rogue planet to a girl who wants to be loved in a big city?
2. Three things I need in my story are: 1) Characters 2) Setting e.g. where everything happens and 3) Problems or stuffs that will go wrong.
3. Basically I need to be very very good at making trouble!
4. I need to also ask the question: What does my character want? e.g. Tovey wants romantic love. But she needed self-love.

Exercise: Draw up a table with 3 columns and populate Column 1 with lots of interesting characters e.g. Tovey who lacks love in her life. Populate Column 2 with lots of interesting setting or places e.g. Third Quarantine Cemetery. Populate Column 3 with lots of troubles! e.g. a rogue planet colliding with earth. And then choose my favourite one of each column and write my own story.

Chapter 4 – Funny fiction

• How do you make a story funny? One of the good way is to make a character or a situation as exaggerated as possible to make it funny. The trick is to exaggerate that truth. e.g. Shion can be so impatient that he punches into his car’s dashboard when he couldn’t reach Tovey.
• Absurdity in any situation makes a story really funny too!

Exercise: List 6 things about Tiny that makes her so small and then pick the most exaggerated one.

Chapter 5 – Awesome action

• Tip #1 is to show, don’t tell e.g. rather than saying Tovey was tired, you can say Tovey’s walking pace was getting slower and slower.
• Tip #2 Let action tells the story. Describe what people are doing.

Chapter 6 – Poetry and Place

• Tip #1 is to use imagery and words to describe the beautiful setting of the landscape to welcome my audience into exactly the kind of setting I want them to see in my mind. Think about the landscape or place in my story: What does it look like? What does it feel to me? What is the temperature? And then paint the picture of the landscape with my words.
• Tip #2 is to personify a setting. Personify my landscape as a wise and knowing space so that it guides my character on her journey. What this means is give a human quality to a landscape in my story. e.g. A rogue planet would glow faintly from the heat of their formation for a long time. Once they cooled down, it would be dancing in the dark.

Chapter 7 – Wonderful words

• Tip #1 is to use wonderful words in my story. Think of an alternative word. e.g. Tovey started running up the hill. You can say Tovey hopped and skipped up the hill.
• Tip #2 is to look into a Thesaurus

Chapter 8 – Visual storytelling (layout and design)

• I have 3 tool box: 1) Write 2) Illustrate 3) Design (The way the writing and illustrations come together to tell my story)
• Storytelling is a relationship between me and my reader. So, the way I present the story will impact how my reader understands it.
• Tip #1 is to use images that will make my story better. It’s boring to show a picture that I have just described in the text. Can I add something in the illustration that hasn’t been described in the text? e.g. the expression of Tiny when nearly chopped off mum’s fingers. Or, can I show more of the landscape that the world the story is happening in which is hard to describe in words. Some amazing picture books have a whole different stories going on in the illustrations that have happened in the text. In a few picture books, Matt Stanton added a narrator into the illustrations that is not in the words at all. A narrator is someone who looks at what’s going on in the story and reacts to it. This helps the reader to understand how they may want to react to what’s going in the story.
• Tip #2 is to layout your story. This is about the ordering of illustration when is the best time to surface an illustration in the book e.g. you should have a joke on the right hand page, then have the reader to turn over to see the punchline on the left hand page.

Chapter 9 – Imaginative Illustration

• This is mainly about using different medium e.g. flat or chalky texture to illustration. Also, adding expression to characters in the illus.

Chapter 10 – Historical Voices

• Tip #1 is to listen to stories handed down generations from the past from your family.
• Tip #2 is to read old cookbook. You can answer questions like: 1) What food did people eat in 1910? 2) What time do they eat? Basically to research old newspaper, letters, diaries and see what people were looking for e.g. I researched Wikipedia and found out about rogue planet called PSO_J318.5-22.
• Tip #3 is to walk the land, listen to voices of people, animals and the land.

Some habit stacking techniques

I will use my laptop on my desk at 6am to write (20 minutes)

I will use my laptop on the sofa at 7pm to edit (30 minutes)

I will use my tablet on the sofa at 10pm to plan topics (10 minutes)

• Wake up | Shower | Make coffee
• Make up (if wake up before 5:45am)
• Dressed fully with shoes
• Write using Nope on laptop for (20 mins)
• Go to work
• Back from work
• Edit using WordPress on laptop (30 mins)
• Dinner | ASX | Home Loan
• Plan topics (10 mins)