The Special World

As we stayed up late, and I'm a bit rummy, today I'm including videos taken in Santiago and Valparaiso last summer. The first is of a group playing Mira Ninita on the Paseo Ahumada in Santiago. On the weekends, there used to be sidewalk vendors and entertainment. This isn't happening anymore, as far as we know, which I think is too bad. Travel books said to watch your wallet, so maybe that's why the city stopped it??? Don't know. Go to the feria in front of Cerro Santa Lucia for some of the same deals on sweaters and crafts.



You can hear the same band in the background here:



This is a scene of Chile's third place victory in the World Cup. They won against Argentina, so I guess the victory was especially sweet. Watch for the dog.



Finally, a very short and dark clip from El Gato en la Ventana, a folklorico club in Valporaiso. This was taken summer 07, as well. We were there early this morning. I love how this section of the city churns through the early morning, mostly with young people. The music is LOUD but beautifully done; if you like the first video of the street performers, you'd would love this place. People around us knew all the songs and sang with the performers. It's a place full of joy and, at times, dancing. Last night, an elderly man, a definite extrovert, got up and sang opera in between sets. His friend (his son?) fell asleep at the table next to ours. We left about 3 a.m., found the buses lined up to take people home. Ours was full, complete with twenty people standing up and holding on. Back to home and bed by 4:30.

Hero's Journey

Today I was determined to get a new entry written and then work on subplots for STARVED. Here it is, though, past 10:30, and I'm just settling down to work. I had to contact a representative from an educational publishing company to get copyright info on a math problem that I found on the web for HUNGRY. I got a letter from him last year, but there was some technicality to look into. So . . . behind schedule!

Much of my energy this week has been spent packing for our trip to Chile (leaving soon!) and working with a district committee to hammer out our English Learner program (dealing with boring stuff like forms, so all the schools in the district are on the same page).

Back to plotting: as a writer, plot is the hardest thing for me to deal with. I do outline after outline, but what seems to be logical often doesn't work when I'm actually trying to write. My good friend and mentor Bruce McAllister (a great writing coach: http://www.mcallistercoaching.com/) suggested I get the book Myth and the Movies, by Stuart Voytilla and study how the hero's journey, the archetypal "template" that all good stories follow, is applied to various film genres: science fiction, thriller, romance, romantic comedy, history, etc. The process works just as well for all stories: movies, novels, short stories.

I find that I don't enjoy a lot of movies anymore because I know what's going to happen: toward the end of the movie, the protagonist gets his or her reward which signals that the biggest hurdle is on its way. I was a little reluctant to use the process when I first read the book. Now, though, looking at it again after a year, I see what a powerful tool it is.

I've drafted the main plot of STARVED (at least I've done a first run of it) on a circle chart using the elements as described in Myth and the Movies: starting in the ordinary world, encountering a mentor, refusing the call to adventure, accepting it, crossing the threshold to a special world, facing tasks, symbolically dying through an ordeal, coming back into the ordinary world with a reward, being resurrected on the road back to the ordinary world, and returning with an elixer. There is also a character arc that correlates with plot points. Having this structure really did make the story I want to write easier to conceive.

I want to do the same process with the two subplots for STARVED later today. All three circles (or more if I have time to do character archs) will go with me to Chile. I work best when I give myself deadlines, so I've promised myself that I'll have a strong beginning for the book before I return.

Since I write about the hero journey today, the peace dove is for the young men and women in Iraq. I hate this war and don't believe in it, but my heart goes out to those who are in the middle of it. I just heard that one of my former students is headed for the army. I know that there are many kids I used to teach over there. I wish them safety, a swift return home, and peace for everyone in that tattered country.