Hi and welcome into Flight School:

Fourteen writers signed up for this first class and all had one question to ponder: Who is your hero, and what do they want most?

The answers came fast: A 19-year-old seeking to assuage existential guilt (Carrie). A 12-year-old girl navigating grief and secrets (Kristen). A medieval midwife fighting for equality in Islamic Spain. An anti-hero chasing unlimited knowledge and power (David). A memoir about survival.

Then we asked the harder question: What’s pushing against them?

Because here’s the truth: Your hero is only as compelling as the forces of antagonism working against them. Not just external obstacles but the layers that run deeper.

* The innermost self (body, mind, emotions).

* Personal relationships (family, friends, lovers).

* The extra-personal world (society, institutions, environment).

This is why writing a big project (novel or memoir) feels impossibly hard. You’re not just telling a story, you’re capturing the extraordinary complexity of being human.

The four levels of value progression

Most stories operate at level two: hero wants love, faces indifference. Hero wants freedom, faces restraint. It’s conflict, but it’s not enough to carry a whole book.

Push to level three (love vs. hate, freedom vs. slavery) and you’ve got real stakes. Push to level four—the negation of the negation—and you’re writing stories that devastate: hatred masquerading as love, slavery perceived as freedom, self-deception instead of truth.

Then one of the writers, David, asked about ambition which isn’t on McKee’s list. We worked through it together: ambition → hubris or laziness → indifference → vengeance. Conrad added: “He harmed himself to achieve his ambition. Or harmed those he loved.” That’s when we saw it—the tragic arc, the hero who throws away everything he believed in and joins the evil force.

Now the writers were co-creating. The breakout rooms continued this and were where the real breakthroughs took place. Three writers—Chrissy, Carrie, Conrad—all discovered they were working with justice as their core value.

“A lot of injustice in the world that we got to write about,” Chrissy said.

We closed by looking at examples: Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Till They Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, the films Missing and Big. And I shared a Blackbird Lit Lesson breaking down C.S. Lewis’s value line (truth/wisdom) and introduced the outlier plot “Rebellion Against the One”—for stories like 1984 and Brave New World where a solitary hero confronts an immense power and is crushed, forced to recognize the limits of their perception.

All handouts, slides, and teaching materials are below.

Do not miss the next class. Get your spot now.

Class 2: Seven Heroic Journeys

Save the Date: Saturday March 14, 10am PST

We’ll map how heroes transform differently across the seven basic plots—and help you identify which journey your hero is actually on (versus the one they should be on).

Class 3: From Ego to Other

Save the Date: Saturday March 21, 10am PST

Christ, Gandhi, King—what they have in common with Marilyn Monroe and Hitler. The egoic trap and what it takes to break free (or if writing tragedy, how to deepen it). Plus: Pope John XXIII through the eyes of a concentration camp survivor.

Bones of Storytelling starts March 25

These three classes are the framework. Bones is where you build the complete structure. Ten weeks, live teaching, draft plan for your finished book. If you are subscriber, you get 20% off. Check the footer of your last email from me in your mail box.

Handouts:

🤔 Your turn:

As you watch the recording, work through your own value line. What’s your hero fighting for? Where does your story currently reach? Where could it go?

Drop your answer in the comments. Let’s keep working the problem together.

Thanks for being with me and I’ll see you all next week,

Jennifer 🐦‍⬛

PS: This is a subscriber supported site, if you are not a paid subscriber, or just feel moved, tip your writer. She’ll appreciate it and continue with this great writer-to-writer service.

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