Hi and welcome back to Flight School:

Class two of our series was so different from class one. We weren’t just learning framework now, we were applying it to real stories in real time.

I opened with a review of Christopher Booker’s Seven Basic Plots and asking them to think about: Which plot best fits what I’m writing?

Don’t be fooled, these aren’t old-time templates, they’re living structures for what’s happening in contemporary literature and in your life right now.

Case in point: James by Percival Everett.

This new novel is trying to replace Huckleberry Finn as the foundation of American literature. And it’s a Voyage and Return plot. A close look at the template and it’s a story as old as time. Jim, now James, falls down the rabbit hole of what true slavery looks like when he runs away. The horror. The violence it forces him into. But in the final moment, he grabs his wife and daughter and brings them to freedom in Iowa.

He escapes the rabbit hole shocked at himself, at what he’s become, and at this world. He saves his family, which is the redeeming moment, but he’s unable to embrace his identity.

This is a Voyage and Return that doesn’t end with the hero transformed and whole. It ends with him fundamentally altered and unable to reconcile who he was with who he’s become. I wrote a whole post about that here. Check it out.

Plots are not formulaic. They’re archetypal. And nested within one another: The Quest contains Overcoming the Monster, Tragedy is Overcoming the Monster in reverse, Rebirth is comedy turned on itself.

Then we worked on Patricia’s novel

Patricia has been studying with me for four years. I know her story inside and out—the tests she’s been through, the companions she’s gathered along the way i.e.,: the “band of merry brothers” she finds in a pantry meeting I mention in the class.

She thought her book was one thing. But as we talked, it revealed itself. Her novel might be a Quest.

Why? It’s test after test after test. A long journey. Companions. Ordeals.

“You have seen so much in my work that I had no idea,” Patricia said. “I just turn around all the time and go, what? what? You just see so much.”

That’s the power of having someone who’s done the work, has cultivated great tools (like these about the heroic hero) and who asks the right questions. I’ve been an investigative reporter for years. I’m always going to say, “Wait a minute. Are you sure? Let’s dig a little deeper.”

This is a long-game art form.

Why this depth of work and these questions matter: Your book could last way beyond you. It could be literature on the shelf somebody picks up in fifty years.

I know, I just celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of my first book. Nothing is more powerful than knowing I wrote something that asked the tough questions and pushed beyond the realm of what was comfortable in my era.

All handouts and teaching materials are below.

One more shot: Class 3 - From Ego to Other

When? Saturday, March 21, 10am PST

The truly heroic hero sheds ego and inward hungers for a greater good. Christ. Gandhi. King. What is the egoic trap your hero is caught in? What will it take to set them free? Or if writing tragedy, how can you deepen that trap?

I’m bringing brand new teachings from Born Only Once by Conrad Baars—a concentration camp survivor who examines Marilyn Monroe, Hitler, and Pope John XXIII to understand what makes someone truly heroic versus tragically lost.

P.S. Bones of Storytelling starts March 25

These three classes are a taste. Bones is the full meal. A direction-changing class that will inspire you to go the distance. If you’re a subscriber, you get 20% off. Check the footer of your last email from me.

✍🏻Your Turn:

As you watch the recording, ask yourself: Which plot am I actually writing? Not which one I want to be writing—which one is my story naturally following?

Drop your answer in the comments.

Thanks for being with me. See you next Saturday.

Jennifer 🐦‍⬛

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