Beth Dora Barany - The Writers Adventure Guide: 12 Stages to Writing Your Book

Table of Contents

B OOKS BY B ETH B ARANY
Overcome Writers Block
The Writers Adventure Guide

H OME -S TUDY C OURSES
The Writers Adventure Guide E-course
The Writers Motivation E-course

C ARD D ECK
The Writers Tarot

C ONTRIBUTOR
Writing Romance: The Ultimate Guide on Craft, Creation, and Industry Connections

B ETH B ARANY

BARANY PUBLISHING
Oakland, CA

Copyright 2009 by Beth Barany

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Barany Publishing, 771 Kingston Ave., #108, Piedmont, CA 94611 www.writersadventureguide.com

Printed in the United States of America First Printing: July 2009

ISBN 978-0-9823442-5-5

Cover Design by Heather Smith, Heatha B Designs
Book Design by Edie Fogel
Edited by Robin Reisberg and Ezra Barany

Barany Publishing books are available for special promotions to organizations and other groups. Please contact us for details.

This book is dedicated to my parents, Robin and Martin Reisberg, without whom I would have never embarked on my writers adventure.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Every writer stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before. I give a huge acknowledgment to the work of Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces , and to Christopher Vogler, author of The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers . I also give homage to all who wrote down the countless fairy tales and folk tales Ive devoured from a very young age. This book grew out of many workshops and talks. Id like to thank all the students and clients who attended and played with this new material.

A heartfelt thanks goes to Karen Stanwood, Don Kirchner, and friends in Point Roberts, WA, where I presented my workshop for the very first time.

A big thanks to creative colleague Peter J. Ferguson who held my feet to the fire from the first moments this idea was a mere inkling of a passion. A special thanks to Richard Stromer who helped me create my Writer Archetypes. A deep thanks to the women who have midwifed this book in various ways: Edie Fogel, Cara Gardner, Cheryl Liquori, Deborah Le Sueur, Derri Pollack, Robin Reisberg, Jeri Schobe, Heather Smith, Sarah Streicher. I lift a glass of thanks to my inestimable critique partners: Kay Keppler and Patricia Simpson. And this book would not even be here if it were not for the steadfast and unwavering support in so many ways of my husband, Ezra Barany.

The Writers Adventure Guide was designed for writers who want support every step of the way while they write their books. This book will help you keep an eye on your inner landscape so you can fully harness your skills and abilities to go from start to finish on your novel or creative nonfiction book.

The Writers Adventure Guide has been designed to inspire and motivate first-time book authors who write fiction and creative nonfiction:

• TO FORGE A CLEAR PATH FROM INSPIRATION TO COMPLETION
• TO BUILD CONFIDENCE IN YOUR WRITING INSTINCTS
• TO CREATE MORE TIME AND SPACE TO ENJOY THE BOOK WRITING PROCESS
• TO DELIGHT IN THE CREATIVE ADVENTURE, BOTH ITS UPS AND ITS DOWNS
• TO COMPLETE YOUR NOVEL OR CREATIVE NONFICTION BOOK

HOW THE WRITERS ADVENTURE GUIDE CAME TO BE

We all experience blocks. At times, we all experience a lack of inspiration. Following these twelve stages will allow you to be re-inspired, recommitted and get your book done. With the twelve stages you will improve your productivity, tap into your inspiration much more quickly, come up with ways and tools and your own personalized techniques for overcoming your own writers block, and get your book finished.

This book was designed for writers who want support every step of the way while they write their books. The Writers Adventure Guide helps you keep an eye on your inner landscape so you can fully harness your skills and abilities to go from start to finish on your novel or creative nonfi ction book.

The Writers Adventure Guide was developed out of my desire to stay in touch with the inner workings of my own writing process. It was not enough for me to learn the craft, I wanted to also acknowledge and work with the inner dimensions of being a writer. I looked for a framework, something big enough to encompass all of my life, but found nothing in other books that spoke to me.

Over the course of writing my second novel, I rediscovered Christopher Voglers The Writers Journey: Mythic Structures for Writers, Second Edition , as a guide to writing that book. I was struck by how natural it felt to be applying the Heros Journey structure to my story, and realized that I had found my internal story structure as a writer.

Later, when I began to help clients, I struggled again to find ways to honor their process, including all the times they resisted writing, procrastinated, or were stuck. While I deeply believe we are all inherently creative, and that with our creativity we can achieve any goal we set our minds to, I was struck by how struggle-free many writers would like the writing process to be.

Creativity can be and has been defined many different ways. The macro view is humbling. In Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention , Professor Mikaly Csikszentmihalyi defines creativity as a process by which a symbolic domain is changed. He states that creativity does not happen inside peoples heads, but in the interaction between a persons thoughts and a sociocultural context. It is a systemic rather than an individual phenomenon.

We write in the context of our times and our culture. I believe creativity means being resourceful. Creativity is our birthright.

When I set about bridging the gap between our creativity and how that could help writers, I was inspired by the tarot, by images that mark states of being and action. Yet, tarot was not an easily understood progression of steps. Instead, what flowed from my pen, on that sunny afternoon on my patio, was this the twelve stages of the Heros Journey as applied to writing.

Finally, I felt I had found a map that encircles all of the joy and tribulations of being a writer. In fact, without really realizing it, I was drawing from fiction tools to help writers gain clarity on what they were writing and why.

Since I learn by doing, I launched classes and workshops, and even an home-study course for do-it-yourself-ers. And thus, the Writers Adventure was born.

DEFINING THE WRITERS ADVENTURE

I see our life as an adventure. If we look at everything in our lives through the framework of adventure, then we see that the ups and the downs, the pain, the joy, the sorrow, the anxiety, the frustration, the anger at ourselves and the world are all part of this adventure. That means that nothing exists outside of that adventure, including our writing.

A lot of people call life a journey, but I like to think of life as an adventure, because for me, adventures are fun. So is creativity, and so is writing books.

I welcome you to this Writers Adventure.

FUN = JOY = PLAY = CHALLENGE = TEST THE LIMITS = INVENT = CURIOSITY = ADVENTURE

WHO THE WRITERS ADVENTURE GUIDE IS FOR

The Writers Adventure Guide is for aspiring authors who are motivated to write their first book. You may want to know exactly how to write the book while living your active life. You may want an experienced guide with you every step of the way.