Rating: Summary: Buy This Book! Review: The Writer's Journey represents a fresh, new approach to screenwriting. When you write a script, you do begin a journey, and at its conclusion both you and the characters are at different places. A valuable resource for everyone's screenwriting library!
Rating: Summary: Excellent resource! Review: I recommend this book to all my screenwriting students. Vogler's approach is that of the classic storyteller. A must-read.
Rating: Summary: Very Disappointing Review: 'The Writer's Journey' (TWJ) came to me highly recommended (not least from the reviews on this site).... Perhaps this was why I was so disappointed: I was expecting more than the book could ever deliver.In essence, TWJ is a distillation of Joseph Campbell's 'Hero with 1000 Faces' combined with 'readings' of various films. However, instead of elucidating Campbell's work Vogler has merely reduced his source material to the level of formula. The result lacks substance; tries to fit the theory to the films rather than vice versa; and is often ponderous & pretentious. Vogler is also a rather careless writer. The book is littered with unnecessary mistakes: Vogler's assertion that Daedalus helped create the Minotaur (p.50, UK edition) when actually he only built the labyrinth that housed the beast; or James Bond's deactivation of the bomb in 'Goldfinger' (p.205) -it is actually disarmed by Felix Leiter... these are just a couple of examples in a book endemic with inaccuracy. On the positive side, Vogler's model for reading 'hero texts' can throw up some surprises: trying watching 'Saving Private Ryan' in the light of TWJ and you will realise that the true hero of the movie is not Private Ryan, nor Cpt. Miller (the Tom Hanks character) but actually Private Opheim - the translator. Overall though I must once again state my disappointment with TWJ (inspite of wanting to like it). Apparently it started life as a 7 page memo to Hollywood studios. Perhaps it should have stayed just that: a 7 page memo! If you are really looking for a book that deals the principles of myth and the hero, may I strongly suggest Vogler's inspiration: 'The Hero with a 1000 Faces'. It is a much more rich and rewarding text and one that does not disappoint.
Rating: Summary: Here's what's new regarding The Writer's Journey. Review: This has been a year of travel and change. In the spring I gave a seminar for a German TV network and then visited my ancestral homeland on my father's side, in Strasbourg, France, a highly emotionally charged and happy experience. I met the Alsatian relatives and stayed in the house my grandfather left from in 1917. Over the summer I gave other seminars in Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm, and several agreeable places in Spain, near Barcelona and Sevilla. I am building up a picture of the new world media economy, especially of Europe as a powerhouse of young talent. The young European producers and artists are fed up with predictable Hollywood movies, and they want some meat in the stories, some evidence of thinking, and with it flashy, in-your-face directing like the German film RUN, LOLA, RUN. (One of the best films of the year. I also liked AMERICAN BEAUTY very much.) At the end of the summer I attended the Maui Writers Conference for the fourth time, enjoying the ritual of return. The faculty includes many friends from Hollywood and the world of publishing, and it's interesting to see people at the same time and place for several years in a row. Maui is a great conference for getting your creative engines fired up and for making contacts. I left my studio exec job at Fox in April in order to pursue my own projects. I have been concentrating on developing several ideas as a producer, and on creating a website for The Writer's Journey and my consulting service, Storytech. I have seminars scheduled for Rome and Berlin in October, and a Learning Annex appearance November 9 in Los Angeles to help launch a new book, MYTH AND THE MOVIES (Michael Wiese Productions, 1999) for which I have written the introduction. This is a great companion piece to THE WRITER'S JOURNEY. It applies the 12-stage Hero's Journey model to fifty classic movies in a wide range of genres, so that you can see how the pattern is modulated to generate different kinds of stories. It's an absolutely fascinating experiment to look for this thread of structure in all these different films. If you enjoyed The Writer's Journey, you'll also find value in seeing the mythic patterns identified in the films we all love, from E.T. to THE SEARCHERS. Lately my thoughts have turned mostly to ancient Rome, a process that intensified last year when I visited Pompeii. Since then I've been reading and thinking about Rome and even building models of Roman architecture. It's always something. I'm on the trail of certain ideas - the notion that goes back to Greece, Babylon, and Egypt that there is a web of connections among architecture, the seasons of the year, religious ritual, and dramatic structure. I'm trying to sort it all out and the Roman Empire seems to be a good laboratory to do it in. As for The Writer's Journey, it just seems to keep steaming along and generating interesting effects. I love that teachers are using it from grade school to graduate school. I've even heard it's being in the New Mexico prisons to show hopeless people that there is some meaning and pattern to their lives. And I love hearing that artists are using it. Somebody told me that Mike Myers (Austin Powers) is a fan of the book and recommends it to his writer pals. Mike, if you're out there, I'm a fan of yours! Even rap artists have told me they brought Writer's Journey principles into their art - I guess I'm cool (or is it kewl?) after all.
Rating: Summary: 'The Writer's Journey' as your 'Elixir' Review: Screenwriting is a craft that requires discipline and training - it is not a journey to undertake alone. And whether you need a teacher beside you, or a book in your hand, you should definitely have 'The Writer's Journey' open on your desk to guide you along the way. Use it in conjunction with... the technical - Syd Field 'Screenwriting' the content provider - Robert McKee 'Story' the industry insider - William Goldman 'Adventures in the Screentrade' ...and you will not need any more guidance or inspiration. After you've read these, you are on 'the road back', with the 'elixir' of knowledge - after that, it's down to you, on your own, personal 'writer's journey'.
Rating: Summary: A Must Read for ANYone Review: If you don't instinctively understand this book within the first few pages, give up writing. This book speaks to our souls, explains the formula that makes a good story great and timeless. I used this book when teaching my English students story structure, actually showing the pivotal scenes from "Star Wars". The kids got it right away. My idea of an Utopian society would be one in which every student learned this material, and perhaps then would understand the value of goals, failure and facing our fears. Maybe then more teens would realize there are other options besides suicide or using Daddy's gun. For screenwriters I say follow this formula and then tweak the story just enough so those of us in the know can't predict everything that's going to happen next hahaha. Christopher, I would love to do coffee with you sometime!
Rating: Summary: Want to get your script finished? Buy this book. Review: This book will help you get your script down quickly. It guides you through the process of writing a story and what makes a story work. It will drive away the confusion and let you see the path your character is taking. I will refer back to this book for every script I'll write. It's a must have for anyone serious about screenwriting.
Rating: Summary: Every writer needs this book. Review: Deep in our psyches is the need for hearing stories of heros and heroines, good guys and bad, the search for the Holy Grail or the GOlden Fleece. Goes back to the days of the caveman sitting around the campfires listing to the tribal storyteller. Bewoulf, King Arethur, Siegfred; all illuminated by Joseph Campfell in his "Hero with a Thousand Faces." This book will tell you how to make sure these atavistic elements are contained in your stories. It will give you dozens of time-tested procedures, like the Law of the Secret Door--you breathlessly wait for the hero to open the forbidden door, behind which lurks all kinds of trouble. Every movie producer looks for these elements in your screenplay; every New York editor looks for them in your novel.
Rating: Summary: If you buy only one book about writing, buy this one. Review: I've had a chance to review much of the literature about screenwriting. Most are merely technical how-to books. But writing a good screenplay is different than fixing a leaky faucet. Vogler is the only author that approaches the craft of screenwriting at the depth necessary to give any helpful guidance. There are few things in Hollywood that I could recommend without reservation. "The Writer's Journey" is one of them. Scott Trost, co-author of "All You Need to Know About the Movie & TV Business"
Rating: Summary: Use this book the right way ! Review: This is not "12 easy step to a best seeling screenplay" ! Read Mr. Voglers warning in the final chapter. It IS a most inspiring book, that will make you see stories (including your own) in a whole new light.
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