Most writers and fans of speculative (or any) fiction are aware of the 'hero's journey'. It's a narrative structure device by which the main character undergoes a period of change and growth through the medium of plot. There are various well attested tropes and archetypes used along the way. So what if the fiction you write just doesn't fit this well discussed structure? It's possible that you are actually writing the 'heroine's journey' instead. In fact you might have been all along and just not realised it. The terms 'hero' and 'heroine' are in themselves misleading because they are narrative descriptors and not indicative of gender - a hero or heroine in this context may be any gender at all! So what is the Heroine's Journey? The dragons get into the weeds on that and the ways it differs from the hero's journey in this week's episode. On the slab this week: My Hero Academia, Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce, Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Episode 410: In a Rural Dream - The Rise of Cottagecore
Episode 409: Pitched Perfectly - The Film was Better than the Book
Episode 408: There’s good news and...more good news - 2023 in review
Episode 407: Jingle Bell Rock - Storytelling through the medium of songs the Christmas edition
Episode 406: A Picture Says a Thousand Words - The Rise of the Graphic Novel
Episode 405: The Fairest of Them All - The Pursuit of Beauty as a Literary Device
Episode 404: It was Great Apart from the Ending - Beloved Fiction that Wobbled on the Dismount
Episode 403: The Old Family Business - Gangster Witches and Legacy Monster Hunters
Episode: 402 Of Gold and Hubris - Tracing the Origins of Rumpelstiltskin
Episode 401: Girls on Ice - a History of the Fridging Trope
Episode 400: Strange Fruit in the Gallant South - Exploring the Southern Gothic
Episode 399: This Set is Cursed - Strange Events Behind the Scenes at Horror Films
DD Episode 398: Joyous Companions Forever - examining the queerness of the vampire genre
Episode 397: The Beautiful and the Damned - examining the Queerness of the Vampire Genre
Ep 396: It Came from Out of the closet - The Queer Relationship with Horror
Ep 395: Weirdstones and Magic Keys - What makes a Children’s book a classic?
Ep 394: Divas Debutantes and Girls next door - the best and worst female main characters
Episode 393: Unlikely Rebels - the Moral Outlaw Trope
Episode 392: An Awful Lot of Walking - Mastering Pacing in Speculative Fiction
Episode 391: Lost in the Woods - Tracing the Origins of Hansel and Gretel
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