Author: C. LaVielle

The Hero’s Journey and the Tarot Major Arcana

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Tarot

Christopher Vogler literally wrote the book on the Hero’s Journey—with lots of help from the Myths of several cultures and Joseph Campbell. The Writer’s Journey gives the recipe for recreating this universal and timeless tale. His ingredients are a list of stages in the journey (pieces that must appear in the plot line) and a list of archetypes (character types that are necessary to drive the plot). Put ‘em together and, “bippity, boppity, boo”, you’ve got a story! The Stages of the Hero’s Journey 1. The Ordinary World 2. The Call to Adventure 3. Refusal of the Call 4. Meeting with the Mentor 5. Crossing the First Threshold 6. Tests, Allies, Enemies 7. Approach to the Inmost Cave 8. Ordeal 9. Reward (Seizing the sword) 10. The Road Back 11. Resurrection 12. Return with the Elixer The Archetypes Hero Mentor Threshold Guardian Herald Shapeshifter Shadow Ally Trickster So, I got about this far in telling my Nearest and Dearest what the next blog was going… Read More »

The 2010 Willamette Writers Conference

Posted C. LaVielle8 CommentsPosted in Getting Published

The Willamette Writers Conference is a smorgasbord with enough fabulous offerings to tempt even the most fastidious author. First and foremost, there are hundreds of other writers wandering around. The ones I got to talk to were more than happy to tell me what they were writing about. I heard one amazing tale after another, told by the very person that dreamed it up—the best entertainment in the world. For example, Dylan Romero is writing a book about his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, one of the top three Christian spiritual journeys. He came to the conference in a pair of rock climbing slippers with a compartment for each toe, the very shoes he wore as he hiked over the Pyrenees Mountains and through the northern Spanish plains. He isn’t Catholic or even particularly spiritual. He didn’t have any epiphanies. But the simple act of getting up and walking everyday healed his soul. I hope he writes it like the amazing Hero’s Journey that it… Read More »

Four Steps to Finding an Agent for THE REMAKING OF MOLLY ADAIR

Posted C. LaVielle9 CommentsPosted in Getting Published

1: Pitch to Agents and Send out Query Letters. I attended the 2008 and 2009 Willamette Writer’s Conferences and pitched to several agents. Five of them asked to see the first few chapters of the manuscript and all of them rejected it. I’ve also sent out about 15 query letters—all of which were rejected. 2: Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite! After much soul searching and many sleepless nights, I decided that it was possible that all those agents weren’t pretentious Neanderthals. Maybe my precious manuscript that I’d rewritten and revised so many times still needed work. So, with the help of a merciless editor, Jessica Morrell, and a marvelous writer’s group, I rewrote the manuscript a few more times. Their sort-of-gentle criticism, insights, and encouragement transformed me into a better writer and The Remaking of Molly Adair into a vastly improved story. Since lots of beginning writers make the same mistakes that I did, it might be useful for me to confess my literary sins.  I… Read More »

Announcing: THE REMAKING OF MOLLY ADAIR, a YA Fantasy and Tarot Primer

Posted C. LaVielle24 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Tarot

At last! After countless revisions, The Remaking of Molly Adair, a young adult fantasy I’ve been working on for the past five years, is finished–I think. The tale begins when 16-year-old Molly Adair falls into a parallel universe with only a deck of tarot cards and a cranky, black cat for guides. She knows she doesn’t belong there, but she’s not sure she really belongs in her world either. She is still in shock over the loss of her parents; she’s just moved in with her prickly grandma, who’s a total control freak; and she’ll be starting her junior year in a strange high school. As she struggles to return to Portland, Oregon, Molly confronts the archetypes and challenging lessons of each major arcana tarot card. The first person she meets is Tracy Bliss, a young vagabond who pulls her clawing and screaming out of a black limbo and into Damia. Asmodius, a large black cat, who is a powerful mage, offers to be her… Read More »