The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth

The Key is a straightforward book that provides writers with the basic tools and knowledge needed to create our own mythic journey, wheter it's set on present time or on some other fantastic timeless place. Reading The Key is like having your own personal writing instructor by your side. James Frey provides the reader with multiple examples of the terms and, characters, functions and mythological structures a myth-based novel should have. He even writes a short example of a novel which works great as a demonstration of the power of the myth. After reading it, you'll find yourself analysing all movies and books you read, and you will discover that this specific way of writing suits almost every situation and plot. From Gone with the wind to Star Wars, the hero and his journey lie deep within our subconscious mind, and The Key does a great job at remindg us that.

Go to just about any writing workshop, and you'll hear advice to employ the "power of myth." All this is really means is to use ageless storytelling techniques. But unlike a lot of instructors, Frey gives excellent advice on HOW to do just that.Frey understands that plot arises out of character, and so he focuses on the character interaction, and the use of archetypal - mythic -- patterns for development. Throughout the book, he offers many examples from well-known sources, enabling the reader to see the commonalities between very diverse characters and stories. Another bonus of this book is the illustration of the techniques described in Frey's other works. We see how character bios aid the writing in understanding the character - even if much of that bio never shows up in the novel or screenplay. The journals "written" by the characters demonstrate the importance of getting inside the heads of characters, a method that aids the writer to understand the character's motivation. I particularly appreciate the advice to use this method will all important characters, not just protaoonists. Villains and secondary characters require the writer's understanding, too.While in many respects, the underlying information here is not very different from that provided by Swain, McKee or Vogler, (but then, how could it not be similar? - all concern story structure) Frey's explanation is more accessible. Being a writing book junkie, I'd say buy `em all. But if you can only get one about story - this is probably the one to get.

Frey takes the key and unlocks the theories of Joseph Campbell [Hero with a Thousand Faces] and Chris Vogler [The Writers Journey] in making myths work in the modern novel. This is one of the most lucid books on the subject. Frey tells you what is expected of your hero/heroine as well as how to construct your villain or shadow character. Never has it been put more clearly. If you are working on a blockbuster novel, this book will be of great help.

If you've struggled with other versions of the Hero's Journey and found them too obscure, too formulaic, or too screen-oriented, James N. Frey's The Key may be just what you are looking for. Frey goes back to the structure and study of mythology and concentrates on characters and their interactions rather than plot structure, an approach much better suited to novelists. He also gives examples from a wide variety of novels and films, and demonstrates his points with a novel outline (which I'll buy if he ever gets around to writing it). He shows you how to develop character bios based on mythic patterns and includes several examples of journal entries written in character voice ("show, don't tell" is a rule more writing teachers should apply to their own writing!). You don't need to have read Frey's "How to Write a Damn Good Novel" series to appreciate this book, but once you've read it you will probably want to add those two volumes to your collection as well. The Key is an excellent and accessible book which I intend to recommend to my writing buddies.

In countless interviews George Lucas told us how he used the power of myth to create his masterpiece, "Starwars." So why was "Phantom Menace" no more satisfying than a spectacular videogame? After you read "The Key," you'll know the answer. Mythic storytelling requires more than throwing archetypes and classic plot elements onto the page. Mr. Frey shows us how to tap into the deepest human emotions using a structure that has been with us since before the written word. He shows us how to look at our own writing and decide where the various aspects of myth might make our story stronger. Walking us through the development of a myth-based novel, Mr. Frey "auditions" characters, steps, and complications. Some work and are incorportated into his story, some don't work and are tossed. This is an extension of techniques he outlined in his two previous "how to" books, but here the process is even more accessable. "The Key" is not the first book on fiction and the hero's journey, but it's the best I've read. In "The Key" we learn to use the hero's journey as a tool, not a formula. I've already ordered copies of "The Key" for my writer friends, my teenagers, and their creative writing teachers. Perhaps if Mr. Lucas had read "The Key" we would have seen him at the Academy Awards this year.