The Virgin's Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative, Spiritual and Sexual Awakening

Much like  The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)  I had a hard time getting into  The Heroine's Journey . I found both books dry and overly academic. All I really wanted was the information distilled into an easy-to-read, easy-to-learn format to help me write stronger screenplays and novels. Chris Vogler's  The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition  did that with Campbell's theory, but did not cover feminine journeys. I'd had a taste of that in the only previous book that covered both,  45 Master Characters, Revised Edition: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters , but that author didn't give as much detail as I wanted (since half the book was focused on character archetypes). It was a good start, but then I discovered The Virgin's Promise.This book covers all the Jungian archetypes much better (and faster) than 45 Master Characters and goes into step-by-step detail on each phase of the feminine heroic journey, including several possible variations for each. And it gives plenty of movie examples, including a section showing how closely the selected films follow the journey's steps.There are lots of helpful at-a-glance tables comparing and contrasting the failed and successful masculine and feminine journeys and archetypes and worksheets for you to create your own.One piece of advice that really stuck out to me as solid gold (backed-up by relevant movie examples), was that you can repeat some of the steps in the journey and/or only do half-steps to create more suspense and stronger arcs. You can also play with the order of the steps or even omit some altogether to achieve certain effects (like amnesia as in The Bourne Identity). I don't recall Vogler telling me this in The Writer's Journey. It's liberating, empowering, and encourages an anti-dogmatic approach to applying this or any other story structure template.Another exciting piece of advice is that whether the main character is male or female (and regardless of sexual orientation), they can take the feminine journey or the masculine journey or even both at the same time. Or, you can have the male and female leads (or an important supporting cast member like a best friend/ally/sidekick) each take their respective journeys but in a way that complements each other and creates for a stronger bond/arc/climax.As an added bonus, the phases of the Hero's Journey are all fleshed-out in much the same detail (including variations and when there can be cross-overs with the Virgin's journey, such as substituting the Mentor archetype for the Crone, as both serve a similar function but do so in different ways). And then a bunch of example movies and how they fit the heroic Journey are given. Really helpful.I loved the author's style. It wasn't boring and academic, just smart and enthusiastic. Definitely fun to read and learn, especially when you suddenly notice how well your own life fits into the journey, which is the same sort of thrill I had reading The Writer's Journey. Even though as a man, I hadn't seen a lot of the "chick flicks" being referenced, I still "got" it thanks to the careful way the author ties the plot details to the journey. It all made sense and I had no problem getting a handle on how and why the feminine journey differs from the masculine one. Being familiar with the heroic journey espoused by Campbell and Vogler certainly helped, but is not required to grasp the material here, especially since a lot of it is repeated in the middle of this book.The Virgin's Promise will definitely help you write stronger, better, and more believable female characters and stories. It's essential reading for any guys wanting to write about women or introspective male journeys.This book gets five stars!Although I think this is overall a much better, more fun, and more focused book than  45 Master Characters , that doesn't mean there isn't good info in that book, too. For example, 45 Master Characters has super-helpful cheat sheets that compare the feminine vs. masculine journeys at a glance, character worksheets, etc. Although the phases of the journey are a bit different between the two books (45 MC has 9 phases, Virgin's P has 13), they're close enough that you can still make good use of the feminine journey stuff in 45 Master Characters.Two other super-fun, helpful books that provide story structure templates for novelists and screenwriters are  Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need  and  My Story Can Beat Up Your Story: Ten Ways to Toughen Up Your Screenplay from Opening Hook to Knockout Punch . Both are great and offer unique advice, although they would be even more awesome if someone found a way to combine the two systems and apply them to both the masculine and feminine heroic journey structures. Regardless of which structure you use, or whether you mix and match and experiment between them, you will learn some incredible advice from these two books.

I've been working on a medieval fantasy romance novel and recently came to the conclusion that I have TWO protagonists, the male and female lovers, naturally. Their romantic journeys begin when they meet, and each of them has a unique perspective and emotional experience of how their deepening intimacy affects them and their place in the world. Up to now, I had focused mainly on the Hero's Journey, but felt that my Female character needed - in fact, DESERVED - to be better represented. To my great excitement, I found The Virgin's Promise which offered EXACTLY what I was seeking. I discovered that my Female protagonist had already embarked on the quintessential Virgin's Journey - from obedience and passive acceptance of the Ordinary World to an awakening (meeting and falling in love with the Hero) which urges her to explore new possibilities for love and joy in her life. By falling in love with the Hero, she finds that she can no longer remain obedient to the patriarchal authorities in her life who have planned her future in great detail. Her passionate attraction and subsequent love affair and sexual awakening throw "the Kingdom" into chaos! She begins to transform into a sensual, free-spirited, fully expressive young woman, which means, of course, that she can never return to the repressive, tyrannical patriarchal society that would imprison her spirit and deny her unfolding. In order to be true to the woman she is becoming and to honor her love and fully express her joy and creativity, the "Kingdom" must either be destroyed or transformed. Her promise unfolds parallel to the journey of the Hero, who learns and grows from the transformative experience of their love. Rather than offering his Lover a "false rescue" by sweeping her away to Fairyland where they live happily ever after, he recognizes that he must CHANGE THE WORLD for her. He matures from an idealistic young warrior who refuses to compromise with the "Powers That Be" to a Lover who now wishes to reshape the "kingdom" into a place that is capable of nurturing and sustaining not only his Lover but also their divine union.The Virgin's Promise has given me the missing ingredients that have helped me to "revision" my story into one that is deeply satisfying to me as a writer, and I hope, will make it a story that others will want to read.Oh, and another amazing thing happened as a result of reading this wonderful book: My daughter and I recognized exactly where she has been stuck on her own Virgin's Journey! It has given her a "road map" to help her navigate her life in a fulfilling way rather than remaining stuck in an endless self-defeating drama. Kudos to Kim Hudson for writing an inspirational and important book.PostScript: I am working on my second novel and have chosen The Virgin's Promise as a template. I find it still works brilliantly as a framework for exploring the creative awakening of the Feminine as she embarks on her Heroine's Journey. As I filled in the Three Act Beat Worksheet, the elements of my story, which had been nothing more than a vague assemblage of scenes and ideas, magically began to fall into place. I now have a cohesive blueprint to follow in crafting my female protagonist's narrative. This book should be a part of every writer's library.

Another excellent resource for writers looking to improve their craft. I've delved into the literature this summer on story structure and plotting. Dramatica, Hero of a Thousand Faces, Writer's Journey, etc. All provide an interesting perspective on story structure, and I appreciated Kim's well-written description of the Vrgin's Promise. Her examples are well represented and align with her theory. Her descriptions of the Virgin's progression are well-formed and I enjoyed the detail provided. An added bonus: I'd use her description/discussion of the Hero's Journey over reading Joseph Campbell any day; no need to slog through the monomyth for hundreds of pages.Two critiques:1) Like any story theory analysis, the author brings some preconceived notions into the mix that color the analysis with personal philosophy. I think that's OK and could sort through it, but it's there.2) My mark-down to 4 stars: for a book at this price point, there were more than a few formatting and grammar issues that need to be resolved. I can understand 1 or 2 slipping through, but it became frustrating further along and demonstrated a lack of respect for me as a reader. I opened the book on different devices and had the same issues; words running together and repeated phrases that a line edit should have caught.Would I purchase again? Yes, but I'd still be frustrated with the reading experience and feel a bit slighted.

I stumbled upon this book a few years ago and was immediately impressed by it's novel and unique approach. Kim's background in stoerytelling and her commercial work makes her ideally suited to offer constructuve and inspiring advice seeking to make sense of storytelling in this troubled world.

Incredibly useful, enlightening, academic approach to a type of journey which has never been properly elucidated before. It is a somewhat dry style of writing, but I like that, it just gives you the facts and is economically written, unlike a lot of screenwriting books where the author intrudes on the book and the writing is cavalier and unnecessarily verbose. I think this will be a huge influence on my writing. I hope she does an app version, like the Save The Cat series has done.

A different take on structuring a story.

The 13 beats of the Virgin's archetypal journey have instant dramatic resonance, and Hudson cites convincing examples throughout. Especially appreciated the analyses of Billy Elliot and Bend It Like Beckham, two classic British movies.

Uma ferramenta de escrita interessantíssima que ajuda a compreender, pensar e construir narrativas que não se enquadram na "Jornada do Herói". Recomendado para quem se aventura pela escrita criativa e busca diferentes maneiras de pensar estrutura e progressão dramática.