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Hi writers, Thank you for your engagement and questions last night! Your input helps me continue to refine and deepen this work, and it’s a beautiful reminder that this is truly a co-creative process. You can find the video from last night’s session here. Below, I’m sharing what we covered and the resources mentioned. Last night we talked about: Christopher Booker’s The Seven Basic Plots outlines foundational storytelling structures that creators use to tell stories. We discussed how we can also use them to reframe our personal narratives and imagine new possibilities.
I asked you to look at your life and/or the narrative you’re reclaiming through the Tragedy lens first, to notice narratives that have been shaped by limiting beliefs or circumstances. Then, use your imagination and the other plot frameworks to explore new perspectives.
Resources mentioned: Timeline exercise. I mentioned this tool that can be used to develop a story bank that you can reference to write about memories, moments, and situations that contribute to the narrative(s) you are reclaiming. We can go over these tools in our next session if that would be helpful. General. Review these slides first. This is from my Journaling Techniques workshop, and it presents the tool as something that can be used to develop ideas for a memoir journal without a specific narrative/theme in mind. Specific. In this guide, I adapted the exercise for my Transformational Storytelling Intensive, where the writers are using the tool with a specific limiting narrative in mind.
Heroine’s journey. I mentioned a feminine alternative to The Quest arc. In this post, I am sharing a breakdown of The Heroine’s Journey according to author Kim Hudson—what she refers to as The Virgin’s Promise. You can also find a more robust explanation on Story Grid here. Find Your Patterns Exercise. If you would like to go deeper into the foundational work of identifying unwanted patterns, limiting beliefs and narratives, this exercise will help you do that. As we discussed in the session last night, many of our unwanted patterns and narratives have connective threads that lead back to one (or more) core beliefs. I personally related to all of them! But through continued exploration, I found the root of all of them for me is “I’m broken/flawed.”
Your activity this week is to: Use your imagination to transform one of your fatal flaws/defeated storylines using one of the story plots. Adapt the exercise to make it work for you. Lean into whatever feels inviting and trust your instincts.
At the beginning of our next session, we’ll take time to explore whatever you feel ready to share—whether it’s something you wrote or reflections on the process, including any efforts, challenges, or insights that emerged along the way.
Please feel free to reply to this email with any questions. See you next week!
Blessings,
GG
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