This summer, write your own heroine’s journey

The way I see it, from the moment we learn to walk we embark on a Heroine’s Journey.

We venture from the known into the unknown, endure conflict, meet mentors and return strengthened and seasoned, ready to take on a new role. Join me –  author and teacher Lisa Jones — for a writing class loosely based on Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. This plot structure common to stories from Greek myth to the movies Star Wars and The Full Monty. This class will embark together on the Journey, where the classical steps are taken via writing exercises.

I will provide prompts to guide students’ in-class writing and then we’ll share what we’ve written. Participants don’t have to compare themselves to, say, Ulysses, or any other mythic voyagers from the ancient world — I use prompts based on the down-to-earth modern world writings of Alice Munro, Annie Proulx, Alexandra Fuller, Jonathan Franzen and Stephen King (okay, he gets pretty supernatural.)

The class is suitable for those interested in both improving their writing and reframing their lives in a more positive light. Here’s how it differs from the regular classes: In the regular classes, the writing exercises are a fairly random sprinkling of prompts — in one class we’ll write about what it feels like to be at home; the next, we’ll write about our mother’s things. There is no particular order to the classes, and that can work really well because there is an element of surprise to each class. These classes are appropriate for anyone seeking to do some prospecting for truth in their own life. It’s like drilling for oil — sometimes you hit a gusher.

The Heroine’s Journey is more linear series of classes, suitable for people who want to write a long essay or manuscript about their own lives, or a period in their own life. These classes are now open to people who want to write about other people in their lives — a parent, child, partner, or even fictional character.

On a practical level, the Heroine’s Journey format is 12 weeks long and costs $525/student, while the regular class is 8 weeks long and costs $350. In class, the prompts are different but our collective writing rhythm is the same. They last for 2 1/2 hours, there is a maximum of six students, and there is about an hour of dedicated writing time in each class.

I’ve had several students start with the regular classes, go through the Heroine’s Journey, and return to the regular classes.

This summer, I’m offering Heroine’s Journey intensives in Boulder from July 11-14, in Snowmass from July 25-28, and in Burlington, VT — a special two-day intensive — July 3 & 4. These intensives run from 9:30-6 p.m. for four days in a row, a Thursday through Sunday. They cost $525 prior to July 1, and $575 afterwards. The Burlington two-day costs $280. Contact me for more details.