Category Archives: Motifs at work

Object Lessons

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Sarah

Alfred Hitchcock coined the term “Maguffin” for an object in a story (in his case, specifically in films), an object that everyone in the story cares about but which wouldn’t really matter much to the audience outside the story. Such … Continue reading →

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Was Dorothy Tempted?

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Sarah

The search strings that bring people to my website have once again provided an intriguing issue for me to consider. In this case, the matter for examination is temptation. The actual question was: “Is Dorothy tempted?” I think it is … Continue reading →

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Tempestuous Heroine In The Ice Cup

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Sarah

The Dark Heroine and the Fair Heroine It is very easy to let archetypes become stereotypes in storytelling. Sometimes storytellers become so anxious about the possibility of their characters becoming sterotypes (that is, a mere two dimensional, cardboard “type”) that … Continue reading →

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Journey and Genre

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Sarah

Once again the list of search strings in my website visitors statistics has turned up something worth blogging about. This latest offering is this search question: “What type of literature is the Hero’s Journey?” It’s one of those questions that … Continue reading →

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Death Is Not An Option

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Sarah

ABC’s The River played out its initial season true to the form of the Constant Jeopardy Syndrome. The very end of the eighth episode (last of the initial production order) has the crew of the Magus, along with the recovered … Continue reading →

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