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A Modern Myth: Neuromancer

One of the tools writers use to create memorable stories is writing to formula. One of the most successful and commonly used formulas available to us is the Hero's Journey, also known as the Monomyth. The ancient Greeks, Sumerians, Romans and others used it for virtually all their mythologies. George Lucas used it in the Star Wars saga, Frank Herbert borrowed from it extensively in the Dune cycle, and the Percy Jackson series is nothing but a series of monomythic plots.

Today I thought it would be fun to examine a novel considered by many, including myself, to be Visionary Science Fiction. A "modern classic", if I may use such an oxymoronic turn of phrase. I've been re-re-re-rereading William Gibson's "Neuromancer" for about the tenth time, and couldn't help but notice similarities between it and the classic Hero's Journey.

How's that, you say? But "Neromancer" is so groundbreaking and different! It's nothing like "Star Wars" or the myth of, say, King Minos of Crete. It's cyberpunk! It must be new and bold.

Not at all. Strip away the veneer of gritty street reality, cybercrime and Artificial Intelligences, and what you find underneat fits the classic Monomyth structure. Allow me to explain.

First, we must study the basic plot structure of the monomyth as it has been passed down through the ages. Joseph Campbell breaks down the Monomyth into three acts with 17 stages:

Stage 1: Departure
1.1 - the Call to Adventure
1.2 - the Refusal of the Call
1.3 - Supernatural Aid
1.4 - The Crossing of the First Threshold
1.5 - the Belly of the Whale

Stage 2: Initiation
2.1 - Road of Trials
2.2 - Meeting with the Goddess
2.3 - Woman as Temptress
2.4 - Atonement with the Father
2.5 - Apotheosis
2.6 - The Ultimate Boon

Stage 3: Return
3.1 - Refusal of the Return
3.2 - The Magic Flight
3.3 - Rescue from Without
3.4 - The Crossing of the Return Threshold
3.5 - Master of Two Worlds
3.6 - Freedom to Live

The plot of Neuromancer is fairly simple, as most plots are. Case, a down-on-his-luck cybercriminal, addicted to drugs and waiting for the street to kill him, is given a second chance at life by a mysterious stranger and the stranger's female hireling. No details are given early on about the nature of the job; he only knows that someone wants him to do it and is willing to pay a lot to have it done.

That's the plot. Now to apply the story elements to the monomyth structure:

Stage 1: Departure
In this stage, we meet the hero at his Rest State. He's in his comfort zone (or, in this case, his discomfort zone), living peacefully and minding his own business, when suddenly someone offers him a chance at adventure. The hero is Case, a hacker who's had his talent ruined by his former employers. He's spent his last wad of cash and has now taken to selling "proscribed biologicals" to finance a drug habit that's killing him.
1.1 - the Call to Adventure: Case meets the herald of the gods, represented here by Molly. Molly is a "razorgirl", a tough, no-nonsense bodyguard and assassin with knives in her fingers and mirrored lenses over her eyes. She takes case to meet Colonel Armitage, who offers case a second chance and the tools to get his life back.
1.2 - Refusal of the Call: before accepting the offer, Case tries to run from Molly. This part doesn't last very long, as the hero really doesn't like his current life very much and wants to get back to the way things were.
1.3 - Supernatural Aid: Case goes through with the operation to restore his nervous system to health. In later chapters he is also given the tools he needs to do the job (a computer, modem and other implements). This is called "Re-arming" in some structures. He is also given, in addition to a repaired nervous system, a new pancrease that filters his blood to remove and prevent drug addiciton. Specifically, the stimulants he'd been kiling himself with.
1.4 - Crossing the First Threshold: After accepting the operation, Case leaves behind his old life and accepts the new one. In this story, he is told that in addition to having a repaired nervous system, he also is on a timeline. Fifteen toxin sacs have been bonded to his circulatory system. If he does the job, he'll be set free. If he fails, he goes right back where he came from. At this point, there's no turning back.
1.5 - Belly of the Whale: Usually the hero in the monomyth must undergo a spritual awakening or pass through a period of darkness or near-death. In Neuromancer, the operation itself can be considered the Belly of the Whale.

Stage 2: Initiation
In the Initiation stage, the hero passes through a series of trials and temptations before meeting the final challenge. He's now on the road of adventure, and has no real choice but to move forward to the conclusion.
2.1 - The Road of Trials: The journey begins with Case and Molly breaking into a major corporate database to steal, both physically and cybernetically, a valuable piece of data which will be used as a weapon in the final battle. The tool, called the "Dixie Flatline", is the computer construct of Case's old teacher, who died several years ago. The teacher represents the Father, which will become apparent later.
In this phase, Case meets other characters along the way. These include the Finn, a collector, dealer and broker who represents the Armorer of myth; Rivera, a drug-addicted conceptual artist with holographic projectors implanted in his body, who represents the Trickster; and others.
2.2 - The Meeting with the Goddess: The goddess figure in Myth represents a mother archetype, or sometimes a lost love. Case learns about the Tessier-Ashpool clan and its current leader, Lady 3Jane Marie-France. During the final Battle he meets her and learns the truth.
2.3 - The Woman as Temptress: Before beginning the final battle, Case is tempted back to his old habits by a young woman offering him powerful psychoactive drugs strong enough to get past his new pancreas. He accepts the offer the first time, but learns his lesson. The road only goes forward, not back, and he rejects her the second time.
2.4 - Atonement with the Father: Case's mentor asks to be erased after the job is done. Case agrees.
2.5 - Apotheosis: In the final battle, Case dies ("flatline") while cracking the ice of a powerful Artificial Intelligence. He is later reborn, and finds himself transformed, as we see in 2.6.
2.6 - the Ultimate Boon: In addition to having completed his mission, Case learns that his body miraculously manufactured the enzyme it needed to remove the toxin sacs. Good thing, too, since Armitage goes insane during 2.5 and forgets all about Case and his problems.

Stage 3: Return
In the third stage of the Monomyth, the hero returns from the world of adventure to the real world. He is sometimes either unable or unwilling to return to the world he left, and requires assistance. Gibson glosses over most of these elements, but some do appear in Neuromancer.
3.1 - Refusal of the Return: In Neuromancer, Case is unable to jack out of the matrix after freeing the A.I. programs and requires help from outside.
3.2 - the Magic Flight: Case returns to Earth literally.
3.3 - Rescue from Without:
3.4 - Crossing the Return Threshold: Case gets a new pancreas and new blood as part of his reward before returning to the world.
3.5 - Master of Two Worlds: Case returns to the world, without Molly but with his talent restored.
3.6 - Freedom to Live: Case is on his own and free to live.

So now we see that even in the most modern and "visionary" of science-fiction stories, if you strip away the layers of story, the same classic structure remains. Departure, Initiation and Return are all there. Some of the elements are left out or glossed over, but the Monomyth is evident throughout Neuromancer.

Off the cliff

Finally made it to the transition point between act I and II. All I had to do was examine the personalities of the characters involved, do some serious background writing, and completely rewrite most of the section where the transition happens. Easy!

Fleeing drought in the Horn of Africa -- latimes.com

Fleeing drought in the Horn of Africa -- latimes.com

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Getting over the hump

How do you transition between acts? The hardest thing for me to do lately has been to get my MC and her mentor/guide across the threshold from Act 1 (setting the scene) to Act 2 (rising action). It's a bit like standing on the edge of a cliff and waiting for someone to push you off...

Blue Eyes II

Last year I posted a bit about the significance of blue eyes in my fictional world, and gave the short answer that it's basically a plot device to help identify magi.

There's more to it, of course, much more. Early on I was toying with the notion of giving my magi an unusual feature that would set them apart from humanity, but couldn't come up with something both convincing and consistent. So I settled on blue eyes as being quick and easy. As I thought about it some more, though, I realized it's not a half bad concept. I was taking something normally regarded as beautiful and attractive and making it an object of fear and hate.

See, things in my world haven't gone well between mundanes and magi. There was a war - a really, really bad one - and one of the things some mundane governments did was to round up magi and put them in camps before they could get really strong. One of the ways they identified magi was the blue eyes. In the process, of course, thousands of innocents were taken away as well, but it was all in the name of "national security".

Of course, we know that could never happen here, don't we?

Don't we?

Guilty Pleasures

Okay, I admit it. I'm a fan of vampire fiction. I suppose this shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of, given the proliferation of such brain candy in recent months, but for an aspiring novelist attempting to plumb the depths of the human psyche, actually admitting to reading the stuff whilst working on said novel is a bit embarrassing.

But there it is.

I have not yet experienced the joys of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, though I certainly plan to in the near future. No, my latest excursion into the world of the macabre has led me to the Night World, a series of nine books by L.J. Smith. As I write this, a tenth is due for release in 2010.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much when I first picked them up. They're basically teen romance novels with vampires, werewolves and witches thrown in. The world is fairly well-developed, and the story revolves around the aforementioned creatures and something called the "Night World", a sort of shadow society that exists alongside normal humanity. A bit like J.K. Rowling's wizarding world. The creatures that inhabit this world interact with human society, but their laws forbid them from letting humans know anything about the Night World, including its existence. Vampires, werewolves, and witches especially aren't allowed to fall in love with humans. Doing so means death for the human and possibly for the Night Worlder.

Which brings us to plot device #2. We're basically talking about romance fiction here, so of course this means in every story, these laws are violated. Another big story point is the concept of "soulmates." In this world, everyone has a perfect match for them that the souls immediately recognize when they meet. Once again, this isn't supposed to happen between Night World people and humans, but of course, it does, in every story.

No problem. Lots of writers work from formula; in fact, many of my favorite authors wrote little else. Edgar Rice Burroughs, for one. Formulas work, that's why people use them. Ms. Smith seems to have found a good one, and she uses it very well.

The first volume, containing the rather unsubtly titled stories "Secret Vampire", "Daughters of Darkness", and "Spellbinder", may be a bit too formulaic for some. Each story revolves around the basic plot point of finding the soulmate, learning about the Night World, and making the choice to join the soulmate or not. The stories are over quickly and fairly predictably, with a few loose ends left and more than a few unanswered questions. For the most part, everyone gets what they wanted in the end and everything's packaged nicely. Stick with it, though; it gets better.

In the second volume things get a bit more complicated. Deception, deceit and violence are the order of the day here, and soulmates are found in the most unlikely of places. In "Dark Angel", a girl dying of hypothermia is rescued by a spirit calling itself an "angel". At first having a guardian angel seems like a blessing, but things go from good to very, very bad in short order. The second story, "The Chosen", is about a vampire hunter bent on destroying all vampires who learns her soulmate is, in fact, a vampire Lord dedicated to doing the same to humans. Finally, in "Soulmate", a girl who has visions of past lives learns that she has been reincarnated through thousands of years and in each of them has been the soulmate of an ancient and powerful vampire.

I haven't gotten to the third book, which contains the stories "Huntress", "Black Dawn" and "Witchlight", but I look forward to it. This is good stuff. You won't find deep philosophy here, but what you will find is good action and entertainment. Oh, and a little romance as well.

Now for the guilty part. I have to admit, what drew me to the series was not the titles, or the genre, or even a recommendation from anyone else. It was the girl on the cover of Book 2.

There, I said it.