Customer Reviews

The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth

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If you've struggled with other versions of the Hero's Journey and found them too obscure, too formulaic, or too screen-oriented, James N. Frey's The Key may be just what you are looking for. Frey goes back to the structure and study of mythology and concentrates on characters and their interactions rather than plot structure, an approach much better suited to novelists. He also gives examples from a wide variety of novels and films, and demonstrates his points with a novel outline (which I'll buy if he ever gets around to writing it). He shows you how to develop character bios based on mythic patterns and includes several examples of journal entries written in character voice ("show, don't tell" is a rule more writing teachers should apply to their own writing!). You don't need to have read Frey's "How to Write a Damn Good Novel" series to appreciate this book, but once you've read it you will probably want to add those two volumes to your collection as well. The Key is an excellent and accessible book which I intend to recommend to my writing buddies.

In countless interviews George Lucas told us how he used the power of myth to create his masterpiece, "Starwars." So why was "Phantom Menace" no more satisfying than a spectacular videogame? After you read "The Key," you'll know the answer. Mythic storytelling requires more than throwing archetypes and classic plot elements onto the page. Mr. Frey shows us how to tap into the deepest human emotions using a structure that has been with us since before the written word. He shows us how to look at our own writing and decide where the various aspects of myth might make our story stronger. Walking us through the development of a myth-based novel, Mr. Frey "auditions" characters, steps, and complications. Some work and are incorportated into his story, some don't work and are tossed. This is an extension of techniques he outlined in his two previous "how to" books, but here the process is even more accessable. "The Key" is not the first book on fiction and the hero's journey, but it's the best I've read. In "The Key" we learn to use the hero's journey as a tool, not a formula. I've already ordered copies of "The Key" for my writer friends, my teenagers, and their creative writing teachers. Perhaps if Mr. Lucas had read "The Key" we would have seen him at the Academy Awards this year.

Frey takes the key and unlocks the theories of Joseph Campbell [Hero with a Thousand Faces] and Chris Vogler [The Writers Journey] in making myths work in the modern novel. This is one of the most lucid books on the subject. Frey tells you what is expected of your hero/heroine as well as how to construct your villain or shadow character. Never has it been put more clearly. If you are working on a blockbuster novel, this book will be of great help.

The book is basically a rehash of Christopher Vogler's classic "The Writer's Journey." Frey's book covers exactly the same concept, however, his focus is more basic and directed toward novelists versus screenwriters. (If you read Vogler's book, and you're a novelist, you'll do just as well if not better.)

I might have liked this book more if I hadn't read Vogler's first which covers the concept much more comprehensively. One reviewer noted he's using Frey's book as a 'template' rather than a 'guideline.' Fine, if your goal is cookie-cutter fiction. (Vogler's book specifically warns against using mythic concepts in this way.)

If you want a simple introduction to myth-as-story, this book will do. (In fact, the entire book is summarized in a single chapter toward the end. If you must have it, borrow the book from the library and photocopy the chapter.) But if you really want to fully explore the potential mythic structure has to offer, this book comes up a bit short.

The Key is a straightforward book that provides writers with the basic tools and knowledge needed to create our own mythic journey, wheter it's set on present time or on some other fantastic timeless place. Reading The Key is like having your own personal writing instructor by your side. James Frey provides the reader with multiple examples of the terms and, characters, functions and mythological structures a myth-based novel should have. He even writes a short example of a novel which works great as a demonstration of the power of the myth. After reading it, you'll find yourself analysing all movies and books you read, and you will discover that this specific way of writing suits almost every situation and plot. From Gone with the wind to Star Wars, the hero and his journey lie deep within our subconscious mind, and The Key does a great job at remindg us that.

I have read many of Joseph Campbell's books. I have not read any of Frey's other works (but I'm ordering "How to Write a Damn Good Novel" today), but I have read "The Key" - and I felt it was a good book.

I thought this book very entertaining and quite useful. I have seen other reviews that claim this book is "The Readers Digest version" of Campbell's work, and other such statements. In Frey's defense, Campbell's work doesn't teach you about writing, it teaches you about Mythology. Those reviews don't make good comparisons; so, instead I will compare "The Key" to a similar work I have read: Steven King's "On Writing".

King's "On Writing" is wonderful, inspirational, and entertaining. I would say the same for Frey's "The Key". Where King's "On Writing" is more about how he writes, with suggestions towards your writing, Frey's "The Key" is more "step by step". "The Key" seems more for beginners, but I could see a more advanced writer gleaning some good ideas from it, or coming to realizations they had not thought of before.

"The Key" is a bit repetitious, much as a basic text book might repeat key ideas; however, I find this useful and not overdone. I also appreciated the many examples given, and the example story. This is something that is often missed in any sort of "How to" book. I tend to learn better from examples, so I really appreciated that effort.

Go to just about any writing workshop, and you'll hear advice to employ the "power of myth." All this is really means is to use ageless storytelling techniques. But unlike a lot of instructors, Frey gives excellent advice on HOW to do just that.

Frey understands that plot arises out of character, and so he focuses on the character interaction, and the use of archetypal - mythic -- patterns for development. Throughout the book, he offers many examples from well-known sources, enabling the reader to see the commonalities between very diverse characters and stories.

Another bonus of this book is the illustration of the techniques described in Frey's other works. We see how character bios aid the writing in understanding the character - even if much of that bio never shows up in the novel or screenplay. The journals "written" by the characters demonstrate the importance of getting inside the heads of characters, a method that aids the writer to understand the character's motivation. I particularly appreciate the advice to use this method will all important characters, not just protaoonists. Villains and secondary characters require the writer's understanding, too.

While in many respects, the underlying information here is not very different from that provided by Swain, McKee or Vogler, (but then, how could it not be similar? - all concern story structure) Frey's explanation is more accessible. Being a writing book junkie, I'd say buy `em all. But if you can only get one about story - this is probably the one to get.

If you're not willing to read the many exciting books on the role of myth in story creation (like Campbell's classic, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"), Frey's book may be a shortcut. But don't be duped into thinking he's done all the work for you.

Believe me, this ain't a "Cliff's notes" version of the harder books on mythology -- it's the Reader's Digest version. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you know what you're getting.

As a previous reviewer noted, Frey is too limiting in his definitions of who the protagonist and antagonist can be in your story (he overlooks completely the fact that an antagonist need not be a person at all -- it could be the weather, or a giant whale, or an entire town, among other things).

Also, many of Frey's plot and character suggestions are too dramatic, and would have no place in literary fiction, where readers demand a greater degree of subtlety. But if you're looking to write rollicking adventure stories, and you want to see how other authors have used mythology to create a firm, workable structure for their stories, this book may be the right place to start.

I wouldn't stop there, though. If you want to write works of any depth or meaning, it would be better to move on -- if Frey manages to pique your interest in the power of myth rather than just turning you off -- to the harder, but more insightful stuff than Frey offers in this limited book.

As a fan of Joseph Campbell and an aspiring author myself, I bought this book hoping for some insight into combining his ideas into fiction. While I did find a little, other readers should be warned that it is hidden among some of the worst advice I've seen, much repetition, and an example novel that even I could write circles around.

Many of the basic ideas that Frey talks about are helpful - the major characters found in a myth and examples of these in modern fiction, a basic outline of the hero's journey, etc. However, he tends to repeat his points over and over rather than really developing them. Also, some of what he says is just plain wrong, such as claiming that it is best if the "Evil One" or antagonist has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, despite the fact that great fiction (and the average reader) demands a more complex and human villian. The sections of a novel he has written are cliched and simplistic, and even his outline to fill in the blanks between excerpts contains many unbelievable and unsophisticated elements. This did not give me great confidence in his advice.

Overall, The Key may be of some basic use to you if you're already fairly confident in your writing (confident enough to know somethat that doesn't work for you when you see it). If you're just beginning, however, there are much better places to get a good grounding in the craft of writing.

Frey takes the deep and universal themes explored by Joseph Campbell and reduces them to a simple template for writers of fiction to follow. This can be handy for aspiring writers, but the danger is that you'll end up with very shallow characters and stories unless you explore this subject much more extensively. And although the summaries of particular themes are helpful, you would probably be better off going straight to the source and reading Campbell yourself. Otherwise you run the risk of spitting out a cookie cutter story that has all the technical ingredients of myth-based fiction but nevertheless fails to capture the reader because the story itself isn't compelling. If, as I did, you can find this book at your local library, it is probably worth your time to read it. However, I certainly wouldn't pay much money for it.