I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and share some of the wonderful sights that my family experienced during our annual Christmas visit to Manhattan.

We were blessed this year with balmy weather — in the low fifties. Makes for great walking weather in a city that is made to be walked.

We always start by taking the train into the city. So much easier and more environmentally friendly than the car during holiday season. Plus, you never know what you will run into on the train. One year, we were on a train filled with Santas who were headed to the annual Santa parade (didn’t even know there was such a thing!)

The store windows are always our first stops and here’s one of my favorites from the animated display at Lord & Taylor (more photos are in the album below).

As a kid, the windows and walk up Fifth was all we would do with my parents. My dad worked at B. Altman’s, one of the old venerable stores on Fifth which has long since closed. Fifth Avenue was always such a delight with all the holiday decorations and finery. It still is quite a spectacle, even though there are those stores I’m dubbing Scrooge stores who are not decorating so as to not offend.

I don’t usually get on soapboxes, but if acknowledging a major religious holiday is offensive, I guess I won’t offend by bringing my butt into one of these stores! Honestly, I believe in respecting all religions and I love seeing the differences, whether it’s my neighbors’ Christmas lights, Menorahs or the recent lights of Diwali. So, peace to all, but Bah Humbug to the Scrooge Stores.

Let’s get back into the holiday spirit!

We always stop by the research library on 42nd Street. It’s a step back into the glamour of old New York and the renovated Bill Blass Reading Room is something to behold. Behind the library is Bryant Park and in recent years, they’ve set up a skating rink and shops. In the summer, it’s a great place to go hang out at lunch.

After the library, we keep on walking up Fifth until we reach St. Patrick’s and Rockefeller Center. The tree is immense and the area around the tree is always mobbed. Still, it’s nice to be amidst so many people who are in the holiday spirit.

From the tree, we resume our walk and go to Central Park. Even as a New Yorker, Central Park always amazes me. It’s filled with so many interesting things, like the Wollman Rink, Children’s Zoo, Delacorte Clock and Tavern on the Green. Plus, it’s huge. If you look on a map, you will realize just how much real estate is blessedly devoted to the park.

After, it’s just a short walk up to Columbus Circle and then onward to Lincoln Center and our annual viewing of the Nutcracker. It’s a great ballet and you get to people watch as well. We’ve been seated near celebrities like Caroline Kennedy and her family. This year my daughter and husband insisted Chelsea Clinton was seated behind us, but I’m not sure it was her.

If you aren’t going to get into New York for the holiday season, but want to see this seasonal ballet, there’s a DVD that was made about ten years back which is a wonderful recording of the New York City Ballet doing the Nutcracker together with McCauley Caulkin.

After the ballet, it’s normally time to grab a bite only this year my daughter has to work, so we’ll have to do the special holiday dinner some other time.

So, may you all have peace, health and happiness during the upcoming holidays and in 2007!

I hope you enjoy the rest of the pictures of our Christmas trip to Manhattan in the album below.

For my family, Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena is the night we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the blessings of family and friends. It is a night filled with talk, laughter, music, gifts and of course, food. Lots of food, both Cuban and Italian.

Our main meal consists of bacalao, shrimp cocktails, linguini with stuffed calamari, black beans, rice, avocado salad, ripe and green plantains, yuca (a kind of root), Virginia-style ham and roast pork. While all of these are delicious, it’s the roast pork that reigns supreme and of course, takes the most prep time.

My mom and abuelita showed me how to make the roast pork, but it was my dad who helped perfect the recipe by insisting that the citrus marinade had to have grapefruits! It made all the difference in the world. There’s something about the brightness of the grapefruit flavor that totally changes the citrus marinade.

As for the marinade, we make it fresh the night before. It’s a combination of the juice from oranges, sour oranges (also known as Seville oranges), limes, lemons and of course, grapefruits. My daughter, nephew Jon and I spend at least an hour or more juicing all the fresh fruits. It’s a lot of work because we need enough juice to cover a pork leg that is about 20-25 pounds. If you’re going to make this at home for yourself, a pork leg (also known as pernil or picnic ham) of about 6 or 7 pounds is enough for a family of 4 or 5.

The key to the citrus juices is that you want to make a combination of juices that is sweet, but also tart. Sweet/sour might be a better term to use. You don’t want anything that goes too far either way because that will really change the taste of the final roast pork.

Once we have the juice, we add a ton of crushed garlic, some cumin (not too much) and a few bay leaves. The bay leaves are also essential to have the right taste. Also flavor with a little pepper and even less salt. With the citrus and all the other spices, this dish doesn’t need much salt.

Once that marinade is ready, I take the pork leg and skewer it a few times with a large knife from one end to the next (with a smaller pork leg, use a smaller knife). I know this defies all the chef recommendations because normally creating such cuts in a roast will let the juices leave the meat and make it dry. But in this case, the marinating and basting will keep it moist and the cuts will let the marinade seep into the meat and flavor it.

As I mentioned before, the pork leg will rest in the marinade overnight until I rise at six, drag all 25 pounds of it out and into a roasting pan. A few ladles of the marinade should go over the pork at this time. The pork will go into a 425 degree oven for a good hour or more. The high heat at this stage helps seal the outside to keep the pork moist. (I do not baste during this initial hour.)

If you are making a smaller roast pork leg, go ahead and bake it at 425 for about an hour as well. After, reduce the heat to 350 and bake for about another 2 or 3 hours for the smaller pork leg.

Since our Noche Buena pork leg is so large, it will need to cook almost all day. The house is redolent with the smell of the citrus and spices and those smells always remind me of Christmas Eve with my family.

After that first hour or so of high heat, turn the oven down to 350. The pork will cook until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Baste every half an hour or so from the juice in the pan and from the original marinade (DO NOT put the original marinade on the pork once it is out of the oven to avoid contamination!).

The juices will caramelize and the pork will have a wonderful glaze and dark brown color. When the pork is ready, you will see that it is just about to fall off the bone. Yummy.

My family will often gather around and pick at the roast pork as I ease it off the bone and slice it for dinner because they can’t wait to eat it. If you’re familiar with pork legs like this, you know that there is always some skin on the leg and that becomes an extra-special Cook’s treat.

Traditionally, roast pork is served beside black beans over white rice, tostones (green plantains), platanos maduros (ripe plantains) and an avocado salad.

I will be sure to post a picture of this year’s Christmas Eve table and roast pork later!

So the hero has finally managed to find their way through the journey so far and make it through the Supreme Ordeal. The hero is done with her journey, right?

As I mentioned before, if you’re writing a shorter novel (anywhere in the 50K to 75K area), yes, the hero is done now and it’s time to head to the Return with the Elixer (or THE END) where the hero takes whatever prize she has seized along the journey and uses it in order to have a Happily Ever After (or if you’re writing a series, a Happily for the Moment).

But in a longer book, there is time to test the hero to see if she has truly learned her lesson and overcome her conflict. This step in the journey is Resurrection.

Resurrection

For a longer book, this is an important part of the plot as the reader must be sitting on the edge of their seats wondering if the hero will do the right thing. This is the point where the hero truly confirms that she is worthy of the title of HERO.

If the hero manages to do the right thing, then and only then can she continue on her journey toward the Happily Ever After, otherwise known as Return with the Elixir.

Return with the Elixir

The end of the story should bring jubilation not just on the part of the hero, but on the part of the reader who has followed the journey and can now celebrate that the hero has returned not only safe and sound, but also possibly as a better person.

For a handout with the complete Hero’s Journey as described in this series of articles, please click here. As previously recommended, you may wish to take this hand out and watch either STAR WARS or OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN to see how these movies follow the Hero’s Journey. You can also check out DEATH CALLS (Nocturne, Dec 2006) as well as my women’s fiction release, SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS (Downtown Press, Sep 2006) to see how the Hero’s Journey is applied to the structure of a novel. In particular, the CHICAS book follows 4 different women as they take their journey and each of the stories follows the Hero’s Journey to some extent (again, as the length of the work allows).

***THE END***
Copyright 2006 Caridad Pineiro Scordato

Samantha again, with a new Fashion Friday tip. GLOVES. I love gloves. Hate those ugly guy gloves and those ones that look like they can eat your hands…definitely a nay.

But the latest glove craze are the gloves that you can remove the top layer and they become almost like fingerless driving gloves. From mittens to gloves super cool. Roxy has the cutest in the entire world. Black with rainbow stripes. I want them. Actually I bought them! They are only $16.50. That is a great price for such a high demand item.

Working at Bakers has been awesome. Love it. I don’t complain about working late or going in early. It is a great atmosphere. My managers could not be any nicer. They are the ultimate managers.

And again, if you have any questions have no fear in asking. I don’t judge. Unless you are my mom. Hahaha.

OH and another thing all the pictures will be different. I like to show all the different fun places I go and the cool people I meet. Hahaha

OH again. I got accepted to Philadelphia University, partial Merit scholarship as well. I am so happy. That is where I am choosing to go.

Next week’s fashion tip will be purses… my LOVE.

Your hero has been yanked from her Ordinary World, she stumbled a bit when she refused the Call to Adventure, but after finding a Mentor (or not), she’s moved forward, meeting Friends, Earning Enemies and passing an assortment of Tests until she’s finally ready to take the next step in the Hero’s Journey! (As an aside, after I finish these articles, I will post a handout for you to download that has the entire Hero’s Journey. I would recommend you take that list and watch either STAR WARS — the original — or OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN so that you can see how the Hero’s Journey is put to use. Both of these follow the journey nearly step-by-step.)

The Supreme Ordeal:

The Supreme Ordeal is the moment where we wonder whether the hero will live or die or whether they will be hero enough to deal with this great test. The hero must resolve their biggest conflict or face their greates fear at this part of the story.

If you are writing a shorter novel, this will be the only crisis/conflict in the story because the shorter length dictates that you cannot have the hero face another challenge before the story ends.

When the hero survives this Supreme Ordeal, she will hopefully know something either about herself or about the world around her. This knowledge/information is the next step in the journey.

Reward (Seizing the Sword):

The hero is now better or stronger than she was before, either physically or emotionally. She is ready to take all that she has learned on the journey so far and apply it to either her Ordinary World or the new world to which the journey has taken her. It is at this point that the hero must decide what to do.

The Road Back:

***End Part Three***

The Final Steps in the Hero’s Journey are:
Resurrection
Return with the Elixir

Copyright 2006 Caridad Pineiro Scordato

Just like the process of movie editing, writing often involves various revisions and sometimes the writer’s version of a scene is changed during the editing process.

This is the first love scene from DEATH CALLS and it happens pretty early on in the story because these are two characters who have been involved for some time. The scene is in the print version, but in a shorter form, so I’m presenting you here with what I’m calling the Director’s Cut of the scene.

To set the stage – FBI Agent Diana Reyes has had lunch earlier in the day with her pregnant best friend. For some time Diana has been wondering about her love affair with Ryder Latimer and the pregnancy and her friend’s normal life brings home just how much Diana may be giving up by remaining with Ryder.

For that reason, Diana has opted to not see Ryder that night, but when Diana arrives at home, Ryder is on her fire escape. Diana is pissed off by his not respecting her wishes and begins to pay him back with a little striptease that backfires. The striptease leads to this scene.

“I don’t regret . . . us,” she whispered and cradled his cheek. Funny, but it was the truth despite the doubts she had been having lately. In some ways, he was her damnation and her salvation all rolled into one inexplicable package.

“Let’s not talk about this tonight,” he pleaded. “The night is short and I . . . I don’t want to spend it . . .”

Burying her head against his chest, she wrapped her arms around his waist beneath his shirt, savoring his substance.

Her embrace shook loose something inside of him.

Ryder needed to make it impossible for her to deny that this was real even though it had been born out of unusual circumstances. Meant to be, no matter how unlikely it seemed. No matter how many doubts both of them now seemed to be having.

Ryder eased her away slightly, bent and brought his lips to hers, his touch gentle and questioning at first. Beneath his lips came the soft brush of hers, almost hesitant, possibly fearful, but soon she answered his every kiss, biting and opening her mouth to him, her small body pressed close.

It was sweet torture, the feel of her breasts skimming his chest. Her warmth, slowly working its way into the cold of his body. The heat of her passion drove the chill from his skin.

He opened his mouth, invited her inside and she entered, tasting and urging him on with the movement of her mouth and of her hands at his back, clutching him.

“Ryder,” she murmured against his lips and moved her hands around to the snap on his black jeans which she quickly undid. “Come with me.”

She eased away, but grabbed hold of his hand and tugged him toward her bed. Ryder followed, pausing at its edge as she climbed into the center and lay down. At his hesitation she asked, “This is what you want, isn’t it?”

She wore her false bravado face. Funny how he could recognize it so easily. Funny how he wanted to drive the fear from her until she truly welcomed him into her bed that night. Invited him into her heart. Driven by that desire, he eased over until one small movement would be all he needed to touch her.

“Can you deny it’s what you want as well?” He didn’t give her a second to answer as he brought his hand to her breast. Rubbed his thumb across the straining tip. As she sucked in a rough breath, he smiled, satisfied, and lowered his mouth to her. He licked the very tip and she moaned, cupped the back of his head and drew him down the rest of the way so that they were lying together.

Diana nearly bolted off the bed as he suckled more roughly. Warmth raced over her and between her legs came the throb of want. The wetness of desire.

She lied to herself that it wasn’t love and brought her hand to the middle of his back, stroked the muscles there as he continued to pleasure her with his mouth, not touching her anywhere else. The problem was, she needed more of him. She always needed more even if she refused to give a name to that desire. Even as she wondered if it was a result of some vampire head game, much as Foley had suggested.

Ask me to touch you, he told her.

Why?

His demanding reply came swiftly. It echoed her earlier wish and erased her doubt about the why of it. Because I need you to want me as much as I want you.

“Dios, Ryder. I need you,” she husked and loosed the bonds of his restraint. Of her own.

With a groan he brought his hand to the middle of her belly, caressed her skin. Slowly, way too slowly, he lowered his hand until it rested on top of the nest of curls between her legs. She pressed her hips up, urging him on. He paused, gazed up at her as he breached the edge of her panties, and then unerringly found her center.

She jumped as his thumb pressed against her and closed her eyes as he eased one finger inside.

Open your eyes. I want to see your hunger.

She slowly dragged them open, locked her gaze with his as he moved another finger within, imitating the act of love while he pressed against the nub between her legs, starting a quickening inside her.

Diana gasped and raised her hips up as he brought her closer and closer to the edge. She grabbed hold of his shoulders, held onto him as her body trembled.

Beneath his fingers, Ryder experienced the pull of her. The scent of her arousal perfumed the air, so strong that it brought forth the heat that signaled that the vampire within wanted a taste too. It was always a struggle to keep the vampire restrained around her. To let the human make love to her. He had lost that battle last time, his defenses breached by her begging him to loose the beast.

He wouldn’t allow it to happen tonight. He knew he had to show her his human side, his mortal love so that if the animal came . . . she might not hate him or herself as much for surrendering to the demon.

He shifted lower, dropping a trail of kisses along her body. She opened her legs, knowing his intent and welcoming it. He slipped between her legs, brought his mouth to the sensitive nub.

Her hips arched up off the bed in acceptance.

Ryder kissed the center of her as with his fingers he continued to stroke. Her wetness — slick against his hand — and the smell of her . . . the heat . . . He groaned and she held his head to her.

He lost the battle.

The change surged over him, but even as it did so, he continued to kiss and suckle, replaced his hand with his tongue and mouth until her body arched into a tight bow. He bit the nub gently, but then paused, struggling to contain the vampire.

It was almost all too much. The animal smell of their sexual musk. Her racing pulse reverberating in his ears. Her nether lips, wet and flush with blood. The demon imagined feeding there, at her most private of places.

He gasped at the roiling passion making his loins ache at the thought of taking her there, and looked up at her with his vampire face. Fangs exposed. Eyes glowing. Skin flushed and warm.

Diana stared at him. His arms were braced at her sides, shaking. Shoulders heaving from the force of his breaths. His rough, harsh pants reminded her of a lion at a zoo, caged. The human in him was barely keeping the animal behind bars.

In her mind, suddenly, the picture came as clearly as HDTV. Her own breathing. Sharp little pants. His teeth, sinking into her swollen flesh. Blood, rich with life. Passion. Flowing through both of them. Charging them. Her strangled cry of pain followed by pleasure that robbed her of herself.

Her lips throbbed and she gasped at the thought of his bite there. Nearly climaxed from the images the vampire wanted her to see. Wanted her to desire so it could do as it wished. So it could control her much as Foley had warned.

She shook away those thoughts and with years of skill and strength, reversed their positions, shoving him hard onto the mattress. His arms pinned above him. His hips trapped by hers. Erection brushing her lips.

She drove down onto him, fucking him before he could continue fucking with her mind. With her heart. Riding him, quickly at first to slake the burn, but gradually slowing. Becoming more tender to draw out the human. To make him Ryder again and not the beast.

As she locked her gaze with his, moved on him, the demon slowly fled. Ryder’s eyes became their intense dark brown once more, losing their demony glow. His fangs remained however, as if he couldn’t muster the last little bit of command necessary.

She released her hold on his one wrist and reached down, traced his mouth and the edges of his sharp pointy teeth with her thumb.

“I won’t bite again,” Ryder promised, growing fearful she would suddenly decide to leave him. To run away and take with it the one thing which grounded him — her love.

A little furrow appeared across her forehead and her gaze skittered across his face. She continued to touch him with her hand, but long minutes passed before she finally answered, “I know.”

Her trust in him brought a delight so intense, he had to close his eyes and take a deep, shuddering breath to finally rein in the demon. Without waiting for more, he flexed his hips and shifted upward, building the passion. Bringing her closer and closer to the edge.

Diana studied the myriad of emotions cross his face — one that was neither human nor vampire. Watched as his passion rose and the human reappeared. At that her own desire rebounded until the tension inside her grew so intense, she had to stop for a moment. Her body trembled. Her breath was ragged with the length of him, impaling her.

“Diana?” His voice had a thread of fear along with something indefinable. Something she didn’t want to consider. She just wanted release. Freedom.

Riding him, friction creating the increased heat of body against body, she deepened his penetration and finally took them both over the edge.

She followed his shout of release, with the satisfied growl of the animal, with her own cry of completion.

It’s holiday time and if you’re having a party or going to one and need something fun and tasty to make, this is the dip for you!

The recipe for the Tex-Mex dip was first given to me by the wife of one of my husband’s professors at Columbia.  Since then I’ve played with it, made some changes and it is a favorite with all my friends and neighbors.  I always make a double batch because I know that it will go very quickly.  Serve the Tex-Mex dip with tortilla chips for dipping.  I love it on top of my hamburger – it makes it a great Tex-Mex burger!

Sour Cream Topping
(This is enough for a double batch.  Use only half for a single batch and put the excess into a bowl for people to use as dip)
1 pint sour cream
½ cup Mayonnaise
1 envelope taco seasoning mix

Mix all of the above and let sit for at least half an hour.

You will need the following ingredients.  After chopping and grating, you will layer them as noted below.  A flat dish is best so that your guests will be able to dip more easily.  If you like guacamole, you can add it as another layer right after the bean layer.

Ingredients:

2 medium tomatoes – finely chopped. Let them drain in a sieve to get rid of their juice.  It will keep the dip from getting watery.
1 8 oz. Can of pimentos – finely chopped
2 scallions – finely chopped
1 16 oz can of refried beans – Try to use the fat free and if you like it spicy, use the spicy refried beans from Old El Paso
1 16 oz. Can black pitted olives – finely chopped
4  oz sharp cheddar cheese - grated
4 oz Monterey jack cheese with jalapenos - grated

How to layer:

Place refried beans on the flat dish – spread them out to form the base.
Pimentos
Scallions
Place half of the sour cream topping if you are doing a single batch
Tomatoes
Black olives
Combine grated cheddar and montery jack – spread all around to hide what is underneath this layer.  If you have a gadget known as a Supershooter, place chunks of both cheeses in the feed tube and just grate it right onto the black olives.

If you like things spicier:  Add a few drops of tabasco sauce in the sour cream topping.  Substitute monterey pepper jack cheese for the regular monterey jack cheese.   Also add some jalapenos in the same layer as the pimentos

Teresa Ryan is the winner of the Thanksgiving Surprise contest that I ran with fellow Nocturne author Lisa Renee Jones.

Here’s the winning answers to the two questions:

What is the name of the FBI Agent in Caridad’s DEATH CALLS? Diana Reyes

What are the titles for Lisa’s next two releases? Alluring Tales an anthology in March 2007 and Hurt So Good an anthology in April 2007.

Thanks to everyone for entering our impromptu contest and look for more in the coming year!

Samantha Scordato here. To give you the latest fashion tips a girl can provide. Before I do go into the yays and nays of fashion I decided to give you a little about me first. I am 17, yes Caridad is my mom and I am in love with writing as much as she is. I have journals beyond journals filled with stories and other ideas. It lets me express myself. But fashion, for some reason, has become my passion.

I have to say Mary-Kate and Ashley were the ladies who inspired it but Betsey Johnson was the woman who kept me going. She is the Fashion Idol of my life, besides this one girl in my school who has the sweetest fashion in the entire world (sweet means cool. Just in case you were wondering). I have recently been accepted to Marymount University in Virginia, and am waiting for a letter from Philadelphia University. If you are wondering “why not FIT?” the reason is simple. If I decide that maybe fashion is not what I see myself doing in the future then I would have no other options at FIT. I am not dissing FIT, far from it. I went there for summer sources and it was the best. I learned a lot of cool things, but I would need to transfer and that would be a whole sticky mess and I didn’t want to go through that. So I am going to a liberal arts college where if fashion is not my passion I can go into something else. Like writing!

Okay so obviously winter is coming up and boots are a big fashion statement for the season. I love boots. Absolutely love ‘em. High boots, low boots, heels, flats. Boots rock.

I work at Bakers, the shoe store, and well I have seen a lot of boots. Grey leather. NAY! Black on the other hand, YAY! I love heels on boots. Sure not the best for shoveling snow, but they look damn good. I have to admit I am not a fan of the flat boots, but some people can wear them and even I have to stop and say “wow. I like those!”

Advice: If you get heels no matter what kind, boot or dressy, BUY NON-SLIPS. Look for a Bakers near you. The non-slips are $2.00 at Bakers. They go on the bottom of a shoe to give the shoe some traction. They save lives I tell you. Haha.

So that is my first fashion tip for all you people out there. If you have any questions about anything, Clothes, shoes, accessories… please leave a comment here! I hope I can help.

To celebrate the release of DEATH CALLS from Silhouette Nocturne this month and the upcoming holidays, I’m having a special contest.

As part of this special Holiday Celebration, I will be giving away 2 Mini Garden Ornaments from Victoria’s Secret! Decorate your tree and treat yourself to a little indulgence. Mini bag with chain includes Skin-Silkening Body Lotion and Luxurious Shower Gel, 1 oz. each.

Also, join my loop and be eligible for my regular monthly contest where you can win a THE CALLING T-shirt, an autographed copy of an earlier release and other goodies from Caridad!

To enter the contest, just send a blank e-mail to CaridadPineiro-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

As I previously mentioned, our Hero may be reluctant about leaving the Ordinary World and answering the Call of Adventure. A mentor may be provide moral support to the Hero and give her the necessary impetus to finally answer the call which leads us to the next step in the Hero’s Journey:

Crossing the First Threshold:

Crossing the Threshold is generally the turning point in which the adventure actually begins. It’s when the hero has overcome her basic fears and reluctance and decided to proceed on the journey. For example, think of the very funny fight scene in Miss Congenialty. We’ve seen Sandra Bullock’s character in her Ordinary World — that of a rather unkempt and unappreciated female FBI Agent. When presented with the opportunity to go undercover, she balks at the prospect. She is goaded by Benjamin Bratt’s character who serves in part as a Mentor (Bratt plays a shapeshifter, actually, but more on that later). During the fight scene, Bullock finally accepts the Call to Adventure and agrees to go undercover. She crosses the threshold and begins the journey.

So what happens along this journey? Miss Congeniality follows the Hero’s Journey with the next few scenes which develop. How? Bullock’s character finds:

Tests, Allies and Enemies:

Think about all the people Miss Congeniality now meets. People who prepare her for the Adventure (a true mentor in the Michael Caine character), put up barriers, become her allies and/or show their colors as enemies.

The section of the journey during “Tests, Allies and Enemies” will show us how the hero responds to others around them and by doing so, will help us develop the hero’s character. Each encounter with an ally or enemy and each test will demonstrate either something good or bad about her. Is she loyal? Is she compassionate? Is she bitchy or nice? Think of Miss Congeniality and each encounter with one of the beauty queens or as she prepares for each of the events during the pageant. Each test and encounter demonstrates something about her character.

Now that we know more about our character (and in reality, the character knows more about herself), we need to take that knowledge and have the hero:

Approach the Inmost Cave:

The hero now understands what is the purpose of the journey and prepares to reach that ultimate goal (for example, finding out who has threatened the pagaent). Even though the hero understands the goal, the challenges and tests are not yet over. In fact, the hero may find that while she has taken 3 steps forward, she is now forced to take two back. Think of the information that Miss Congeniality has gleaned from the beauty queens and how none of the FBI agents believe her because they think the Bomber has been caught. She has acheived the goal of finding all the information she needed, but her investigation is set back by the arrival of her director and his news.

What does a hero do in this situation? The hero must now face the Supreme Ordeal.

***End Part Two***

The next three steps in the Hero’s Journey are:
The Supreme Ordeal
Reward (Seizing the Sword)
The Road Back

Copyright 2006 Caridad Pineiro Scordato

I was introduced to the concept of the Hero’s Journey by a wonderful book editor, Lesley Kellas Payne. She was kind enough to help me when I first started writing and her lessons proved invaluable. One of the first things she stressed was using the Hero’s Journey to help create a compelling plot.

Joseph Campbell noted in his seminal work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces that there were certain story elements that defied cultural boundaries and were universally accepted. The Hero’s Journey arose as a result of this analysis by Campbell and subsequent works by others. Another good discussion of the Hero’s Journey is by Christopher Vogler and I highly recommend Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey.

How do I use the Hero’s Journey to write my story?

The Hero’s Journey will help you identify the different story elements to include in your novel and the most logical order in which they should appear. Of course, there is nothing which dictates that you must begin in this order, but whenever I am struggling with a book, I find that it’s because I’ve deviated from what I consider the most important story element in the Hero’s Journey — The Ordinary World.

What is ‘the Ordinary World’?

The Ordinary world:

Why is the Ordinary World so important? Because it sets the stage for what is “normal” for your characters and your job as a writer is to shake up that “normal” and get them started on their journey.

For example, in DARKNESS CALLS, Diana is all caught up in being a hard-nosed FBI Agent and Ryder is all brooding immortal. I show them in their regular worlds — Diana investigating a case and Ryder catwalks of The Lair — to demonstrate what their lives are like now before we begin their adventure.

The Call to Adventure

The Ordinary World tells the reader what is the status quo for your hero/heroine. Now it’s time to layout the details of the challenges the adventure will bring them. What does this do? It:

For example, in DEATH CALLS (December 2006), we once again meet with Ryder and Diana after they have been involved for two years. The stakes of the game are whether the two will continue to be lovers. Their goals? For Diana, to decide whether to have a normal life or stay with Ryder. For Ryder, whether he will let death claim Diana when it is her time. What is their challenge/adventure? They must move forward emotionally and decide what to do and the adventure that will challenge them to do this is Diana’s investigation of her best friend’s murder.

What happens if the Hero Refuses the Call to the Adventure?

It’s not uncommon that the hero/heroine may refuse to move from the Ordinary World and begin their adventure. The hero/heroine is acting the way we all might when confronted with having to do something different. The hero/heroine is refusing to begin the journey because they are fearful of where it will lead. Because of this, the hero/heroine may require the assistance of a Mentor.

What is a Mentor?

The Mentor is one of the most important themes in mythology. It stands for the bond between parent and child, teacher and student, god and man. Think Obi Wan and Yoda as the classic mentors. Meeting with the Mentor provides the hero knowledge, confidence, etc. to undertake the Journey. A Mentor doesn’t necessarily need to be kindly. Think of Lou Gossett’s role as the drill sergeant in Officer and a Gentleman. The drill sergeant is a harsh mentor, but goads Zach Mayo into undertaking the journey.

In fact, if you want to see how the Hero’s Journey works, two great movies to watch are Star Wars and Officer and a Gentleman since they both follow the Hero’s Journey in exactly the order I will be laying out in this discussion.

****Coming soon****

The next three steps in the Hero’s Journey:

Copyright 2006 Caridad Pineiro Scordato

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Realms of Fantasy magazine and am featured in this month’s magazine discussing DEATH CALLS, my December release from Silhouette Nocturne.

To check out the interview online, please click here.