The Key

"In this well-written and witty how-to, [the] author of the Damn Good writing books focuses on the tradition of myth as a recipe for storytelling." —Library Journal

In his widely read guides How to Write a Damn Good Novel and How to Write a Damn Good Novel II: Advanced Techniques, popular novelist and fiction-writing coach James N. Frey showed writers how—starting with rounded, dynamic characters—to structure a novel that sustains its tension and ends in a satisfying climax.


Now, in The Key, Frey applies his "Damn Good" approach to Joseph Campbell's insights into the structure of myths. Frey explains that the structures and motifs of myth are just as powerful for contemporary writers as they were for Homer. Frey begins with the qualities found in mythic heroes—ancient and modern—such as the hero's special talent, his or her wound, status as an "outlaw," and so on. He then demonstrates how the hero undertakes a mission, faces tests, and suffers a symbolic death before he or she can return home. Using dozens of classical and contemporary novels and films as models, Frey shows how these principles work their timeless magic on the reader's imagination.

The Key is designed as a practical step-by-step guide for fiction writers and screen writers who want to shape their own ideas into a mythic story.