Step 3 - Refusal of the call ( the reluctant hero)
Vogler says this is about the hero balking at the threshold of adventure. This is a pretty universal thing, we've all balked at a threshold at one point or another in our lives. People's whole lives can be defined as balk. This is an important element of the story, it's in our balking nature's that we humans are probably partly attracted to fictions. As we balk in our own lives we identify with characters that do the same thing, but then we are swept into the story because unlike us at a lot of stages in our lives, our stories heroes then overcome the balk and march forward. Look to be honest I started off writing this paragraph mainly as a way of repeating the word balk, which is fun to say and doesn't come up much in conversation, but in sitting and thinking of ways to relevantly repeat the word i've realised what i've said is true. A lot of life is balk.
Vogler says that at this point in the story "the hero has not yet fully committed to the journey and may still be thinking of turning back. Some other influence... is required to get her past this turning point of fear"
Vogler mentions a mentor being one possible influence. I think i'm just going to use that idea as written in my story. There's probably many ways you could innovatively play with the mentor dynamic of a story. The hero could mentor herself. The hero could be mentored by a memory or by an imaginary friend which again would be an element of themselves. The hero could be mentored by a talking cat or perhaps going more obscure, a talking pencil. Whatever possibilities there are i'm going to go with a fairly literal interpretation of what Vogler said, because I think it would suit the story i'm outlining and also because I can't be bothered to stop and give it much more thought at present.
Fear would be a natural element in Emily's story at this juncture. Having had emotional problems in the past that have already effected her life's course and having committed herself to going straight, seeing a fairy and having experienced something of it's world would possibly have her seriously questioning her grip on sanity. And speaking as someone who's balked a few times in his life and found himself questioning his grip on reality I can attest that this experience of questioning reality would be a very terrifying fearful experience.
At this point I would introduce the aunty she's living with as the mentor. Sensing a little of what Emily's going through I would have the aunty give her a deep and meaningful speech about not being too hard on yourself when trying to do right in this life, and also not to walk too narrow a path when trying to find a way to be. To just be, you know? Most importantly the speech would involve the aunty telling Emily to be open to the world around you, and to let as much of life's magic touch you as you can. This will tie in with a part of fairy life i've realised I want to include. I'll introduce the idea that humans have a strange power over gnomes and faeries. They have to be careful of being seen by humans because the ones that don't believe in magic have the power to make gnomes and faeries disappear from the world altogether.
Emily's aunties words cause her to go back and seek out the fairy she saw.
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