Hello All.
I am finishing up an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. My previous academic credentials include an MA in liberal studies and a BSc in mathematics.
Popular fiction makes use of the Hero's Journey as described by Campbell, and the several variants that constitute the Heroine's Journey. Both tropes rest on the Jungian framework and are best realized when the writer understands that his characters will serve as masks for the archetypes.
I am attempting to develop an introductory, undergraduate (think sophomore or junior level) creative writing course grounded in the principles of depth psychology. I'm less worried with literary analysis and more concerned with turning my students on to the impulses of the subconscious, the power of myth in storytelling, and the need for familiarity (universality) in writing.
I would like to have this course "ready to go" by the end of 2018. Approaching the administration of the school where I work as an adjunct with a unique and potentially popular course could provide me with a plum when it comes time for them to find a regular hire.
For my research, I'm drawing on Campbell's works, Jung's works, and Hillman's works (specifically 'Healing Fiction.') I am also employing techniques from "The Artist's Way" by Julie Cameron, and analytic techniques lifted from Maud Bodkin, among many others. Our craft manual for the term will be Libbie Hawker's "Take Off Your Pants."
At the outset of the course, students will take a modified MBTI and use that as a "baseline" for their own personality. They will explore other personality types as characters in popular fiction. The establishment of a "psychological Mary Sue/Gary Stu" (a Mary Sue / Gary Stu is an author proxy character who is the best at everything--see Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation and realize that Gene Rodenberry's middle name is Wesley and you can see how these characters are problematic) will be discussed and how interviewing our characters can reveal significant ways in which they differ from us.
After we focus on character, we will look at setting and the use of landscape, elements, atmosphere, and time as symbols. The importance of setting as symbol and as character will be examined.
Last, we consider plot. As plot will follow a Hero's Journey theme, this is pretty well established. Yet I want to bring an emphasis to the meaning of the moments along the journey. Why is meeting the Goddess in the Cave so important? Why must we have the Magical Flight? Why does the Hero come home?
So I'm looking for anyone who has experience teaching creative writing from a Depth Perspective. Any materials you can point me to that would help along these lines would be great. Advice is also appreciated.
Again, I'm not really looking for materials on analyzing written works, but on creating them.
Thanks!
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