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New Masks For The Mentor by Albert Kelly
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New Masks For The Mentor |
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Education
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Heroes usually need all the help they can get. When they start their journeys, they lack the knowledge and skills that they need to survive. That's where the Mentor archetype comes in. Teaching the hero what they need to know is the Mentor's role in the story. Mentors have the knowledge and experience that the hero needs to get through the adventure they're about to have. The mentor is about changing the hero's way of looking at the world and getting them to see things in a new and more useful way. Traditionally, Mentors are frequently portrayed as wizened old wizards, such as Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, or the Fairy Godmother in the story of Cinderella. Joseph Campbell -- in his seminal book Hero With A Thousand Faces -- says that the Mentor is often portrayed as an old man or a crone, who helps the hero with the task they are about to face. They also often provide a tool to help the hero later on. However, a Mentor doesn't have to be old, experienced, or even human. The list below provides a few suggestions for new ways to use the Mentor archetype in your stories. The Child Children see the world differently to adults. They often have an innocence and playful nature that makes them much more able to cope with stress. Often, adults forget how to do this. A child, unbridled by years of rules and rigid thinking, can cut straight to the heart of the problem and see solutions where an adult might see only problems. By using a child as a Mentor, an uptight and stressed character could learn to enjoy life again and be more flexible. An Animal Shamanic traditions often teach that animals can give humans the knowledge they need. By studying the animals and their behaviors, a hero can learn a lot that will help him get through his trials. A lion might teach the hero about hunting and bravery, whereas a fawn might teach about stealth and meekness. The animals don't even need to be literal animals; the hero could have dream sequences where they interact with spirit animals and get their knowledge from there. There's plenty of books explaining the significance of animals that you can use to come up with ideas. A Book Writing things down for posterity is a wonderful way of preserving knowledge. So, it's possible a book could fulfill the role of a mentor for the character. The sort of book that can act as a Mentor would depend very much on the story you are writing. It might be a textbook that teaches him what he needs to get through the exams, or it might be a dusty old tome pried from the fingers of a dead pirate with the location of the hidden treasure. The hero might learn from reading the book cover to cover, or they might use Bibliomancy and open the book at a random page and get the information they need for the next lesson. An Imaginary Friend Everyone's heard that little voice in their heads from time to time warning them to do something, or reminding them of something important at just the right moment. If you extend that concept, there's no reason why a character's mentor couldn't just be an imaginary projection of their own subconscious and the things that they already know. Chuck Palahniuk used this concept in his novel Fight Club, where Tyler Durden was actually part of the main character's subconscious. An imaginary mentor needn't be so destructive however, and might just be a manifestation of the character's conscience. Movie Characters Inspiration can often come from the strangest places. There's no reason why your Mentor figure couldn't be played by characters from movies. If your hero's struggling to come up with an answer, a one line quote from a famous movie might give them the inspiration and understanding that they need to get them through the rest of their adventures. You could even go so far as to have the character run into movies featuring the same actor in different roles, who somehow always manages to give the hero the right information they need at the right time. Unusual ways of using the Mentor figure can make your stories more memorable for the reader, because you're presenting the same archetypes in new ways. Using an unconventional teacher can show your readers that not all knowledge is taught in the same school and that sometimes you need to approach problems from a new angle. Basically, that's what the Mentor is all about anyway. buy resumes and cv
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