Meeting the Mentor Stage Four in The flash fiction challenge

All creatures possess a spirit

Today we look at the application of stage four of the hero’s journey template with a flash fiction story.

(Disclosure: This particular story has been accepted by Foliate oak Literary for publication in January.)

We have covered the first three steps in the first part of the flash:

Just in Time for the Old Man’s Passing

by Kaye Linden

“My father had a heart attack three hours before I boarded a flight from LA to Sydney for my annual visit.  I got the call from his new wife.  “No point in coming, Sarah. Your father is in the hospital.”     (step one)   Ordinary world

“Wait,” I said. “Which hospital?”  A dial tone answered my question.    (step two)  Call to adventure

I boarded the Qantas jet anyway and ground my teeth for fifteen hours over the Pacific Ocean, crunching up the rage at my father for leaving my sick mother a year ago.    (step three)  Refusal of the call

Step Four

MEETING THE MENTOR

Jet lag wrapped around my brain as I rode in a cab to my father’s house and sat at his front door for a few minutes until a white-haired lady with a tray approached. Steam spiraled from scones and a pot of tea.   “Hungry?”  She asked.

“So nice of you,” I said and grabbed a scone.

“Are you Sarah?”

“Yes.”

“I’m the neighbor, Mrs. Hargreaves.  Do you know your father is in the hospital?”

 

This last section for today’s discussion represents the meeting with the father’s neighbor.  Will she help Sarah?   Yes.  She will.  Mrs. Hargreaves will function in the role of mentor and precipitate Sarah’s journey through the story.

The term “mentor” comes from the name of the friend of Odysseus in The Odyssey.  He raised Odysseus’ son “Telemachus” and therefore became the trusted and protected friend.

Story mentors encourage their protegees, inspire them to action, protect and train them. They can be rough on their mentees, breaking them down to build them up.  (karate kid)  Mentors act as a backdrop to highlight the foibles and weaknesses of the hero.

Read up on the Hero’s Journey.  Applying the 12 steps of this journey will guarantee a story’s strength: it appears that we can apply these steps to any story, even a flash fiction.

Till next time.

Kaye

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