The Gory Details (Gross)

Gory Detail #18: "The Thousand Faced Freaks"

So let's say you've got this really great story idea you want to write about, like a guy who runs around his office ripping people's eyebrows off with a staple puller only, everywhere you look markets are looking for something called a "tightly plotted script." What the hell is a "tight plot?" Do you have to give up your staple puller? Nonsense.

Joseph Campbell in his book "Hero with a Thousand Faces" combed the width and breath of written history and identified the original tight plot; "The Hero's Journey;" A plot that anyone can use for any story.

Campbell's journey is broken into three main stages with substages under those. Let's follow our staple pulling friend, we'll call him Joe, through "The Hero's Journey."

I – Separation – Here our hero is called to start his quest

(a)– The call – This is what gets our hero going. It is often a tragedy or mishap that reveals there is a greater mission that needs to be undertaken.

Joe, a research analyst at a major multinational, arrived at work to find his support staff person lying dead on his desk. She had been ritually sacrificed and the large hole in her abdomen revealed a missing liver. It was the third support staff person Joe had lost. Something was going to have to be done.

(b)- Rejection – Our hero tries to say no. Our hero may not want to go on the quest or may seek to delay going.

Distraught but unwilling to upset the upper management, Joe went to the break room and drank four 20oz Mountain Dews, entering that jittery stupor that helps so many office workers through the work day.

"I'm just a big pussy." He thought. "There's nothing I can do."

(c)– The Threshold – Here our hero starts the journey and gets help from advisers or friends called "gatekeepers." They may prevent the hero from leaving on his quest until he is ready, provide advice and or tools to aid the hero, or may join in the journey themselves.

Kate from accounting, who raised the big sexual harassment fuss but who had been very friendly since the settlement, came into the break room. She's had a beautiful young girl with her.

"This is Helen, your new support staff. You can't let her die." Kate said.

"I don't even know who's killing my support staff."

"It's the liver eating werewolves" Kate confided. "This whole place is run by werewolves. Here." She pulled a small object out of her pocket. "This is the staple puller that Vice-President Wu attacked executive director Wilson with."

Joe took the staple puller. "Wow. The legendary staple puller of Wu. O.K. What do I have to do?"

"Their eyebrows Joe. It's their only weakness."

"And I'm coming with you." Helen added.

II – Initiation and Transformation – Our hero takes a whack at the bad guys

(a)– The Challenges – This is that middle part of the story where bad guys get beaten on and or the character finds what they have to do to reach the end. This is often a large part of a book or story but mostly serves to advance the plot to The Abyss.

They got Johnson from marketing first. Joe snuck up behind him while Helen bent over to pick up a pencil in front of him.

Joe grabbed Johnson by the neck and pinched hard on his eyebrow with the staple puller. Johnson howled in agony as the pincher's tines sunk deep into the flesh over his eye. Joe felt blood running down his hand onto his wrist.

With a twist, Joe pulled hard and the skin of Johnson's forehead pulled back with a tearing noise. Blood matted fur was revealed underneath.

With the strength born of terror, they beat Johnson to a whimpering pulp with a pair of 17" flat screen monitors.

They went to Sirivinius, the Indian IT consultant next. When his eyebrow ripped, there was no fur, only the off white of his wet skull and his eyeball rolling wildly in bony socket. "Sorry Siri." Joe said.

After seventeen de-eyebrowings and a long night spent hidden behind the photocopier, our duo finally learned that Board President Michaelson was the head werewolf.

Helen, whose foot had gotten caught in the shredder for no apparent reason, begged Joe not to wait for her, so he set off for the board room alone.

(b)- The Abyss – This is the big fight at the end. Here the hero must face his darkest fears/main enemy. Many times the enemy is what the hero fears most. Often undertaken alone, The Abyss is the make or break moment for the hero, the moment of ultimate triumph or failure.

Arriving at the board room with nothing but the staple puller and a bloody 17" flatscreen monitor, Joe was nearly undone when it is revealed that, while he was a research analyst, he couldn't add or count. Dodging this blow, Joe deeyebrowed Michaelson and threw him out a window.

(c)- The Transformation – Here the hero learns more about himself. The overcoming of the abyss leads to new, personal discovers. They learn they are in fact the legendary warrior etc. In historical literature there can also be a union with the divine or other magical transformation.

Joe thought, "Damn I kick ass!"

III – The Return – The hero goes home, usually with some kind of powerful weapon or profound insight and everybody yells and cheers about what a great job they've done. It's even likely that the hero will get laid.

The board, overjoyed at being free of the werewolf menace, gave Joe a cube with windows and a senior members parking permit.

Helen flew into Joe's waiting arms and together they snuck off to the 'lactation station' in the women's restroom where most office liaisons get their start.

The end.

See how easy it is. A nice tight plot and ripping off eyebrows. You could even throw in some staples to the genitals and still have it work.

Now, get out there and write.

If you've enjoyed this article, please consider supporting me on Patreon.