Writing, Word Count, and Series Writing

I usually never give a negative review. If I don't like a book, I simply move on. (this came from my mother who always said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.") However, the book I've got on my ipod is a bit of a crazy maker.

It's Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum novel, Takedown Twenty. For those not familiar its about a woman bounty hunter who is in a love triangle between a cop and another bounty hunter. That's the short version. But that "Twenty" in the title stands for the 20th book in the series. Whew! That's not only a lot of books but a lot of work to make each one different and unique. In the beginning these books were very entertaining, funny, and fast paced. Everything I like in a good book. I love the page-turner, keep-me-up-all-night book. This book ain't it. :(

I think one of the main problems in the 20 books is that somewhere along the line the main character, Stephanie Plum, stops growing. She's stuck in this emotional vacuum of tracking bad guys, falling down stairs, getting food/trash thrown at her and bouncing between the two boyfriends. This happens over and over and over in all twenty books. Nothing new, everything predictable. Sadly I can't even bring myself to pay for these books and usually just download them from the library. In the beginning I used to run right out and buy two hardcovers as soon as they came out. One for me and one for my mother in law.

Now I'm in book 20 and really have to wonder if the writer was just trying to make a word count. A few chapters in, the main character stops at a store and then the writer lists about 20 items that she bought including napkins, vegetables, two magazines, blah, blah, blah... As a writer, all I'm thinking is; was she trying to make a word count???  Why does the shopping list need to be in the story? Since it's written in the first person it makes me think of that annoying person you meet who dumps every tiny detail of her life into every conversation.  I want to scream; is there a point to all this blather?

Back to the main plot. Is this twenty something woman ever going to grow up? Change? Don't we all change and grow? Doesn't she want to get better at her job or improve her life in any way? She's an inept bounty hunter, which lends to the comedy aspect, but if she never improves or learns the skills of her job then how is this book any different than the 19 before it? She strings two guys along and they follow like puppies...for 20 books?

I think in every book we look for what happens next. Like in the Hero's Journey we need challenges met and the return of the golden chalice. Without that, what's the point? In Takedown Twenty I felt like I'd already read it. Nineteen times.
Too bad. Evanovich is an awesome writer but somewhere along the line...we lost the fact that its a journey, not a scene.

The Hero's Journey & Family Time

So I've been working on a story and trying to outline it by using the Hero's Journey. It's my mission now to understand the HJ inside and out. So I found an outline of the Hero's Journey for Star Wars and printed it out. Then I made a basic Hero's outline with blank spaces. Last night as the family sat down to watch Star Wars I passed out the papers and told them this movie was an assignment.
After they stopped laughing and making sarcastic comments they actually read the papers and started filling them in. We only had a few minor stumbling points.
Did the HJ have to go in the order it was outlined? Does the supernatural aid have to come BEFORE crossing the first threshold? In Star Wars was the supernatural aid the lightsaver or the force?
Who is Luke's soul mate? Leia? Obi-wan? Hans?
Is the "Over coming temptation" the fight in the bar?
We're still not in agreement.
Any answers out there?
How does the Hero's Journey fit your work?

Does your WIP fit the Hero's Journey?

Does it have to?

There's a pretty good site (okay, their selling something but I still like their outlines) that talkes about the Hero's Journey. They list a bunch of movies on the site and outline them into the Hero's Journey. And they do it more indepth than I've ever seen it before. 188 stages!

Now I want to go back and watch the movies so I can match them up visually to the Hero's outline, because I just want this to sink into my brain better.

Now I'm looking at my own WIP and trying to see how it fits. Did I cover all my bases? Forget a major part that will leave my work looking weak? And if I have a hero and heroine who are both major players....do I have to "journey" them both? I mean, sometimes I'm in the heroine's head so does she need a journey here too? And did that guy who wrote Star Wars have the hero's journey in his head when he was writing it?

Here's the basic journey I'm working off of:

The Call

Threshold

Challenges

Abyss

Revelation

Transformation

Atonement

The Return

Not 188 but its a start.

Does anyone think of this while their working their WIP?

Opinons?