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| Art by tsaloka on Pixabay |
Welcome to another post in the Supernatural Underground Backlist Series. Today's feature is from the powerhouse author Amanda Arista.
AND! If you are lucky enough to be in Texas in April 2026, she is giving an all-day, immersive workshop there, at the Texas Two–Step Writers Conference.
It's designed to help writers gain clarity, confidence, and momentum in their stories. You don't want to miss this chance to meet her in person.
Meanwhile, this gem of insights into 'reluctance' is from her March 2014 post titled: "But I don't wanna," said Every Hero Ever
Be sure and read to the end, to see how it might apply to you.
We hope you enjoy it!
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"But I don't wanna," said Every Hero Ever
Year of Living Heroically #2 - Refusing the Call
Today is especially fitting to write this post as it is currently 19 degrees in Dallas Texas. If there is anything that will make you refuse the call of an adventure, it is cold feet.
On a hero's journey, refusing the call highlights what exactly the hero thinks about himself. They are not just saying, "No I don't want to," but more along the lines of "I'm afraid because of ..." That dot-dot-dot is the real part of themselves that they will have to overcome in the adventure ahead.
My
favorite case in point is our man Luke Skywalker, who refuses to go
with Ben Ken-obi by saying, and I'm flagrantly misquoting, "No I can't
go with you. I have to stay on the farm with Uncle Owen." He's not
really saying that he has to stay on the farm with his Uncle. What he is
really saying is that he is afraid that he is not awesome like his
father and he's just a lowly farm boy. Once the farm is removed from the
picture, literally, he spends the rest of the movie trying to become
awesome like his father. Sort of.
In romances, this might look a little different. For Violet, in Diaries of an Urban Panther, her refusal highlighted her fear of getting close to someone, because all of her loved ones had died. So she refused to believe that the boy liked her at all. He was just saving her skin, over and over and over. Violet spends the entire book learning to open her heart to other people.
Today is especially fitting to write this post as it is currently 19 degrees in Dallas Texas. If there is anything that will make you refuse the call of an adventure, it is cold feet.
On a hero's journey, refusing the call highlights what exactly the hero thinks about himself. They are not just saying, "No I don't want to," but more along the lines of "I'm afraid because of ..." That dot-dot-dot is the real part of themselves that they will have to overcome in the adventure ahead.
My
favorite case in point is our man Luke Skywalker, who refuses to go
with Ben Ken-obi by saying, and I'm flagrantly misquoting, "No I can't
go with you. I have to stay on the farm with Uncle Owen." He's not
really saying that he has to stay on the farm with his Uncle. What he is
really saying is that he is afraid that he is not awesome like his
father and he's just a lowly farm boy. Once the farm is removed from the
picture, literally, he spends the rest of the movie trying to become
awesome like his father. Sort of. In romances, this might look a little different. For Violet, in Diaries of an Urban Panther, her refusal highlighted her fear of getting close to someone, because all of her loved ones had died. So she refused to believe that the boy liked her at all. He was just saving her skin, over and over and over. Violet spends the entire book learning to open her heart to other people.
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Thanks for dropping by! We hope your 2026 Fire Horse Year is off to a great start!
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