Holy Smoke: The Supreme Ordeal

Year of Living Heroically #7- The Ordeal

So my lovelies, you might have noticed that I didn't post last month. I'm not going to say that I was going through my own Ordeal, but let's say that I am really glad that August is over. I don't know if I spent the month living heroically, but looking back on it, I should have just stayed in bed instead of choosing to go once more into the breach.

This month, we are talking about the Ordeal, aka The Supreme Ordeal, aka the Dark Moment, aka, Oh-MyGod-Luke-is-Dead-in-a-Trash-Compactor part in the story where our hero dies. But totally comes back. Its okay. You looked a little worried there for a moment.

After our trek with our allies, meeting the foe, and choosing, not quite brilliantly, to go toward the cave with the dragon, our hero has bottlenecked herself into the certain death. One of the reason's it is certain is the hero doesn't see it coming. The certain death is hiding in a blind spot with the hero's flaws. Ex: Luke's need to be a hero like his father and save the princess is his flaw that ends him up in a nasty situation.

The key to defining the supreme ordeal for me has always been that this event fundamental changes who the hero has been up to this point. Even though she has embraced all the things she has learned during her tests and use them to varying degrees of success, this event will break her because it is directly connected to an internal flaw fighting against her, preventing her from being the hero she needs to be. The supreme ordeal will shatter who she thinks she is. It will literally break them across a rack. It is perfectly tailored to destroy that person who crossed the threshold all those chapters ago. And if she survives, she will be purified to continue on her trek, OR she will fail and is doomed to repeat it again.

Think of our hero as a wad of clay who wants to grow up and be a real coffee mug (no personal preference here, a tea cup is perfectly acceptable). The journey so far as molded our hero into a cup, maybe gotten a nice coat of glaze and a handle. The supreme ordeal is the kiln that will change our hero from a mushy, moldable lump into something that is very much like a coffee cup. After this event, the hero can not go back to being an ordinary guy anymore than the newly fired cup can to back into a ball of clay.

So this takes a newly formed hero, this purer form of our main character, one that has been fundamentally changed, back on course to the reason they were on the journey in the first place. Providing that she didn't fail miserably (possibly another post for another time).

Now, what I'm not going to do is mention a movie with an actual dragon, because that would be too easy. I thought I'd mention two not-so magical supreme ordeals that might feel a little closer to home.

Devil wears Prada- Andy's trip to Paris- she really is not the sweet little Andy she was when she gets back from Paris. Though I wish my supreme ordeals had Simon Baker in them.

Dead Poet's Society- When Todd is forced to improv a poem in front of the entire class. Once done, he is a new student full of confidence who will stand up for his friends and teacher at the end of the movie.

Because I write paranormal, there are some teeth and claws in my supreme ordeals. In Diaries, Violet's

flaw was always her low self-esteem. When she is attacked on her first date in years, she is faced with her boyfriend's death or her accepting that she is powerful enough to save him. Violet comes out the other side a stronger shifter, but no longer just that quirky girl with her head in the sand.

In life, I think we all know what our supreme ordeals look like. They are the moments that we look back on and see that's were I changed. That hurt like hell and I'm stronger for it. Ordeals are very internal and person specific. My ordeal could be your Tuesday and vise versa.

So my parting thought to you for this month of living heroically is to realize that you can't know what part of another's journey they are on. For all you know, they just faced a dragon.

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Amanda Arista
Author of Diaries of an Urban Panther
www.amandaarista.com

Spring Fling: A New-to-You Author

http://thegraphicsfairy.com

CrystalGB was the winner. 

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

*** Giveaway ***

Spring is here! For those of you still coping with snow, rest assured that Spring arrived on March 20 at 12:57 P.M. EDT, even if it hasn't shown its fair face in your location yet.

Time for a fling! To a dedicated reader, that means books. What, you were expecting shopping for frilly, pastel Spring clothing and new shoes or packs of garden seeds? Hah! We readers have our priorities straight!

Do you know all of us here on Supernatural Underground? You might read the posts by your favorites, but if that's all you do, you could be missing a great new-to-you author. So I'm going to introduce all of us quickly, in alphabetical order. Click on our names to visit our web sites and follow us on Twitter with the links after our names.

Amanda Arista (@pantherista) was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel. The summer of second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library. So she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped since. She writes the DIARIES OF AN URBAN PANTHER series.




Dakota Banks (@dakotabanks) writes the Mortal Path dark urban fantasies, paranormal thrillers with a splash of romance. With Ancient Sumerian mythology brought forward to the present, a three-hundred-year-old woman tries to redeem her soul by saving as many lives as she's taken. The third book in the series, DELIVERANCE, won the 2012 USA Best Book Award for Fantasy. As Shirley Kennett, she writes suspense thrillers in the PJ Gray series.

A.A. Bell (@ThePoetTrees) is the winner of the prestigious 2011 Norma K. Hemming Award for Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Themes (Race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, etc.) for her debut novel, DIAMOND EYES, and for her second, HINDSIGHT. She's the first to ever win the award twice. As Anita Bell, she writes children's books, and was the first author to win an International “CrimeStoppers Award" for a children's crime series. 

Merrie Destefano (@MerrieDestefano) writes edgy urban fantasy: Vampires and fairy tales, Bladerunner meets Jim Butcher. AFTERLIFE (where everyone gets nine lives) and FEAST (edgy urban romance) leave you wanting more. Her first book of short stories, WAITING FOR MIDNIGHT, is highly satisfying, and the title tells all.  She writes for Young Adults too, and can teach you how to draw fantasy characters.




Jocelynn Drake (@JocelynnDrake) is the New York Times bestselling author of The Dark Days series and The Asylum Tales. When she’s not hammering away at her keyboard, frowning at her monitor, or curled up with a book, she can usually be found cuddling with her cats, Harley and Demona, walking her dog Max, or flinging curses at the TV while playing a video game.

Kim Falconer (@kimfalconer), a bestselling SF/Fantasy author, writes the Quantum Enchantment and Quantum Encryption series, epic stories that seamlessly mingle science and technology with sociology, environmentalism, philosophy, and magic. Astrology has been a part of her life for over 30 years and she teaches and consults in this field. Born in Santa Cruz, California, she lives and writes in the far eastern coast of Australia, sharing her dwelling with two black cats and a pair of Torresian crows. (!)

Leigh Fallon (@Leigh_Fallon) was born in South Africa, raised in Dublin, Ireland and moved to Cork in her 20s. Her debut paranormal romance in the Carrier series was discovered on Inkpop, a website for writers of teen fiction. Within weeks, book one of the in the series, CARRIER OF THE MARK, hit the coveted top five spot and was reviewed by an editor at HarperCollins. A few emails and some hysterical screaming later, she signed her first deal with HarperTeen. The second book in the trilogy is SHADOW OF THE MARK.

Jeaniene Frost (@Jeaniene_Frost) is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of vampire stories in the Night Huntress series, Night Prince series, and the upcoming Broken Destiny series. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to eighteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she swears like a sailor, rarely cooks, and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling – by car.

Terri Garey (@TerriGarey) is the RITA^© award winning author of six novels, two series, and various novellas. Her devilishly delicious tales from the dark side have been described as "sweet yet smouldering" by Publishers Weekly, and "sultry and upbeat" by Library Journal. Despite her choice of spooky subject matter, Terri prefers to avoid graveyards, especially on Halloween.

Colleen Gleason (@colleengleason), a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, has written more than two dozen novels in a variety of genres  – most of them with some sort of supernatural element. From vampire hunters in Regency England to dystopian romance (as Joss Ware), Colleen has run the gamut. Her most recent release is ROARING MIDNIGHT, a spin-off of the internationally bestselling Gardella Vampire Chronicles, in which she brings the vampire-hunting family to Roaring Twenties Chicago.

Helen Lowe (@helenl0we) is a Fantasy/Science Fiction author, poet, interviewer and blogger. She won the prestigious Gemmell Morningstar Award for THE HEIR OF NIGHT, the first novel in her The Wall of Night epic fantasy series. THE GATHERING OF THE LOST, the second in the series, was described as a "a classic right up there with the likes of George RR Martin's A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE" by SF Site. Helen has twice won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Excellence in SciFi-Fantasy: for her YA novel THORNSPELL and for THE HEIR OF NIGHT.

Kristin Miller (@KM_Miller) is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes the dark and sexy Vampires of Crimson Bay series featuring a blood war between vampires and shape-shifters and the Seattle Wolf Pack series, with her latest release GONE WITH THE WOLF. In addition to paranormal romance, she also writes contemporary and  historical romance and romantic suspense.

Nicole Murphy (@nicole_r_murphy) has been a primary school teacher, bookstore owner, journalist and checkout chick. Her urban fantasy trilogy Dream of Asarlai's last book is ROGUE GADDA. As Elizabeth Dunk she writes contemporary romance. As a journalist, Nicole has won awards for her writing; she has also had more than two dozen short stories published, the most recent in BLOODSTONES, an anthology of urban fantasy. Nicole lives her love of science fiction and fantasy through her involvement with the Conflux science fiction conventions. As Elizabeth Dunk, she writes contemporary romance. She lives with her husband in Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia.

Pamela Palmer (@Pamela_Palmer) is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including the Vamp City, Feral Warriors, and The Esri series. When Pamela's initial career goal of captaining star ships failed to pan out, she turned to engineering, satisfying her desire for adventure with books and daydreams until finally succumbing to the need to create worlds of her own. Pamela lives and writes in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Jaime Rush (@Jamierush) is the New York Times bestselling author of The Hidden series about humans with the essence of gods who walk the knife’s edge between the glamour of Miami and a place filled with dark magick and dangerous beauty. She also writes the Offspring series: Dangerous outcasts with extraordinary psychic powers who must band together to fight an enemy out to destroy them. As Tina Wainscott, she has published eighteen romance novels, mostly suspense and many with a touch of paranormal.

Kerrelyn Sparks (@KerrelynSparks) is the bestselling author of the paranormal romance Love at Stake series, which has hit as high as number 5 on the New York Times list and 22 on the USA Today list. Her most recent release, is THE VAMPIRE WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. She also writes historical romances. She lives in the Greater Houston area with her husband, children, and a house full of garlic.  So far, there are no vampires in her family. Werewolves are another matter entirely.


Wasn't that a blast?! You followed all of us on Twitter, right? Now for the giveaway: a $25 Amazon Gift Card for your Spring Fling. All you have to do is leave a comment below saying whether you like to stay with tried-and-true authors or try the new-to-you authors. Last day to enter is April 1st (no fooling!). I'll notify the random winner if you leave your disguised email; otherwise, check the top of this post on April 2nd for the winner's name.