Joseph Campbell's analysis of the hero's journey has one key flaw: the idea that female characters may support the hero in his journey, but they themselves can never be the hero.
In each of my stories, whether historical fiction, horror, or suspense, I aim to rewrite the journey to reflect contemporary themes and social issues, where women and underrepresented groups can serve as powerful protagonists. My current screenplay, set in the 1890s Pacific Northwest, follows a young woman and a bounty hunter in their mission to rescue the woman’s kidnapped husband, who was “Shanghaied” and sold into maritime slavery by a vengeful profiteer.