I promise I’ll finish up my #RWA13 report but until then, here’s a takeaway that was stunning.  I took Michael Hauge’s Identity to Essence workshop and am diligently working to incorporate the ideas into my writing.  Here’s the basic plot premise in picture form:

The inner journey (or character arc) that occurs concurrent with the outer journey (or the characters main story goal) is tracked by having the character start with an identity–the face that they project to the world.  This identity is gradually stripped to show the character’s essence–their true self, which they must then live within courageously.  This is a simple and awesome idea.