image credit: https://vimeo.com/50564686
If you’re a writer today and you’re NOT familiar with the Hero’s Journey, then I’m in absolute shock!
Knowing the Hero’s Journey is akin to knowing the Three Act Structure in my book.
You absolutely MUST educate yourself on the Hero’s Journey if you haven’t already!
Crafting your stories using the Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell (or alternatively by Christopher Vogler).
Personally I’m a fan of Joseph Campbell’s work “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” in which he describes the 17 phases of the Hero’s Journey (see below) because the phases are a lot more nebulous and arrangeable, but Vogler’s iteration of the same ideas is more manageable but more strict I feel in their use and layout.
Confused on exactly what your hero should be doing along the Hero’s Journey? Read this: Hero Tropes Checklist!
- Differences between Campbell’s version and Vogler’s version
| Act | Campbell (1949) | Christopher Vogler (2007) | ||
| I. Departure | 1. The Call to Adventure 2. Refusal of the Call 3. Supernatural Aid 4. Crossing the Threshold 5. Belly of the Whale |
1. The Ordinary World 2. The Call to Adventure 3. Refusal of the Call 4. Meeting with the Mentor 5. Crossing the Threshold to the Special World |
||
| II. Initiation | 6. The Road of Trials 7. The Meeting with the Goddess 8. Woman as Temptress 9. Atonement with the Father 10. Apotheosis 11. The Ultimate Boon |
6. Tests, Allies and Enemies 7. Approach to the Innermost Cave 8. The Ordeal 9. Reward |
||
| III. Return | 12. Refusal of the Return 13. The Magic Flight 14. Rescue from Without 15. The Crossing of the Return Threshold 16. Master of Two Worlds 17. Freedom to Live |
10. The Road Back 11. The Resurrection 12. Return with the Elixir |
