How to Write: The Hero’s Journey
This post is being brought to you by what I learned from reading Christopher Vogler’s book The Writer’s Journey. If you never heard of it, or haven’t read it, you really should, because it is one of the best writing books out there(in my opinion).
According to CV, books (and movies!) are broken into three parts : Act one, Act two, and Act three. In case anyone is wondering, we are still in Act one on my blog book. And in those 3 parts a reader gets to know the main character(s) normal life, what the problem is, how the character gets info from others, crisis from the stressors of the problem, overcoming the problem, and the end result. (that is a HIGHLY simplified overview!)
Some call it the hero’s journey, some call it other things.
I will probably refer back to this post sometimes to give you an idea of where we are in the story. Below is a list of the elements of this HERO’S JOURNEY according to CV.
Act One:
Ordinary World
Call to Adventure
Refusal of the Call
Act
Mentor
First Threshold
Act Two:
Tests, Allies, and Enemies
Approach to Inmost Cave
Ordeal
Reward (seizing the sword)
Act Three:
The Road Back
Resurrection
Return with the Elixirs
Remember: right now we are still in Act One, along about the Ordinary World/Call to Adventure area.
In this part, the writer shows the reader the normal ordinary world that the main character lives in and then the author takes the character away from that norm and into an adventure, or the plot of the book. In the next few posts, I will cover plots, and how to make a plot board and over the weekend, I will post up the second chapter. NEXT WEEK I NEED A TITLE!!! So y’all help me give it one.
I hope you have enjoyed this little list post about the hero’s journey.