The hero’s journey is a storytelling framework which draws your character out of their ordinary world. It puts them in emotional or physical peril. It makes your protagonist uncomfortable; they are inspired to move towards change. There are three essential stages to the hero’s journey model:

• The hero leaves the familiar world behind.
• The hero learns to navigate the unfamiliar world.
• The hero returns to the familiar world.

The hero’s journey can be applied in different many types of works, so understanding the genre is helpful.

It is:

• Flexible – use the hero’s journey in whatever way you wish. I applied it to the biography I had been researching – my Grandfather’s life and times
• Accessible – research the hero’s journey online or access a step-by-step course. I did “The Hero’s Two Journeys” on Udemy – it was run by the Chris Vogler mentioned below.  Cost me about $14. Best thing I ever did.
• Motivational – I was desperately looking for a constructive and useful way forward, as the alternative to (NO!! unthinkable!!) tossing it all in. 
• For me, this Hero’s Journey stuff is so logical, it hurts.

Of course, like you (probably) I had read the old fairy stories, tales of the Greek Gods and Heroes.  I always instinctively felt there must be more to story-telling/story-writing, but of course never gave it much thought at the time. 

Click on the link below.  Watch it through to the end.  It could be the best 20 minutes you’ve spent on your book for quite a while.

Christopher Vogler and The Hero’s Journey… The Outline, Archetypes and Mythical Memo

Some of the things I have learned so far in applying the twelve stages of the Hero’s Journey are –

1. Success in using the Hero’s Journey template (as I call it) depends largely on you, but if will give you a different way of thinking about your WIP book. It helped me to ditch a lot of material that I came to recognise as “padding.”
2. The template of 12 stages is not meant to be slavishly applied.  Amazingly, although no two stories are exactly the same, the template serves very well in analysing, and writing, stories.  Hence the description “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”. 
3. If your story is very simple – at the overall level, you will be able to make some or most (but probably not all) the stages fit quite well. If your story is more complex (and/or you have a lot of details/facts on it) you may have to divide it up into “life stages” and then apply the Hero’s Journey stages (some or all) to each “life stage”.  The aim must still be simplification – achieving this can be a problem, as I well know, from experience
4. Use a friend – From my experience, I think it is VITAL to, as you go along, run past your story structure. This will save time.  For me at 77 years of age, this is my biggest regrets: (Deliberate) isolation has been one of my problems.  I thought I knew best.  I didn’t, and I don’t.  If you can, join a “writer’s group”.  Even better, if you have the necessary nous, start one.

Use your time to best advantage.

• Lastly,  give it everything!!!  You can do.  You will do it. 

TELL YOUR STORY BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE ….

Adrian Kermode