The Hero's Inner Journey

Chris Vogler felt that there was more to a hero’s story than just the adventure and acquisition of his prize. Sometimes the hero is conflicted between what he wants from the world around him, i.e., the prize, and what he needs from within himself. Vogler described the resolution of this conflict as the Hero’s Inner Journey.

 

THE HERO’S INNER JOURNEY

1. Limited awareness of problem — The Hero begins to realize he has an emotional problem.

2. Increased awareness of need for change — Circumstances force the Hero to recognize his need to change.
3. Fear; Resistance to Change — At first, the Hero denies this awareness.
4. Overcoming Fear — His need overrides his fear.
5. Committing to Change — He makes a fateful decision.
6. Experimenting with New Conditions — An internal period of trial and error.
7. Preparing for major change — This is part of the Plan.
8. Big change with feeling of life and death — This is the Climax.
9. Accepting consequences of new life — Almost all conflict is resolved.
10. New challenge and re-dedication — Becoming accustomed to a new way of life.
11. Final attempts - last minute danger — Dealing with final conflict.
12. Mastery

The following graphic shows how Vogler’s Inner and Outer journeys are intertwined with the standard format of the three-act play.

This is the last character development exercise I use in my Scrivener template. However, I recommend doing whatever brainstorming necessary to truly understand your main characters before writing your novel.

For example, in my current work-in-progress, I’ve decided to develop a teenage detective who is neuro-atypical as a result of a traumatic brain injury incurred during a car accident. In order to better understand the character, I wrote a 22,000 word prequel where I explained the accident, her resulting injuries, how she recovered enough to return to daily life and how she dealt with the five stages of grief. My point is that you should do whatever works to become intimately familiar with your characters.

In my next blog post I’ll take a look at settings and how to develop them.

All of the brainstorming exercises described in this blog series can be found in my Scrivener template on Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGNFy181nZiM0J5TGI3WXJyUkE/.

For non-scrivener users, Personal Noveling Assistant (PNA) pages are at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzGNFy181nZiczA2aGJrTnN1X2c/.

For more about my stories, check out my author page at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.

The Structure of the Monomyth

Joseph Campbell based his work on Greek hero stories like the Illiad. Christopher Vogler designed his process for writing Disney stories. By combining both approaches and fitting them into a standard three-act play structure, a comprehensive approach emerges.

 

ACT I: Departure

1. Ordinary World Start the story with a view of everyday life before the adventure.

2. Call to Adventure This is the hook.

3. Refusal of the Call Hero should resist change at first.

4. Supernatural Aid/Meeting the Mentor Hero stories always have someone who shows the way. Could be the character that represents purity/balance. This is where the hero receives knowledge, confidence and special weapons needed to win.

5. Crossing the Threshold to the Special World This is the Trigger/start of the Adventure.

6. The Belly of the Whale Exploring the new world.

ACT II: Initiation

7. The Road of Trials Crisis

8. The Meeting with the Higher Power The hero must interact with the purity/balance character.

9. Temptation This is the Struggle.

10. Atonement Epiphany

11. Ordeal, Death & Rebirth This is the development of the Plan to beat the enemy (acting on the Epiphany)

12. Reward/Seizing the Sword This is the Climax.

ACT III: Return

13. Refusal of the Return The hero resists all change, even going home.

14. The Magic Flight Something drives the hero to return home.

15. Rescue from Without A final assist from the mentor proves to the hero that the mentor is no longer needed.

16. Resurrection The hero has changed as a result of his adventure.

17. Crossing the Return Threshold The hero is hailed by his family/friends.

18. Master of Two Worlds The hero has changed as a result of his adventure but is still a part of his original world.

19. Freedom to Live Happy ending.

 

Vogler goes on to describe the hero’s inner or emotional journey, which he calls the Character Arc. He maintains that even though there is something the character wants from his adventure, there may be some cathartic experience that he actually needs to become a true hero. In my next blog post I’ll take a look at Vogler’s Character Arc.

All of the brainstorming exercises described in this blog series can be found in my Scrivener template on Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGNFy181nZiM0J5TGI3WXJyUkE/.

For non-scrivener users, Personal Noveling Assistant (PNA) pages are at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzGNFy181nZiczA2aGJrTnN1X2c/.

For more about my stories, check out my author page at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.

Vogler's Hero

While working as a story consultant for Disney in the mid-eighties, Christopher Vogler wrote a seven-page memo intended to help screenwriters develop heroes for Disney movies. He based his analysis on Joseph Campbell’s work and titled the memo “A Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces.” Later he turned this effort into a book, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers (ISBN 978-1-932907-36-0), which is widely regarded as a must-have reference for all fiction writers. He currently works as a Hollywood development executive as the President of the company, Storytech Literary Consulting, and teaches his techniques all over the world in leading Masterclasses.

Found at http://dramatica.com/articles/how-and-why-dramatica-is-different-from-six-other-story-paradigms

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers assumes that most successful stories are comprised of a series of common narratives and character archetypes.

In Vogler’s Hero's journey, the stages are as follows:

1. Ordinary World - Vogler starts story with a view of everyday life before the adventure.
2. Call to Adventure - This is the hook.
3. Refusal of the Call - The hero should resist change at first.
4. Meeting with the Mentor- Hero stories always have someone who shows the way. This is where the hero gets the knowledge, confidence and special weapons needed to win.
5. Crossing the Threshold into the Special World - This is the Trigger/start of the Adventure where the hero overcomes his reluctance.
6. Tests, Allies and Enemies - Crisis and Struggle
7. Approach to the Innermost Cave - This is Vogler’s Epiphany.
8. The Ordeal with Death and Rebirth - This is Vogler’s Plan and the Climax.
9. Reward - The hero achieves a reward for surviving death.
10. The Road Back - This is Vogler’s ending, everything that happens after the climax.
11. The Resurrection - The hero has changed as a result of his adventure.
12. Return with the Elixir - Happy ending.

In my next post I’ll put the two approaches together for a comprehensive approach to developing the character arc of a hero.

All of the brainstorming exercises described in this blog series can be found in my Scrivener template on Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGNFy181nZiM0J5TGI3WXJyUkE/.

For non-scrivener users, Personal Noveling Assistant (PNA) pages are at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzGNFy181nZiczA2aGJrTnN1X2c/.

For more about my stories, check out my author page at http://www.amazon.com/author/lauraewrites/.

 

Campbell's Monomyth continued

Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey goes something like this:

 

ACT I: Departure

1. Call to Adventure
This is the hook. Your main character experiences an event that forces her to make a change in her daily life. For example, Harry Potter receives a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 
2. Refusal of the Call
The hero should resist the change at first. Who can resist when Harry Potter says, “I’m not a wizard. I’m just Harry.”
3. Meeting the Mentor
Hero stories always have someone who shows the way. It could be the character that represents purity or balance. Harry Potter meets Dumbledore through Hagrid’s eyes.
4. Crossing the Threshold to the Special World
This is the Trigger or start of the Adventure. This is also the point where the hero leaves the ordinary world and travels somewhere never seen before. Harry Potter first experiences magic when they travel to the Leaky Cauldron Pub and Diagon Alley.
5. The Belly of the Whale
The hero explores her new world. Harry first enters Hogwarts.

ACT II: Initiation

6. The Road of Trials
The hero experiences crisis and struggle. For Harry, both Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape have it out for him. The mountain troll Harry and his friends face on Halloween is the perfect example of a hero’s challenge.
7. The Meeting with the Goddess
Campbell thinks the hero must interact with the purity/balance character. For Harry, this event occurs when he has a conversation with Dumbledore about not visiting the Mirror of Erised.
8. Woman as Temptress
Unfortunately, Campbell saw all women as villains (or maybe it was the ancient Greeks who felt this way). I interpret this part of the journey as increased conflict and suspense through a a greater crisis and struggle. In Harry’s case it would be his first face-to-face encounter with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forrest..
9. Atonement with the Father
This is Campbell’s Epiphany, or the point at which the hero realizes she must be the one to save the day. Firenze, the centaur, helps Harry understand Voldemort’s plan to be restored with the Sorcerer’s Stone.
10. Apotheosis This is where the hero develops a plan to win the final battle (acting on the Epiphany). Harry and friends decide to get past Fluffy, the three-headed dog, and retrieve the stone before Voldemort can find it.
11. Reward, Seizing the Sword This is the Climax. Harry faces Voldemort, beats him and takes the stone.

ACT III: Return

12. Refusal of the Return
Campbell thinks the hero resists all change, even going home. In Harry’s case, he’d rather stay at Hogwart’s year round.
13. The Magic Flight
Something drives the hero to return home. From Harry’s perspective, he’s forced to return to the Dursley’s because Dumbledore insists. We find out later that the protection spell his mother cast only works as long as he spends part of the year living with a blood relative, that is, his Aunt Petunia.
14. Rescue from Without
A final assist from the mentor proves to the hero that the mentor is no longer needed. In the movie, Hagrid reminds Harry that the Dursley’s aren’t aware that he is forbidden to use magic at home, which gives him some leverage over his bullying cousin, Dudley.
15. Crossing the Return Threshold
The hero is hailed by his family and friends. Harry says goodbye to Ron, Hermione and Hagrid.
16. Master of Two Worlds
The hero has changed as a result of her adventure but is still a part of her original world. Harry has more confidence now that he has seen his own potential.
17. Return with Elixir 
This is the happy ending. Harry knows he’ll be back in the magical world in two months.

Joseph Campbell believed that this process of success and self-discovery was cyclical throughout a hero’s life. In Harry Potter’s case, he goes through the cycle six more times before completely destroying Voldemort.

Christopher Vogler has a more modern take on the Hero’s Journey. I’ll review his theory in my next blog post. I hope this gives you an idea of how to develop your own hero or heroine.

Don’t forget to check out my trilogy, The Queen of the Night series at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=series_rw_dp_labf?_encoding=UTF8&field-collection=The%20Queen%20of%20the%20Night%20Series&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text/.

The Hero's Journey

In 1949, American comparative mythology scholar, Joseph Campbell, published The Hero With a Thousand Faces. In it he introduced the concept of the monomyth. He observed that throughout classical literature, especially ancient Greek mythology, a pattern existed in the development of the main characters. He called it the Hero’s Journey. Even if your main character is not a classical hero, you may benefit from working through this character development exercise. If nothing else, it will help you develop a story arc for your character. In the best case, it may form the basis for your plot outline.

It goes something like this:

ACT I: Departure

1. Call to Adventure

2. Refusal of the Call

3. Meeting the Mentor

4. Crossing the Threshold to the Special World

5. The Belly of the Whale

ACT 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. Reward, Seizing the Sword

ACT III: Return

12. Refusal of the Return

13. The Magic Flight

14. Rescue from Without

15. Crossing the Return Threshold

16. Master of Two Worlds

17. Return with Elixir

In my next blog post I’ll dissect each step in Campbell’s monomyth. Using this outline to develop your characters is a good way to really get to know them better. I believe that the antagonist of a story is often someone who took the hero’s journey but didn’t finish it successfully. Try brainstorming this outline with your major villain to see where he failed.

 

Keep writing, remember, Nanowrimo is just three months away!

Don’t forget to check out my trilogy, The Queen of the Night series at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=series_rw_dp_labf?_encoding=UTF8&field-collection=The%20Queen%20of%20the%20Night%20Series&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text/.