The influential story arc was first described by Joseph Cambell in his 1949 book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. The structure was popularised in the book The Writer’s Journey, which credited it for the success of Star Wars. Naturally, Hollywood sat up and took notice.
Campbell’s original structure had 17 stages - which is rarely what you’ll find on the internet. These are:
- The Call to Adventure
- Refusal of the Call
- Supernatural Aid
- The Crossing Of The First Threshold
- The Belly of the Whale
- The Road Of Trials
- The Meeting With The Goddess
- Woman As Temptress
- Atonement with the Parent
- Apotheosis
- The Ultimate Boon
- Refusal of The Return
- The Magic Flight
- Rescue From Without
- The Crossing of The Return Threshold
- Master Of Two Worlds
- Freedom To Live
We use a version of the Hero’s Journey in the Tell Your Story course. Here’s my simple summary:
With the help of a mentor, she crosses the threshold into a magical (unknown) world and contends with the forces of chaos and darkness. The experience challenges and changes her enough to pass a final ordeal and claim the treasure.
Finally, she returns to the ordinary world to share the bounty she has won.
And here’s what Campbell himself said about it:
The Hero’s Journey is fundamentally internal, a journey to depths in which dark resistances are overcome and long-forgotten powers resurrect to be made available to the transfiguration of the world; the perilous journey is not intended to conquer but to reconquer discovery, but rediscovery. The hero is a symbol of that divine and redemptive image that is hidden within each of us and that is just waiting to be found and brought back to life “.
Joseph Campbell
Note: Despite what the internet may tell you, there is no single way to think about story structure or development. Not everything is Hero’s Journey.