Story beats are scaffolding. Not a formula. Not a template you’re forced to follow. Just the means to build something, not the thing itself.
Think of the Hero’s Journey—that ancient pattern where someone gets called out of their ordinary world, refuses the call, meets a mentor, crosses a threshold, faces darkness, transforms, and returns changed. It’s a real pattern because it maps onto how humans actually experience growth.
Here’s the simplified version adapted for origin stories:
Hero (You Before) — Who were you at the start of this?
Ordinary World — What did life look like? What was the status quo?
Trigger — What cracked it open?
Call to Adventure — What became possible after the crack?
Refusal of the Call — What held you back? What was the fear?
The Mentor — Who or what helped you cross over? (Sometimes it’s a person. Sometimes it’s a book. Sometimes it’s just failure.)
Crossing the Threshold — What was the point of no return?
Magical World — What was it like on the other side?
Forces of Chaos and Darkness — What went wrong? What was harder than you expected?
Change/Mechanism — What actually shifted? How did you grow?
Final Fight (Proof) — What’s your strongest evidence that something real happened?
Treasure to Share — What do you know now that your audience needs?
These beats work because they match the shape of real transformation. Most origin stories hit most of these naturally—not because you’re forcing them, but because that’s how change actually happens.
The key move: fill this in before you write the first draft. Don’t write prose yet. Just answer the twelve questions. Get the skeleton in place. Then the writing becomes a conversation between you and this structure. What belongs? What’s unnecessary? Where’s the tension? Where can you cut?
Here’s what happens when you have the beats clear: you notice what’s missing. You see where the story sags. You spot the part where you explained something instead of showing it. You find the moment where you finally earned the right to make your claim.
Use what fits. If your story doesn’t have a mentor, that’s fine—skip it. If the Trigger and the Call to Adventure are the same moment, that’s fine too. The beats aren’t a checklist you have to complete. They’re a way to think about what makes a story feel like transformation rather than just a sequence of events.
The best part? Once you have the beats mapped, everything gets easier. Your Origin Story knows where to go. You’re not staring at a blank page. You’re filling in a shape you already understand. And that clarity is what separates stories that land from stories that meander.
Build the scaffolding. Then build the story.