I've noticed that a large number of the members in the comic book forum have aspirations to do creative writing either professionally or on the side. Because of this, I wanted to open a thread where we can post information related to being better character developers, arc-plotters, and over all storytellers.
The Hero's Journey
I want to start off with the concept of the Hero Cycle or The Hero's Journey. For those who want a much more solid understand of this concept, I highly recommend both The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler and the even bigger book that it was based on The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. I'd start with Vogler's simply because it is easier to understand, is modernized, and essentially gives you an overview of what to expect in Campbell's much more detailed book.
Much of the information I'm going to be posting here on this particular subject comes from Vogler's website itself (and not directly from the book). I might do minor edits, but it is best to assume it was written by Vogler. http://www.thewritersjourney.com/
Vogler also wrote a "practical guide" (7 pages) to Campbell's book that later inspired him to write the book. That can be found here: http://www.skeptictank.org/files//atheist2/hero.htm
"The Hero’s Journey" is a pattern of narrative that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. Now, the Heroes Journey is not a new concept. It has existed for a far longer time than either of the two authors above. Their contribution was in identifying, organizing, and naming the patterns that many stories seem to follow. They themselves recognize that you can mess with these patterns, or analytical tools, to construct an amazing story, but most stories and myths do follow these patterns - many times unintentionally. They just happen to be a great foundation to be able to tell your story in a more dynamic manner. Vogler, who has worked with Disney on many projects, points out that Disney utilizes these patterns to develop stories, fix plots, and establish character archetypes.
So lets get started on the actual content. To start us off we have the entire journey of the hero here on this graph. We will go point by point explaining each part of the voyage.
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As shown in the graph above, the Hero's Journey is composed of 12 parts. Those 12 parts are split into what is called the Three Act Structure. The three act structure is used most often in screen writing for movies, but is also applicable to comic book writing.
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As you can see each Act contains a series of sections in the Hero's Journey. The act simply unifies them under a theme particular to that section. The purpose of the act is to send the hero on a certain track with a specific goal or aim, and the climaxes (conclusion) of each act change the hero's direction, assigning a new goal.
side note: The second act is double the length of the other two and thus contains two climaxes - one at the midpoint of the story (the darkest, thematically, part of the story) and when the third act begins.
Now, this entire journey is populated by colorful characters. Many of them happen to fall into an archetype (or two, or more).
The Character Archetypes
Archetypes are recurring patterns of human behavior, symbolized by standard types of characters in movies and stories.
Hero
Central figures in stories. Everyone is the hero of his or her own myth.
Shadows
Villains and enemies, perhaps the enemy within. The dark side of the Force, the repressed possibilities of the hero, his or her potential for evil. Can be other kinds of repression, such as repressed grief, anger, frustration or creativity that is dangerous if it doesn’t have an outlet.
Mentor
The hero’s guide or guiding principles. Yoda, Merlin, a great coach or teacher.
Herald
One who brings the Call to Adventure. Could be a person or an event.
Threshold Guardians
The forces that stand in the way at important turning points, including jealous enemies, professional gatekeepers, or your own fears and doubts.
Shape-shifters
In stories, creatures like vampires or werewolves who change shape. In life, the shapeshifter represents change. The way other people (or our perceptions of them) keep changing. The opposite sex, the way people can be two-faced.
Tricksters
Clowns and mischief-makers, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. Our own mischievous subconscious, urging us to change.
Allies
Characters who help the hero through the change. Sidekicks, buddies, girlfriends who advise the hero through the transitions of life.
Now that we know all the players, let's get started on the journey!
Act I
Purpose: To escape the constraints of the ordinary world
1. Ordinary World
Most stories take place in a special world, a world that is new and alien to its hero. If you're going to tell a story about a fish out of his customary element, you first have to create a contrast by showing him in his mundane, ordinary world. The hero, uneasy, uncomfortable or unaware, is introduced sympathetically so the audience can identify with the situation or dilemma. The hero is shown against a background of environment, heredity, and personal history. Some kind of polarity in the hero’s life is pulling in different directions and causing stress. For example, In WITNESS you see both the Amish boy and the policeman in their ordinary worlds before they are thrust into alien worlds -- the farmboy into the city, and the city cop into the unfamiliar countryside. In STAR WARS you see Luke Skywalker bored to death as a farmboy before he takes on the universe.
2. Call to Adventure
At this point in the story, the hero must face the beginnings of change. The hero is presented with a problem, challenge, or adventure. Maybe the land is dying, as in the Arthur stories about the search for the Holy Grail. In STAR WARS again, it's Princess Leia's holographic message to Obi Wan Kenobi, who asks Luke to join in the quest. In detective stories, it's the hero accepting a new case. In romantic comedies it could be the first sight of that special -- but annoying -- someone the hero or heroine will be pursuing/sparring with the remainder of the story.
3. Refusal of the Call
Often at this point, the hero balks at the threshold of adventure. After all, he or she is facing the greatest of all fears -- fear of the unknown. Because of this, the hero tries to turn away from the adventure, however briefly. Alternately, another character may express the uncertainty and danger ahead. At this point Luke refuses Obi Wan's call to adventure, and returns to his aunt and uncle's farmhouse, only to find they have been barbqued by the Emperor's stormtroopers. Suddenly Luke is no longer reluctant, and is eager to undertake the adventure. He is motivated.
4. Meeting with the Mentor
By this time many stories will have already introduced a Merlin-like character who is the hero’s mentor. They are a seasoned traveler of the worlds, but this is the part of the story where they give the hero training, equipment, or advice that will help on the journey. In JAWS it’s the crusty Robert Shaw character who knows all about sharks; in the mythology of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, it’s Lou Grant. The mentor gives advice and sometimes magical weapons. This is Obi Wan giving Luke his father’s light saber.
The mentor can only go so far with the hero. Eventually the hero must face the unknown by himself. Sometimes the Wise Old Man/Woman is required to give the hero a swift kick in the pants to get the adventure going.
5. Crossing the Threshold
At the end of Act One, the hero commits to leaving the Ordinary World and entering a new region or condition with unfamiliar rules and values. The hero fully enters the special world of the story for the first time. This is the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure gets going. The balloon goes up, the romance begins, the spaceship blasts off, the wagon train gets rolling. Dorothy sets out on the Yellow Brick Road. The hero is now committed to his/her journey and there’s no turning back.
6. Tests, Allies, and Enemies
The hero is forced to make allies and enemies in the special world, and to pass certain tests and challenges that are part of his/her training. In STAR WARS the cantina is the setting for the forging of an important alliance with Han Solo and the start of an important enmity with Jabba the Hutt. In CASABLANCA Rick’s Café is the setting for the “alliances and enmities” phase and in many Westerns it’s the saloon where these relationships are tested.
7. Approach the Innermost Cave
The hero and newfound allies prepare for the major challenge in the Special world. The hero comes at last to a dangerous place, often deep underground, where the object of the quest is hidden. In the Arthurian stories the Chapel Perilous is the dangerous chamber where the seeker finds the Grail. In many myths the hero has to descend into hell to retrieve a loved one, or into a cave to fight a dragon and gain a treasure. It’s Theseus going to the Labyrinth to face the Minotaur. In STAR WARS it’s Luke and company being sucked into the Death Star where they will rescue Princess Leia. Sometimes it’s just the hero going into his/her own dream world to confront fears and overcome them.
8. The Ordeal
Near the middle of the story, the hero enters a central space in the Special World and confronts death or faces his or her greatest fear. Out of the moment of death comes a new life. This is the moment at which the hero touches bottom. He/she faces the possibility of death, brought to the brink in a fight with a mythical beast. For us, the audience standing outside the cave waiting for the victor to emerge, it’s a black moment. In STAR WARS, it’s the harrowing moment in the bowels of the Death Star, where Luke, Leia and company are trapped in the giant trash-masher. Luke is pulled under by the tentacled monster that lives in the sewage and is held down so long that the audience begins to wonder if he’s dead. In E.T., E. T. momentarily appears to die on the operating table. This death can be a literal moment of death or a psychological one.
This is a critical moment in any story, an ordeal in which the hero appears to die and be born again. It’s a major source of the magic of the hero myth. What happens is that the audience has been led to identify with the hero. We are encouraged to experience the brink-of-death feeling with the hero. We are temporarily depressed, and then we are revived by the hero’s return from death.
This is the magic of any well-designed amusement park thrill ride. Space Mountain or the Great Whiteknuckler make the passengers feel like they’re going to die, and there’s a great thrill that comes with surviving a moment like that. This is also the trick of rites of passage and rites of initiation into fraternities and secret societies. The initiate is forced to taste death and experience resurrection. You’re never more alive than when you think you’re going to die.
Act IIb
Purpose: To win the boon and escape the strange land
9. Reward: Seizing the Sword
Having survived death, beaten the dragon, slain the Minotaur, her hero now takes possession of the treasure he’s come seeking, won by facing death. Sometimes it’s a special weapon like a magic sword or it may be a token like the Grail or some elixir which can heal the wounded land. There may be celebration, but there is also danger of losing the treasure again.
The hero may settle a conflict with his father or with his shadowy nemesis. In RETURN OF THE JEDI, Luke is reconciled with both, as he discovers that the dying Darth Vader is his father, and not such a bad guy after all.
The hero may also be reconciled with a woman. Often she is the treasure he’s come to win or rescue, and there is often a love scene or sacred marriage at this point. Women in these stories (or men if the hero is female) tend to be shape-shifters. They appear to change in form or age, reflecting the confusing and constantly changing aspects of the opposite sex as seen from the hero’s point of view. The hero’s supreme ordeal may grant him a better understanding of women, leading to a reconciliation with the opposite sex.
10. The Road Back
About three-fourths of the way through the story, the hero is driven to complete the adventure, leaving the Special World to be sure the treasure is brought home. The hero’s not out of the woods yet. Often a chase scene signals the urgency and danger of the mission. Some of the best chase scenes come at this point, as the hero is pursued by the vengeful forces from whom he has stolen the elixir or the treasure. This is the chase as Luke and friends are escaping from the Death Star, with Princess Leia and the plans that will bring down Darth Vader.
If the hero has not yet managed to reconcile with his father or the gods, they may come raging after him at this point. This is the moonlight bicycle flight of Elliott and E. T. as they escape from “Keys” (Peter Coyote), a force representing governmental authority. By the end of the movie Keys and Elliott have been reconciled and it even looks like Keys will end up as Elliott’s step-father (in the script at least).
Act III
Purpose: To return home safely with the boon so that you can share it with the ordinary world
11. Resurrection
The hero emerges from the special world, transformed by his/her experience. There is often a replay here of the mock death-and-rebirth of Stage 8, as the hero once again faces death and survives. At the climax of the entire story, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home. He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level. By the hero’s action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved.
The Star Wars movies play with this theme constantly – all three of the films to date feature a final battle scene in which Luke is almost killed, appears to be dead for a moment, and then miraculously survives. He is transformed into a new being by his experience.
12. Return with Elixir
The hero comes back to the ordinary world bearing some element of the treasure that has the power to transform the world as the hero has been transformed. The adventure would be meaningless unless he/she brought back the elixir, treasure, or some lesson from the special world. Sometimes it’s just knowledge or experience, but unless he comes back with the elixir or some boon to mankind, he’s doomed to repeat the adventure until he does. Many comedies use this ending, as a foolish character refuses to learn his lesson and embarks on the same folly that got him in trouble in the first place.
Sometimes the boon is treasure won on the quest, or love, or just the knowledge that the special world exists and can be survived. Sometimes it’s just coming home with a good story to tell.
To summarize the journey one last time:
The hero is introduced in his ORDINARY WORLD where he receives the CALL TO ADVENTURE. He is RELUCTANT at first to CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD where he eventually encounters TESTS, ALLIES and ENEMIES. He reaches the INNERMOST CAVE where he endures the SUPREME ORDEAL. He SEIZES THE SWORD or the treasure and is pursued on the ROAD BACK to his world. He is RESURRECTED and transformed by his experience. He RETURNS to his ordinary world with a treasure, boon, or ELIXIR to benefit his world.
"As with any formula, there are pitfalls to be avoided. Following the guidelines of myth too rigidly can lead to a stiff, unnatural structure, and there is the danger of being too obvious. The hero myth is a skeleton that should be masked with the details of the individual story, and the structure should not call attention to itself. The order of the hero’s stages as given here is only one of many variations – the stages can be deleted, added to, and drastically re-shuffled without losing any of their power.
The values of the myth are what’s important. The images of the basic version – young heroes seeking magic swords from old wizards, fighting evil dragons in deep caves, etc. – are just symbols and can be changed infinitely to suit the story at hand.
The myth is easily translated to contemporary dramas, comedies, romances, or action-adventures by substituting modern equivalents for the symbolic figures and props of the hero story. The Wise Old Man may be a real shaman or wizard, but he can also be any kind of mentor or teacher, doctor or therapist, crusty but benign boss, tough but fair top sergeant, parent, grandfather, etc. Modern heroes may not be going into caves and labyrinths to fight their mythical beasts, but they do enter and innermost cave by going into space, to the bottom of the sea, into their own minds, or into the depths of a modern city.
The myth can be used to tell the simplest comic book story or the most sophisticated drama. It grows and matures as new experiments are tried within its basic framework. Changing the sex and ages of the basic characters only makes it more interesting and allows for ever more complex webs of understanding to be spun among them. The essential characters can be combined or divided into several figures to show different aspects of the same idea. The myth is infinitely flexible, capable of endless variation without sacrificing any of its magic, and it will outlive us all." - Christopher Vogler
Vogler has been accused of homogenizing adventure writing to a certain extent, because he borrows so heavily from a single template (regardless of how prevalent the template may be in writing). Even his own warnings on this haven't made him immune to criticism. Still, it's as good a place to start as any, and I'm a big fan of Campbell. He has a tendency to gloss over differences in order to focus on the similarities of stories, and some of his applications of psychology are dated at best (he frequently cites Freud and Jung), but the way he's able to draw inspiration and beauty from myths without having to interpret them literally is an amazing gift.
And it's also hard to write a comic hero story without including elements of the hero's journey, even unknowingly, so it's good to be familiar with them.
....
I generally try to come up with a fun concept for a story, then flesh out the characters and plot around it. If I start with a character, it tends to be me, so I need to create characters to fit a scenario instead of vice-versa. I haven't done much comic writing (a few concepts and outlines is all) but most of my writing has been either short stories or poetry, which can still include a heroic arc if treated properly.
I also see the Hero's Journey as something akin to the 5-paragraph essay we all learn in high school. In order to branch out and create permutations of the main structure, you must first learn to write within the structure.
Students who rebel in their writing against such structure generally have a vague sense of freedom and independence that is being stifled....without realizing that it becomes easier to break stereotypes and patterns when you are more familiar with them.
So I have fallen back on the Hero's Journey with little shame in the past, because it is a useful backbone.
I'd like to get into more detail about the character archetypes that Campbell and Vogler utilize but that will take some time to summarize their contributions into digestible chunks.
In the meantime, here is a video by Andrew Stanton (Toy Story, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, and John Carter) about the clues to a great story.
I can agree with all of this. For a beginner, I think it is best to be familiar with this process than to start off with no compass or map to guide you.
I just wrote this ten page paper for a class on the mythology of heroes, heroines and saints. I was talking about King Arthur, both in the context of what Campbell called the 'monomyth', and with regards to archetypal characters. 'Monomyth' I guess is synonymous with the 'hero's journey' - the idea being that there was this one underlying story within many/all myths, etc.
It was pretty great.
I haven't actually read any of the rest of this thread yet, because I'm about to run out and that's a lot of text, but I got really excited when I saw what it was all about.
Now I don't consider myself a writer, I consider myself an artist who by nature having barely made it through several incredibly negative collaborations without murdering someone is forced to write so that my ideas can come into fruition unmolested by the minds of the terrible writers I happen know. I'm on io9 all the time reading science and sci-fi articles and they post and occasionally some articles giving advice to writers that I personally have found helpful. Not sure how useful they will be to people consider themselves a writer by trade.
The other unfortunate thing here is that this is all sort of the creative aspect of writing, not the business of it. Comics or otherwise, most writers are statistically screwed based solely on the competition in the field, irregardless of the quality of their work.
Because even with some sound advice and a general strategy or approach, it's basically "do you have enough time to regularly devote to this for years in order to break into the industry at all?" Because not only do you have to knock on a lot of doors to get a foot in one of them, but you also need to write hundreds of stories that will never be published in order to have the mastery of your craft needed (at least for most).
And yes, irregardless is a word. "Regardless" would've been more utilitarian (and "succinct" or "simple" would've been more utilitarian for "utilitarian") but I like that it exists.
Campbell actually gets eviscerated at higher levels of academia these days - he's far more popular to a mass market anymore. But he also remains the most fascinating scholar of myth in the last century, so writing about him or reading him is always interesting.
To anyone who enjoys him, I recommend "A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living." It's a wonderful collection of wisdom and excerpts from his writings and lectures. A knowledge of his work is prerequisite to fully enjoy it, but it's also the only source I go to anymore to quote his ideas, simply because it's so well organized and condensed compared to his more well-known works.
The Hero's Journey is a good, general path; to a large extent, it's what story reader's expect. Character development is key. Ultimately, the story is about a 'person', not the journey.
__________________
Shinier than a speeding bullet.
Not once have I heard the professors of the writing department at FSU invoke the Hero's Journey in a serious way. I think it's more for genre fiction, Hollywood script writing, and occasionally analyzing films and literature on a surface level.
It's all about yearning and "the white hot center" (I don't really understand that part yet) here: the Robert Olen Butler method.
__________________
“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
Last edited by Omega Vision on Apr 13th, 2012 at 12:02 AM
It does depend on the writing style. Most screen plays follow this - it's a variation of what I was taught in my screen writing classes (though it was called the 7 tentpoles there).
Interesting to note that a lot of big time "stories" (Harry Potter & Star Wars being two prime examples) follow this model - it is more of a general guideline but I believe it can give you focus if you have no idea what you are doing.
Well those are both examples of Genre Fiction. Not to say they aren't entertaining or good stories, but when you strip away the flashy genre aspects (magic, space battles, Quiddich, etc.) any real excellence is there because there are characters with real yearnings that a reader/viewer can invest his/her emotions into.
Also I have trouble reading Harry Potter now because of all the times JK Rowling tells rather than shows in her prose.
I'm writing a fantasy novel right now, but I'm trying to avoid bathing it in flashiness to distract from any shortcomings in the real writing. Above all else I'm avoiding thinking of it in terms of a linear journey or something that can be planned out since over time I've come to see that route as artificial, safe, and soulless.
Edit: I'm not discouraging anyone from attempting this method, I'm just voicing my opinion on the shortcomings I perceive. I also disagree that a writer 'needs' to master this method before they can move on to wider horizons. I don't think it's necessary at any juncture, helpful to some yes, but not necessary.
__________________
“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
Last edited by Omega Vision on Apr 13th, 2012 at 12:17 AM
I agree that character development is an important aspect - hell, the most important aspect - of a good story. I'll be going more into the character archetypes from what I am familiar with (Jung/Campbell/Vogler). I find their descriptions to be liberating in a way, because you can play with different archetypes and combining them to make much more interesting characters.
I'm also a big fan of non-linear work - the Nolan brother's are known for that (Memento for instance) - and yet that doesn't detract from having the journey mapped out ahead of time. You can shuffle the deck as it were in the way that you present the story without losing any of the power of having a journey that resembles this. The way the journey happens chronologically and the way the journey is presented can be two different things.
All of this is simply my opinion, having been exposed to this method for writing film. I happen to like the structure, and the freedom it provides, but that may just be me.
With that said, this thread is not meant to simply be "The Hero Cycle Workshop". For example, I'd be interested in learning more about "the white hot center".
If anyone does plan on contributing to the thread, I'd just ask that you present the information in an organized matter, similar to how I did with the Hero's Journey.
Eventually, if it's not too much of a bother to Digi, I'd like to have the first page or so cleaned up to reflect all the important things added to this thread.
Opposite with me, I find constraining characters into archetypes makes it more difficult to see characters as individuals rather than classes, IE tokens rather than types.
I still see in terms of archetypes, something which I blame on my Cinema Appreciation prof who was a big fan of this method. But I try not to see in terms of archetypes.
Heh, my current writing teacher Barbara Hamby has taken Robert Olen Butler's class twice and she still doesn't understand the white hot center all too well. Keep in mind, this is a woman who won a Guggenheim in 2010.
My paltry understanding of the white hot center is something which goes against my intuitive writing form. Contrary to how I've talked, my natural way of writing is very linear, very plot based, very analytical. As Mrs. Hamby said, I have a critical mind well suited to that.
But the method they teach here, and the method I'm aspiring to learn (or at least take the best elements of it) is one of yearning, emotions, sensory experience (I'm trying to eliminate all non-essential internal monologue from my writing), and unlocking a dream state and writing unconsciously (not literally unconsciously) and unleashing your inner creativity without letting your analytical aspect intervene.
If the Hero's Journey method is like Christianity then the White Hot Center is like Daoism.
Edit: Any beginner writers are doing themselves a disservice if they don't pick up Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway.
It's an amazing book with bountiful insight and it's a great transition into Butler-esque writing.
__________________
“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
Last edited by Omega Vision on Apr 13th, 2012 at 12:43 AM
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Apr 12th, 2012 02:48 AM
I can agree with all of this. For a beginner, I think it is best to be familiar with this process than to start off with no compass or map to guide you.
