Hero’s Journey and Monomyth: Searching for Story Structure
[From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcoms at www.clickok.co.uk and our isolation and identification of more than 188 stages of the Hero's Journey that you need to know about...]
The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.
Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.
The Hero’s Journey:
a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.
b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.
c) Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.
and more…
The search for story structure
There is a constant search for effective story structure. The purpose being to find some formula / methodology that will enhance creative output and make the job of idea generation / writing stories easier.
Various methods have been adopted and one of the most commonly known is the simple three act structure, which is popular because it can be applied universally but has the inherent weakness of being pointless, because it doesn’t do the core job of making writing easier (it has no structural elements).
With the wide variety of stories out there – plays, TV dramas, sitcoms, screenplays etc… the task of finding such a formula seems daunting.
The concept of a universal formula is itself criticised. As is the idea of a universal process.
However, by reducing the task to one domain – say screenwriting – it becomes a little more logical to pose the question that perhaps there is a formula just for writing effective screenplays.
The way to overcome the first barrier (psychological) is not to question the validity of a formula – whether one should exist or not – but to simply accept that if there is one, then the writer should use it to maximum effect. The problems here revolve around the area of “creativity”, which is supposed to result from anything other than a process. But creativity managers know that there is far more process and structure involved in creativity and innovation than is normally given credit.
The way to overcome the second barrier (the search for an effective system) is to search by deconstructing many, if not all, the successful end-results out there, in other words, deconstructing as many successful screenplays as possible. The revelation from that endeavour results in an insight into story construction that cannot be read about.
Ultimately, we arrive at the conclusion that there is indeed one core template upon which all successful screenplays are built upon…and all the writer has to do is master it.
We call that core template the Hero’s Transformation but it is known more commonly as the Hero’s Journey.
Learn more…
The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/
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Kal Bishop, MBA
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Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.clickok.co.uk/ |
