Hero's Journey (Monomyth)- All Stories And Quests And The Process Of The Quest Is The Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey (also known as the Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. It is upon this structure that situations are superimposed. This is why stories such as Alien (1979), Gladiator (2000), Godfather (1972), American Beauty (1999), Annie Hall (1977) and many others (all deconstructed at www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html) appear to be different but are all constructed, almost sequence by sequence, in the same way.

The following blockbusters have all been structured around the Hero's Journey template: Titanic, 1997 - grossed over $600,000,000; Star Wars, 1977 - grossed over $460,000,000; Shrek 2, 2004 - grossed over $436,000,000; ET, 1982 - grossed over $434,000,000; Spiderman, 2002 - grossed over $432,000,000. So how come you don't know it inside out?

For a number of very valid reasons, if you want to write (and sell) successful stories, whether they're Hollywood blockbusters, Indie successes, novels or other story forms, you need to master the Hero's Journey in a very detailed way...

ALL STORIES ARE QUESTS AND THE PROCESS OF THE QUEST IS THE HERO'S JOURNEY

All stories are Quests and the process of embarking upon and completing the Quest is the Hero's Journey. This is an incredibly useful fact, as it implies effective story structure - it directs your Hero towards the tangible (Sword), which is a metaphor for the intangible (Expansion of Consciousness, New Capacities).

The term "Quest" misleadingly implies a certain type of story (Arthurian legend, Dragon's Lair, Damsel in Distress, Treasure Hunt) etc.

Replace the treasure in the dragon's lair or the damsel in the tower with that which your Hero requires and you will see that all stories are actually Quests.

In Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Olive wants to win the beauty pageant, but before she can win that battle, she must gain an capacity (the Sword).

In Thelma and Louise (1991), Thelma desperately wants to change her life. When she pulls a gun on the officer, takes his belt and glasses - that is her treasure, the embodiment of her New Self.

In American Beauty (1999), when Carolyn ecstatically fires her gun in the shooting range - that is her treasure, the embodiment of her New Self.