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The Hero’s Journey

written by Anne Skyvington May 23, 2015
the-hero's-journey

Many writers on literary structure and theory present a linear figure to portray the format of a short story, the narrative arc, of a memoir or a novel.

Kal Bashir, however, represents structure in screen plays and in the above mentioned genres as circular. This fits in with the idea of the monostory by Joseph Campbell (“The Hero With A Thousand Faces“) and with Jung’s idea of archetypes. Basic to these ideas is the premise that all stories, even those told by cavemen of long ago, tell of a hero going on a journey, encountering adventures and returning to the starting point, renewed and invigorated in some profound way.

Kal Bashir states on his website: “The most successful movies and bestselling novels definitely, without doubt, indisputably follow the same story arc (there is really only one way to do it) – they all take their archetypes on a journey through a New World or State in a rigid process driven manner, where transformation and capacities result in resolution of the initial imperfection (and the result is not unoriginal).”

Do you agree or disagree with the idea that every successful story fits in with this architecture?

cover-of-campbell-book

The Hero’s Journey was last modified: July 19th, 2018 by Anne Skyvington
Carl Jung and his legacy to psychology and mythologyJoseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand FacesKal Bashir's circular diagrams to represent the journey of the herothe hero's journey basic to fictional stories
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Anne Skyvington

I have been a reader/writer all of my life as far back as I can remember. Blogging has opened me up to another world, where I can share my skills and continue to create through word and picture. Writing is about seeing the world and recreating it for others to see through different eyes.

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1 comment

Anne Skyvington January 25, 2016 at 9:17 am

Thanks for your very professional post on “The Hero’s Journey”, Adelia. Do you think it applies to all stories, as many believe? It’s more obvious in plot-based stories, such as “Star Wars” and the traditional adventure stories, so beloved of many today.

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Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. Learn about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

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