Heroic Journey: Hollywood Story Creation Template

The story has a structure, and we have heard and seen all kinds of mythical stories from childhood, and their structures are very similar.

Heroic Journey Inventors of , is a Joseph Campbell He is a mythologist who has studied many human myths and finally found that the heroes in these myths have similar paths to "becoming gods"

So he summed it up and wrote a book called Heroes with a Thousand Faces 。 However, this book is difficult to read, and it is not recommended for you to read it. Of course, if you are interested, you can also study it

The theory of "heroic journey" was developed by One journey, two worlds, three acts, twelve parts Composition.

One trip: Find yourself and live your journey.

Two Worlds: Ordinary world and extraordinary world.

Three act play: Depart, be taught secrets, return.

Now, I'll just take him Steps of Heroic Journey Let me summarize for you

Act I Depart

1. Ordinary world
2. Call to Adventure
3. A refusal to take risks
4. Meet the wise, see the teacher
5. Crossing the first limit

The second act was taught the secret

1. Test, partner, enemy
2. A cave close to the deep
3. A severe test
4. Be rewarded

Act Three Return

1. The way back
2. resurrection
3. Return with a panacea

Through this book, many writers began to realize the importance of narrative theory, and consciously applied these theories in writing practice. Especially in Hollywood In the film industry, both writers and directors regard the "heroic journey" as a good guiding tool to deal with narrative.

What's so powerful about this heroic journey?

The directors and writers of Hollywood blockbusters have all applied this model! At the beginning, George Lucas took this model of heroic journey to shoot Star Wars, which was a great success.

Later writers and directors found that this framework was too powerful, so they almost all followed this step, so there were American blockbusters that sold at the box office almost every time.

The general story is like this

An ordinary person, living an ordinary life, is inexplicably confronted with the call of adventure, but he refused at the beginning, thinking that my good life is just good, why go. But fate doesn't allow it, he may encounter some problems, or someone around him has a situation, so he has to leave his original life, and then

He will meet a wise man or a teacher and give him some inspiration. He will go on his way, start to explore, and complete a small challenge. At this time, there will be new allies, and at the same time, larger enemies will appear. He will face greater danger, more severe challenges

Until he won the victory and won the magic weapon (reward), all kinds of abilities were improved. At this time, you thought it was over, but he died when the king returned. At last, there is another climax to revive the hero, become a hero and return with full load.

Think back to the Hollywood movies you've seen, can't you escape this way

Now you see, this is the most suitable for human beings "Aesthetic" , an attractive story framework. If you write this way, you can also make your story fascinating. Of course, you don't need to write so much when you write a copy.

You can refine 7 elements from these 12 steps:

Heroes, enemies (pain points), pig teammates (shortcomings of peers), conflict (a fuse event), cultivation (efforts paid), failure (twists), victory (hot sale)

The 7 elements here can be deployed according to the above 12 steps. Moreover, not all of the seven elements need to be written every time. According to your story materials, it is enough to highlight the key points.

When you write more, you will find that the combination of 7 elements and 12 steps can be easily mastered. How to write can be fascinating. Remember to use them more!

In fact, this structure is widely used in martial arts novels

01. Heroes appear in a Normal world In, where, → In balabala, a quiet mountain village

02. He received Adventure Call 。 → One day, a group of villains came, burning, killing and looting. The hero survived, carrying a bloody revenge, and will embark on the road of revenge.

03. He started the meeting Hesitate or refuse or reject This call, but → My talent is dull and my martial arts have not improved, so I began to abandon myself.

04. He will meet tutor , the tutor will motivate him, thus → Meet an expert from outside the world and teach him unique skills of Wulin

05、 Crossing the first boundary , enter the very world, there. → Your skill has risen greatly. You can leave the school and go down the mountain.

06. Encountered Test, partner and enemy 。 → On the way to find the enemy, he fought and upgraded all the way. He also met his beloved woman and accompanied him to continue to find the enemy. The hero has become a little famous in the Jianghu.

07. He fell to the bottom, Near the deepest cave , crossing the second boundary. → The enemy who killed his father is actually the father of his beloved. The lover defends his father. Where should the hero go?

08. Passed suffering 。 → Suffering, drinking too much, not knowing what to do, feeling cheated and deeply hurt.

09. He obtained remuneration (treasure, antidote, method, etc.) and → Finally, after knowing the truth, his lover chose love and justice, stood with him, and jointly killed Big Boss.

10. In the normal world The way back Was chased by the villains. → The remnants of Big Boss began to hunt down our hero.

11. He crossed the third border and experienced Rebirth And changed by experience. → After another bloody battle, the remnant party was defeated, but our heroes were not killed.

12. He's carrying a treasure or Return with a panacea (It can be in kind or love, freedom, confidence, etc.) to benefit the normal world. → Because, he found that, when is the time for retribution? To create a harmonious society, we must have great love

This routine must be familiar to everyone.