Use The Process To Pull Your Hero/ine Through

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The Hero/ine Is A Focal Point

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Series, Episodes

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First Caveman Storyteller Scenario

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Subplots / Ensemble Cast

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Limited Locations (Sitcoms, TV Shows etc)

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Tragedy, Final States Of Imperfection

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Situational Questions (Genre, Comedy etc)

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What is a [Hollywood / Blockbuster / Bestselling] Story?

A Hollywood / Blockbuster / Bestselling story is one that follows the pattern of the 2100+ stage Hero's Journey And Transformation Through A New World / State; all our examples are from Hollywood blockbusters and Academy award winners / nominees. In essence, there is an almost rigid structural process followed, which includes:

  • Movement between a number of Worlds.
  • Transformation.
  • Detachment and Attachment
  • Gaining of Capacities
  • One or more archetypes conquer a number of challenges.
  • And much more.

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Multiple Final Catharses

Stories do not simply end. There is a very distinct process of catharses distribution. Successful stories end with four, five or more catharses and each is separate and distinct from the Six Core Challenges. This process is explained in the 2100+ stage Hero's Journey And Transformation Through A New World / State

  • In Die Hard (1988), there are many catharses, including: John rescuing his wife, defeating Hans and then Karl. Argyle also has his moment.
  • In Star Wars (1977), Vader is diverted, Luke strikes the shot, the Death Star explodes, Ben's voiceover comforts etc.
  • In Knocked Up (2006), Ben becomes assertive, neutralises Debbie, makes up with Alison etc.

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Ordinary World

An aspect of the Ordinary State.

  • In Bridesmaids (2011), Annie unhappy at home and at work.
  • In War of the Worlds (2005), a selfish Ray Ferrier at work and at home.
  • In Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Axel is a cop in Detroit.

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Call To Adventure

Covers a number of functions including encouragement out of the Ordinary World.

  • In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984), Indy is sent to find the Ark.
  • In Argo (2012), Tony's meeting with CIA staff.
  • In The Wolverine (2013), the bear's death and Yukio comes to get him.

Refusal

Various types of restraint inhibit conquest of innermost fears and forward movement.

  • In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Marcus warns Indy about the dangers of the Ark.
  • In Get Carter (1971), Carter's boss warns of the northern gangs.
  • In The Incredibles (2004), Elastigirl wants Mr Incredible to knuckle down to his day-job.

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Supernatural Aids (Meeting Mentors)

Guidance and direction.

  • In Million Dollar Baby (2004), Maggie needs Frankie to start winning.
  • In The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Ben tells Luke to go see Yoda.
  • In Raging Bull (1980), Vickie lures Jake away from his wife.

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Crossing The (First) Threshold

Entering a Major New World and State.

  • In Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Lawrence arrives in Prince Feisel's world.
  • In Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), leaving Earth for space.
  • In Raging Bull (1980), Jake and Vickie become an item.

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Belly of the Whale

Covers a large range of functions including the drive into the Deeper New World and State.

  • In The King's Speech (2010), the King's death and Edward's reluctance forces Bertie towards his innermost fear.
  • In The Godfather (1972), Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey, forcing him out of New York and to Sicily.
  • In Chinatown (1974), the knife attack persuades Gittes not to give up.

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Road of Trials / Tests, Allies, Enemies

It's the purpose of the trials and the role of allies and enemies that's important.

  • In Goodfellas (1990), Karen meets the wives.
  • In Educating Rita (1983), Rita transforms into a student.
  • In Scarface (1983), Tony establishes himself as a dope dealer.

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Approach To The Inmost Cave

Forms of pull toward the innermost fear, sometimes represented by a tangible monster.

  • In Halloween (1974), we enter Myer's house.
  • In Aliens (1986), we're drawn to the nest.
  • In Priest (2011), we're drawn to the nest.

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Ordeal

Covers a large range of functions including obstacles to the Goddess / Sword.

  • In Scarface (1983), Tony's got to win Sosa over to make a deal, so he can become his own boss.
  • In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), overcoming the goblin attack to reach Rivendale.
  • In Chinatown (1974), acquring the records, which lead to insight.

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Meeting With The Goddess / Seizing The Sword

Covers a large range of functions including seizing that tangible (Sword), which represents intangibles (like hope).

  • In The Godfather (1972), Michael marries Apollonia and becomes a de facto Sicilian.
  • In A Fistful of Dynamite (1971), Juan takes out the bridge and becomes a de facto rebel.
  • In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Aragorn's sword and kissing Arwen.

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Woman As Temptress

Covers a large range of functions including encourgement towards that place where you confront your innermost fears.

  • In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), pushed to the mines of Moria.
  • In The King's Speech (2010), a weeping, incapable King.
  • In Aliens (1986), trapped in the compound.

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Atonement With The Father

Confronting guiding and limiting forces.

  • In Dances with Wolves (1990), John reveals all to Kicking Bird.
  • In Out of Africa (1985), Karen wants Denys not to keep disappearing.
  • In Casablanca (1943), Victor talks to Rick about sacrifice.

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Apotheosis

Transcending guiding and limiting forces.

  • In Casablanca (1943), Rick makes a sacrifice.
  • In The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Andy escapes Shawshank.
  • In Scarface (1983), Tony transcends Frank.

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Ultimate Boon

Rewards from the New World / State enabling Return. One manifestation is synergy.

  • In The Dirty Dozen (1967), the men work as a team.
  • In Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Axel, Taggart, Rosewood and Bogomil work as a team.
  • In Alien (1979), Parker and Lambert fall into line under Ripley's command.

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Escape With The Boon

Simplistically, fleeing with valuable in/tangibles.

  • In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indy flees with the Ark.
  • In Skyfall (2012), Bond flees with M.
  • In Anna Karenina (2012), the Count flees with Anna.

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Refusal of the Return

Simplistically, limitations to the Return.

  • In Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Jamal will never trust Salim again.
  • In The Godfather (1972), the Don has made a promise.
  • In Y Tu Mama Tambien (2100), the boys sleep together.

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Magic Flight

Simplistically, exiting the New World / State.

  • In The Hangover (2009), the boys exit Vegas.
  • In Despicable Me 2 (2013), Gru's finished his job at the mall.
  • In Man of Steel (2013), Clarke decides to side with the humans.

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Rescue from Without, Resurrection, Road Back

Simplistically, overcoming limitations to the Return.

  • In The Godfather (1972), the Don dies.
  • In Spartacus (1960), makng their way to the final battle with the Romans.
  • In Spiderman (2100), the Green Goblin kidnaps Mary Jane.

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Crossing The Return Threshold

Pulled into the final conflict.

  • In Annie Hall (1977), Alvie confronts Annie.
  • In Gladiator (2100), Commodus and Maximus battle.
  • In When Harry met Sally (2007), Harry runs to tell Sally he loves her.

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Master of the Two Worlds

Integrating the Older and Newer Worlds and Selves.

  • In The Godfather (1972), Michael integrates Kay into his Sicilian thing.
  • In Educating Rita (1983), Rita recognises Bryant's contribution to who she now is.
  • In The Hangover (2009), the boys become masters of Vegas and their LA world.

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The Value of Structure

Structure, in its many forms, increases the quantity and quality of creative output. The golden rule is that originality emerges from structure:

a) Short term goals (incremental productivity) produce more output than a "do your best" approach. With specific regard to creative writing, writing four pages a day completes a words-on-paper first draft screenplay in one month. A "do your best" or "waiting for inspiration" approach can take months or years. Witness the untold number of people with unfinished manuscripts under their beds.

b) Work processes help to i) unblock the mind, ii) tap into tacit knowledge, iii) trigger the mind into working at various cognitive levels and iv) apply i) and ii) and iii) to the areas of problem identification, idea generation, idea selection, development and commercialisation.

c) Frameworks reduce complex problems into their component intellectual parts. Frameworks increase output by reducing complex problems into smaller, more manageable problem solving exercises. A similar idea is that problems, no matter how daunting, can be solved by breaking them into their constituent parts.

d) Templates, with specific regard to creative writing, are valuable as they are step-outlines. They are ready-made analyses of story structure; by using them writers can quickly expand an idea into a story. Past a critical threshold, the story then begins to dictate its own structure: thus originality emerges from structure.

e) Simply being prolific improves performance and quality. The single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific.

f) Simply engaging in the tasks improves performance. Experience refines knowledge and methodology towards optimal levels.

g) Engagement stimulates the mind into working on problems at various cognitive levels and results in inspiration. Screenwriters often find that their best ideas come to them when they are in the middle of writing a screenplay.

h) Structure helps clearly identify complex problems and triggers incubation. Problems incubate until answers become apparent. Incubation tends to result in richer insights.

i) Engagement increases the incidence and frequency of problem identification and thus the incidence and frequency of insight.

j) Engagement (coupled with motivation) increases solution seeking, through active search for stimuli and intellectual cross-pollination through networks, bridging and collaboration.

k) Repeated engagement (coupled with motivation) triggers frame breaking; helps identify path dependencies and parochialism.

l) Radical shifts (novelty, originality) occur through sustained incremental change. By incrementally modifying output, the distance between the original and final versions increases. Radical shifts sometimes result from dramatic events or conditions but the vast number of gains accrue from continuous incremental improvement.

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Creativity and Time Pressure

There are two contrary arguments: a) time pressure stimulates creativity and b) time pressure reduces creativity. Both are true. There are a number of forces at work:

Time pressure increases creative output. By forcing idea production, setting goals and incremental deadlines, a greater number of ideas are produced than if a “do your best” approach is taken. If a leader asks participants in an idea generating session to address a problem and think of at least 5 ideas every half an hour, then 80 ideas are produced by one individual and 1600 are produced by 20 individuals at the end of an average working day. This level of output is conscious and would not be produced normally.

Time pressure encourages prolific production and therefore the probability of generating good ideas increases. It can be said with great confidence that quality of output is closely related to quantity. The best single creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific.

Forcing output pushes individuals along the experience curve, refines their methodology, builds competencies and knowledge and improves performance. Screenwriters know that they are likely to produce more, better quality work faster if they set themselves a schedule of a certain number of pages per day.

Motivation is critical to creativity. If a person is intrinsically motivated, time pressure may be a synergistic extrinsic motivator. If the person is not intrinsically motivated then it may turn out to be a non-synergistic extrinsic motivator, which reduces the level of engagement in the endeavour.

Short-term time pressure can be negative in that it does not allow the mind to engage in the endeavour at various cognitive levels. It does not allow rich ideas to formulate through the process of incubation . Intrinsically motivated individuals will benefit from short term time pressure and goals (sets cognitive forces in motion) and will generate richer ideas through incubation over the longer term.

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Improve your Creativity

Creativity Management can seriously improve the quality and quantity of your creative output. Ironically, this topic is best understood in the senior business community - businesses continually need to be creative and innovative to maintain competitive advantage and solve a host of other issues. This topic is taken seriously by Harvard, Yale, Princeton et al and studied at the highest academic levels. Critical insights will help you write better screenplays, for example:

a) The relationship between production and quality: it can be concluded with great confidence that quality of output is closely connected to sheer quantity. Moreover, the single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific.

b) Separating creative from critical thinking: writing and editing are separate and distinct processes.

c) Forcing inspiration: screenwriters will often find that their best ideas occur while they are engaged in other projects.

d) Manipulating organisational culture and organisational structure to overcome blocks.

e) Achieving radical leaps through incremental productivity.

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Correcting Misconceptions

The following addresses some of the common, flawed criticisms thrown at the Hero's Journey and story structures and creative writing etc... in general. Also see the FAQs.

Criticism 1: It's formula.
The Hero's Journey is not a formula, it is a structure that guides the process of transformation, attachment or detachment, liberation etc. It is a pattern that reveals the process of unfolding a story, something that 99.9% writers do not know how to do. It shows you how to turn an idea into a story. It shows you how to appeal to an audience, which have subconscious expectations. It is the road map that the novice writer is unconsciously trying to find. This criticism is a catch-all for any creative structure. It betrays a lack of understanding of story, creativity itself and the value of structure.

Criticism 2: It discourages originality.
The word "originality" is itself inappropriate. It implies a complete break with the past, which is never the case (it only seems so). Most of which seems original is a cumulative and incremental evolution of that which has been before. And it often only seems original to those with an untrained eye.

The Hero's Journey does not discourage originality. All the greatest stories (past and present) use it as a core pattern and those stories can hardly be described as unoriginal. Not only do Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, and Scorsese follow this pattern, but Shakespeare did too. Their stories can hardly be described as unoriginal. Every Academy Award winner / nominess has followed this pattern. Those stories can hardly be described as unoriginal.

Criticism 3: Why is one hero so special anyway?
This betrays a serious lack of understanding of the Hero's Journey.

The Hero is a focal point, representative of The Process and The Changing and many individuals or groups go through the process. For example, in The Incredibles (2004), the whole family goes through the process. In Little Miss Sunshine (2006), the whole family goes through the process. A pair is also common: Thelma and Louise (1991), When Harry met Sally (1989).

Criticism 4: The Hero is always a dude.
The Hero is not always a dude. See Heroine's Journey

Criticism 5: It's cheesy as hell.
It's not cheesy. All of the greatest stories (past and present) are based on it and these are not cheesy. It's only cheesy if you tell the story wrong and this is often the result of a lack of understanding of the Hero's Journey.

Criticism 6: A lot of myths are shoehorned into the Hero's Journey.
So what? The myths are all examples to illustrate certain points, metaphors, symbolisms etc. Even with all these examples most people don't really understand the Hero's Journey. In the 2100+ stage Hero's Journey And Transformation Through A New World / State, we use hundreds of examples from modern film and we are constantly being asked for more.

Criticism 7: It confuses personal growth with solving problems.
This criticism is itself a confusion. Smaller problems may not require personal growth. Some larger problems do require it. Personal growth is a transformation and the Hero's Journey is the process of transformation, hence you can link the Hero's Journey to personal growth.

Criticism 8: The Hero's Journey is a Hollywood construct.
It is not a Hollywood construct and applies to all the greatest stories past and present. If you analyse successful stories before the age of cinema, as we have done, you will find that they all follow the Hero's Journey pattern intricately. Shakespeare used this pattern. The stories in the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Vedas and the other great religious texts use this template. It's not about a construct, it roots to physical and psychological laws.

In conclusion, none of the criticisms we have ever come across are valid and demonstrate a frightening lack of understanding. Almost without exception, criticisms are made by individuals with a very poor understanding of screenwriting, storytelling, transformation, the Hero's Journey, creativity and creative writing.

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by Kal Bashir