

But with it, you can create content that’s at least 10 times better than your competition. It’s up to you to determine how you want to use the hero’s journey. It can also be a graphic novel, podcast, and just plain text. But that’s not to say every story about the hero’s journey has to be some feature-length film.

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Mythology is a great resource, and so are major film series like Lord of the Rings.Įven Die Hard follows this model. It also helps to look up some famous examples of the hero’s journey. You’ll also have to determine what brings them into the unknown, how they’d react, and how they’d become better before the end of the story. You’ll have to determine what makes life normal for your protagonist and show it in the beginning. Hitting every one of these main eight points will give you the basic outline that you need. Since we just established the outline of the hero’s journey, it’s now up to you to fill in the blanks.

But you can still use the same idea to create some high-quality, never-before-seen content. You probably don’t have to worry about an overarching journey for your company’s story. Then, the main character returns to a comfortable life with friends and celebration.įor Star Wars, a version of this journey is used in each individual film, but there’s also an overarching journey that encompasses each trilogy. That transforms them into new people - typically Jedi - which helps them accomplish seemingly impossible goals, like blowing up the Death Star. When everything seems to be too much, the main characters hit a point of no return where they can either give up or continue forward.Īgainst all odds, they choose to continue forward. The “unknown” means doing something for the first time, like leaving the character’s home or experiencing violence. Then they get pulled into a conflict reluctantly, typically because of robots, and fall into the unknown. In every trilogy, the films show their main characters with boring, everyday routines. And (presumably) Episodes VII to X focus on Rey, who has at least something to do with the Skywalkers. Episodes I to III focus on Anakin Skywalker.Įpisodes IV to VI focus on Luke Skywalker. Each Star Wars trilogy has its own protagonists.

Star Wars is the ongoing saga of the Skywalker family fighting through the tribulations of a super-advanced galaxy in chaos. Then, your hero is finally home, and they’re a better person for their journey. They then cross the threshold back into their normal lives with the knowledge that they’ve acquired. Your protagonist is then forever transformed and atones for their ignorance, naiveté, or wrongdoing in the beginning of the story. All three will work together to get through challenges and temptation, which eventually bring your hero to some kind of revelation. At some point, they encounter supernatural aid, which brings them to a “threshold guardian” - someone who brings your main character into their adventure.Īfter that, your main character will begin to transform and typically acquire a helper and mentor. Then, they have to be called to an adventure. The stories of Hercules (the myth, not the Disney film) and Luke Skywalker are both famous examples of the hero’s journey.įirst, you have a character that you establish in the early parts of the story. This structure focuses on one main character and how they fight their way to improving themselves by facing a series of trials. The hero’s journey is a story structure so old that it predates religions. If you want to get a leg up on the next revolution in content marketing, these three storytelling templates will help you start. Stories are much better at getting attention. Old methods of dry, boring writing and jargon-heavy explanations simply don’t work - especially as consumers increasingly raise their expectations for branded content. With increasing market saturation and industry competition, content marketing naturally means you’re competing for potential customers’ attention. As a marketer, you can apply those methods to your content.īonus content: A video overview of the storytelling basics It’s how film studios like Pixar know that they’ve made a hit before they even have a script.
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Professional creative writers are familiar with these methods, especially when they develop a new one. It’s a science because there are tried-and-true methods to writing compelling stories. It’s an art because it requires an incredible amount of creativity and imagination to write something in the first place. Storytelling is equal parts art and science.
