When we follow a good story, we tend to follow the journey a character makes from beginning to end. We can’t wait to find out what happens next. It’s a page-turner; there are obstacles at every stage and crucial1 choices that characters have to make in order to overcome these obstacles. Eventually, we pick up another story. We have an appetite for stories. There are so many for us to choose from — in libraries, in bookshops, and on our screens — and each story seems new and exciting. Well, in fact, oftentimes this is not true. We are led to believe these stories are new even though a lot of them follow a simple formula. When we stop to think about it, many of these stories have more similarities than we might think.

In the 1940s, the writer and professor, Joseph Campbell, noticed that a lot of his favorite stories shared a similar structure. He decided to write about it in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Today, this story structure is popularly known as “The Hero’s Journey.” Stories that use this structure loosely follow a similar series of general events, otherwise known as plot points.

The hero is the main character in the story. He or she sets off on an adventure, or quest, to accomplish a specific goal. Below are just a few of the steps all heroes face in the “Hero’s Journey” story plot. Popular stories like The Hobbit and The Hunger Games follow this structure.

THE ORDINARY WORLD
The story usually opens with the hero’s normal life: their ordinary world. This “world” can include their home and family life, their job, their personal history, and more. The author does this to introduce their hero and explain certain things about their personality and actions.

In the ordinary world, the hero often feels uncomfortable in some way. There is something they don’t like about their normal life, something that causes them stress or discomfort. Others in the ordinary world might think the hero is odd in some way.

CALL TO ADVENTURE
According to Campbell’s formula, something will then occur that disrupts our hero’s life in the ordinary world and causes them to face a decision. It could be an event, a discovery, an added danger, or something new from