Where Do We Go From Here? The Hero's Journey, Part 2

When last we saw our hero, she was sitting grumpily around, waiting for us to get her on her journey. I don't know about you, but Cranky Rah's pretty sure we ought to hop to it. I mean, look at her:

The good thing is, our hero is kind of where she needs to be in the first place: at home or otherwise in a place she's always been.

If we're using the vocabulary of a journey (and we are because we're talking about the Hero's Journey), then the action of our story is about where our characters are going, what they do on their way and what they've gotten (or how they've changed) by the time they get there. We also call that plot.

Cranky Rah would like to repeat (because she can be tiresome that way) that our story doesn't have to be an actual journey. But even actual journeys include a metaphorical journey that leads to the hero learning and changing. The Wizard of Oz isn't, in the end, about Dorothy meeting some groovy friends, hanging out with a wizard and getting back home. It's about Dorothy learning a bigger truth: There's no place like home—even when it looks like Kansas.

All journeys start somewhere, usually at home. In the lexicon of the Hero's Journey, we call this the Ordinary World.

The Ordinary World

This is the hero's life at the beginning of the story. It shows readers who the hero is so they can appreciate how she changes. A lot of times, this part of the story gives us a hint that something's not right, that something's about to change.

What's the (Plot) Point?
This is your basic set-up. Show the hero interacting with her life. Is she satisfied or dissatisfied? What's important to her? 

In Cranky Rah's story, we might see her feeling a little itchy, a little uneasy, gazing longingly out of her cave and madly Googling airfare prices. That's just her at home, though. No one really wants to hang out there long, watching that. (And Cranky Rah certainly doesn't want the surveillance.)

So we have to get her the heck out of her cave. She has to experience The Call to Adventure.

The Call to Adventure

This is the action that thrusts the hero into her journey. There's a problem or mystery to be solved, a life to save, a wrong to right, a society to change. Whatever the action, it's upsetting. It's going to rock the hero's world and make her do something she doesn't want to do.

The Call to Adventure can be instigated by a lot of things: a death or injury; a kidnapping (either of someone the hero cares for or the hero herself); a need for revenge; a prophecy; a mysterious message; a move; a breakup—anything that forces the hero to act.

You know this bird, right?
You know where she's about to put her
head, if she can find some sand.

A lot of the time, the hero isn't all that into the idea of jumping in and saving the world (saving the world not exactly being a safe occupation). She might try to duck the Call and see if she can get away with just staying home, but that always leads to something bad—something that forces her to put her foot on that literal or figurative road.

What's the (Plot) Point?A lot of great scenes come out of the Call to Adventure. Show the event that makes the hero leave the Ordinary World. There's a lot of action here, and we learn how the hero behaves under pressure. 

Show the hero refusing to go, and then show us the bad thing that happens as a result. Fate is not going to leave that slacker hero alone. It wants her to get out there and get busy. Otherwise, we don't really have a story.

And Now What?

Now that she's been forced out of her comfort zone (The sun! The sun! It's so bright!), what happens to your hero? This is the meat of the journey, all those plot points that keep the story moving. Is this where you start ripping your hair out or gnashing your teeth because you can't figure out how to flesh out the plot? Don't. Your hair's already groovy, and your parents have spent a lot of money on those teeth. In our next and final post about the Hero's Journey, we'll talk about how to drive your hero forward.

Sheep? Heroes? It's all the same to Jack.