Heroine's journey
A journey where the lead wins by building a team, not by fighting alone. After Gail Carriger's book.
Use it with your book's length
How it works
Gail Carriger's The Heroine's Journey (2020) looks at old myths such as Isis, Demeter and Inanna. In those stories the lead loses the people she loves and goes looking for them. She wins by asking for help, making friends and striking deals, not by beating an enemy alone.
The name doesn't mean the lead has to be a woman. Harry Potter follows this shape: he wins because of his friends. The hero's journey ends with the hero changed. This one ends with the group whole again and stronger.
Good for: Romance, cozy mystery, found family, women's fiction and any lead who wins with help.
Watch out: A lead who only waits for help is no fun. She drives the story by reaching out and choosing who to trust.
The 10 beats, and where they fall
| Beat | Where | In 80,000 words |
|---|---|---|
| Her peopleThe lead with her family or friends, and what they mean to her. | 0% | 0 |
| Torn apartSomeone is lost, taken or sent away. Her world breaks. | 10% | 8,000 |
| Setting outShe goes after them, out of her depth, maybe in disguise. | 15% to 20% | 12,000 to 16,000 |
| Asking for helpShe makes friends and allies. Her strength is the people she gathers. | 20% to 45% | 16,000 to 36,000 |
| Into the darkShe goes into the danger and finds what was lost, or the truth about it. | 50% | 40,000 |
| AloneA betrayal or a split cuts her off from her team. | 55% to 75% | 44,000 to 60,000 |
| Lowest pointShe has no one, and she can't win this on her own. | 75% | 60,000 |
| The team returnsHer friends come back, or she reaches out again. | 80% | 64,000 |
| Making a dealShe wins by bargaining, trading or bringing sides together. | 85% to 95% | 68,000 to 76,000 |
| Together againHer people are whole again, with new ones added. | 95% to 100% | 76,000 to 80,000 |
The places are rough guides, not rules. Plenty of good books move a beat by a chapter or two. Put in your own word count and chapters to see your book's numbers.
Other story shapes
- Three acts beat sheetThe classic shape. Act 1 sets things up, act 2 is the long middle, act 3 is the end.
- Four acts beat sheetThree acts with the long middle cut in two at the midpoint.
- Five acts beat sheetRising action to a turning point in the middle, then the fall to the end. The shape of Shakespeare's plays.
- Save the Cat beat sheetBlake Snyder's screenwriting beats, as Jessica Brody laid them out for novels.
- Hero's journeyJoseph Campbell's journey, in Christopher Vogler's 12 steps. A good fit for quests and fantasy.
- Story CircleDan Harmon's eight steps around a circle: you, need, go, search, find, take, return, change.
- Seven-point story beat sheetDan Wells's plan: decide the ending first, then build back to the start.
- 27-chapter methodThree acts, each cut into three blocks of three chapters. Fill in 27 chapters and you have a plan.
- Fichtean curveStart in trouble and never let up. One crisis after another, climbing to the climax.
- KishōtenketsuA four-part shape from China and Japan with no fight at its center: introduce, develop, twist, bring together.
- Romance beat sheetThe usual shape of a love story, in four parts: meet, fall, pull apart, come back together.
- Mystery beat sheetThe usual shape of a whodunit: crime, clues, a wrong answer, then the truth.
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