Hero's journey
Joseph Campbell's journey, in Christopher Vogler's 12 steps. A good fit for quests and fantasy.
Use it with your book's length
How it works
Joseph Campbell studied myths from around the world and wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces in 1949. He found the same journey again and again: a hero leaves home, faces trials, wins a prize and returns. Christopher Vogler, a story editor at Disney, cut it down to 12 steps for writers in The Writer's Journey.
Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings follow it closely. It works best when the hero really goes somewhere, even if the place is inside them.
Good for: Fantasy, science fiction, adventure and any story where the hero leaves home and comes back changed.
Watch out: The hero does most of it alone and wins by strength. If your hero wins by bringing people together, look at the heroine's journey.
The 12 beats, and where they fall
| Beat | Where | In 80,000 words |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary worldThe hero at home, before the adventure. | 0% | 0 |
| Call to adventureA problem or chance shows up. | 10% | 8,000 |
| Refusal of the callThe hero says no, or is afraid. | 15% | 12,000 |
| Meeting the mentorSomeone gives advice, a gift or courage. | 20% | 16,000 |
| Crossing the thresholdThe hero leaves the known world. | 25% | 20,000 |
| Tests, allies, enemiesThe hero learns the rules of the new world and who to trust. | 30% to 45% | 24,000 to 36,000 |
| ApproachGetting ready for the big danger. | 45% | 36,000 |
| OrdealThe hero faces their greatest fear and nearly fails. | 50% | 40,000 |
| RewardThe hero gets the prize, the truth or the power. | 60% | 48,000 |
| The road backThe hero heads home, but the danger follows. | 75% | 60,000 |
| ResurrectionOne last test that uses everything the hero learned. | 85% | 68,000 |
| Return with the elixirThe hero comes home changed, with something to share. | 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.
- Heroine's journeyA journey where the lead wins by building a team, not by fighting alone. After Gail Carriger's book.
- 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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