The Hero's Journey Plotting System

It occured to me that as I write and gush about the Hero's Journey plotting system that many of you
may not know it. So here it is in full. The Journey was originally developed by mythologist Joseph Campbell, and later adapted for the novelists and the screen by Christopher Vogler in "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters."

 

 

The Hero’s Journey

1. Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where

 

2. They receive the CALL TO ADVENTURE.

 

3. They are RELUCTANT at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but

 

4. Are encouraged by a MENTOR to

 

5. CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter the Special World, where

 

6. They encounter TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES.

 

7. They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second threshold

 

8. Where they endure the ORDEAL

 

9. They take possession of their REWARD and

 

10. Are pursued ON THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World.

 

11. They cross the third threshold, experience a RESURRECTION, and are transformed by the 

 experience.

 

12. They RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure to benefit the Ordinary World. 

 

So many films, television shows, and novels use this plotting system. Both Dorothy in the Wizard of
Oz and Oscar Diggs, the eventual wizard, in Oz the Great and Powerful start of in an ordinary world
of black and white. Once the twister lifts them up, up and away to Oz, the scene springs to life in a special world of glorious technicolor. 

Both Oscar and Dorothy share a mentor in Glinda, the Good who directs them on a paved path to fight enemies in the form of winged monkeys. Both ordeals are a matter of inner courage, and both rewards are a home.