The Hero's Journey is a form of storytelling that follows a main character on a journey that changes them emotionally. This myth pattern has been studied for years and goes back the original written and verbally told stories of humans. Joseph Campbell brought it to popular culture with the book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Christopher Vogler breaks it down even further specifically for writers in the book, The Writer's Journey. 

Students will learn the steps of the Hero's Journey and the character archetypes that populate this story structure, and they will create their own "hero" and plot a story idea following this map in the class. 

There are NO live meetings for this course. There will be a weekly post in the classroom each week which will include: video lessons for that week's subject, discussion questions, and resources for the learner's story. Learners may log in and watch the lessons at their own convenience during the week. 

Week 1 - We will go over various character archetypes from The Hero's Journey for protagonists, antagonists, and secondary characters. We'll go over the types of details to think about when creating characters. A character info sheet will be provided to the students for them to build their characters with details such as name, age, birth, sex, race, parents, siblings, childhood, careers, where they lived, highs and lows in life, skills, needs, and more. Students can share characters from their favorite books or movies that they feel are those character archetypes. 
Spoiler Note: Character arcs will be discussed for some example characters from films and books which could spoil the ending or twists of them: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, A League of Their Own, Harry Potter series, Star Wars IV-VI, The DaVinci Code, and Avengers: Infinity War.

Week 2 - We will cover the basics of the Hero's Journey and the steps 1) The Ordinary World, 2) Call to Adventure, and 3) Refusal of the Call. This is the beginning (or Act 1) of the story, we'll talk about ways to introduce your hero, ways to introduce the ordinary world, how does your hero get called to go on the adventure, and why might they choose to stay where they are instead of embarking on the adventure. Students are welcome to share a favorite book or movie and what scenes they think hit these three steps of the Hero's Journey. 
Spoiler Note: We will for the next five weeks go over key plot points of the following films (and spoil): Moana, The Wizard of Oz, The Matrix, and Star Wars. 

Week 3 - We will cover the steps 4) Meeting with the Mentor, 5) Crossing the First Threshold, and 6) Tests, Allies, Enemies. This is the end of the beginning (Act 1) and the start of the middle (Act 2), we'll talk about ways to introduce the mentor character to your hero and how the mentor will affect the rest of the story, what the hero does to decide to go on the adventure, and now the hero is in the thick of things and will meet allies and enemies on their journey. Students are welcome to share a favorite book or movie and what scenes they think hit these three steps of the Hero's Journey. 

Week 4 - We will cover the steps 7) Approach to the Inmost Cave, 8) The Ordeal, and 9) Reward. This is the heart of the middle (Act 2) and possibly near the end (Act 3), we'll talk about ways to keep the challenges coming and keep the hero moving forward, throwing even more difficult challenges at the hero that they might not survive, and what do they do when they triumph. Students are welcome to share a favorite book or movie and what scenes they think hit these three steps of the Hero's Journey. 

Week 5 - We will cover the steps 10) The Road Back, 11) The Resurrection, and 12) Return with the Elixir. This is your ending (Act 3), we'll talk about whether the hero goes back to their normal world or can't, your hero will face the final and most difficult challenge of the journey, and now they have triumphed and what does your character do at The End. Students are welcome to share a favorite book or movie and what scenes they think hit these three steps of the Hero's Journey. 

Week 6 - We will go over any questions that students have about the Hero's Journey now that they know all the steps. Students will share the stories they have plotted out on the Hero's Journey beat sheet and the two characters they have created, and receive feedback from the instructor and other students.