The Hero's Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon – understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero's Journey:

· Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

· Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

· Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

The Hero's Journey is also a study of repeating patterns in successful stories and screenplays. It is compelling that screenwriters have a higher probability of producing quality work when they mirror the recurring patterns found in successful screenplays.

Master of the Two Worlds

The Master of the Two Worlds is in fact the Final Conflict between the hero and the antagonism. Here, the hero has developed sufficiently to be master of both his Old and his New World. There are a number of elements that are common in this stage of the Hero's Journey:

a) The Master of the Two Worlds may be separate or a continuation of the Crossing of the Return Threshold. If a continuation, it is likely that the hero will undergo an impossible dilemma before moving forward to tackle the antagonist. In Spiderman (2002), Peter Parker has to save the people in the falling lift or Mary Jane – he cannot do both. Once this challenge is overcome, he is free to combat the Green Goblin.

b) The hero faces the antagonist one-on-one / a hand-to-hand battle. In Star Wars (1977), Vader has to come out to face Luke.

c) The Master of the Two Worlds / Final Confrontation often takes place in a dangerous environment. It is not unusual for the battle to occur in the antagonist's lair. In Lord of War (2005), Yuri faces off Valentine in prison – somewhere where he will likely spend the rest of his days if not careful.

d) The Hero will often view the Final Confrontation from a distance and judge it. The hero will be strangely confident. Similarly, the anticipated event will (often) be welcomed by the antagonist, who will also be confident.

e) There will be intense Time Pressure to resolve the conflict. This is most apparent in the Bond franchise, where a nuclear bomb or similar is usually set to explode.

f) Multiple catharses. The hero may defeat the antagonist over a series of stages or alternatively, catharses are built up by the defeat of multiple antagonisms (the antagonist, his lieutenants and the manifestation of their dastardly deeds etc). In Spiderman (2002), the Green Goblin is defeated, he begs for mercy, enacts a deception and is only then finally destroyed. In Die Hard (1988), John McClane defeats Hans – but Karl suddenly appears from under the paramedic's blanket.

Learn more...

The detailed, complete deconstruction and the Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and FREE 17 stage sample and other story structure templates can be found at http://managing-creativity.com/

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Kal Bishop, MBA

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Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://managing-creativity.com/

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