The Writer's Journey

by Christopher Vogler

Learning Social performing arts screenplays screenwriting

Published in:: 2020
Rating:: 4.8

The journey of many Heroes is the story of that separation from the family or tribe, equivalent to a child’s sense of separation from the mother.

-- Christopher Vogler

Stories invite us to invest part of our personal identity in the Hero for the duration of the experience. In a sense we become the Hero for a while.

-- Christopher Vogler

The simple secret of the Ordeal is this: Heroes must die so that they can be reborn.

-- Christopher Vogler

Mortification and Purification emptied the body and mind... while giving a taste of death, and Invigoration and Jubilation... re-invoking the principle of life.

There may be some masculine bias built into the description of the hero cycle since many of its theoreticians have been male, and I freely admit it: I'm a man and can't help seeing the world through the filter of my gender.

-- Christopher Vogler

There will always be pleasure in 'Tell me a story.' People will always enjoy going into a story trance and allowing themselves to be led through a tale by a masterful story weaver.

-- Christopher Vogler

The stages of the Hero's Journey can be traced in all kinds of stories, not just those that feature 'heroic' physical action and adventure.

-- Christopher Vogler

The hero must die or appear to die so that she can be born again. It's a major source of the magic of the heroic myth.

-- Christopher Vogler

Reversals of fortune in the life of a hero are inevitable and they make for good entertainment.

-- Christopher Vogler

With a focused will, a character can take the blows and setbacks that life hands out.

-- Christopher Vogler

A story needs a level of two-ness, a dimension of duality, to create tension and the possibility of movement.

-- Christopher Vogler

Writers share in the godlike power of the shamans. We not only travel to other worlds but create them out of space and time.

-- Christopher Vogler

I came to believe that stories have healing power, that they can help us deal with difficult emotional situations by giving us examples of human behavior.

-- Christopher Vogler

A good Return should untie the plot threads but with a certain amount of surprise. It should be done with a little taste of the unexpected.

-- Christopher Vogler

Ordinary World
Call to Adventure
Refusal of the Call
Meeting with the Mentor
Crossing the First Threshold
Tests, Allies, Enemies
Approach to the Inmost Cave
The Ordeal
Reward (Seizing the Sword)
The Road Back
Resurrection
Return with the Elixir
Chapter 1. A Practical Guide
Chapter 1. Mapping the Journey
Chapter 2. The Archetypes
Chapter 2. Stages of the Journey
Chapter 3. Hero
Chapter 3. Stages of the Journey
Chapter 3. Epilogue: Looking Back on the Journey
Chapter 3. Looking Back on the Journey
Chapter 4. Mentor: Wise Old Man or Woman
Chapter 4. Ordinary World
Chapter 4. Appendices
Chapter 4. Epilogue: Looking Back on the Journey
Chapter 4. Stories Are Alive
Chapter 5. Threshold Guardian
Chapter 5. Call to Adventure
Chapter 5. The Writer's Journey
Chapter 5. Polarity
Chapter 6. Herald
Chapter 6. Refusal of the Call
Chapter 6. Appendices
Chapter 6. Catharsis
Chapter 7. Shapeshifter
Chapter 7. Meeting with the Mentor
Chapter 7. The Wisdom of the Body
Chapter 7. Stories Are Alive
Chapter 8. Shadow
Chapter 8. Crossing the First Threshold
Chapter 8. Trust the Path
Chapter 8. Polarity
Chapter 9. Ally
Chapter 9. Tests, Allies, Enemies
Chapter 9. Catharsis
Chapter 10. Trickster
Chapter 10. Approach to the Inmost Cave
Chapter 10. The Wisdom of the Body
Chapter 11. Ordinary World
Chapter 11. The Ordeal
Chapter 11. Trust the Path
Chapter 12. Call to Adventure
Chapter 12. Reward
Chapter 13. Refusal of the Call
Chapter 13. The Road Back
Chapter 14. Meeting with the Mentor
Chapter 14. The Resurrection
Chapter 15. Crossing the First Threshold
Chapter 15. Return with the Elixir
Chapter 16. Tests, Allies, Enemies
Chapter 16. Looking Back on the Journey
Chapter 17. Approach to the Inmost Cave
Chapter 17. The Writer's Journey
Chapter 18. The Ordeal
Chapter 18. Stories Are Alive
Chapter 19. Reward
Chapter 19. Polarity
Chapter 20. The Road Back
Chapter 20. Catharsis
Chapter 21. The Resurrection
Chapter 21. The Wisdom of the Body
Chapter 22. Return with the Elixir
Chapter 22. Trust the Path
Chapter 23. Looking Back on the Journey