[From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcoms at www.clickok.co.uk and our isolation and identification of more than 188 stages of the Hero’s Journey that you need to know about…]

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero’s Journey:

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

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

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

and more…

The search for story structure

There is a constant search for effective story structure. The purpose being to find some formula / methodology that will enhance creative output and make the job of idea generation / writing stories easier.

Various methods have been adopted and one of the most commonly known is the simple three act structure, which is popular because it can be applied universally but has the inherent weakness of being pointless, because it doesn’t do the core job of making writing easier (it has no structural elements).

With the wide variety of stories out there - plays, TV dramas, sitcoms, screenplays etc… the task of finding such a formula seems daunting.

The concept of a universal formula is itself criticised. As is the idea of a universal process.

However, by reducing the task to one domain - say screenwriting - it becomes a little more logical to pose the question that perhaps there is a formula just for writing effective screenplays.

The way to overcome the first barrier (psychological) is not to question the validity of a formula - whether one should exist or not - but to simply accept that if there is one, then the writer should use it to maximum effect. The problems here revolve around the area of “creativity”, which is supposed to result from anything other than a process. But creativity managers know that there is far more process and structure involved in creativity and innovation than is normally given credit.

The way to overcome the second barrier (the search for an effective system) is to search by deconstructing many, if not all, the successful end-results out there, in other words, deconstructing as many successful screenplays as possible. The revelation from that endeavour results in an insight into story construction that cannot be read about.

Ultimately, we arrive at the conclusion that there is indeed one core template upon which all successful screenplays are built upon…and all the writer has to do is master it.

We call that core template the Hero’s Transformation but it is known more commonly as the Hero’s Journey.

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/
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Kal Bishop, MBA

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If you are a writer beware of slick talking folks trying to recruit you to be on their team of writers for some project. What they will do is try to use psychology on you to feel all warm and fuzzy, promise you exposure or something of this nature. But in reality they want to use you to promote their political agenda, website or their own business.

Writers must be very careful of these “emails” which tell you how great your writing is and trying to butter you all up. In fact these emails go out to many people, not just you. You might feel special, but it is only a game these scum play, beating around the bush, trying to develop report only to use you and your labors for their own purposes.

As an online writer; I cannot tell me how many people have used practically the exact same schmoozing crap on me. It makes me sick to my stomach. So if this is their idea of marketing, I think they have missed out on some target marketing lessons. But they use these recruitment techniques because they work on most people who are of weak mind.

If you want to recruit low self-esteem writers I suppose these techniques would work and most writers are Prozac Cases anyway. But the top of the food chain writers or a human-plus, high-level, no prisoners Winner, then these same tactics will not work.

For weak-minded pusses, who have self confidence issues, need someone to tell them how special they are and feed on compliments from Lessers, that might work. Otherwise they see right thru it and instantly categorize them as a sham, or fraud. And this is how these recruiters come across to me. I hope you as a writer can see thru these moron recruiters full of hype and chocking on their own pathetic bull. Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/