Chapter summary:
Most stories start with showing the ordinary world of the hero. This ordinary world frames the hero and sets modern-day stories in motion. This ordinary world is also a base line for comparison. The mythological approach to a story uses metaphors and comparison to get across the writers feelings about life. Titles are important part of a stories. Good titles can become a multi-leveled metaphor for the condition of the hero or his world. The opening image can be a powerful tool to create mood and suggest where the story will go. It can also suggest theme. The ordinary world should be as different as possible form the special world, so the audience and hero will experience a dramatic change when the threshold is crossed. Every good story poses a series of dramatic questions about the hero. Every hero needs an inner and outer problem, and they need to learn something in the course of the story. It is all important that the opening scenes create an identification between audience and hero, a sense that they are equals in some ways. You can do this by giving the heroes universal goals, drives, desires or needs. Heros also have to lack something; a journey is about searching for completeness. Tragic flaws or wounds also help to humanize a hero and make him more relatable.
The call to adventure gets the story going. It can come in the form of a message or a messenger. It can be a stirring within the hero. It can also be through a string of accidents or coincidences that may be the message that calls a hero to adventure (synchronicity). It can also be a temptation, which calls the hero to adventure. It’s often delivered by a character in a story who manifests the archetype of the herald. This call to adventure can often be unsettling or disorienting to the hero. It may come in the form of a loss or subtraction from the hero’s life in the ordinary world. The hero maybe simply be running out of options. Not all calls to adventure are good they could sere as a warning of impending doom on the hero. There can also be more than one call to adventure
Connection:
The ordinary world of the hero is somewhat relatable to the high school. It’s a familiar environment in which people feel comfortable. It’s close to home and close to your friends and family. It’s a place that helps to mold you and form you into the person you will become. It’s a stepping stone on the way to bigger and better things. Leaving this ordinary world is like going off to college. This is a call to adventure, when you are forced to leave high school behind. The environment of college is much different then the environment of high school. There is a lot more freedom, and a lot less rules and regulations. You have a whole new list of responsibilities and challenges to overcome in this new journey of college life, much like in the hero’s journey.
1. Vougler states on page 89, “audiences love to see characters learning, growing, and dealing with the inner and outer challenges of life.” Why do you think that is?
2. How the audience first experiences your hero is another important condition you control as a storyteller. How is this related to first impressions and how much do you judge a person based on his or her first impressions?
3. Vougler states that, “fairy tales are about searching for completeness?” Do you think this is an archetype shared by all of humanity, this search for completeness?
