Time for another story template. Like the title says. It's the Hero's Journey. This one is not as complexly detailed as the KM Weiland template but you can pick and choose parts. Okay, let's get to it.
Like a Journey, this has multiple parts. The Departure, the initiation, the return. Each part has it's own parts.
Starting with the Departure we have
- Call to Adventure
- Refusal of the Call
- Supernatural aid/Guide Appears
- Crossing the 1st threshold/leaving behind the known
- Belly of the Whale/Final separation between their world & the new world. Lowest part/transition.
Then we come to the Initiation
- Road of Trials/ordeal 3 test, often fail
- Meeting with the Goddess. Union of Opposites. All encompassing love.
- Woman as temptress -revulsion to our fleshy nature. Temptations to abandon the journey
- Atonement with the father - meet up with the ultimate power & all is forgiven
- Deification/Apotheosis. Reach a godlike state of peace fulfillment & clarity
- Ultimate Boon - Achieving the quest goal.
Then we have the Return
- Refusal of the return
- Magic flight
- Rescue from without
- Crossing the return threshold
- Master of two worlds
- Freedom to live without fear of death
That's the gist of this template. Now that you have looked it over I can already point you at two story/movies that fit this template. One is a singular a singular story and the other is actually one of many stories interwoven.
They are the story of Mulan and Luke's story from Star Wars.(the story from New Hope to Return of the Jedi) If you sit back and look at this template and think about those two stories, you can see how the parts can be fit into the template.
That's not to say that the character and world building templates from the KM template and others won't help to flesh out your story. Remember research will make your story better!
