Writing the Hero’s Journey

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder; fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won; the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” – Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949

We will be exploring the theories of monomyth, archetypes, and tropes (as well as how to add twists and turn them on their heads), using focused exercises, traditional storytelling, and group discussion to spark inspiration for whatever genre of creative writing (poetry, prose, scripts, etc.) you are hoping to expand on. Suitable for intermediate and more experienced writers who want to stretch to writing longer pieces and exploring arcs of storytelling, using scene-setting, characterisation, narrative, and plot progression along the way. Novelists, poets, script-writers and more are all welcome.

On top of the live, interactive tutoring and discussion, you will receive a pack of materials for each session, and membership of a discord server where you will be able to continue the discussion with your coursemates.
The events will be carried out on Zoom and will be as accessible as we can make them, utilising automated closed captions and image descriptions for anyone who needs them. Please let us know in advance or on the day if you have any specific access requirements not already covered.

If you are unable to afford the course at this time but are keen to attend, we will be releasing two pay-what-you-can donation tickets for the full course soon.

During each session we will explore each step of the Journey, examining the relevant archetypes and characters of each stage, engaging in group discussions, using focused exercises to create new writing, while expanding on a world map of our stories’ landscape.