How to Write an Epic Story

How the hero's journey shapes storytelling

Stories that endure across languages, generations, and cultures do so because they speak to something eternal.

This much is evident, but perhaps less obvious is the eternal thing they speak to — for example, what is the connection between Dante descending into Hell, Odysseus facing the cyclops, and Frodo standing at the edge of Mount Doom?

Towards the middle of the 20th century, mythologist Joseph Campbell set out to discover the common thread linking all the great stories of different times and traditions. What he found was a pattern that repeats in everything from ancient epics to religious texts and even modern fiction.

He gave this pattern a name — the Hero’s Journey. It was an outline that undergirded the greatest works of myth and literature, and which had been unconsciously adhered to by authors for millennia. Yet after Campbell published the Hero’s Journey, storytellers of all kinds began to consciously follow its framework, and the results were massive hits such as Star Wars, The Matrix, and Harry Potter.

Today, we explore all aspects of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey — what it is, why it endures, and how you can use it (or subvert it) to create extraordinary tales of your own…