Mapping the Hero’s Journey – Charli MIlls

Reblogged from Carrot Ranch:

“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.”
~ Joseph Campbell

It’s appropriate to begin a discussion on the hero’s journey by quoting the man we now equate with modern understanding of mythology. Joseph Campbell theorized: “all myths are the creative products of the human psyche, that artists are a culture’s mythmakers, and that mythologies are creative manifestations of humankind’s universal need to explain psychological, social, cosmological, and spiritual realities (Joseph Campbell Foundation).”

As a writer, I’m a mythmaker. My private dreams are the stories I want to tell, but I believe that if I can map my story to public mythology, those stories will resonate with readers. I believe that the hero’s journey (coupled with quality writing) is the difference between a mediocre book and a best-seller.

At its most basic explanation, the hero’s journey is a pattern of public dreams that Campbell recognized in…