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Award-winning author outlines the mythic story structure of The Hero's Journey as it relates to romance fiction.
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The Lover’s Journey
Applying
The Hero’s Journey
to the Romance Genre
The Lovers’ Journey : Stages
The Ordinary WorldWhat kind of lives are the hero and heroine living at the beginning of the story?
What is missing from their lives?
What are their problems?
The Lovers’ Journey : Stages
The Call to Adventure
What event begins a chain-reaction of change in their lives, bringing them together?
Corresponds to the Inciting Incident
The Lovers’ Journey : Stages
Refusal of the Call
Do the hero and heroine resist this new order?
If so, how do they express their resistance?
Resistance may be expressed by other characters in the
form of warnings.
The Lovers’ Journey : Stages
Meeting With the MentorWhat persons or events prompt the hero and heroine to take the first tentative steps toward change?
The Mentor could be a person, a code of conduct or inner resources.
The Lovers’ Journey : Stages
Crossing the First Threshold
What event really gets the ball rolling, setting the hero and heroine on a collision course with true love?
Corresponds to the First Plot Point.
The Lovers’ Journey : StagesThe Special World
How does the physical or emotional setting change in a contrast to the world they lived in before they met?
Not a stage of the journey. When the hero and heroine cross the threshold,
this is where they end up.
The Lovers’ Journey : StagesTests, Enemies and Allies
What are some twists and turns of events that test the hero and heroine in their new relationship?
Who helps them? Who stands in their way?
This may be the part of the story
where the hero and heroine
resist their attraction.
The Lovers’ Journey : StagesApproach to the Inmost Cave
A shift in energy and direction after the midpoint of the story.What events prepare the hero and heroine for a very big moment in the story? This could be a big step in trust or intimacy.
May correspond to thecourtship phase of the story.
The Lovers’ Journey : StagesThe Supreme Ordeal
What major event in the third quarter of the story really upsets the apple cart?
This could be greater intimacy, a revelation or a misunderstanding.
Corresponds to the Crisis.
The Lovers’ Journey : Stages
Seizing the Sword
How do the characters react to this major event, celebrating if it is good, or backing away from the relationship if it is bad?
Think of the Sword as representing Consequences.
The Lovers’ Journey : Stages
The Road BackWhat new direction do the characters take after experiencing the consequences?
The Black Moment
What happens at the end of this Stage
to make all seem lost?
The Lovers’ Journey : StagesResurrection
What do the hero and heroine do to over-come the Black Moment and reconnect?
What major character growth (amounting
to rebirth) do they achieve and what life
lessons to they learn to be able
to make this change?
The Lovers’ Journey : StagesReturn With the Elixir
How are the lives of the hero and heroine changed for the better by their struggle to forge this new relationship?
What is the positive effect on their friends, family or community?
There may be one final flicker of conflict,
quickly resolved to sustain tension.
Books by Deborah Hale
