[From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcoms at www.clickok.co.uk and our isolation and identification of more than 188 stages of the Hero's Journey that you need to know about...] The Hero's Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero's Journey:

Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told. Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on. Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created. Applies to a range as stories as diverse as Raging Bull (1980), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Alien (1979), Out of Africa (1985) and many more....it is not merely a template for QUEST type stories, as is commonly thought and more...

The Romantic Challenge

The Romantic Challenge is an intricate part of many stories. Often it is one of the four major challenges: Outer, Inner, Greater and Romantic. The hero often meets the Romantic Challenge in the Middle Cave, the mid section of the First Threshold where allies and enemies are made explicit. This does not mean that this is the first time we meet the Romantic Challenge as a character, merely that this is where it is most often made explicit that the Romantic Challenge is just that to the Hero. The Hero's conscious decision to attempt to resolve the Romantic Challenge is further developed as we move along the Story Path, past the Belly of the Whale, Physical Separation and beyond. The Story Path of all the challenges follows a similar trajectory.

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