Hero’s Journey: template for heroic tales

  1. Separation
/ Leaves their home, awakens to pursue a higher calling
  1. Call
/ Invited into Adventure
May be a sudden, traumatic change
May be a vague sense of discontent
  1. The Threshold
/ The “jumping off” point
The gateway to the unknown
  1. Guardian/Mentor
/ Guardians: beings or situations that block passage, protect us from journeys we are unready for, point the way
Mentor: helper, brings a talisman to help through the ordeal, appears throughout the journey
  1. Initiation and Transformation
/ Begin journey into the unknown
Into a physical or psychological unknown
  1. The Challenges
/ Tempters try to pull hero away from path
May pretend to be helper or friend
Use fear, doubt, or distraction
  1. The Abyss
/ Represents greatest challenge in the journey
Hero faces greatest fear and must face it alone
“Slay the dragon”- shape of something he dreads, has repressed, or needs to resolve
  1. The Transformation and Revelation
/ Transformation: Part of hero dies, so new part is reborn, fear must die to make way for courage, ignorance for enlightenment, dependency for independence
Revelation: a sudden, dramatic change in the way the hero thinks or views life, the change makes him a truly different person
  1. The Atonement/Enlightenment
/ He is at “one” with his new self
He has incorporated the changes caused by the journey and is reborn
  1. The Return
/ Return to everyday life
Discovers his gift:
Becomes richer & stronger
Becomes a great leader
Becomes spiritually enlightened

Indefinite Pronouns:

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are:

  • all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody/someone

Vague Pronoun: does not have a clear antecedent (does not point back to a specific noun)
Aside:

adramatic devicein which acharacterspeaks a brief comment to theaudience. By convention the audience is to realize that the character's speech is unheard by the other characters on stage.

Soliloquy:a device often used in drama when a character speaks to himself or herself, relating thoughts and feelings, thereby also sharing them with the audience.

Tragic Flaws:A flaw in the character of the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow

Examples: indecisiveness, pride, vanity

Subject/verb agreement

Sheandher friendsareat the fair.

The bookorthe penisin the drawer.

Oneof the boxesisopen

The peoplewho listen to that musicarefew.

Subject/pronoun agreement

If astudentwants to pass this class,s/hemust do all ofhis/herhomework.

Studentswho want to pass this class must do all oftheirhomework.

Treat thecustomeras ifs/hewere a guest in your home.

Treatcustomersas if they wereguestsin your home.

To/too/two

To

Usetoas a preposition before a noun or as an infinitive before a verb. To and Too can be tricky!

Examples

"Please take me to the dance"

"We don't need to buy that right now."

Too

Usetooas a synonym foralsoor to indicateexcessivenessbefore a verb. Usually, if you can replacetoowithalsoin the same sentence, and it still makes sense, then you are using it correctly.

Examples

"I am going to the mall, too."

"I had too many tacos for lunch."

Two

Usetwoto spell out the number 2. If you can replacetwowith2in the same sentence, and it still makes sense, then you are using it correctly. This should be the easiest one!

Examples

"I have two hands and two feet."

"Can you give me two dollars?"

Their/there/they’re

When to Use / How to Test
There / Naming a place, a thing, or the existence of something / Replace “there” with “here”
Their / Showing possession / Replace “their” with “our”
They’re / Combining the words “they” and “are” / Replace “they’re” with “they are”

Common sentence errors: see worksheet

Dialogue punctuation: see worksheet

In-text citations: the first word/words on your works cited page is what goes in the in-text citation parenthesis. If the first word/words is in quotations, it should also be in quotations for your in-text citations, etc… The Works Cited entry should be shortened if it is a long title or web address.