The Hero's Journey plot and subplots explained

Illustration by Anya Milioutina

To me. I have explained it to me in a way that makes sense to me, not as a circle, but as a deep dark lake with deep dark water and a humongous scary monster sitting in a deep dark cave smack in the middle of the lake's bottom. Anyamagically transformed my quick flimsy sketch into the pretty diagram above, with the heroine (of course) jumping into said lake,about to meet her near death.

Okay, let me step back a little. I have only started learning about this...