Does the “Hero” have to want something? Does there have to be a “Hero”?

At dinner with the Clarion group last Thursday, I was asked if stories always had an obstacle, an objective.  After all, the classic “Hero’s Journey” is about someone who wants something, and their efforts to achieve it which take them into a deeper and steeper journey until some peak moment of revelation.

 

Well…yes, and no.  The truth is that “story” is one of those things where people know it when they see it, but the definitions can be a little slippery.  It varies between cultures and er...