The Writer & The Hero's Journey Quotes

“Stories that do not signal or illustrate a change in wisdom, growth or circumstance do not fulfill the basic requirements of a story worth telling.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“At their most basic level, great fictional stories are about transformation - usually a change from one perspective to another. The change may be slight or massive, subtle or profound.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The Harry Potter story bears an uncanny resemblance to Luke Skywalker's, in that both characters are in possession of great power they are unaware of, are taught to cultivate it by guardians of mythological truth, face off a foe that killed their parents and rise to save their friends by heading off extraordinary odds to become saviors of their respective worlds.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“To me, the urge to be published is equivalent to the first quarter of the hero's journey, where normal life seems not quite enough. There's a quest that needs undertaking, and the wannabe writer makes a courageous decision to fight against the odds. The persistent keep going, even when criticism, self-doubt, rejection and even resentment from those around them is rampant. Success, then, comes as a metaphorical death of the old self so that a new life may begin as a professional author.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“I know many writers who actually use the Tarot as a way of inspiring ideas and possible plots. Try it yourself for fun. Tarot packs aren't usually expensive and most have descriptions about how they may be best interpreted.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The hero, however, is always willing to see where his decisions may lead him. To sum up the hero's journey in the Tarot so far, we can say that, armed with a now superior knowledge of the nature of life and its tests, we may face resistance to personal growth and change in the form of new perspectives, the need to destroy the past, to exercise self-control and repel temptation. It's easy for most of us to be seduced by the bad choices these cards represent because these debilitating options are designed by the universe to undermine our resolve, and arrest our development. To truly change we need to stand up to 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' and literally metamorphose through a symbolic death and rebirth to acquire the resulting alteration to our consciousness. And from there, the world becomes our oyster.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The idea that we are buffeted by our environment, faith in artificial human edifices or indeed, the people around us, is a self-imposed and self-sustaining illusion. We are always free to do exactly as we please - as long as we're prepared to endure the consequences of our decisions - which most of us simply aren't.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The writer becomes a superhero every time he or she sits down to write. We must excel ourselves with each new writing project, we must fight off our demons and win in order to grow. Writing, in this sense, is series of personal tests. Because to better ourselves and become successful, we must become masters of defeating self-doubt and limiting beliefs (the real bad guys.)”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“People are naturally drawn to characters that are obviously good at what they do. Have you ever wondered why you might identify”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“People like to identify with characters in danger.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“Readers often root for characters that are innocent victims – or who are subjected to forces beyond their control.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“So what do you need to present a new character? Four keys elements: 1. Their physical attributes 2. Their personality 3. Their background 4. Their agenda”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“Many new writers make the mistake of presenting secondary, even irrelevant characters at the start of their stories in an attempt to set the scene for their hero. This is a mistake because readers generally have an automatic desire to identify with the first character with whom they are presented.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The Hierophant becomes a touchstone for many, either representing an artificial belief system (like religion or a work ethic) that we follow or through core beliefs we have created for ourselves.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“We are questioning animals.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The Emperor represents our acceptance of authority, either that of our parents or employers or the state and government under which we live. Together The Empress and The Emperor become symbolic of the natural order of things - and metaphorically the ideal union between husband and wife, yin and yang - the validity of which we might accept or reject depending on our temperament.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The Empress acknowledges our nurturing side, the need for tact and careful consideration about the consequences of our attitudes.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The High Priestess represents our earthy nature, our attachment to the reality of living, including the awareness that there are mysteries about life we do not fully understand.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“This is what is represented by The Magician, who represents potential power and emotional discipline over all he owns. When we combine The Fool and The Magician we have the beginnings of a more rounded character: naive, impetuous but with an inner strength that needs to be focused on the story yet to unfold.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The Fool is a great template for the lead character in a story, untarnished by what is to come, eager for adventure.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“tapping into the Monomyth of the hero's journey which, to simplify the premise, says that there can be no true wisdom gained without the ultimate sacrifice. And the person best suited to do this is a character that is ill-equipped to do it - again a parallel to the story of Christ, the Buddha and many other cult figures.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“We often don't react well to change. Consequently it won't seem right if your hero is perfectly capable right from the start of your story. In fact, if the protagonist is totally equipped to deal with fundamental change at the beginning of a story, you probably have no more story to tell. You need to show that at the beginning of a journey, the hero usually struggles.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“This is something I've learned from writing my own short stories, novels and screenplays. Editors and film producers will often keep asking for rewrites until all, or at least most, of the above elements are dealt with. I didn't realize that this was what was happening until I took a step back and analyzed my stories from the perspective of the hero's journey. When I began to incorporate the above elements into my stories and novels, my acceptance rate bloomed. Plus, readers seemed to be much happier with my stories without being able to vocalize why.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“We meet her in her previous life, if only briefly, so that we're grounded in her character before any major changes to her life take place.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“When writing the opening of your story, we want to see the hero in his familiar surroundings. We want to show him as he is normally – living life as he has been experiencing it for some time.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“In the last six cards, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgment, and The World, we're shown that when your old life crumbles, and you discover every assumption you made has been fundamentally flawed, you're in a position to look up and see the majesty of the universe. The Star is hope, The Moon is the mysterious, the wild and unpredictable, The Sun is the promise of wisdom, truth and enlightenment. Judgment represents the time when you can evaluate your progress and see your place in the eternal changing reality of life. When you finally understand all aspects of the great cosmic plan of existence, you inherit The World. But, alas, it's not over. Life is a cycle. You move back to the beginning and start again.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“In the next five cards, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, and The Devil, we see that, armed with knowledge of life and its tests, the hero/fool faces resistance to personal growth and change in the form of the natural order, new perspectives, the need to destroy the past, the exercising of self-control and the resistance of temptation. It's easy to give in to these because they're designed by the universe to undermine your resolve. To change, you need to stand up to the temptations, and literally change yourself through a symbolic death to acquire the resulting alteration of your worldview.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The next five cards, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, and The Wheel of Fortune, show how the heroic fool must navigate various life lessons: love, ambition, courage, reflection and the mysteries of fate. We're tested in these areas because they enable our growth. We must understand that it is in the nature of the world to present us with a series of lessons on the basics of living. The Lovers represent the call of duty over pleasure. The Chariot represents our goals and whether we have the tenacity to identify and pursue them. Strength: tact and diplomacy, taming the beast. The Hermit shows us that introspection is important too - and the ability to stand alone, independent of thought and action. The Wheel of Fortune reminds us that nothing is guaranteed. There's always an element of chance that can aid or thwart us.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“The first five cards, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, and The Hierophant show the various attributes of a person in ordinary life: infinite potential (and possessing all the skills they need), a sense of mystery - something more out there - a connection with the natural order of things, and an awareness that society runs on authority from the state and faith in high ideals to function normally. The first five cards represent the life we have at the beginning of any journey.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey

“Jung also developed the idea of archetypes and the collective unconscious. He believed that far from being a mass of individual minds, humanity was actually connected on some deep subconscious level and this explained why we tend to share the same concepts of good, evil, wrong, right and why certain archetypal characters exist within everyone's minds.”
― Rob Parnell, The Writer & The Hero's Journey