“All stories are the same!” Joseph Campbell helped popularize this idea in his seminal work the Hero With A Thousand Faces. His contention is that all stories share the same framework. Only the names are different. I’m here to tell you; that’s wrong! The Hero’s Journey v The Adventure Story

Nearly every book on storytelling uses Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as the foundation for plot, from Story by McKee to The Plot Dot by Derek Murphy. Read a book on outlining, attend a writer’s conference, or take a college class on fiction and you’ll inevitably hear that there is only one story. Proponents of the Hero’s Journey hold it up as the singular foundation upon which all story is built, and I have no doubt that some angry scribblers will be ready to fight me over what follows. I fully expect to have my Storyteller’s Membership Card revoked shortly after posting this. I’ll try not to lose any sleep over it. The fact is; the Hero’s Journey is NOT the only story, and furthermore, the Hero’s Journey comes with certain inescapable flaws.

There are in fact, to my mind anyway, at least three different story foundations upon which most stories are built either intentionally or subconsciously. The first is, of course, the Hero’s Journey. The second is what I like to call the Adventure Story or the Spaghetti Western (so named because virtually all Spaghetti Westerns follow this pattern—and because as a kid I loved Eastwood with his ponchos and six guns). Whether you’ve heard the term or not, you have undoubtedly read a few of these stories and you have most certainly watched movies built on this story outline.

But first some background is in order. If you have never heard the term Hero’s Journey before, you might be wondering just what in the Sam hill I’m talking about. For those of you who are just getting started as a writer, or long time writers who have never taken the time to study story structure (shame on you), the Hero’s Journey is a basic story scaffold on which so many of the stories you already know and love are built.

Notable examples include; Star Wars, The Matrix, Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Ghostbusters, and virtually everything the Greeks ever wrote. The Hero’s Journey is so widely used that Campbell made the argument that ALL stories are simply derivatives of the Hero’s Journey. Campbell claims that humans have been telling each other the same story, over and over, throughout the years, we just change the character names and dress them in modern clothes. No doubt some of my contemporaries will insist that’s true. I disagree.

The structure of the Hero’s Journey is, in essence, fairly simple. The Hero starts out in the normal/ordinary world, there is a call to adventure which is usually resisted, and then our hero crosses the threshold of no return where he or she is plunged into a strange new world. They must find allies and overcome certain personal failings as they venture through this dangerous new landscape. They are faced with a moment of death and rebirth (not always physical death, but many times), and then they gain the elixir/skill set/confidence which enables them to confront the central nemesis. They re-emerge into the ordinary world, changed and better able to cope with life. Many times they re-emerge as saviors who will usher mankind into a brighter, better tomorrow. You can take any of the movies/books I mentioned above and fit them into that story outline.

Most new authors will subconsciously follow the Hero’s Journey when they write a story because it’s ingrained into their subconscious brain. Often, when we dislike a book or film, it is because the story adhered to the Hero’s Journey in the early stages of the narrative and then deviated from the accepted standard at some point in the story arc. That’s a death sentence for a story. The audience won’t be able to describe exactly why the story is unsatisfying, all they know is that it didn’t ‘feel right’. If you (as a writer) are going to use the Hero’s Journey, I suggest you study it. Know how and why all the parts work. It will pay off in spades in the long run.

But the Hero’s Journey is not your only option!

Enter the Adventure Story. AKA the Spaghetti Western.

This is another story you have probably watched and read over and over again without even realizing it. If you’ve ever seen any of Clint Eastwood’s old cowboy films by Sergio Leone, you’ve seen a Spaghetti Western. Indiana Jones, Star Trek, James Bond, Magnum P.I., Conan the Barbarian, Mike Hammer, MacGyver, Dirk Pitt, The A-Team, Castle, anything by Stephen J. Cannel, and nearly every comic book character ever written are examples of the Adventure Story.

Some readers might have noticed that most of the examples above are aimed at men and to that I can only shrug and reply, ‘what do you expect?’ I’m a guy. And before you dismiss these examples as hackneyed plot boilers aimed at the lowest common denominator, I’ll remind you that every single one of the characters mentioned stared in dozens of books, movies and episodes. Spillane wrote at least 9 Mike Hammer books, plus dozens of short stories. Fleming produced 14 Bond books (resulting in 25 films). Conan the Barbarian (that simple minded, sword wielding barbarian beef cake) has endured in popularity for decades, resulting in movies, video games, and countless pastiches aimed at satisfying the rabid fan base. And let’s face it, who doesn’t like Tom Selleck as Magnum? Love them or hate them, we are talking about some iconic characters.

If those aren’t enough for you, my all-time favorite character, Sherlock Holmes, is an example of an Adventure Story plot structure.

So what do I mean by Adventure Story?

Think about all the examples above. What do they all have in common? The answer may surprise you. These stories are similar not because of what they have, but rather what they lack.

I’m talking about character development.

The Hero’s Journey is ALL about character development. The plot is simply a vehicle to move the character development along. Star Wars is about Luke’s journey from simple farm boy to Jedi knight.

On the other hand, In an adventure story, the main character rarely grows or changes much as a person. There’s a problem ( a murder victim, a lost artifact, an alien invasion, or a missing nuclear warhead) and the hero sets out to save the day. In an adventure plot, the hero is usually already skilled and aware of the world around him or her. There is no discovery of another world and the main character doesn’t emerge as a savior of mankind at the end. To be clear, the main character might save the world in the end, but not because of any self-realization.

Let’s take James Bond for example. 007 never grows or matures as a character. Whether you prefer Connery, Moore, Brosnan, or Craig, James Bond is James Bond. When we meet Bond in the opening gambit of Dr. No (The first 007 film) he’s already a skilled and capable spy. He doesn’t grow throughout the movie. When the credits roll, James Bond is the same freewheeling, hard drinking, skirt chasing, super spy.

Indian Jones is the same. When the audience meets the famous archeologist in the opening scenes, he is already a capable adventurer. He doesn’t exactly come to any major character revelations throughout the film. The War Department has a problem and Dr. Jones solves it for them. End of story. (Well, not really, but you take my meaning.)

Sherlock Holmes never grows as a character throughout the stories either. From the very first word of the first story in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Holmes is the smartest sleuth in town.

The main difference between the Hero’s Journey and the Adventure Story, is largely character development.

By now, I’ve probably lost about half my audience. You see, for the last few decades, the literary establishment has held character development up as the hallmark of any “good” story. To most of the literary world, and quite a few writers, character development is the gold standard of good writing. The best stories are, after all, character driven. (If I had a nickel for every time I heard that little ditty, I’d buy myself a Ferrari!)

But is it true that all the ‘best’ stories are character driven?

Best is an incredibly subjective term. If you’ll notice, I included both Star Wars and Star Trek in my examples. Star Wars is built on the Hero’s Journey while Star Trek is an Adventure story. Kirk and Spock don’t change much throughout their five year mission to explore strange new worlds. You might argue that in each episode a character learns something new about themselves, or has to overcome some personal problem, but on the whole, the crew of the Enterprise returned to dry dock very much the same as they left.

Ask any two geeks which is better—Star Wars or Star Trek—and you’re liable to start a fist fight. At the very least you’ll insight a meme war. And I know any number of guys who would much rather watch a 007 film (especially the opening credits) than sit through The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. For every reader who dotes on Harry Potter, there is another reader on the lookout for the next sword swinging barbarian or super spy. I know because those readers pay my rent!

So don’t let the literary wet blankets (mostly found in publishing houses and critique circles) tell you a story without character development is a bad story. And believe me they will. The Spaghetti Western is just as viable a vehicle for telling a great story as the Hero’s Journey. In fact, it can actually be a much better vehicle for the author looking to make a living from their writing.

If you are interested in learning the basics of the Adventure Story, check out my book Hard Boiled Outlines.

Just to be clear, I’m a fan of all the stories I’ve mentioned so far. I guess I was just born with a love of stories. I don’t really care whether the writer uses the Hero’s Journey or the Adventure Story, so long as they do it well. And if you’re using either of these story structures correctly, it’s hard to go wrong.