Joseph Campbell’s analysis of the archetypal hero’s journey inspired George Lucas to write Star Wars and led to a widespread use of the pattern by scriptwriters and story analysts in Hollywood. But anyone telling a long-form story can benefit from close study of the model. The Hero’s Journey offers writers a useful skeleton or framework for their plots, but it also suggests ways that characters may be transformed during their adventures, and even posits some of the ultimate meanings characters discover along the way.

Join writer and master teacher Greg Garrett–who plotted and wrote his novels Free Bird and The Prodigal employing The Hero’s Journey as his guide–for a morning’s conversation on:

how this pattern might help you write your best novel,
how the pattern can be reshaped to suit your purposes, and
what kinds of stories don’t fit the pattern.

About the instructor: 

Greg Garrett is the author of over twenty books of fiction, nonfiction, and memoir, including the acclaimed novels Free Bird, Cycling, Shame, and The Prodigal. He teaches fiction writing and screenwriting at Baylor University, where he has received numerous teaching honors, and has offered highly-rated classes for the Writers League for over a decade. He lives with his wife and family in Austin.