Quotes/Ideas

I have collected a series of quotes and ideas from various sources on the internet to consider while writing my essay. I think that they bring up some interesting points that may be vital to deciding my stance on the Hero's Journey.

“A Tragedy will order the areas covered in each act in a completely different way than say, a Triumph would. Each story is going for a different emotional result, so the order in which things happen is vastly important. “ - arguing against the whole ‘you can change order with no consequences idea’ http://narrativefirst.com/articles/not-everything-is-a-heros-journey

“While all stories have a plot, no story – from a literary novel to a potboiler – is about the plot.”

“It’s so damn easy to mistake the plot for the story. Why? Because it’s so visible – it’s right there front and center for everyone to see. It’s what happens, and stories are about things that happen, right?

Nope. Stories are about how the things that happen affect someone. Here’s the key: story is internal, not external.

The story is about what the protagonist has to learn, to overcome, to deal with internally in order to solve the story question that the external plot poses.

“

http://writerunboxed.com/2013/06/13/why-the-heros-journey-is-a-tourist-trap/

“One thing to keep in mind as you’re outlining your own stories is to make sure the main character actively drives the story forward. Often a story will hit a wall or fall flat if the main character simply reacts to events around him or her. In Wan’s case, he steals the fire, saves the cat-deer, and splits Raava and Vaatu — all major story points which coincidentally (or not so coincidentally) correspond with the act breaks. “ http://mikedimartinostory.com/2014/06/02/writing-the-outline/

“the hero’s journey has been used so often, in so many stories, it’s become predictable even when the actual events of the story are new and surprising

– it’s only one way to show character growth, and only one type of character (here are a couple more!); or have you and any of your friends matured as people through a hero’s journey?

– it’s unfitting for any other type of protagonist – the antihero, the villain, the observer, the victim, the desperate, the mentally unstable, etc. etc.“ http://www.veronicasicoe.com/blog/2013/03/the-heros-journey-my-pros-and-cons/

“Protagonists must make decisions. A character who does not choose her own fate, and thus suffer the consequences of her choice, is not a protagonist. She is, at best, a background character.” http://thewritepractice.com/protagonist/



“In literature, a hero is a person distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility, self-sacrifice or by any superior qualities.”

http://www.veronicasicoe.com/blog/2013/03/the-heros-journey-my-pros-and-cons/



“The Hero, therefore, is the man or woman who has been able to battle past his personal and local historical limitations to the generally valid, normally human forms” (1000 hero, 19)

-----> isn’t necessarily a traditional hero in the sense of saving people or being noble, which is how this theory could maybe relate also to villains rather than just ‘heroes’.