What Makes a Hero

Words to Write by

Whether every protagonist is a hero is open to debate (and debate it we do in this episode) but it we can agree that the vast majority of protagonists in genre fiction are heroes (if not always heroic). In today’s episode we go deep into Christopher Volger’s chapter on the hero archetype from his book, The Writer’s Journey.

To explore his ideas in we’re referencing The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Despite being written almost sixty years ago, Beagle’s fairytale feels modern and makes for an excellent sandbox to dig around in for support and opposition on whether the story’s hero (It’s the Unicorn, obviously) conforms to Volger’s hero profile, and also if his Hero’s Journey is a good framework for understanding her quest.

Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.