I really enjoyed the story dice activity. In groups, we rolled dice with themed pictures on them. These pictures acted as prompts for characters’ settings and events. We discussed the pattern of the hero’s journey as discovered by Joseph Campell. The hero’s journey is the sequence of events that are found in most popular stories.
The story structure dictates that for a satisfying hero’s journey the hero starts in a place of comfort but is forced out of their comfort zone where they are tested through harrowing trials leading to a physical and emotional crisis (their darkest moment).In overcoming the crisis they are rewarded with treasure and victory. Their mission is resolved and they return home changed establishing a new status quo.
One roll of our story dice prompted us with a picture of a woman, a haunted house, an old lady and a car. The story our group devised was that a woman inherits a house from her wealthy but critical mother who has passed. The woman returns to the childhood home she thought she had escaped and is hunted by her mother’s ghost. After a particularly harrowing supernatural experience, the woman leaves the home. The further the woman drives from the house she feels more like herself and not the paranoid girl she once was realising what little power her mother’s ghost has over her.
Further research led me to Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon’s story circle. Another popular story structure saves the cat is utilised in Hollywood screenwriting. Both structures are variations of the hero’s journey one more simplistic and the other more complex.
Both structures emphasise the importance of internal change in the character rather than just the larger effect they have on the world. This internal change is tied to a theme the author wants to express like love conquers all or how power corrupts.