Every man is already in the middle of a story. Write yours down.

Twelve questions, one for each stage of the hero’s journey. Answer them about your own life and you leave with one page to keep.

Begin with the first question

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Where the twelve come from

In 1949 Joseph Campbell laid out one pattern he found in myths from all over the world, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces: a departure, an initiation and a return, in seventeen stages.¹ Christopher Vogler later cut it to twelve stages for storytellers in The Writer’s Journey.¹

The stage names below are Vogler’s. The questions are ours. They turn each stage away from fiction and toward the one life you know from the inside.

The twelve questions

A few honest sentences each. Skip one and come back. Your answers are saved in this browser as you type.

Whose journey is this?

1Ordinary worldWhere were you, and who were you, before any of this began?
2Call to adventureWhat happened that told you your life could not stay as it was?
3Refusal of the callHow did you say no at first? What were you afraid of losing?
4Meeting with the mentorWho, or what book or teaching, gave you the nerve or the map?
5Crossing the first thresholdWhat was the moment you could no longer go back?
6Tests, allies, and enemiesWho stood with you, who stood against you, and what did the early trials teach you?
7The inmost caveWhat was the thing you least wanted to face, and how did you approach it?
8The ordealWhat was the worst of it? What died there: a plan, a belief, a version of you?
9RewardWhat did you come out holding that you did not have before?
10The road backWhat did it cost to turn toward home, and what followed you?
11The resurrectionWhat final test proved you were a changed man and not the old one in new clothes?
12Return with the elixirWhat do you bring back that is of use to someone else? Who is it for?

Printing gives you one clean page with your twelve answers. Save it as a PDF, or put it on paper and in a drawer.