I got a little older I began writing them down, and thus began a lifelong love affair with stories. I began to soak up as much information about them as I possibly could, and made some interesting discoveries.
Every story needs a hero. A hero must have certain qualities, like...
He answers the call. A hero agrees to or simply decides for himself that he will live up to his potential. This is the first qualification for being a hero: you must accept responsibility for bringing about your mission.
He leaves the comfort zone. Adventure doesn't happen in the comfort zone; if it did, it wouldn't be an adventure. In order to have an adventure and, therefore, become a hero, he needs to step outside his area of familiarity.
He overcomes setbacks and hardships. This is where most people with potential to become a hero fail: they fall prey to one of the setbacks that besets him. A real hero sticks it out through all of this. Why? Well...
He sacrifices himself for a greater cause. A hero is not in it for himself; he is in it for something bigger than himself. This is why he answers the call; this is why he leaves his comfort zone; this is why he endures hardship and setbacks. His cause is what keeps him going. As long as he remains dedicated to that cause, whatever it is, he cannot fail in his story.
Every life is a story, and God is the Master Storyteller. We are co-authors. In order to live a good story, we individually must answer the call, leave the comfort zone, experience hardship, overcome setbacks, and sacrifice for something bigger than ourselves. This is the only way we can undergo necessary development.
One final thing I learned was this: every scene must have a purpose. This isn't like real life, I was told; you can't make your characters get up to answer the phone only to find out it's a sales person and hang up; you can't make your characters get up to mundanely feed the cat, or mention that the characters brushed their teeth. Every scene, every word, must contribute to the plot or character development.
Ladies and gentlemen, I submit that even in real life, every scene, every word, every experience we have, contributes to the ultimate plot or character development. The good things and the bad things. Even the things that seem pointless. Even the things that are excruciatingly hard to bear. And in order to stick it out through the bad, pointless, hard things, we need a purpose. And we need to allow ourselves to be changed.
Become the hero in your own story. Agree to live up to your potential; be willing to leave your comfort zone; overcome setbacks and hardships; and dedicate yourself to a cause bigger than you. Know that no experience you have is pointless; and allow yourself and your story to be shaped and made beautiful under the pen of the loving Master Storyteller.
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Bio blurb:
Catherine is fairly certain that she was born with a pen in her hand (although her mom denies it). Writing is one of her favorite things to do, and she does it as much as possible. (To read more of her writing, you can visit her blog here!) She also enjoys studying, being quirky, and being in the company of her friends, among other things. She currently resides in a lovely corner of Pennsylvania with her amazing parents and awesome little brothers. Finally, she is super honored to have had this chance to write to the people on the Path2Awesome, and hopes that what she said made a difference. (:
Note to our readers: each week we invite people who are taking the path to awesome to write a little on what that means to them. This is our first guest post, so look forward to more inspiration! If you're interested in being a guest poster, please e-mail us at path2awesome@googlegroups.com and we'll reply as soon as we can.
That reminds me of this video: http://www.wimp.com/makeshero/
ReplyDeleteThat's a cool video, Andrew, thanks for sharing! I'm familiar with that cycle and it actually served as a guideline as I wrote this (you seem to have picked up on that). :) Joseph Campbell was a boss.
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