• By Winston Kuwada
• Published 02/10/2012
• Writing

Many people love to read books, watch movies, and generally be entertained. If you are thinking of writing a book or a screenplay, then you are going to cross the magical line between consumer and producer. There are millions upon millions of consumers, but quality producers of material are few and far between. That’s why you are one of the chosen ones, that has a dream to create something that will entertain and enlighten others. Writing a story can be tough, because it’s a long process, and you’ve got to keep your focus. In this article, you’ll learn about an ancient structure in the human mind that can make it much easier. There was a man once named Joseph Campbell. He traveled the world studying the myths of many cultures. And what he found was amazing. While all of the myths were different, and unique to each culture, they each had a structure to them. And when you compare that structure to some of the biggest blockbusters in the history of publishing and of Hollywood, they are one in the same. It’s as if this structure is built into our brains through some magic of evolution.

OK, here’s the structure. The first part is some person. This is an average person that has an average life. They have a deep suspicion that something is missing. They yearn for excitement, but are too timid to go after it on their own. Think of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” Peter Parker in “Spiderman

,” Harry Potter in “Harry Potter,” and Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars.” Next, they get pulled into an adventure. Usually they resist it, but they have no choice but to go. Like Dorothy and the hurricane, or Peter Parker and the bite of the spider. When they are on their journey, they collect a new group of friends. You can easily imagine parallels in the above mentioned stories. Once they’ve got their new crew, they’ve got to face some kind of evil force or evil entity. Again, all the above mentioned stories that some big scary bad guy that the hero or heroine must battle. Once they beat the bad guy with the help of their friends, they undergo a transformation. They are much better off than they were before. They have new skills, and they face life with much more confidence. The beauty of this structure is it can be applied to almost anything. A new kid moving to a new neighborhood and going to a new school. A really shy young girl finding out she is a talented violinist, and must perform in front of others. The applications of this structure is virtually endless. And the best part is, no matter what kind of characters or details you put on this structure, it will trigger the deep evolutionary structure in the minds of your audience, and they will love the story.

So you see, there really is a structure to writing a best selling novel or writing a blockbusting screenplay. All that’s left for you now is to write it. What are you waiting for?