Write about it.
Joseph Campbell, a mythologist, professor, and writer of the seminal "The Hero with a Thousand Faces."
The StoryShaper
an idea development tool for storytellers
With the power of the Hero's Journey model, combined with the simplicity of a mind-mapping interface, The StoryShaper gives you a wealth of narrative tools within a simple and organised workspace, so you can focus on your storytelling rather than your workflow.
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iOS
Optimised for iPad
Streamline it.
Christopher Vogler, a story consultant, educator, and author of the hugely influential "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers."
Get a backbone, or narrative spine.
Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" (or monomyth), as explained in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," is a model of narrative structure. Campbell developed this model based on exhaustive research of narratives from different cultures all over the world, spanning from antiquity to present times. In brief, he discovered that all stories share a universal structure that highlights a common, repeating narrative pattern of a hero (protagonist) who departs their ordinary world, is initiated into the special world, then returns home with new found knowledge/reward to share with their community.
Christopher Vogler streamlined Campbell's complex 17-stage Hero's Journey to a 12-stage model in his book "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers." Vogler's Hero's Journey model has 12-stages for the external journey (plot), and a corresponding 12-stage internal journey (character arc). The StoryShaper uses Vogler's model as its theoretical base.
Single-View Interface
The StoryShaper has two main interface sections: the Note Section at the top, and the Canvas at the bottom. Slide the divider-line up or down to reveal more or less of either section. No menu diving or floating windows. Less mental clutter, more creative freedom.
Each stage of the Hero's Journey has its own Story Node and Note Section. When you tap a stage's node in the Canvas, its corresponding Note Section will appear. Use the Note Sections to brainstorm ideas for the selected stage of your story. Each Note Section has collapsable, built-in Tools and Tips for the selected stage, to kickstart your brainstorm. You can export and share your Note Sections as .pdf, .txt, or .md files.
Story Nodes and Note Sections
Randomisation
Master Guide or Customise
Use the Master Guide or customise your own story map. The Master Guide project file is a great starting point for your projects since the story map is complete-- all the Story Nodes are loaded and connected in the Canvas, exactly matching Vogler's version of the Hero's Journey. Or, you can start fresh with an empty Canvas, and build a customised story map to match the exact needs of your story.
Beat Sheets
Use the four Beat Sheet Buttons in the corners of the Canvas to load built-in beat sheets from published/produced narratives from a variety of disciplines. These beat sheets have been broken-down according to Vogler's version of the Hero's Journey. When you load beat sheets into the buttons, and you tap a Story Node in the canvas, the corresponding stage of the loaded beat sheets will appear, so you can consider how published/produced narratives handled the particular stage that you're working on for your story.