The Hero's Journey

No matter what book you're writing, I think it's really useful to read up on "The Hero's Journey". It's a useful framework to work from, and it's interesting to research how closely big hits like Harry Potter and Star Wars conform to its structure. There's no need to follow it perfectly, but I found it helped me generate new ideas, and also helped me put my plot in a good order. Here's a great video intro:

A few useful links:

• http://www.mythologyteacher.com/The-Hero's-Journey.php
• http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheHerosJourney
• http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/hero_journey/hero_journey.htm