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12 Steps to Epic Storytelling with AI: The Hero's Journey Meets ChatGPT
By Darby Rollins · Published November 2, 2023 · 757 views on YouTube
Key takeaways
- Use a content brief as step one: define your hero, their ordinary world, ambition, mentor, and other hero's-journey variables before running any AI prompts.
- Paste the content brief into ChatGPT first, then run a second prompt stack (a command sequence) that walks through each of the 12 stages of the hero's journey, from intro to call to mentor to return.
- Position your customer, not your brand, as the hero — your brand should show up as the mentor or guide that helps the customer overcome their struggle.
- The workflow works with other large language models too, not just ChatGPT, including Claude and Google Bard.
- Run the workflow repeatedly and expand the content brief with extra details (like the hero's daily life, education, or personal struggles) to get richer, more specific story output.
The Hero’s Journey Recipe 4.0 📖
12 Stages of Character & Story Arc Development
Credit to Joseph Campbell, Author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Run the Recipe Below
Produced by: GenAIUniversity.com
INTRODUCTION:
In 1949, mythologist Joseph Campbell published The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which outlines the structure of the journeys that archetypal heroes experience in world myths.
This structure became known as the monomyth, or Hero’s Journey, and has since served as the framework behind many popular speculative fiction books and films, including Star Wars, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and The Lord of the Rings.
The goal of this outline is to create a sense of relatability in the hero’s story. The hero should act as a beacon of hope because of his struggles, and the transformation of the hero is what makes the story inspiring for others on a similar path.
PRO TIP: The Hero’s Journey doubles as a framework for non-fiction authors, marketers, and business owners to better understand their readers and customers. In turn, this understanding helps the author or brand communicate their message more effectively by adding clarity to where their audience is now and where they want to be.
AI-Powered Character Development Using The Hero’s Journey Framework
Here’s a layout of each stage of The Hero’s Journey with a description for your reference. When downloading the recipe into your account, you can do a quick search for pronouns and [Character] and adjust them to line up with your character.
- Ordinary World Before the present tale begins, our Hero is in his own world, oblivious to what’s ahead. It’s a safe place for him. This establishes our Hero as a human, just like you and me, and makes it easier for us to connect with him and therefore empathize with his problems.
- Call To Adventure The protagonist’s journey begins when he or she is called to action, such as receiving a direct danger to his or her safety, family, lifestyle, or community. It may not be as dramatic as a gunshot, but it might be just as life-changing.
- Refusal Of The Call Denying the call maybe because of his fear that he will not be able to complete it. Second thoughts or even deep personal concerns about whether or not he is capable of performing the task. When this happens, the Hero refuses the offer and, as a result, suffers in some manner. The problem he faces may appear to be too difficult and the potential loss too great if he fails.
- Meeting The Mentor figure provides the Hero with something he needs at this crucial turning point when the Hero is in need of guidance. He might be given a valuable object, knowledge of the problem he’s facing, sound advice, hands-on training, or even self-confidence. Whatever the mentor gives him helps to dispel his concerns and fears while also encouraging him to continue his journey.
- Crossing The Threshold The Hero is now prepared to act on his call to adventure and start his quest, whether it be physical, spiritual, or emotional in nature. He might go of his own accord or be forced to do so, but at last, he will cross the barrier that separates him from the world he knows. It might be leaving home for the first time in an epic journey, or it could be an internal one where he’s forced to face his inner demons.
- Tests, Allies, Enemies The Hero is now thrust out of his comfort zone, with a more difficult series of obstacles put in his path to test him in a variety of ways. Obstacles are strewn across the Hero’s route, whether they be physical impediments or persons intent on preventing him from reaching his objective. The Hero must figure out who can be trusted and who cannot. He may come across friends and confrontations with adversaries that will, in their own ways, help him prepare for the greater challenges ahead. This is where his abilities and skills are put to the test, and every obstacle he faces helps us better understand his personality as well as connect with him on a deeper level.
- Approach To The Inmost Cave The inside cave might represent a variety of things in the Hero’s tale, including a real-life location with a deadly peril or an internal debate the Hero has yet to confront. As the Hero approaches the cave, he must make final arrangements before leaping into the vast unknown. At the threshold to the inner cave, the Hero may once again confront some of his initial concerns and fears. To gain the bravery to continue, he may need to take some time to reflect on his trip and the hazardous road ahead. This brief repose heightens tension in anticipation of the Hero’s ultimate trial by allowing us to comprehend how significant it is.
- The Ordeal The Supreme Ordeal is a perilous physical trial or a profound inner conflict that the Hero must overcome in order to survive or for the world in which he lives to continue to exist. Whether it’s defeating his most terrible adversary or his deepest dread, the Hero must utilize all of his abilities and experiences gathered on the journey to the inner cave in order to succeed. The Hero is reborn through death, which is metaphorically likened to a literal resurrection that gives him new power or knowledge sufficient to complete his mission or reach the conclusion of his quest. This is when everything the Hero values most hang in the balance. He will either perish or life as he knows it will never be the same again if he fails.
- The Reward The Hero, after overcoming the enemy, surviving death, and finally conquering his greatest personal challenge, is ultimately changed into a new condition as a result of the battle. The Reward may take many forms: an important or powerful object, secret knowledge or wisdom increase, or even reconciliation with a loved one or companion. Whatever the treasure is that will help him complete his journey, the Hero is now in a better position to do so than before.
- The Road Back This is the last part of the Hero’s journey. In this section, he has to go back home with his reward. Now, instead of being afraid, he will be hoping for acclaim and vindication. He might have to do one more thing before going back into the Ordinary World.
- Resurrection This is the climax, in which the Hero will have his last and most hazardous confrontation with death. The Hero’s final contest is about more than his own existence, with the outcome having significant implications for his Ordinary World and those he leaves behind. Others will suffer if he fails, adding to the burden on his shoulders and compelling the audience to feel involved in the struggle as well. The Hero will ultimately succeed, defeat his opponent, and emerge from the conflict with the prize he set out to win.
- The Return The final stage in the Hero’s journey is his return to his Ordinary World as a transformed person. He will have developed as a person, acquired many new skills, encountered many terrible challenges, and even faced death during his quest. However, he looks forward to beginning a fresh existence at home. His return might provide renewed optimism for those he left behind and faith for those who have continued to believe in him.
The ultimate prize that he receives may be literal or figurative. It might be a cause for celebration, self-awareness, or the end of the conflict, but whatever it is, it represents three things: change, success, and proof of his journey. The Hero’s doubters will be ostracized; his foes chastised; his allies rewarded. His rewards may be material, they may take the form of a new prize or status, or he might even experience a spiritual change that was unknown to him before his journey began.
CONTENT BRIEF EXAMPLES:
EXAMPLE 1:
[Hero] = Alex
[World] = Small town in the 1980s
[Goal] = Become a famous musician
[Call] = Gets opportunity to audition for a talent competition
[Mentor] = High school music teacher
[Threshold] = Taking a bus to the big city audition
[Tests] = Facing rejection, struggling to make ends meet
[Ordeal] = Being cheated by a manager, losing all money
[Reward] = Meeting kind strangers who believe in her talent
[Return] = Coming home more mature and committed to music
EXAMPLE 2:
[Hero]: Indie filmmakers and YouTubers on a budget
[World]: The VFX licensing industry is expensive and time-consuming to navigate as a small creator. Most options are pay-per-effect.
[Goal]: Save money and time acquiring VFX without sacrificing quality.
[Call]: Can’t afford high VFX costs for their productions or waste time assembling effects individually.
[Mentor]: VFX licensing company’s educational content and value proposition positions subscription offer as solution.
[Threshold]: Signing up for a free trial of the VFX subscription.
[Tests]: Learning to navigate the platform interface and VFX library. Figuring out workflow.
[Ordeal]: Integrating subscribed VFX into their production pipelines has some technical challenges.
[Reward]: Huge library of VFX readily available speeds up productions significantly and reduces costs.
[Return]: Completing more high quality productions on budget and on time. Scaling productions.
Here is a “fill in the blank” template for the hero’s journey content brief with prompts:
[Content Brief]=
[Hero]: The name of your hero character.
[World]: Describe the ordinary world where your story begins. What time period or location?
[Goal]: What is your hero trying to achieve or become? What is their ambition?
[Call]: What event or challenge disrupts your hero’s ordinary world and compels them to start their journey?
[Mentor]: Who is the mentor figure who prepares your hero for the journey ahead?
[Threshold]: What threshold does your hero cross to enter the new world or start their real adventure?
[Tests]: What kinds of tests and trials will your hero face? Who are their allies and enemies?
[Ordeal]: What supreme ordeal does your hero face? Their ultimate test.
[Reward]: What reward does the hero gain that transforms them? An object, knowledge, wisdom?
[Return]: How is the hero transformed when they return with this reward?
START WORKFLOW
// Define commands intro =>“Introduce the hero in their ordinary world before the journey begins. Describe their homeland, daily life, personality, goals and struggles.”
call =>“Describe the call to adventure that disrupts the hero’s ordinary world and compels them to embark on a journey. What is the inciting incident and source of the hero’s pain or unrest?”
refuse =>“Explain why the hero initially refuses the call to adventure. What doubts, fears or obligations hold them back?”
mentor =>“Introduce the mentor figure who helps prepare the hero for the journey ahead. Why does the mentor help the hero and what gifts or advice do they provide?”
threshold =>“Describe the hero crossing the threshold into the unknown world of adventure. How do they cross and what is this new world like?”
tests =>“Outline the tests, allies gained and enemies faced as the hero navigates the new world and gains skills. How do these tests help the hero grow?”
approach =>“Describe the hero’s initial strategy to tackle the central conflict and the setbacks faced. What do they struggle with internally, externally and philosophically?”
ordeal =>“Explain the supreme ordeal the hero must face. What makes this their greatest challenge and what skills are needed to overcome it?”
reward =>“Describe the reward the hero gains after surviving the ordeal. How does this help transform them moving forward?”
road =>“Describe the road back home for the hero and their continued journey. What is their final commitment and higher cause?”
finale =>“Outline the hero’s final resurrection and dangerous test. What are the consequences of failure and impact on their world?”
end =>“Describe the hero’s return home with new wisdom. How are they transformed and what is the resolution to their journey?”
// Execute commands in sequence [result]==>=>=>=>=>=>=>=>=>=>=>
END WORKFLOW
Produced by GenAIUniversity.com
Full video transcript
Hey, how’s it going? Darby here with Gen AI University, and in this video I’m going to demonstrate how you can utilize the hero’s journey framework to turn your customers, or the characters of your stories, into the heroes across an epic tale and an epic journey that any entrepreneur, creator, marketer, or brand can utilize for better clarifying the marketing message and your brand message that positions your customer as a hero from start to finish.
Following a timeless framework that has been utilized in many of the most popular movies you see out there today, from Star Wars to Hunger Games — a lot of these ginormous films in Hollywood, and the stories that we tell ourselves every day, often follow a framework that was really popularized by Joseph Campbell in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” You can go look that up on Amazon and I’ll link to that book below. Inside that book he breaks down 12 phases of a hero’s journey, and we’ve utilized AI at this point to break down each phase of that customer journey and, within ChatGPT, help you with articulating the brand message and the story that you are walking your characters through.
As you’ll see in this video — watch till the end — you’ll see all the different ways you can utilize this workflow within ChatGPT, and really a number of different large language models like Claude, Google Bard, and more. We’re demonstrating ChatGPT here, so make sure you watch through this workflow, then go on over to our website and our blog to utilize the content brief in the workflow so you can run this for yourself, completely free, no opt-in required.
But if you do like this video, before we get going, if you like the content we produce on our channel, go ahead and click like and subscribe so we know our videos are giving you the thumbs up. And if you want more than what we’re producing here on these demos and trainings, we have a whole library and vault of micro courses, interviews, use cases, and more advanced workflows at Gen AI University, which you can learn more about on our website. But we won’t get into that now — let’s go ahead and dive into the workflow.
All right, so once you’ve gone over to our blog, found this post, and selected the content brief, you’re going to want to paste it here inside of ChatGPT. This is step one of two: step one is the content brief context that you’re going to be providing the AI for your content creation, and the second step is actually executing the workflow in a series of prompts and commands.
So the content brief we can see here has a number of variables, and depending on your relationship with your brand, your customers, and your character, you can get creative with this — this is just one example of a multitude of ways you can utilize this particular storytelling framework. It starts with the basics: the hero — what is the name of the hero character; the world — describe the ordinary world where your story begins, what time period, what location; what is your hero trying to achieve, their ambition, their goal; who is their mentor figure that prepares them to enter into the new world and start the real adventure; and the tests and the return. These are the hero’s journey stages as Joseph Campbell breaks down in “Hero with a Thousand Faces,” and you want to give this as much context as possible, but understand we’re utilizing AI here as a brainstorming partner, so you can run this again and again.
I put together a complete example so you can see how a simple content brief will allow you to run this recipe — go grab that right now. In this example, the hero of the story is an indie filmmaker/YouTuber on a budget, and the world they’re living in is the visual-effects licensing industry, which is expensive, time-consuming to navigate as a small creator, and where a lot of options are pay-per-effect. This made-up company has a product that licenses visual effects to creators on a budget. You can see we’ve got goals to save money and time acquiring VFX without sacrificing quality — the hero can’t afford it, VFX costs their production too much, and it’s a waste of time assembling effects individually. You can go through this example on the blog post if you want to see the full version.
I would put this together as if I were in charge of the marketing at a VFX company running this sort of offer — understanding what story our brand is telling our customers throughout the life cycle of a customer: the problem, the call to action, and the guide or mentor they meet. From there, once I’ve got all this content figured out, I’m going to go on to part two, which is the execution of this workflow. So I’m going to grab my command stack from the blog and paste it in here — you can see it’s going through each one of these narrative stages, from the intro to the call to the refusal to the mentor.
Now that I’ve selected my content brief and my workflow is ready to run, I’m simply going to click enter and let ChatGPT give me the first edition of this hero’s journey from start to finish. We’ll give it one more shot to see if it’s going to play today — there we go, now we have the results.
Intro: “In the bustling, eclectic world of indie filmmaking and YouTube content creation, our hero stands out as a beacon of ambition and creativity, forever operating on a shoestring budget. They craft stories and videos that aim to punch well above their financial weight class. In a small home studio laden with DIY equipment and the persistent hum of a workhorse computer, our hero Alex weaves narratives from the threads of imagination. Their homeland is the digital frontier, a place where creativity is boundless but resources are not. Alex’s daily life is a juggle of scriptwriting, shot planning, and editing — a labor of love where every frame is a victory against the constraints of time and money. Their goal is simple: to tell great stories and share them with a growing audience. Yet the struggle is ever present — high-quality visual effects, the magic dust that turns the mundane into the magnificent, are just out of financial reach, teasing and testing Alex’s resolve.”
So that was the introduction to the hero in the story. You can see how it’s painting a picture of where their life is now, related to the content brief we gave it — the hero, it’s crafting that picture right here because of this command: introduce the hero, describe the homeland, daily life, personal goals, and struggles. As you’re looking at this entire workflow, maybe you have an expansion you’d like it to include — maybe you want it to talk about what their nightlife is like in their town, what their schooling looks like, what kind of education they have. All these things you can build on top of this workflow, test, refine, tweak, and build up more than just this for yourself, but this is fundamentally each step of this framework of the hero’s journey to get you started and moving in that direction.
After the introduction, we move on to the next stages. The call: “The Call to Adventure strikes like a bolt of inspiration. Alex stumbles upon a short film so visually arresting that it belies its indie roots — the effects are professional, seamless, and impossibly created on a budget as tight as their own. The pain is immediate and twofold: the longing to elevate their own projects to such heights, and the sting of the financial barriers that block the way. The inciting incident — the realization that to truly make their mark, Alex must harness the same visual wizardry, but the cost of VFX licensing is a mountain on the shoestring path, prohibitive and daunting.”
Reading through this as one example, from any storyteller’s or marketer’s perspective — think about the stories you tell as a brand, as a marketer, as a person, and how you’re walking the hero of your journey through each stage of the storytelling process to ultimately help them overcome that refusal and meet the mentor, which is really what your brand should be. If your brand is telling a story, you want your brand to be that guide, whether it’s a product, a service, or, like the example here, a licensing platform. You can see the mentor comes in, they help the hero cross over a threshold, they experience different tests, they gain allies in online forums with VFX artists — maybe this is stuff I can get imagination and ideas from for building a community around our product if we don’t already have one, or maybe it’s updating some content on the website that paints this picture more clearly, putting the customer as the hero of the journey all the way down to approaching the ordeal, the reward, and the road back, to the finale.
This is that story that a product, a service, a storyteller — anyone — is telling on one end to help the other person make their way through said story. You look at movies like Star Wars and Hunger Games — many of the greatest stories ever told in our history have followed a similar format to this. I would encourage you, as you’re going through experimenting with this particular workflow, to get creative with it — go back up to the top, play around with your hero, the world they’re in, and how it aligns to what you’re doing right now as a business or a creator in the space, and also what story you’re looking to tell and where you might want some assistance brainstorming and coming up with ideas. That’s where ChatGPT really shines — you can see I can generate this entire story in one click of a button once I’ve got my table set and my workflow ready to go.
Your call to action is to go to our blog, linked below in this video, and fill out a content brief of your own — copy and paste that content brief into ChatGPT along with the workflow I’ve uploaded there for you, and run this workflow for yourself. See how it gives you ideas you could amplify in your own storytelling, positioning your customer as the hero in the journey. Take things away from this format for telling stories in general — this could be used for so many different cases, this is just one example. I hope this gives you some ideas as to how AI can help you improve your storytelling and help your customers along their customer journey.
If you like this video, make sure to give us a thumbs up, comment, and turn on notifications, subscribe to our channel, and let us know that you’re interested in more videos like this — more workflows, things of that nature. And if you want to take things a step further, I invite you to join our community at Gen AI University, where we’ve got a few different levels of membership, from our AI Growth Library to the AI Knowledge Network — we’ve got something for everyone from beginner to advanced who’s looking to integrate and accelerate the implementation of generative AI in their business, so they can create, innovate, and grow together collectively as a community. I love the community and platform we’re building, and also here on YouTube — the demos and trainings that come from that community end up right here where you’re watching right now.
So, all that said, subscribe to us here on YouTube, comment and like this video if you got some ideas and how it goes for you, and let me know what other videos and workflows you’d be interested in seeing so we can keep creating better content — and maybe find a VFX licensing solution to spice our content up. All right, till next time, I’ll see you on the other videos. Keep calm and AI on. I’m Darby from Gen AI University.