I've just realized something: I’m too slavish to the “Hero’s Journey” formula.

That isn't the case with my writing in this life (nor, really, in the previous one).

The Goldenlea had many of the elements, but its protagonist was hapless and ultimately fails in his objectives, and in the sequel he is reduced to a supporting character, while the apparent protagonist has his hero’s journey interrupted by the revelation that the journey isn't what it seems by another protagonist with even more control over the situation. The real antagonist isn't even defeated until the denouement. Then when everything seems resolved, something else weird happens.

In "Basecraft Cirrostratus," the characters sort of have events happen to them. They’re ordinary characters running from a brutal dictator (then later, the fragments of his imploded regime) and pretty much relying on unusual amounts of dumb luck, good timing, and instinct to stay alive. The protagonist and the antagonist never meet; their only contact is through functionaries and is very hands-off. The sequel employs somewhat more of a hero’s journey but even that is somewhat stood on its end by a rather jarring change of pace toward the end.

My characters and their situations don't necessarily reflect an idealized hero's journey because they're written from life. Their ineffectual ways and their tendency for the story to sort of "happen" to them driven by unstoppable forces says a lot about how I've felt about the way I've actually lived my life.

So, as one who has changed up and at times even ignored the tropes of the Hero’s Journey while still writing compelling action stories, I should be capable of living my life the same way, right?

Except I find that too often, I try to live that Hero’s Journey by hoping that one day, my “specialness” will overcome something tremendous and I will save the world just by showing up. For too long I've been longing to be the Chosen One who can save the world because I have insight that others don’t. And the awful truth is, I've been so swept along by desperately wanting to be more effectual than my characters that I don't know any other way to be.

I am an idiot.