Where Do Stories Come From?

A hero’s journey of an Apache woman warrior sprang from my subconscious mind.

Tom Hanratty
Hooked on Books
Published in
4 min readAug 26, 2024

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Photo by Joe Cook on Unsplash

One of the characters in a mystery novel I wrote goes on a Hero’s Journey, a universal metaphor in mythology.

I didn’t discover she was engaged in a mythological odyssey until I saw a video with Joseph Campbell years after publishing my novel.

These allegories spring from our unconscious minds, embedded like Jungian archetypes, and color our creative endeavors regardless of time or culture.

It makes me wonder what else lurks in the deep, hidden parts of my subconscious that will pop out in other stories.

Joseph Campbell, the prominent mythology scholar and literature professor, shared his deep understanding of mythological stories. Gleaned from a lifetime of study of various religions, literature, and stories worldwide, he published The Hero of a Thousand Faces in 1949. Since its inception, this book has influenced art, science, literature, and movies, such as The Star Wars Saga.

In this nonfiction classic, Campbell introduced his theory of the “monomyth,” which he defines as a common metaphor in myths and stories across all cultures.

One of the most prominent monomyths is the Hero’s Journey.

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Tom Hanratty
Hooked on Books

Scribbler of stories, lover of mysteries, retired Forensic Investigator and Tracker of critters. tomhanratty@substack.com