Story Elements: Journeys Part 1

To reply to the story prompts, go to the Story Paths Substack here.

Welcome to the first ‘Story Elements’, where we explore the ingredients of stories so that you may better see them and tell them. This is not a plot-setting character three-act structure, hero's journey kind of exploration, although some of that will be in here. We’re going for an exploration of story that is more organic and poetic.

Story can be seen as a response to life.

We'll explore in this series how elements of story show up in life. Life also responds to story, and we’ll explore that too.

I’ll open this exploration of story elements with a dive into journeys. In the coming weeks, we will be exploring the journeys of our animal kin, and even journeys beyond our fertile home world, then relating these back to our regular old human experience, which turns out to be a tad more mythical than you might reckon.

Expect some explanations, and plenty of good questions.

Prompts from the audio:

How do different destinations affect the journey toward them? And are there journeys without destinations?

Is there a journey that you've been on for so long that you have changed since you began? Is there a destination that you no longer want in the same way as you did? Or perhaps that destination has changed?

Have you ever abandoned a long-term goal in favor of something else? Is there an instance where you regretted this? Is there another instance where you found a new destination that was better than the first?

Are you on a pilgrimage of sorts that may be called by another name? Is there something you've been seeking for a long time, seeking not like an arrow but more like a meandering trail, weaving around a rich and diverse landscape, collecting and sharing inspirations? Are you on a journey that does not end in any particular place but grows and grows?

What makes a pilgrimage? A pilgrimage? What is sacred? What or who is sacred? What? Who? Where is sacred? Sacred for whom? When does pilgrimage begin? When the thought is conceived or when the pilgrim is conceived?

I invite you to reflect on this in as broad and deep away as you would like a way that works for you. And I'll be happy to hear your thoughts.

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