The Return With the Elixir is the final stage of the Hero’s Journey. The hero returns to their community as a force of change, bringing healing and wholeness to society at large. That healing (the “elixir”) can be physical, spiritual, or both.

Here’s how to master this critical scene.

Ultimately, heroes confront death. They rise against the most powerful villains and the worst sources of evil imaginable. On their journeys, they often suffer the consequences of tangling with these bad guys.

And they can’t emerge without being changed. That’s where Resurrection comes in.

Every story has that moment when everything seems okay. The dust has settled. The hero has his or her object of desire in hand. And for a moment, there’s peace.

But then all hell breaks loose. 

It’s the fake-out ending: that classic neck-breaking part of the story that thrills readers and audience members practically every time.

Here’s how to do it, Hero’s Journey-style.

Writing your story’s climax isn’t easy. And even when you outline it properly, including a great villain and a high-stakes task, putting it all into words can be quite a challenge. Perhaps the most challenging part of it, though, isn’t getting the words down. It’s getting the right words down.

Every great heroic story has that moment. It’s the deep breath before the plunge. The calm before the storm. The quiet before the calamity. In the Hero’s Journey, it’s the Approach before the Ordeal.

It’s an essential moment you need to plan for and build around as you draft your story. And to do it right, you’re going to need to figure out three key elements.

Every writer knows that writing the middle of a story is tough. But it doesn’t have to be. The Hero’s Journey, an age-old story structure theorized by Joseph Campbell, provides a clear path to take when constructing the middle of your story.

The Hero’s Journey: A classic story structure outlining the core elements of a story in which a character is presented with a challenge, goes on an adventure to face that challenge, and returns home changed and rewarded for completing it. [more]

In order for your hero to embark on an epic journey, they must first cross a threshold and leave their ordinary world. In fact, the fifth stage of the Hero’s Journey is Crossing the Threshold. Here’s how to master this pivotal scene.

Inspiration comes in many forms. It may be a lovely tune from your playlist; A stunning vista in nature; A wildly creative turn-of-phrase you overhear in a coffee shop. Nearly anything. Like all creative minds, you sit down to convert this nugget of inspiration into a story.

But then you hit a wall. How do you transform raw inspiration into an actual story? How do you turn inspiration into a novel plan?

Great stories are filled with great characters. One of the most common characters in any story is the Mentor, a must-include character if you’re writing a Hero’s Journey story. In fact, the fourth step of the Hero’s Journey is Meeting the Mentor. Who is your hero’s Mentor, and how do they challenge them?

You’ve established your story’s Ordinary World. What’s next? It’s time for your hero’s Call to Adventure — a call they must refuse.

Have you heard the story of the orphan boy living in the cupboard under the stairs?

Or perhaps the story of the girl in District 12 (the crappiest District) who would not only survive an unwinnable deathmatch, but become a symbol of liberty?

Maybe you’ve heard of the baby boy who was going to die in a mass genocide, but whose mother put him in a basket and sent him down the Nile River . . .

If you didn’t catch those, here they are in order: Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games), and . . . Moses.

And all these stories follow the same classic story structure.

When you’re a part of a writing community filled with great critique partners, you’ll be the happy recipient of lots of feedback on your writing. Sometimes it’s obvious how and when you should address the issues the feedback brings up.

But not all feedback is created equal, and often it can be overwhelming to know what feedback items you should address first or last, or whether you should address certain ones at all. Should you address every nitpick and complaint? Could your readers possibly be incorrect?

If you’re a writer, you’ve probably received feedback. While some writing feedback is easily processed (like quick compliments), the best feedback takes time and energy to deal with. Receiving a flood of critiques can feel good at first. But after reading a deluge of opinions and observations and judgments, it can get really overwhelming.

Here’s how to organize the feedback you receive so you can approach the next draft with confidence!

We can’t wait to get to the climax of a story. It’s the most exciting part, the place with the most action and intense moments. Right?

If you’re not finishing your writing, it’s because of fear. Fear is far more influential than we like to think. We like to believe that we’re not succumbing to fears because we are good at goal-setting, or perhaps we stick to a writing schedule of some kind.

Yet fear is insidious. It is subtle. It speaks with voices you can’t hear, and unless you weed those voices from your psyche, they will forever impede your writing dreams.

Here’s how to overcome your fears and finish your writing with confidence!

Endings are intimidating. They’re heavy-laden with all the narrative weight of your story. And they’re so much harder to write than we imagine when they play out in our heads.

So how do you write that rare, coveted third act that nails every beat and delivers on the audience’s hopes and dreams? How do you conclude your story, or trilogy, or series with power and poise? Let’s dive deep into how to write a winning ending by exploring three essential questions that will keep you on track as you wrap up your next story.

Nobody likes writing the middle of a story. Not only is the middle of a story the part where writers usually quit, it’s the part where readers quit too! The middle of a story can often feel unfocused, slow, or predictable. Sometimes even published and respected stories can feel like they lose their sense of direction and purpose in the middle.

But your story needs to be told. You need to start and finish it with confidence. And the way to write an amazing, page-turning middle to your book lies in answering three essential questions.

It’s difficult to know what to plan for when starting a novel. Is it essential to have each and every character, scene, and key change in mind beforehand? How much, or how little, do you need?

The bad news is, no matter how much you plan, your first draft is destined to be messy. But even if you’re a pantser, there are a few key questions you should answer before you start. When you do, you’ll be building your story on a rock-solid foundation that will give you the freedom to take risks that won’t cost you a ton of time and energy in the long run.

In many parts of the world, people are forced to do something that is completely absurd: They give up an hour of their lives.

It’s called “Daylight Savings Time,” but it’s more like “Good Night Sleep’s Losing Time.” It’s as if Thanos came to Earth, snapped his fingers, and 1/24th of everyone’s day turned to dust.

Yet as painful as it was to wake up an hour “later” Sunday morning, Daylight Savings Time can be the inspiration to write a story in any genre, from comedic to tragic.