Wordy Bubble
Welcome to the Hero’s Journey!
It’s wonderful to be welcoming so may new faces on this incredible adventure! This is a place where anyone can begin, no matter what sort of Hero’s Journey you are navigating through in your own life! It is also a place to help reflect on your previous adventures, as well as think about how these steps can help you navigate any current or future ones you may go through. There are many outcomes to our adventures, and not all things will happen in the same step; but this can give an idea of what could happen, and, in turn, help you prepare for an even that relates to these steps.
On the side of the ship that everyone has entered on, there are multiple images and artworks creates by previous adventurers that have gone through their own hero journey—or are currently going through it—and have created a badge to reflect them and their goals. My own badge shows off many flowers of different types surrounded by myself. The inspiration comes from the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, an artist that I have talked about previously in a previous post, which also shows off the draft of my mission badge. My badge shows off flowers that represent different types of self-care, as well as things I aspire to be in order to better myself and my mental health.
Storytelling Over the Years (and the Modern Effect)
Storytelling has been a thing that has existed for years and years, and has become a tradition for many cultures. Many stories come from the act of sitting around a fire and telling a story to a group of people, who would then go to tell that same story to another group of people, or singular person; the cycle would continue, and that same story would eventually become famous and well-known—with some alterations, since the story would either be lost in translation, or someone would mis-remember a detail for something else and change some aspect of a character or concept. A well-known example of this type of storytelling comes from the epic poems The Odyssey and the Iliad, which are stories that were supposedly told verbally by the blind poet Homer.
Modernly, most of our stories are found online through the perspective of both credited sources, written in the format of physical and online books, as well as individuals who express these stories to the world. Since we have access to seeing stories online, we are exposed to a multitude of events and stories that are spread across the entirety of social media. Just as though it were told verbally around a campfire, sometimes there could be accidental misinterpretations of the story that can confuse people and make them wonder which version of the story is the truest.
Despite the different ways that storytelling has changed since the evolution and creation of technology, the effects of storytelling are still the same as they have always been. We still have emotional reactions to stories that we read or see on the internet (laughing when we see something funny or shocking, or crying when we read devastating news or connect with someone on a personal level); we still learn life lessons after reading a story about someone experiencing something firsthand, rather than learning them through fictionalized stories.
Even if we feel disconnected sometimes by how often we are on our phones looking though social media, there is still this feeling of connection when we read something that affects us to the point of gaining a reaction from it, or when we learn something new from a stranger that lives in an entirely different country. Social media is definitely exhausting in the way that we learn about so many things at once, but there is some reward when we see something uplifting, or learn something that has benefited us and helped us grow as people.
“Campfire” by jeff.souville is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 
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The Paths You Choose in a Choose Your Own Adventure
You find yourself at a crossroads; a fork in the road, with a sign that points to two paths in opposite directions. One sign reads of a town name—painted recently, radiating a sort of pride to its name. The sign is big, and it provides you with a sense of knowing where you want to go. The other sign is smaller, and more run-down—left without maintenance, and shadowing the town sign; however, the sign provides an image rather than a word. It’s mysterious, but it compels you to want to explore the path and find out what awaits on the other side.
There is always the option to go a different direction—find a path that no one has before and discover something that has been left unknown for who knows how long. Figure out whether to go further left or further right, or try the un-ventured path that remains in the middle of the two. Or you could always turn back and plan for something else—there’s nothing wrong with regrouping with yourself and finding a different route to venture towards.
What do you do? Where do you think the story will go? How will you decide where and when the story ends?
In a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) story, there is always a choice that leads towards a path with even more choices, and that choice is counted towards a path that eventually leads to a special event. Whether that event is the end, or that path causes another option to open, depends on the choices that have been made beforehand. This genre of storytelling has been incorporated into the world of video games, as well as Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPG) as another fun way to tell a story that is more engaging and more interactive than activities before it.
Each CYOA story has a quest that the protagonist (you, or the character that represents you) must go on, as represented by one of the seven quest-types that all adventurers go on according to Dan Roam:
- The quest towards home after the long battle, or after getting lost in oneself.
- Striving to win the prize, whether that be wealth for your gain, or a prize to an object that could save the world.
- Hunting for revenge to avenge a fallen loved one, or to strike down those who have done you wrong.
- Harking on a battle to fight the evil dragon taking over the world, or enemy that goes against the better of the world and its people.
- Going on a journey of self-discovery to find yourself once more, or to be reborn.
- Risking the climb to reach the top and make to where no one has before.
- Searching for true love, whether that’s the love that comes from someone else, or you find the will to love yourself.
Each of these quests are what make a story relatable and captivating, placing you into a situation where you can get lost in, as well as relate the experiences to yourself. They create an agency to discover more about the in-world story, as well as find where you fit in and see what kind of changes you can make in it. This gives people the chance to discover a story that they can connect with, as well as explore different paths and decide for themselves what may be the more interesting option, or connect with a choice from experiences from their personal life.
These are stories that I have grown fond of over the years, and I tend to play games where I can create a character, or create someone to play, and play a game where I can determine the story—as best as I can, anyhow. I’m forced to play a main role in the games that I play, which makes up for my absence as a leader in the real world; but, I can say that storytelling games and media where I am forced to take the role as leader for myself inspires me to try and be more confident in my actions, as well as inspire myself to help others more in anyway possible.
“Choose your own adventure” by scanlime is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 .
“The Princess Bride” Cultural Phenomenon (from the Perspective of Someone Who Has Never Seen It)
Personally, I have never seen The Princess Bride, as someone who does not consume a lot of movies during my spare time. Despite my lack of experience, I still know of the movie itself, as well as the memes and jokes that come with it, as a byproduct of other people talking about it and seeing it in pop culture. This well-beloved and well-known story has retained its status as an extraordinary story since the time of its release—despite its moderate appraisal amongst the audience and critics. It’s gradual accomplishment of becoming a classic of older generations, as well as a new favorite amongst younger audiences, shows how its story stays relevant, and how its themes and storytelling captivates an audience of all ages.
William Goldman, the writer behind the story—both for the original novel, and for the movie adaptation—utilized the world of unconventional storytelling to deliver a classic story with its own twists and adaptations of fairy tale tropes. He keeps the classic fairy tale theme of “love conquers all”, as well as the importance of friendship, while deviating from tropes that are typically found in storybook side characters and plot points. The writing itself combines elements of satire and humor, and appeals to the audience that loves a romantic fantasy—a “romantacy”—story; this is a perfect combination of storytelling elements that allows the story to captivate a wider audience range.
Tying back to Dan Roam’s Draw to Win, visualizations can help garner a reader’s attention, and help further visualize a place or object, or even a concept, which, in turn, helps an audience retain information better. This also applies to information outside of a creative storytelling place—for example, in slide shows, we find that it can become hard to stay focused on a topic if all we are listening to is someone speaking with no actual visual aids to help us. When we are reading a book, or looking at a body of text (like this blog post), we can only do so much imagination on our own, as well as remember details of a person or place, without sometimes forgetting what it was or who they were. And while we can come up with a face to a name, or a descriptor for the character, sometimes it is difficult to keep track of everything.
The film adaptation of The Princess Bride brings in a fresh new perspective of the characters and the setting that they’re in. Having people act out scenes from a novel, keeping to the story while adding new elements that don’t take away from the original script (to my knowledge…as stated, I have never seen or read the story), helps make the story that much more memorable and cherish-able.
“The Princess Bride” by Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 .
Drawing is Essential for Success (No Skill Required)
Many people claim that they can’t draw. When people think of being an artist, they think of the predominant historical artists that defined history back when people were first beginning to learn about the concept of art; they don’t think of the historical and present-day figures that make history with stick figures and boxes and spheres. There have been many accounts, as illustrated and shown in Dan Roam’s Draw to Win, where people have found success in creating visuals—or art—to showcase an idea of theirs to help explain exactly what they are going for. Their professions are and were not centered around art.
Art can be utilized as a tool just as easily as art is used as a nice decorative piece, or used to make money when times get tough. One of the main examples of art being used as a tool comes from Dan Roam himself, where he talked about how him and his friend, Tony, illustrated a presentation showcasing how Obamacare worked and how it became the way it was, all while using stick figures and simple diagrams with single sentences attached to each drawing. That presentation has since been on the news, as well as been showcased at the White House. And it was all done with simple line work. No fancy details or brushes. No aesthetically pleasing color (unless you love red). It almost looks as though the presentation was made with a cocktail napkin for a last-minute idea to get a patent for a future invention, or even doodles on a whiteboard. Maybe calling it a doodle is disrespectful considering its success, but if you think about it this way, if a doodle can bring success to that kind of caliber, then maybe anything you call just a “doodle” can later bring you that same success—or any other type of success depending on what your goals are.
In the same way that doodles can land you a presentation at the White House, art, and your skill (or lack thereof), can be applied to the concepts of Digital Storytelling and the usage of infographics. Digital Storytelling is a storytelling media that utilizes things that make it easier to express an idea or concept, as well as aid in the visualization of the story that you are trying to tell; things such as digital art, or an open world that allows you to create things in a sandbox (such as Second Life). Anything that involves using the digital space to create art. I’ve been involved in Digital Storytelling throughout my college course, with Spring 2024 being my first time stepping into the world of Digital Storytelling.
Infographics follow the same idea of delivering and expressing a concept or idea, except it focuses more on data and information rather than creative storytelling. Infographics present data in a way that delivers information that is easy to digest, and gets the point across efficiently without using lengthy texts for people to read. I have not had much experience with creating infographics myself, though they look very intresting to create.
“scientist in the middle” by driek is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 .
A Graphic Novel and a Textbook to Make an Impact
Reading Watchmen by Alan Moore, as well as 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D. has helped with navigating the Digital Storytelling class for the spring quarter of 2024.
The uniqueness of the graphic novel that provides a wonderful example of storytelling that people can take inspiration from—one that I definitely think this class has definitely done. Like Watchmen, the Superhero’s Journey showcases multiples stories from different heroes who come from all different types of background, and posses their own type of superpowers that they can use to their advantage. Each story that we see starts from some sort of beginning, although the story doesn’t end with this class; instead, it leaves room to add something more from future students, whether its adding their own story to the mix, or continuing off from what someone has done before. The Superhero’s Journey is its own Watchmen with the way it embodies the element of storytelling…although, with a more happy ending.
100 Things is a wonderful textbook that goes through the elements of design and how to take into consideration of the general audience and make sure that, hopefully, all people can have access to. It also shows design tricks that can help captivate an audience by going to the psychology of a person’s mind and how they might interpret something based on where they grow up, or how their brain works, etc. This textbook has helped us to consider how we should design something, as well as how people’s interpretation of said design could evoke a certain sense of feeling out of them, and therefore craft a story that could come out of it.
“DC Comics Watchmen smiley badge” by dannybirchall is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Virtual Communities and Digital Storytelling
Watching “Virtual Cultures in Pandemic Times” was a very informative and rather cozy documentary, and something that I found myself being immersed in as I remembered how I interacted with virtual worlds through the pandemic as well. I also thought it was an excellent piece on virtual worlds in general, and what being involved with virtual worlds can do for people who may not have had a lot of social interaction, or who may have lost social interactions from their daily lives when the pandemic hit. Being able to both interact with people while still at home, and especially during a time where people couldn’t interact physically with each other, played an important part in still being able to retain that sense of communication with other people even if the pandemic wouldn’t allow it.
One of the most memorable parts of this documentary was the part about how people were able to express themselves through different means through virtual worlds. For example, since Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) came out soon after the pandemic hit, people have been expressing themselves through their islands—as in, they were decorating and terraforming their islands however they pleased, as though it was a sort of art form for them. It can be therapeutic in the way that it allows for someone to express themselves for themselves without the pressure of being perceived by other people; or people would do the complete opposite—expressing their artistic talents for other people—which was another big thing about ACNH.
In that same vein of self-expression, Second Life was another amazing virtual world where people could turn customize their avatars into whatever they wanted them to—even inanimate objects, if they desired! People can also have their own islands in Second Life that they could decorate as well; whether they made another home for themselves, or had a shop to sell their own things, they could do whatever they desired without restrictions on their creativity.
Our work in Second Life is based on the idea of expressing yourself through the work that you do. Even though we are meant to create things for the Hero’s Journey, you are adding onto this ongoing story by telling your own, and therefore expressing yourself through that story. We are given the freedom—within a certain parameter—to create whatever we want and to express ourselves however we want.
I believe that, as a way to get others immersed into the Hero’s Journey Project, as well as maybe gain some new recruits into our digital storytelling world, is to help promote it in places where people will find it the quickest. At our own college, it would be nice to have physical fliers promoting our Superhero’s Journey project. Online, creating posts about it to people who might be able to spread it around would be a good way to promote our project to others as well.
(Update: June 6, 2024 at 10:12pm)
Since we have presented out J.E.D.I. Hub to our stakeholders as well as other guests, I feel as though we did a wonderful job at telling the guests our thought process behind each object and area, and the story that goes with it. For me, I definitely did have some nerves before it was my time to present my area, but I thought I did good! The nerves definitely went away as I was presenting (which I definitely think carried on from performing when I was younger, so it definitely helps for moments like these), which was a good thing. I do not think that I would want to change anything about my presentation, aside from the things that I would definitely nitpick about myself; however, overall, it was a fun experience, and I’m really proud of everyone and myself for being able to get things done and for how our presentation went!
A Side Quest
When I first started my college career, my intention was to go into this learning about new ways of extending whatever artistic skills that I possessed, and possibly learn something new about myself that could help with that. I wanted to expand on how to draw people, and how to create things from my imagination. I wanted—and still want—to be able to tell a story that people can enjoy, no matter what form of media that comes in.
While I have been progressing in skills—and learning new ones while at it—I sort of lost the capability to create for myself; in turn, that meant that I lost the capability to create a story that I could be proud of. When I was in high school, and a lot younger, I would write to myself a lot. A lot of those writings have since been deleted, and anything that I produce currently only last about…maybe a paragraph or two, or if I’m lucky, they last multiple smaller paragraphs when inspiration hits for longer than just a few minutes. I have slowly been trying to get myself back in the groove of things, though I know that this is a long process that can’t be fixed overnight (though I wish that was the case for most things).
This all came to a burst during the middle of my spring quarter of 2024. My motivation was at an all time low, I felt like I wasn’t able to do anything to get through it, and I was struggling really bad at even starting things, let alone finishing the things I was in the middle of doing. I ended up conversing about my professor about this, asking to meet outside of class time to discuss and ask about what to do.
To put it in an embarrassing way, I was asking my professor for motivation to continue trying.
For a good half an hour, it was a back and forth between her asking me questions, and me answering them as I tried not to cry too much (I had broken down almost immediately at the beginning of the call. I also failed at trying to suppress my crying). It was almost cathartic, though I sometimes look back on it with a little bit of shame for breaking down on her like that.
It wasn’t until we got onto the topic of creating and what I enjoyed doing that she was able to come up with an idea to get me back on a creative streak.
As creatives in the work field, we rarely get the chance to create for ourselves, or to have a chance to create things in the way that we love (unless we are able to find a job that allows us to be selfish). In order to give me that leeway to continue doing work for class, as well as be able to be expressive and hone into this passion of mine for storytelling, I was given a side quest.
Why not tell the story of The Hero’s Journey? Create something that allows me to use my passion for storytelling to give people something to interact with in a way that inspires others to follow their own passion and dreams?
That conversation birthed the storybook: an engagement object that I created in Second Life. A thing that would hold the story that is found within the Hero’s Journey. Something that people can interact and read through as they go along.
This is definitely a project that will progress past this class, but it is definitely one that I will be excited to continue as I continue my college career.
The Impact of “Watchmen” and Other Superhero Society Stories
I say this light-heartedly, but the better half of this blog post talks about My Hero Academia, which is something that I have mentioned once in a blog post before. Understandably so, I can get repetitive with mentioning this series as it has taken up my all-time favorite stories slot—plus, it is a topic I am always wanting to talk about—so if that is a section that you may not want to read, then please feel free to skip over the rest of the post, starting with the paragraph that starts with, “In lieu of…”
“Watchmen”, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbson, was a graphic novel that helped pave the way for future comics and their storytelling in a way that wouldn’t be appreciated by mainstream before.
In its own uniqueness, “Watchmen” changed how comic books were formatted for future comic book creating. “Watchmen” uses a color palette that brings together an entirely different vibe to the comic that can be sensed without even having to read what happens within it. Compared to other comics, “Watchmen”’ uses secondary colors as its primary palette, which gives the sense that something within the comic is off-putting—that something feels wrong about it (“wrong”, meaning that this is not going to be your typical superhero society setting). That is one of the many intricacies found within the comic that makes Watchmen so different from the others. Watchmen also pioneered the usage of Comic Sans—the font that everyone seems to hate, yet remains a staple in comic book formatting.
The storytelling that takes place in “Watchmen” is very captivating in its own right, using an unusual setting for a superhero society, as well as writing angsty and gut-wrenching scenes and themes that could be triggering to some people if not warned about beforehand; which, despite the mindset that it lives in, is an excellent way of getting people to become immersed in such a story despite its grueling themes. This is a brilliant way of not only captivating an audience, but it also shows that new ideas and inventions can inspire others to explore such topics in the safety of a story, and create something akin to it—this story has either sparked ideas, or influenced others, into creating stories that step outside the boundaries of what is socially acceptable in mainstream media.
I am someone who does not consume much media that makes it hard to do a little bit of escapism, but reading “Watchmen” has been a wonderful experience, and I am glad that I was given this opportunity to read such a novel in a medium that makes it enjoyable to read in.
In lieu of graphic novels and comic books, and inspiration, one series that inspires me—and, if you know me, has continued to inspire me for many years and ongoing (and seems to be the only thing I want to talk about…I apologize)—is My Hero Academia, a manga written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi. Coincidentally, this is also a story that rests within superhuman society. However, compared to “Watchmen”, My Hero contains a different premise and theme throughout the story that differs from it. In a superhuman society, where comic book and graphic novel heroes are a reality, as well as their rivaling supervillains, almost everyone is born with a superpower ability—only 20% of the population are quirkless, as opposed to those who have a quirk.
The protagonist of the story, Izuku Midoriya, is a boy born quirkless. Despite being outcasted for being quirkless, he proves to his number 1 hero, All Might, that he, too, can become a hero, despite being born without a quirk; after being the only one out of a crowd of civilians and heroes to rush out and save his childhood friend from being attacked by a villain, he is gifted a quirk, and promised to be trained under the number 1 hero to become the world’s greatest hero—to become a hero and save the world with a smile on his face, just as his idol has for many years.
The themes of hope, and humanizing those who have been wronged, are prevalent in this story, as well as learning to lean on others for support, even if that means that they could struggle in the process. Amongst that, we also see themes of learning to understand, lessons of atonement versus forgiveness, lessons of not giving up during a disturbing and hopeless time—a core theme of reaching out to others, which is the core theme that surrounds Izuku, and his childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugou.
I’ve become attached to this story not only because of the characters and the story building that comes with it, but because of everything else that I’ve talked about in this series. It’s a phenomenal story, and it has this depth that often gets overlooked by those who don’t read it, or have only heard hearsay about it. This is something I wish to recommend to those who might even be a little bit interested in superhero type stories, though I don’t believe that one shouldn’t go into this thinking that it’s going to be a typical action superhero series. It’s worth taking one’s time to read it, and to digest everything, and to remember little tidbits that might be mentioned in passing, and to not judge the characters upon first introduction (and, possibly, find posts that help break down translations and hidden meanings within the Japanese text that get localized…things can get lost in translations).