on Helping Writers become Authors:

The well-known Hero Arc offers us the exciting story of a brave youth fighting to discover and earn his own worthiness. It follows on the heels of the Maiden Arc‘s initial individuation from the Authority Figures that dominate one’s youth, and it offers the young adult the opportunity to discover what he is meant to do with his life.

Viewed mythically, the Hero Arc (or Journey) is usually an epic Quest, in which the Hero ventures away from the Kingdom to confront a Dragon and find the Elixir that will heal the Sick King and save the Kingdom. More realistically, it is a story about finding meaning and setting one’s course in the very specific ways that will influence the entire rest of one’s life.