In an article for Writer’s Digest, Aimee Hardy examines how the five stages of grief mirror story structure and how stories are often about this cycle of grief. Grief “always teaches us something new: How strong we are, how short life is, how our lives aren’t predetermined but blank canvases that hold the paints of who we are,” Hardy says. “In many ways, storytelling is its own grief process that helps us let go of our old selves to accept something new.”
Like the Hero’s Journey, grief often begins with denial. The hero’s refusal of the call to action mirrors the disbelief many of us feel when we’re hit with bad news. Once the hero accepts the call – or leaves the denial stage – he is confronted with obstacles, which can create frustration and anger. When the going gets tough, the hero may look for a way out, similar to the way people grieving bad news will look for alternatives.
Often, a protagonist will reach an impasse that seems too difficult to overcome. They’ve experienced great loss on their journey. They might give up their quest, even if only temporarily. They’ve become depressed. However, finally the hero rediscovers their will to succeed and accepts the task before them. They’ve experienced the darkest hour, and now it’s time to fight or die.
Hardy says that the writing process can be similar, as writers face their own questions, doubts, challenges, and dark moments as they work on a project. “As writers, we have ideas that won’t leave us alone, we follow them into the unknown and face big questions in an epic battle, and ultimately we let our old ways of thinking die so that we can accept a new reality with a new–and often more nuanced–way of thinking,” she writes. “In this way, we are not consumed by grief. We learn from it. We share it. We learn complexity and empathy because of it.”
