How to structure your story: The epic form— A tool to prepare for the journey.

An epic tale is a story structure and it has distinctive characteristics that are, none the less, pretty flexible. I’m not trying here to discuss technicalities or minucia about the epic poems literary analysis that is sure beyond my capabilities. I will try to lay out how can we grasp and understand the value this way of telling stories has for the evolution of different communities (and companies are in this group), society as a whole and the support for projects that this way of connecting can bring into long, hard enterprises that are not so popular at the beginning.
There are all kinds of epic stories ranging in age, subjects and forms. It is a structure that has hardly suffered with the ages and changes in soil. All in all, ingredients remain the same no matter if we are talking about an old greek tale from Homer, a Tolkien journey into fantasy or the way ship captains talked to settlers five centuries ago to get them to jump on board to the americas.

What is so cool about an epic anyway?
I’ll be blunt and just plain outright call the epic a most peculiar chap among narrative structure options, mostly because of the success it has had over the centuries on the task of transference (of the information in it) but on viral propagation as well. That said I will not be getting into the epic as a genre. I will make a description of what is useful about it, and how can we take advantage of it.
Epic stories are magnetic by nature and make us bond with each other and with the characters from the tales while listening to them and while sharing them. Hence is really difficult to be an echo of these fables and not feeling as a part of it.
To have an epic tale nearby, although more complex and elaborated, makes any message a more competent traveler and it is much easier to make a viral reaction out of it. The story’s DNA matches that of us humans since it seems to have evolved along side our species over the last 180.000 years since we first raised from the savannah. Every person building a community and in need of fuel to achieve their objective can benefit from the gathering power of the epic tale.
The epic we are going to describe here is a tool for any modern human project seeking a world changing impact. It is a structure to build on. All definitions following are valid, technically speaking, only inside this particular scope and there is no further objective than to make a journey (a difficult one) easier, bringing a team together in a story because that, in a nutshell, is what we think it takes to get there and back again.
Ingredients to make a sweet tasting epic

• In any epic story is easy to find common denominators making different stories a valid member of the genre. There are no few cases in which this happens outside of literature all together. Any story portraying this set of ingredients, albeit being written with a salesman personality or not, works as an epic and recognizing this kind of tellings is not hard at all.
  It might tell the adventures of Alexadros, Marcopolo’s biography or some modern history about an entrepreneur of our time (a good rule of thumb about an epic history is that the movie tends to appear out of it). In any of such cases we will be able to find, almost in an effortless manner, a hand full of this commonalities epic stories show.
• A vision. Almost always expressed in a vague form but with one or two very specific descriptions. It is rarely clear, we don’t know what it is, or how are we going to, but it is a very specific idea non the less. We can feel it. Getting to India traveling west, Indexing all information humanity possesses, getting the gold from a dragon’s mountain. He who has the vision, or they, or it, it doesn’t matter. The vision is always specific enough so that we are called into action, immediately. To take action is to start a journey, either a metaphorical or a real one. People set themselves in a in-the-move mood.
• A promise. We can make this promise to those fellow travelers (We’ll be rich/We’ll be inmortal) but we can also address this promise to ones we are leaving behind (we’ll me back with emeralds and gold). The promise we make is the commitment the traveler is willing to make when throwing himself to the sea. It is the vote of confidence the team makes without a way to be sure of it, or to enforce it somehow (i.e. beyond their commitment and confidence on the project and their willingness to put energy into it). When the time comes to make a community stronger, a promise does not need to be the same to all. To promise is the way we tie bonds between us. Epic promises relay on trust. We can always keep an epic promise until the very last minute of our journey.
• Stories to show the riches down the road. We construct our identity as a group by sharing our history and that makes our stories come to life. A human group builds strength in common interest. Listening to things that makes us feel integrated, inspired to keep taking a role in this journey is an inexhaustible source of energy. To make an epic you need every kind of story: The documental story (to tell data about what happened), as the emotional story (containing what we want to happen). This is a task of identification and distribution because in epic experiences, stories live from repetition. Being the one who tells the story is also a pleasant thing. A camp fire with people around it listening to someone sharing a story is ubicuos. In order to be inside the epic we need to learn to be generous in telling stories and sharing our hopes and dreams.
• Talismans: these are objects (digital or physical, it does not matter) that have been forged by someone. It is quite inmutable, of course not taking into account natural degradation and the time factor. It does something weather or not we want it to. A talisman is useful to recognize people from our tribe or fellow journey men. It is mobile by design and to be the holder of one, means that you’ve done something to get it. To illustrate, a crucifix as is, would not qualify as a talisman, but it would become one if some authority (lets assume a well respected priest) made a special blessing on it. Anything can be a talisman as long as we the travelers agree on what is it that it does “by itself”, how does it help to know each other in the crowd and we distribute them in a restricted manner, not necessarily having a maximum number of them.
• Totems: Opposed to talismans, totems are fixed things in time and space and they are a testimony of history. A Totem marks the land (or cyberspace) and tells a story. Some Totems are raised once the story they tell is finished (a war, a conquest, a science discovery or a big natural disaster). Other totems are built so more of the story can be added later on. A needed factor on totems is that, if you are not a stranger to it, you can read it with minimal effort. There are no cryptic totems. There might be some interpretation to it, but hiding secrets is not why they are there. They are there to informe and warn the newcomers and those getting there in a future time. It is almost impossible to start a journey all together and it is big help to have some sings along the way that tell you what has happened there and what did the people prior to you thought of those events.
  Rites or rituals to spend time as a group. You can’t have an epic without the rites. You need them. More than each of the previous ingredients, rites are what weaves the fabric of communities. Rituals must be easy to perform in any time in any place given that we can gather all thats needed. A ritual does not need a specific person neither a specific object only available in one point of the map. A ritual marks a before/after situation for people and we have names for people at both sides of the event. This can be very simple (a +1 in XP), median (naming colors in a belt) or can be very sophisticated, like the rituals in free masonry. This tribal trait is at the same time it most powerful, effective and most resisted characteristic. You can’t just say that something is a ritual. Eating lunch together with your team on Fridays, for example, can be bonding moments of sorts, but it is not a ritual and to make it one, you have to go into lengths of effort.

Useful items that are not indispensable and that some times are not even taken into account.
A map is an instrument the allows us to navigate into unknown territories. From time to time, this is the case in epic journeys but generally speaking, travelers only use it as a proof that the final destination exists. These maps are usually pretty schematic and to be crude, they don’t guide the travelers experience. It is worth noting that any real intention to follow the map usually results in a setback for the story. That said, if you think you will be able to let it go and not pay attention to it, it doesn’t hurt to have a map around.
Enough resources to last the trip. Every traveler in an epic journey puts together a bag to be prepared once in the move. The problem is that moving with all that is or could be needed is not practical at all and hence the naturally lean to get stuff (usually food and fuel) while on the road.
Favorable winds and/or support. The art of deciding when to set sails has been always a tricky one. Some leaders have turned to human sacrifice in order to get the desired wind that would let them leave the harbour. History and statistical data show that when we are against all tides, we usually fail (and this is specially true when we are facing physical impediments). But, and it is a big but, once our chance is slightly different than cero, it seems that it does not matter how much is in our favor.

To take a look into the past or prepare for the road.
Epic stories are mostly fictional. Whoever is writing them can plot scene after scene and evolve in any way the choose. Institutions are not fictional. They have a real story with real people so there is a set of things we cannot re-write. Be that as it may because it already happened or simply due to a behavior that is not going to change.
To make our story into a formal epic both paths are valid. We can either expose our past or prepare the road ahead. Choose new talismans and plan for totems, or at least think when will we need to build them.
The epic story as a community instrument must look, it is mandatory, into the past and past the future. This is difficult to achieve if I’m starting something today, but in that case I can nurture the story from the people taking part on it (they always have a history).
Making up your mind is always difficult.
If we are interested in this way of communicating and interacting, we are probably also reluctant to embark on the journey needed to get there. Epic journeys are always bad sellers. When exposed to the vision the first time we don’t see a way to connect the dots. It feels like a leap of faith. And let’s face it we are faithless. Jumping is needed. It will not get easier. I promise it will never get easier.

So what DOES happen when you fall?
The big advantage here, for us humans, is that at the end of the day this is a way of communicating and relating to each other. There is no Mordor and there is no Kracken. If this goes south it is the same as any other thing going south. The struggle is big but risk is really low.
What I mean is that not coming back home is not really a possibility here. We are not in an epic story. Our place is safe.
What’s the deal then
We get to be significant to each other. We become aware of the other. Our fellow traveler is more relevant because we have joint story. That’s a big engine and is always fueled. The rest is trying but believe me, your epic is absolutely worth it.