Stage One : Knock

Knock - A letter. A request. A knock that isn’t so much a call to adventure as it is an invitation to wander. Kev answers it—not with a sword, but with curiosity.

Checkout the journey so far…

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Kev was halfway through alphabetising his biscuit tins when the knock came.

It wasn’t a loud knock. More of a polite thud. Like someone wasn’t entirely sure they were welcome, but knocked anyway—because good manners matter, even in emergencies.

Kev blinked, looked up from a tin of Buttery Bumbles, and ambled to the door. He opened it cautiously, expecting a lost postman or possibly a fox.

No one.

Just the wind, restless and twitchy, tugging at his robe. But on the mat sat an envelope.

Creamy parchment. Curled at the edges, as though it had been sneezed out of time itself. Written on the front, in uncertain, looping ink:

Kev. The Mildly Helpful.

He hesitated. Most of his mail came from the Biscuit Appreciation Society or his dentist (who was frankly too aggressive about reminders). This felt different.

He opened it.

Inside: one card. No signature. No directions. Just a message:

“The world is wobbling. Your assistance is requested. Please bring biscuits.”

And in the corner, a tiny paw print. Possibly squirrel. Possibly not.

Kev stared at the sky. The clouds were definitely having a fidget.

He turned back toward the tins. Alphabetising them had brought him joy—small, crumbly joy. But maybe the world needed more than tidy hobnobs.

So he packed:

– A small flask of tepid tea

– One slightly dented compass

– His foldable travel stool

– And a tin of assorted biscuits (with bonus bourbons)

He left behind:

– His sword (still on loan to a moody swan)

– His cloak of minor invisibility (doing double duty as a draft excluder under the pantry door)

– Any real plan of what he was doing

Boots on, umbrella in hand (just in case the sky escalated), Kev stepped out.

Not with thunder. Not with a chorus. But with the gentle plod of someone who wasn’t entirely sure why he was going, only that someone had asked—and that felt like enough.

As the door swung shut behind him, a feather drifted down from nowhere and caught on the handle.

Far, far away, in a hidden office buried beneath three miles of lost paperwork and forgotten oaths, a fussy little man in a starched collar peered into a long, cloudy viewing glass.

He adjusted his monocle.

“Kev has left,” he muttered.

The Bureaucrat of Chaos set down his half-eaten celery stick and picked up a red quill with visible reluctance.

“Soul 334A. Departure confirmed. Mild disruption likely. Possible biscuit involvement.”

He scribbled it into a ledger the size of a wardrobe and sighed.

“So it begins.”

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🛠 Story-Craft Note: The Ordinary World / The Call to Adventure

Every hero’s journey begins with a nudge—a knock, a whisper, a tap on the soul. In Kev’s case, it’s a letter requesting biscuits.

This stage opens with a brief glimpse into what Joseph Campbell would refer to as Kev’s Ordinary World, before the KNOCK signals The Call to Adventure, but with a whimsical twist. The summons doesn’t roar—it rustles. And Kev doesn’t charge into action—he dithers, decides, then sets off gently.

Whilst it’s easy to interpret Campbell’s sequence literally, it can be fun to mix up the various stage as not all journeys are the same. Sometimes our heroes can face the same challenges and have different outcomes based on where they are now and what they’ve experienced before. Whilst I’m sure Kev will pass through every stage in his own journey he’ll get there by following his own path.

Takeaway for storytellers:

Not all beginnings need grandeur. Sometimes the quietest knock opens the loudest door. Begin with something small, strange, and specific. That’s where wonder lives.

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This isn’t just Kev’s Odyssey… You’re all invited to join along

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