Story structure
The Heroine's Journey
A female-centric version of the hero's journey: Murdock's descent-and-reclamation arc, which heals and integrates rather than conquers.
The heroine's journey is "a female-centric version of the traditional hero's journey template." Maureen Murdock, a Jungian psychotherapist and student of Joseph Campbell, developed it in The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest to Wholeness (1990); Campbell rejected the model, reportedly telling Murdock that women don't need to make the journey, since he saw them as the hero's destination rather than the traveler. Victoria Lynn Schmidt's alternative in 45 Master Characters (2001) is, per the article, the version more commonly used in creative writing. Murdock's stages run from identification with the masculine through the road of trials, the illusory boon of success, the descent and reconciliation to union; her framing: "The feminine journey is about going down deep into soul, healing and reclaiming, while the masculine journey is up and out, to spirit."
For novelists the model reframes the arc as inner work: the want versus need pair drives it, and the ending integrates rather than triumphs. It complements the Hero's Journey instead of replacing it.