Hero's Journey Redux

Jane Espenson has a short essay on why Harry Potter appeals to non sci-fi fans. It's a pretty simple observation actually:

It's something about the actual Harry Potter narrative that makes it cross the boundary. It's a very specific type of Hero's Journey, the most potent sub-case. It's told over and over again, and it works, over and over again. Dorothy Gale, Buffy Summers, Harry Potter, Charlie Bucket, Luke Skywalker, even Peter Parker, they all fit a very specific pattern. They're living a life, sometimes a fine one, often a troubled one, but certainly one governed by ordinary rules, when suddenly the curtain is pulled back and a whole new world, or a new set of rules of this world, is revealed. And what's more - and this is the important part - in that new world, they are something special. They are The Chosen One.

It's all about having a strongly written main character that readers can identify and empathize with. We can see the world through their eyes, feel what they feel, struggle as they struggle, and experience the world as it can only be experienced through a powerful piece of narrative fiction. That's it.