Many writers follow the ancient template that Joseph Campbell outlined as the hero’s journey:
—The lead character is a nobody in the town where they live.
—They set out on a grand adventure to distant lands.
—They have terrible trials and tribulations.
—They overcome those challenges and survive.
—They return home as a wise hero.
If you look you will see this all over the place.
Since days of Odious. there are only 7 stories all else are retelling of the same
I deliberately avoided the first tenet in the fantasy novel I published on KDP a couple of years ago because it’s so overdone. I made my main character established and somewhat well-known (in mercenary circles, at least) who wound up biting off a bit more than he could chew in the current adventure. While the book is presented mainly from his perspective, the story is about a team of adventurers having to support and rely on each other more than the trials of a single hero.