Category: Writer’s Resources

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Writing process: 12 common archetypes

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The 12 Common Archetypes

 


Writers can use these 12 Archetypes to create characters

The 12 Common Archetypes by Carl Golden

The twelve archetypes are divided into ego types, self types, and soul types.

1) The Four Ego Types

1. The Innocent
Motto: Free to be you and me
Core desire: to get to paradise
Goal: to be happy
Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
The Innocent is also known as: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.

2. The Orphan/Regular Guy or Gal
Motto: All men and women are created equal
Core Desire: connecting with others
Goal: to belong
Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd
Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch
Weakness: losing one’s own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships
Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretence
The Regular Person is also known as: The good old boy, everyman, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbour, the silent majority.

3. The Hero
Motto: Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Core desire: to prove one’s worth through courageous acts
Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world
Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a “chicken”
Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible
Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight
Talent: competence and courage
The Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.

4. The Caregiver
Motto: Love your neighbour as yourself
Core desire: to protect and care for others
Goal: to help others
Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude
Strategy: doing things for others
Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited
Talent: compassion, generosity
The Caregiver is also known as: The saint, altruist, parent, helper, supporter.

2) The Four Soul Types

5. The Explorer
Motto: Don’t fence me in
Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world
Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life
Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness
Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom
Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit
Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one’s soul
The explorer is also known as: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.

6. The Rebel
Motto: Rules are made to be broken
Core desire: revenge or revolution
Goal: to overturn what isn’t working
Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual
Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock
Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime
Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom
The Outlaw is also known as: The rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast.

7. The Lover
Motto: You’re the only one
Core desire: intimacy and experience
Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love
Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved
Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive
Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity
Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment
The Lover is also known as: The partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder.

8. The Creator
Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done
Core desire: to create things of enduring value
Goal: to realize a vision
Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Task: to create culture, express own vision
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
The Creator is also known as: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.

3) The Four Self Types

9. The Jester
Motto: You only live once
Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.

10. The Sage
Motto: The truth will set you free
Core desire: to find the truth.
Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.
Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance.
Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: can study details forever and never act.
Talent: wisdom, intelligence.
The Sage is also known as: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.

11. The Magician
Motto: I make things happen.
Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
The Magician is also known as: The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.

12. The Ruler
Motto: Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Core desire: control
Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community
Strategy: exercise power
Greatest fear: chaos, being overthrown
Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate
Talent: responsibility, leadership
The Ruler is also known as: The boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager or administrator.

Note: There are four cardinal orientations: freedom, social, ego, order. The types have a place on these orientations.

Call for Submissions: The Future Is Now: 2063

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The Future Is Now: 2063

How will the Cascadia region turn different by 2063? What new land-use
patterns will emerge over the next 50 years? What¹s happening today (2013)
that will influence the Pacific Northwest for decades to come? What should
be done about it?

Calling all planners, designers, creative theorists, writers and
speculators‹The Bear Deluxe Magazine is looking for your feedback, ideas and
imagination. Send us your written submissions and we¹ll broadcast them out
to a regional and national audience. Submissions to be considered for
publication in The Bear Deluxe Magazine #35, special theme-issue on the ³The
Future.² (Other prompts: Klamath River dam removal; the proposed Columbia
River Crossing?)

Special issue is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Deadline: July 8, 2013
Word limit: 400 words (shorter submissions welcome)
Email to: bear@orlo.org

What I’m reading: Sober Play

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I’ve just started reading Sober Play: Using Creativity for a More Joyful Recovery by Jill Kelly with Bridget Benton. Here’s an excerpt:

Select a difficult moment from your past. Write about that moment as a scene in a novel or play just as it happened. To take it deeper: Rewrite the scene with a different ending.

Writing process: Play to your strengths

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“Play to your strengths.”
“I haven’t got any,” said Harry, before he could stop himself.
“Excuse me,” growled Moody, “you’ve got strengths if I say you’ve got them.” ― From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

—-

What are your strengths as a writer? Are you good at writing humor? Sex scenes? Humorous sex scenes? Maybe your friends have told you that you’re good at writing dialogue. Or action. Whatever you’re good at, focus on that.  Make a list of your strengths as a writer and refer to it during your next writing session.

Film shoot: The New Big Shot

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“Can you find my thumb?” Nancy MacLaren asked me.
Nancy — one of the actors in a short film called The New Big Shot being shot in Portland, Oregon — was referring to the red, stick-on fingernail she’d dropped in the dark.
She and I were taking part in the 24 Hour Film Race 2013.
The international competition invites filmmakers to create the best four-minute film they can in 24 hours. The winners take home some money and camera equipment but I was there for another reason — to get outside my writer box. I wanted to find out how cinematographers, directors, and actors work.
During the film shoot I functioned as an associate producer because I chipped in the grand sum of $13 as part of the contest entry free. It was the first film shoot I’d taken part in. In addition to me, the crew included:
  • Aaron Nelson (cinematographer, editor)
  • Rosalind Malin (producer/writer/director)
  • Mark Lysgaard (writer/director/actor)
  • Audi Bixel (assistant director)
  • John Gamboa (actor)
  • Colin Keating (actor)
  • Peter Field (actor)
  • Diane Kay (actor)
  • Mitch Rofsky (actor)
  • Nancy MacLaren (actor)
  • CT Pantugo (art department)
  • Margo Logan (associate producer)
  • Alarie Lopez (boom boy)
Earlier that evening, before Nancy lost her thumbnail, she and I and the rest of the crew spent two hours deciding what script to use. The contest rules required that we include three elements: a prop (egg), theme (time travel) and action (crumpling of paper). We considered several scripts. One included a chicken in a cage. Another required two boats. We settled on a story about two thugs-in-training who take part in a reality show.
We then met at the Island Café where the filming was to take place. Sean McMurray, the owner of the restaurant, hung around to watch the shoot.
On the way to the Island Café, I got lost. What can I say? It was a dark and rainy night and I was alone and had never been to the location before. Fortunately, Margo had given me her phone number so I could call for directions. When I arrived on site, the restaurant staff was closing up for the night. They were nice enough to set some coffee out for us and make sandwiches for some of the crew. Then, for a couple of hours, nothing appeared to be happening.
“This is typical,” Roz told me.
Later I learned that Aaron and Audi were using that time to go over the script and determine each shot. Meanwhile, the actors practiced their lines and CT applied makeup. I gathered signatures on contracts, helped Diane remove glue from her hair, moved lights, and located electrical outlets.
At 11 p.m., the shooting began.
“Lights, camera, action!” Mark shouted.
“Bring attitude!” Roz insisted.
The actors impressed me with their ability to instantly be in character, over and over again. At one point Aaron briefly halted the shooting while Sean figured out how to turn off the smoothie machine, which had started creating a lot of noise. More than once I was politely asked to “get out of the shot.”
“Make sure you’re standing under the boom before you say your line,” Aaron told Diane, who played a waitress and good humouredly accepted her new names of Doll Face and Toots.
Eventually, I did find Nancy’s red stick-on nail. It had somehow ended up on top of the bar. The hours passed. It wasn’t until 4 a.m. that the shoot wrapped up. By then I was getting a bit dingy. As a result of my low blood sugar and the fact that my bedtime had come and gone, I called at least one person by the wrong name and, when asked to carry some supplies back to a car, said I would and then left the bags on the floor.
Blearily driving home in the dark, I felt fortunate that it was Aaron who would be editing the film. I could sleep in the next day and reflect on the experience.
Shooting a film, even a short film I had learned, requires a lot more than a script. It also requires stick-on fingernails, baby wipes (for cleaning make-up brushes), hair spray, fake blood, fake guns, long hours, teamwork, and patience.
View The New Big Shot here.