Current Project: Shadows, Inc. (working title)Status: still brainstorming/working on backstory
Since Paty started us off this week talking about characters, I thought I'd continue that theme and have a little fun. I've been working on the characters for my WIP and one of the books I used last week was The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines by Tami Cowden, Caro LaFever and Sue Viders. This book describes 8 hero archetypes and 8 heroine archetypes, their strengths and weaknesses and how they mesh/don't mesh with the other archetypes. As archetypes, the descriptions are done in very broad strokes.
For those of you unfamiliar with the book, here's a very brief summary of the archetypes, as given by the authors, with their examples.
Heros:
The Chief -- a dynamic leader, he has time for nothing but work (The King of Siam, Don Michael Corleone in The Godfather II, King Arthur of Camelot legend, George C. Scott as General George Patton)
The Bad Boy -- dangerous to know, he walks on the wild side (Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, Vince Everett in Jailhouse Rock, Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting, Snake Plissken in Escape from New York)
The Best Friend -- sweet and safe, he never lets anyone down (Dave Kovic in Dave, Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh, George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Knightly in Emma)
The Charmer -- a smooth talker, he creates fantasies (James Garner as Brett Maverick, John Robie in To Catch a Thief, Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele)
The Lost Soul -- a tormented being, he lives in solitude (Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, Crash Davis in Bull Durham, David Boreanaz as Angel, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights)
The Professor -- cooly analytical, he knows every answer (Harry Potter, David Levinson in Independence Day, Mr. Spock, Ellery Queen, Lt. Columbo, Sherlock Holmes)
The Swashbuckler -- Mr. Excitement, he's an adventurer (Peter Pan, Jack Colton in Romancing the Stone, Zorro, Indiana Jones)
The Warrior -- a noble champion, he acts with honor (Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry, John McClane of the Die Hard movies, William Wallace in Braveheart, Edmund Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird)
Heroines:
The Boss -- a real go-getter, she climbs the ladder of success (Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth, Karen Sisco in Out of Sight, Candice Burgen as Murphy Brown)
The Seductress -- an enchantress, she charms to get her way (Scarlett O'Hara, Lolita, Delilah, Rebecca Sharp in Vanity Fair)
The Spunky Kid -- gutsy and true, she is loyal to the end (Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards, Lucy Moderatz in While You Were Sleeping, Tess McGill in Working Girl, Stephanie Plum)
The Free Spirit -- an eternal optimist, she dances to unheard tunes (Ally McBeal, Alice in Alice in Wonderland, Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy, Gloria Mundy in Foul Play, Mame Dennis in Auntie Mame)
The Waif -- a distressed damsel, she bends, but does not break (Ilsa Laszlo in Casablanca, Molly Jensen in Ghost, Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet)
The Librarian -- controlled and clever, she holds back (Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone, Diane Chambers in Cheers, Dana Scully in The X-Files)
The Crusader -- a dedicated fighter, she meets commitments (Erin Brockovich, Jo Harding in Twister, Mulan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena, Antigone, Jane Eyre, Norma Rae)
The Nurturer -- serene and capable, she nourishes the spirit (Isabeau in LadyHawke, Pollyanna, Claire Huxtable in The Cosby Show, Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Mary Poppins
As I was reading through the book, I started thinking about what archetype I'd be if I were a heroine in a book. After much dithering and hilarity (the Seductress? Who, me?? somehow I couldn't stretch my imagination quite that far), I decided that I'd be the Librarian, with a layering of the Spunky Kid.
So how about you? What archetype would you be? Or, to ask it another way, what archetype would you want to be if you were the heroine of a book? For extra fun, what hero archetype would you want to, ahem, mesh with in your book?
6 comments:
I have this book! I've read it cover to cover. It's a great resource tool for character creation.
I'd like to be the Crusader. Jo Harding was a great character. :)
Not sure where I fit in the archetype, but I like to make my heroines a combination Crusader and Spunky kid.
As for the hero I like- The Charmer or The Swashbuckler.
Fun Blog, Debbie!
Fun post, Debbie. I was recently doing character profiles for my seven Argonauts (I don't normally do this, but because there are so many I wanted to make sure I had their different personalities down from the start), and realized I have one of each type...which is fun and cool at the same time.
As for heroines...I'd be the spunky kid. Big surprise, huh???
The heroine in my current wip is a the librarian, and my hero is the warrior (with a sprinkling of lost soul in there for good measure...LOL).
I started my romantic life as the boss/librarian, evolved into the Free Spirit, and added the nurturer in recent years.
I think there are pieces of each in every heroine.
Awesome post!
How fun! I think I should get this book.
As for what archetype I am, that's a good question. Maybe a mix of the librarian, the crusader and the nurturer. I think there's some free spirit in there somewhere, but not sure. Didn't we talk about schizophrenic characters earlier in the week? LOL!
As for a hero, how about a sweet and safe best friend crossed with a warrior? Kinda like Clark Kent/Superman!
Debbie, Interesting and intriguing.
My first reaction upon seeing the fictional characters listed with the archetypes is that there is a lot of cross-over between categories, but you warned they were painted with broad strokes.
I can see the kind of characters I write in the lists but I'm going to refrain from identifying them any further for my own benefit. This is going to sound crazy, so forgive me, but I don't think I want to think of them as archetypes. I like them to grow organically and be the people they are destined to be without worry that something they're doing or saying doesn't fit. I warned you it would sound crazy.
Ideally, there is a little of each in myself as well as my characters. Fun blog, and good luck with your characterizations! (and as long as you're fantasizing, I don't see why you can't be the seductress!)
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