Fun with Archetypes

My one BryonySeries super fan has often commented on my use (although unintentional on my part) of archetypes throughout the books.

So over the weekend, we had a bit of online fun and listed the characters we felt best fit certain categories. For me, it was fun to get out of the writing box and approach my own work as a reader and through a different perspective.

Here are our results. 

Do you agree or disagree with our choices? What would you decide?

HER:

Ruler: Dr. Gothart

Creator/Artist: Owen Munson

Sage: Old Man Fisher

Innocent: Galien and Adele (With the flip side of that coin being ignorance). Susan, too. John-Peter

Explorer: Owen Munson

Rebel: Bryony

Hero: John-Peter

Wizard: Owen Munson

Jester: Kellen

Everyman: "There are many supporting characters in each of the books that lend that feeling of normalcy to the point where I've been shocked when you've kicked the chair out from under me. Seriously, Ed Calkins could assume that role when he wanted to, though of course, it was a disguise."

Lover: Henry

Caregiver: Maybelle, Melissa (in the trilogy)

She also said, "In the Tarot, John would be The Fool. I've always felt strongly about that one."

ME:

Ruler: Abbott Simons, Lord Girard

Creator/Artist: Henry Matthews

Sage: Everett Spencer, Grandpa Clyde

Innocent: Bryony Marseilles/Simons,  Flossie McGee, Lucetta Spencer/Simons

Explorer: Owen Munson

Rebel: John Simons

Hero: John-Peter Simotes

Wizard:  Dr. Rothgard etc., Granny Spencer

Jester: Cornell Dyer, Ed Calkins

Everyman: Steve Barnes

Lover: Henry Matthews, Boswell Pike

Caregiver: Darlene Marchellis/Barnes, Maybelle Fisher

Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."

Narcissism in Today's Reading Experience

How often have you heard/read these comments about why a reader didn't like a particular book?

I didn't care about the main character.

I couldn't relate to the characters.

I didn't like the character.

Why would that he/she react that way? That's not what I would say/do/feel.

I didn't feel a connection to the character.

When did immersing ourselves in a good book become all about our ability to relate?

When did we start expecting protagonists to think and act like we do?

One of the great joys of reading fiction (and writing fiction) is discovering characters who are not like us, to take journeys we might never take, to meet people we will never meet, to become of the relationships of other characters, and to perhaps behave in ways we might never behave...or even think of behaving.

Following a character through reading is the closest we'll ever get into other people's heads to follow their thinking patterns, their emotions, their decisions, who and what they love.

Sometimes I can relate to characters, sometimes I cannot.

Sometimes I can sympathize or empathize to characters, sometimes I cannot.

But I never leave a book, a good book or a bad book, without a wider perspective...or sometimes a narrower perspective.

People read for different reasons, of course. And this is not to suggest people should read MY way.

But...

Character Development in Novels: 10 Questions to Ask When Self-Editing

Characters:

1) Are lead characters interesting and fully developed?

2) Do they have strengths and weaknesses? Quirks, habits, and interests?

3) Do they have clear goals and dreams?

4) Are they motivated in ways appropriate to the plot as well as their personalities and goals?

5) Are all characters vital to the story?

6) Do you have enough characters? Too many characters?

7) Do they grow with the story? If not, give them plot-appropriate challenges.

8) Are they appropriate to target reader age, era, and genre?

9) Are they believable?

10) Make sure responses/actions/reactions are character-appropriate.

First Person? Third Person?

This was my dilemna going into the fifth and final unfinished novel in the series that comprises the entire prequel: Before the Blood.

I'm not even certain how this became a "thing."

All of the books, so far, in the BryonySeries are written in third person perfect. Which means the reader has the benefits of a first person perspective with a wider view. I had no intention of changing that.

Am I opposed to first person? No, when this series is complete, I have a werewolf story I began-ish a few years ago, and that story is told first person.

So what nagged at me to write the final BTB novel from a different point of view?

Two reasons.

One, since I already wrote novel number three from Bryony's perspective, I didn't want the final book to echo one from the past.

Two, Bryony's voice.

I kept "hearing" certain passages in a distant, surreal, first-person voice that I wanted to capture. But writing it in first person also felt disconnected from the Bryony in book number three, and I wanted the "voice" to be seamless and true.

So although I usually feel frustrated at the lack of sufficient novel-writing time, I kinda welcomed it these last few weeks while I pondered a solution.

And then Saturday morning, while cleaning house, it came to me.

I'll do both.

The body of the novel will be third person perfect.

But the voice of Bryony's ghost will interject comments in certain places, almost the way an occasional first-person a narrative breaks into a film's main action.

So in my early morning writing, I'll be editing the remaining shreds of Henry and fixing the typos in Cornell.

But this come Saturday...

I can't wait to write in earnest this weekend!