Story Archetypes
Writers use them all the time, but what are they? Why do we use them?
An archetype is a typical character, situation, theme or
symbol that is easily recognised and very common in novels, plays and movies.
We always notice typical characters, or clichéd ones, such as the two-cop
partnership, the quirky or unusual best buddies, the teacher/mentor student
partnership, the sappy female who needs rescuing by the hero or the smart-mouthed
wise guy and so on. These are familiar character archetypes, but we’re
interested in story archetypes.
A diverse range of story archetypes can bring a different purpose to the
story. It’s not about complexity; to make a novel look complex, but
rather it’s about simplicity - story archetypes help the reader
identify with the characters and the story and their situations,
because they see something they recognise and they easily understand such
experiences.
There are plenty of situation archetypes that writers use all the time. They’re
commonly used and easily recognisable, and they represent just a small portion
that you can find in all literature. There are dozens of distinct types of situational
archetypes found on the internet and in books, and they all cite the same
things, for instance, the Quest describes the search for someone or something
which will restore order in some way to the character and his situation, or
make something good again.
Another familiar one is the Journey, where the hero goes in search of
something – the truth, information; himself...it could be anything. It’s not
that different from the Quest - the hero or heroine goes in search of something
or someone and it’s about the journey they take to reach it.
Another other common type is rags to riches. How often have we read
about these types of stories? This is where
the hero or heroine is born into a life of poverty, but eventually, through
hard work, help or even underhanded means, they overcome this and become rich
and powerful. Of course, the ‘riches’ don’t have to necessarily mean money.
Sometimes we enrich ourselves through knowledge, family, or what we do for
others.
Fall and rise is similar to rags to riches because it describes how the
protagonist starts off in a position of authority or power, and through a spate
of bad luck, other people being underhanded or perhaps because of his own
actions, he falls from grace and ends up losing everything and finds himself at
the bottom of the pile, but through determination, hard work or sheer luck, he
claws his way back to the top again.
There are others, such as Overcoming the Monster. The monster in
question doesn’t have to be the horror movie kind either. It can be a person or
a corporation or something more sinister.
You’ll probably recognise some aspects of these archetypes in your own
writing. That’s not a bad thing, and that’s because there are a finite number
of dramatic plots to use, but limitless ways we can interpret them, so we use
these archetypes to help the reader feel familiar to and connected with the
story.
In addition to situational archetypes, there are also symbolic
archetypes that appear in stories. Again, some are quite common and very
recognisable:
Light and darkness is used so often in literature that it could be a
cliché, but like any archetype, it’s how we use it that makes the difference.
We use light and dark because it’s still an effective symbol. Light usually
suggests something spiritual, it represents hope, renewal, positivity or good
things, whereas darkness implies foreboding, the feeling of vulnerability, the
unknown, fear or something sinister. Writers use these two tropes as a way of
contrasting narrative.
Fire and water are used symbolically because of the different
associations with them. Water can symbolise just about anything, from life, being
cleansed or even a soothing entity. Fire tends to denote rebirth, fear and or
death. Again, different people use it symbolically for different reasons.
Birth and death doesn’t have to be literal – these can represent our
state of being, our psyche and thought process and dreams. Symbolically they’re
quite powerful – birth can often denote gaining knowledge or a realisation,
whereas death can signify a breakdown of something; a marriage, feelings, a
vehicle...anything the writer wants it to be.
Colours are another symbolic archetype that perhaps isn’t used as often
as it could be, but we use them to provide contrasting ideas or to enhance the
narrative.
There’s no doubt that black and red are the most often used colours.
Black represents darkness, the unknown, our fears, death and all things nasty
and evil. Red, on the other represents life (and death), love, passion, anger,
injury and emotions.
White represents the light, and so we associate it with something pristine
or virginal, spirituality, goodness and purity etc. Blue, on the other hand, is
a colour not explored as much as black and red, yet it can represent depth,
feeling or soothing. Darker blues can be used to accentuate mood and tone, as
can grey and green.
Of course, there are story archetypes in just about anything –
characters, numbers, symbols, plots/stories, themes etc.
We use them not because they’re common, but because they provide us with
different ways to enrich our writing. We
actually rely on them quite a lot – they form part of the building blocks of
writing and they help our readers become familiar with the story.
Next week: How to start and end chapters
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