Starting Out with Archetypes
January 13, 2007
In this month’s tip, the question is raised about whether or not you need to have all eight archetypal characters present when writing a story. Chris does a good job of explaining that it’s not as important to have all those 8 characters as it is to have all the elements those characters represent.
In order for you to create a complete Grand Argument Story, all character elements should be explored.
A “Grand Argument Story” is just Dramatica’s fancy way of saying a story that works - one without any holes in it.
In this case, if you leave a character element out, you’ll have a hole.
Newbie Corner
From my own experience, especially when starting out, you should start out with just the eight archetypes. Sure, the characters in your story might seem as familiar as the ones in Star Wars or Wizard of Oz. But that familiarity will make it easier for you to grasp Dramatica concepts early on.
That’s what I always do when starting a new story - just fill out those eight characters and start writing with them. Through the process of actually writing a story I find that I naturally start deviating from them.