“Summoned or not, the god will come.”
–motto on the door of Carl Jung’s home.
Archetypes help writers clarify a character’s function and role in the way of plot development and the evolution of personality regarding the protagonist. Stories are about growth and change. And archetypes carry energies.
When viewed as archetypes, the supporting cast of a story when s can be seen as supplying fuel for the growth and transformation of the protagonist throughout the drama of the story.
Taken from the perspective of dream interpretation–that the dreamer is every and anything she, or he encounters in her, or his dream–the major character of a story or novel, when interacting with characters of the story, can be seen as also engaging various aspects of her, or himself.
Perceiving the characters of your story as archetypes allows the writer to develop more well rounded, and full characters, brimming with all sorts of possibilities for plot, and growth concerning our protagonist.
It also provides us with additional lenses to better understand the actions of our supporting cast versus trying to hold them in check.
What at first may appear to be an unruly character, one who wants to overshadow our protagonist, if not take over the story, could, when examined through the lenses of an archetype, reveal aspects of our protagonist that need to be explored, and brought to the page.
Our characters become symbols and gods for change when seen as archetypes, and not simply stick men filling a role.
Archetypes require that we as writers think out of the box regarding our stories.
What started out as a simple tale may actually be an epic in its own right, a story seeking to answer a question we had yet to posit in our own lives.
Writing the story becomes for us a journey, and we the heroine or hero asked to meet the challenge of bringing it to paper.
What comes to mind when you think of archetypes?
How might viewing your major character as a god or goddess alter the way you craft your stories?