Tip Sheet List
1. Character – archetypes
2. Characters, making them round and believable
3. Dialogue – how it works
4. Dialogue – setting it out.
5. Editing your work
6. Endings - getting them right
7. Feedback – giving and receiving it
8. Formatting Fiction
9. Getting your work out there
10. Gifts
11. Ideas: where to get them from
12. Narrative balance
13. Narrative Voices in Prose Fiction
14. Networking and Finding Your Writing Tribe
15. Pace
16. Planner or Panster?
17. Poetry Form Acrostic poems
18. Poetry Form Ballad
19. Poetry Form Blank Verse
20. Poetry Form Elegy
21. Poetry Form Free Verse
22. Poetry Form Haiku
23. Poetry Form Limerick
24. Poetry Form Ode
25. Poetry Form Oulipo Poets
26. Poetry Form Sonnet
27. Poetry Form Triolet
28. Poetry Form Villanelle
29. Poetry – Glossary of terms
30. Point of View in Prose
31. Script – Radio play
32. Script – Screen Play – formatting
33. Script – Some extra elements
34. Script - Stage Play UK – formatting
35. Script - Stage Play US - formatting
36. Script – which format
37. Self-publishing
38. Showing not telling
39. Some organisations that might be helpful
40. Story Structure: Amalgamated Theory – Finding Your Way Through
41. Story Structure: Amalgamated Theory Campbell, Propp, Vogler
42. Story Structure: Beat Sheets
43. Story Structure: Christopher Booker’s Seven Basic Plots
44. Story Structure: Christopher Vogler
45. Story structure: Four basic characters
46. Story Structure: Joseph Campbell
47. Story Structure: Plots and Sub Plots
48. Story Structure: Robert McKee
49. Story Structure: The Three Act Structure
50. Story Structure: Vladimir Propp
51. Synopses – How to Write Great Ones
52. Writing for Children - early fluent reader
53. Writing for Children – emergent reader
54. Writing for children - fully fluent reader
55. Writing for Children – picture books
56. Writing for Children – t(w)een reader
57. Writing for Children - which age group?
58. Writing for Young Adults
Character – archetypes
Several of the gurus who have come out with story theories have also suggested archetypes that are found in stories. You may have started with four basic characters (see ‘Story structure: four basic characters): hero, enemy, friend and mentor but you may find looking at these characters useful.
Christopher Booker’s archetypes
Good old man
Innocent young girl
Rival or “shadow”
Temptress
Dark Father
Dark Mother
Dark self
Joseph Campbell’s archetypes
Hero
Ally
Enemy
Trickster
Shapeshifter
Guardian
Shadow
Christopher Vogler’s archetypes
Hero
Shadow
Mentor
Herald
Shapeshifter
Trickster
Allies
Vladimir Propp’s archetypes
Hero
Helper
Villain
False hero
Donor
Dispatcher
Princess
Other fairy-tale familiars (as found by the brothers Grimm)
The Guileless Fool
The Meddlesome Fairy
The Wicked Crone
The Charming Prince
The Beautiful Damsel
As you will see, there is a lot of overlap between the different gurus. I haven’t gone into a lot of explanation here; let them be what their name suggests. If you are really interested in archetypes you may like to look at Jung and also the work of Carol Pearson and Margaret Mark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype
Why work with archetypes?
They can give each of your characters a function within the story. It’s important to ask why characters are there at all and this may be especially important for minor characters. And readers love archetypes, even if they can’t name them. They recognise them as familiar.
Your turn
Use a work in progress and see if you can fit one of these characters in or build up one that you already have to become one of them. Can you pinpoint the role of any other characters you have there? Or maybe in something you’re currently reading?
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