NOTICE: As More And More Fanfic Writers Are Using Generative AI For Their Works (you Uncreative Dweebs),

Herring Shepherd OC. Shepherd of giant herrings.

𝘐 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦.

𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦.

𝘈𝘴 𝘪 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯.

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

me, as a child: all the asians look the same

me, as a 15 y.o. liberal: NO YOU CAN'T SAY ALL THE ASIANS LOOK THE SAME THIS IS RACIST YOU HAVE NO RESPECT AND DON'T DESERVE TO SPEAK

me, as a 20 y.o. junior Asia-Pacific researcher: all the asians look the same and their websites are cursed with the same spell

Writing Notes: Archetypes

A quick rundown of the 12 archetypes that we often encounter in literature:

Caregiver - sacrifices themselves for the needs and wants of others

Creator - creates or envisions

Hero - will save the day with confidence, talent, strength, or skill

Innocent - pure in their motivations; often naive and inexperienced

Joker - adds humor to the story

Lover - driven by passion, love, or devotion

Orphan - may feel out of place; has a deep desire to be understood/accepted

Outlaw - a rebel who breaks social convention

Magician - understands the way the world works & uses it to their advantage

Ruler - has control and/or wants to be in control

Sage - has acquired wisdom and may act as a mentor

Seducer - irresistible and uses their charm to get what they want

Every character has a purpose. While the character may be the protagonist of their own lives, they won't necessarily be the protagonist in the story that you're telling.

Perhaps they're the antagonist. Or a mentor. Or both.

Understanding the character's identity in your story will help you create a complete arc that resonates with your reader.

Fortunately, there's a time-tested way to easily identify the roles your characters will play in your story.

It relies on psychologist Carl Jung's theory of archetypes.

Jung believed there were 12 patterns, or archetypes, that exist in our collective unconscious — the part of the mind that is common to all humans.

These 12 archetypes represent basic human motivations.

And we experience all of them.

However, we each tend to be dominated by only one of these archetypes. And that's the basis of our personality.

Archetype vs. Stereotype

An archetype is used to define the role that a character plays in a novel. They can be a hero, an orphan, and/or an innocent.

By contrast, a stereotype is an oversimplified set of characteristics we assign a person based on preconceived beliefs about the group that the person belongs to, whether we’re doing so by race, gender, age, religion, etc.

While an archetype can be used as the starting point for defining a complex character, a stereotype is quite the opposite.

Stereotypes are reductive and narrow characters into caricatures.

An archetype is a template.

A stereotype is a formulaic conclusion.

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References Character Archetypes ⚜ Goals ⚜ Stereotypical Characters

Foxes disguised as monks. On the left from Japan and on the right from Denmark.

Any time I catch myself thinking it's weirdly specific that stories involving the beheading game were an entire genre of medieval literature, I remind myself that the TV Tropes page for media where the cast get shrunk really small and go inside someone's body in a tiny submarine is at the time of this posting nearly 300 entries long

Whisperer by Alessio Albi