On the night of Monday October 13th I attended a seminar presented by Dr. Ian Irvine (the academic, writer and poet from Bendigo, not the fantasy writer and marine scientist from Sydney) which focused on story archetypes - plot structure, characters, et cetera - with reference to The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler.
According to Vogler, a typical narrative structure breaks down into a series of "story beats", or sections in which a turning point takes place:
(1) Ordinary World/"Cage" - a challenge the main protagonist faces, a "cage" to be broken out of or an upset in the equilibrium which must be corrected;
(2) Call to Adventure/Herald - the protagonist is called to action, change is coming;
(3) Refusal of Call - the main protagonist is reluctant, feels like he is not up to the challenge, so he decides to stay with the status quo as long as possible, "not me";
(4) Meeting the Mentor - the character who entices the protagonist on to action, advises how to go about it;
(5) Threshold - test ("are you up to it?"), crossing into the "Extraordinary World", the adventure is beginning in earnest now; motivation may even change;
(6) Tests, Allies, Enemies - tests, meeting or gathering of allies, identification/explanation of the Enemy/main antagonist;
(7) Approach - the point of no return;
(8) Ordeal - the moment right where despair and defeat loom, the whole journey seems dead, or the Lair of the Monster;
(9) Reward - externalisation of what the main protagonist has learned;
(10) Road Back/Journey Home;
(11) Resurrection;
(12) Return Elixir.
(Somewhere in amongst the last few points is the ultimate victory or otherwise, often the dramatic catharsis that provides the healing mechanism, the restoration of the equilibrium).
A typical narrative contains several archetypes, such as the protagonist (the main character, usually the "good guy" or hero/heroine, but not necessarily good or bad), one or more allies (usually but not necessarily friends, they just happen to be on the same side), the antagonist (usually the "bad guy" or villian; not necessarily good or bad, but is by definition working in opposition to the protagonist) and the femme fatale/homme fatale (whose motivation is to distract the main protagonist from the objective, if not destroy him/her, typically with a sexual element). Other archetypes mentioned were the herald (the one who declares a change is coming), the trickster (credited as representing the road to the unconscious, though often also representing humour) and the shapeshifter (whose defining characteristic is transformation or metamorphosis) and any of these three archetypes can be interchangable or one and the same. The love interest is also a frequently occurring character that wasn't mentioned, though this character may be either an ally, a femme/homme fatale or any of the other archetypes.
These archetypes were traced back to the gods from various polytheistic pantheons, particularly the Greco-Roman tradition, though also referencing the Nordic and even Sumerian ones. Of course, these gods provide us a colourful variety of characters, good, bad and otherwise, each with their own quirks and traits. God as we know Him in the monotheistic, Judeo-Christian tradition is loving and benevolent, occasionally vengeful but never without just cause, and He is the acme of authority, integrity, love and wisdom; He is perfect. The gods from the polytheistic traditions, on the other hand, tend to be far from perfect. Despite their superpowers and immortality they were flawed in one way or another and very human, therefore perhaps a little more relatable. The Norse god Odin (or Wotan as the Germans called him) was a wise and just ruler, but his Greek counterpart Zeus was petty and cruel and irresponsible (shagging anything with a pulse and leaving it to others to deal with the consequences), the "petty and cruel" part being applied to the Greek gods in general. Across the pantheons we see archetypes that come up time and again in various narratives throughout the centuries - the warrior/fighting man (Aries/Mars, Thor), the hedonist/party animal (Dionysius/Bacchus), the antagonist (Hades/Pluto, Seti, Loki), the lover (Aphrodite/Venus) and so on.
According to Vogler, a typical narrative structure breaks down into a series of "story beats", or sections in which a turning point takes place:
(1) Ordinary World/"Cage" - a challenge the main protagonist faces, a "cage" to be broken out of or an upset in the equilibrium which must be corrected;
(2) Call to Adventure/Herald - the protagonist is called to action, change is coming;
(3) Refusal of Call - the main protagonist is reluctant, feels like he is not up to the challenge, so he decides to stay with the status quo as long as possible, "not me";
(4) Meeting the Mentor - the character who entices the protagonist on to action, advises how to go about it;
(5) Threshold - test ("are you up to it?"), crossing into the "Extraordinary World", the adventure is beginning in earnest now; motivation may even change;
(6) Tests, Allies, Enemies - tests, meeting or gathering of allies, identification/explanation of the Enemy/main antagonist;
(7) Approach - the point of no return;
(8) Ordeal - the moment right where despair and defeat loom, the whole journey seems dead, or the Lair of the Monster;
(9) Reward - externalisation of what the main protagonist has learned;
(10) Road Back/Journey Home;
(11) Resurrection;
(12) Return Elixir.
(Somewhere in amongst the last few points is the ultimate victory or otherwise, often the dramatic catharsis that provides the healing mechanism, the restoration of the equilibrium).
A typical narrative contains several archetypes, such as the protagonist (the main character, usually the "good guy" or hero/heroine, but not necessarily good or bad), one or more allies (usually but not necessarily friends, they just happen to be on the same side), the antagonist (usually the "bad guy" or villian; not necessarily good or bad, but is by definition working in opposition to the protagonist) and the femme fatale/homme fatale (whose motivation is to distract the main protagonist from the objective, if not destroy him/her, typically with a sexual element). Other archetypes mentioned were the herald (the one who declares a change is coming), the trickster (credited as representing the road to the unconscious, though often also representing humour) and the shapeshifter (whose defining characteristic is transformation or metamorphosis) and any of these three archetypes can be interchangable or one and the same. The love interest is also a frequently occurring character that wasn't mentioned, though this character may be either an ally, a femme/homme fatale or any of the other archetypes.
These archetypes were traced back to the gods from various polytheistic pantheons, particularly the Greco-Roman tradition, though also referencing the Nordic and even Sumerian ones. Of course, these gods provide us a colourful variety of characters, good, bad and otherwise, each with their own quirks and traits. God as we know Him in the monotheistic, Judeo-Christian tradition is loving and benevolent, occasionally vengeful but never without just cause, and He is the acme of authority, integrity, love and wisdom; He is perfect. The gods from the polytheistic traditions, on the other hand, tend to be far from perfect. Despite their superpowers and immortality they were flawed in one way or another and very human, therefore perhaps a little more relatable. The Norse god Odin (or Wotan as the Germans called him) was a wise and just ruler, but his Greek counterpart Zeus was petty and cruel and irresponsible (shagging anything with a pulse and leaving it to others to deal with the consequences), the "petty and cruel" part being applied to the Greek gods in general. Across the pantheons we see archetypes that come up time and again in various narratives throughout the centuries - the warrior/fighting man (Aries/Mars, Thor), the hedonist/party animal (Dionysius/Bacchus), the antagonist (Hades/Pluto, Seti, Loki), the lover (Aphrodite/Venus) and so on.
Ian went on to say that we each come into this world a tabula rasa or "blank slate", ready to be written upon. According to Jung and others we're pre-programmed to react to our environment, circumstances, et cetera
in a certain way depending on the individual, thus each of us could be any one of the archetypes mentioned. We each have our own
story arc, which starts with a negative polarity and ends with a
positive.
Having been a student of Ian's I found him to be an animated and engaging speaker with an intimate knowledge of his subject matter and a broad scope of reference. As usual I came away feeling smarter and conscious of having learned something and broadening my mind. In addition this knowledge can only help with one's literary pursuits.
