Today I wanted to take a moment to share one of my writing bibles--the one book that I simply cannot go without whenever it comes to not only creating fresh and original characters, but compelling plot as well. 45 Master Characters by Victoria Schmidt is a writing guide that explores the most common male and female archetypes--mythic models for which all characters seemingly originate--and teaches you ways that they can be used as solid foundations for your own diverse characters.

For each archetype, Schmidt provides a plethora of information and guiding questions to help you structure the most compelling and realistic character imaginable: with her guidance, you can decipher your character's strengths, weaknesses, passions, fears, motivators, reactions to certain situations, well-developed back stories, and even the different ways OTHER characters see the archetype. She also takes it one step further by providing a short passage on how this character would act as a villain--fully inviting you to make your character good, bad, or somewhere in between. And if you get a little stuck picturing the archetype/your potential character (I personally like to have a television or movie character in mind when I try to develop my own in mind--it helps me fully picture their personality and mannerisms), she offers a section at the end of each chapter listing examples each of the archetypes--both the good and the villain--from film, television, and literature.

The archetypes have helped me create a few of my favorite main characters--characters that feel like actual living, breathing people--not just caricatures on a page. The only hesitation I might have about using these archetypes is falling into following them TOO much and creating somewhat stereotypical characters-- so feel free to pick and choose which aspects of the archetype will work for you and make your character the most unique they can be. I never follow one particular archetype to the T.



But she doesn't stop at main characters. Another one of my favorite aspects of the book is that each archetype comes with a list of OTHER archetypes that would help your main character grow and greatly develop their overall arc by being paired with them as secondary characters. I was never really strong with creating these types of personalities before in my own work--I had a tendency to stick to stereotypes (the slutty friend, the nerdy friend, the controlling parent, etc.), but using this tool has truly helped me elevate my co-stars to a whole new level--I've heard several times from readers that my supporting characters were some of their favorites and people they would want to know in real life. 
Surprisingly, my absolute favorite part of this book is one that was completely unexpected--at the end, Schmidt offers up a detailed plan for plotting both the feminine and masculine "journey," addressing that gender issues play a significant role in a character's growth, thus making male and female plots quite different. She believes that in the feminine journey, the hero must go deep inside herself and change throughout the story--she "awakens" and is "reborn" through her story. But in the masculine journey, the hero resists inner change until approximately the third "act," where he must choose to awaken and find victory or choose to rebel and find failure. Of course these plot lines can be interchangeable--I've used aspects of the male journey for a female--but the solid structure they provide and the questions they force you, the writer, to ask about you character and where they are going just can't be beat (these two different journeys could also be labeled "Character Driven vs. Plot Driven," or "Literary Fiction vs. Commercial Fiction," respectively). I've used several different plot outlining tools for my stories but this is the one I come back to again and again. If you follow it, you will undoubtedly have the most detailed and well-executed story possible. It leaves no stone unturned. 
 Well, I've sung my praises about this book for a little too long now--but I'm hoping you'll give it a chance. It has changed the way I look at characters and story structure for the absolute better. Happy writing!
 Find it on Amazon:45 Master Characters, Revised Edition: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters