You’re plotting your next novel. Naturally, you want to populate its pages with a cast of unforgettable characters. But where do you start?
With these fifteen Character Archetype Cards, of course. They’re my version of the various character wheels and charts you’ve probably seen knocking around online. The idea is that you set up each of your main characters as a different archetype, bless them with basic drives and ambitions, and set opposites against each other in the hope of striking a few narrative sparks.
Here’s how they work. Each card has five key elements. First comes the Archetype itself, the overarching descriptor for your character. They’re all here, from Creator to Commoner, Joker to Sorcerer, and more besides.
Second is your character’s Heart’s Desire. This is their ultimate goal, the engine that drives them to make all their decisions. Closely allied with this is the third element, Agenda. This summarises what the character does in order to achieve that goal.
The fourth and fifth elements are a matched sets of Attributes, one Positive, one Negative. Think of them as essential character traits, modes of behaviour and expression displayed by your character as they move through the story.
The arrangement of the cards is deliberate, by the way. Each row represents a certain category of archetype, with each row skewing to a slightly different compass point. I’ve resisted the urge to label the rows – I’d rather let you decide what the categories actually are, and how they relate to each other.
As for how to use the cards, that’s also up to you. Match a character to the card that seems to call their name. Assign cards at random to your nascent dramatis personae and see what happens. It really doesn’t matter. What counts is that you have fun as you immerse yourself in the comfortable ocean of plotting and preparation.
Have you done your plotting and preparation? Great! Next comes the most important part of all. Now that you’ve finished using the Character Archetype Cards … it’s time to get rid of them.
I’m serious. Delete this web page from your bookmarks and forget that you ever downloaded the Character Archetype Cards graphic as a handy JPG. If you printed the damn things out, burn them immediately.
Go further. If you’ve scribbled your carefully curated list of characters down in a notebook, rip out the page and recycle it responsibly. Composting is a good option. If you prefer to do things digitally, dump your files in the trash – yes, all of them – making sure you cancel that seductive option to undelete at a later date.
Why destroy all that good work? Because the truth is that archetypes aren’t real and no one person is just a single thing. To put it another way, the population of Planet Earth has now exceeded eight billion people, which means its surface is clogged with eight billion unique characters, each one marching through life with their heart set on their own unique desire, pursuing their own unique agenda, with their attitudes and behaviours and thoughts and emotions influenced by a zillion different things ranging from the attachments they formed in infancy through to what they had for breakfast this morning and the effect it’s having on their digestion. If you want your characters to be even half as interesting as real human beings, you must ensure that each of them is a one-of-a-kind.
Having destroyed all your beloved character notes, you may now be feeling a little despondent. Don’t worry. The good news is you can finally start writing. Stick to your plans by all means – all that work wasn’t for nothing and the ideas it generated are still bubbling through your head – but allow for the possibility that, sooner or later, your characters will do something of their own free will, breaking free from their archetypal straitjackets and steering your carefully constructed plot in new and unexpected directions. When this happens it’s time to celebrate, because you just received a clear signal that your characters have started to breathe of their own accord. My advice is to let them. The card game is over. This shit just got real.
Yes, I know the question you’re itching to ask. Why bother giving you these wretched cards in the first place, if all I want you to do is throw them away?
Because sometimes, when your writing muscles are all cramped up, playing cards can help you shake out the knots.
That’s why I’m happy to make you a gift of my Character Archetype Cards. I hope you’ll have yourself plenty of fun as you flesh out a dashing hero from the bones of a Monster, or imagine their romantic partner as a lawless Rebel, or conjure up a dastardly villain who’s as Innocent as the day is long. Everyone loves a restless Adventurer, especially when their sidekick is a disarming Joker with a special knack for finding truth in humour. And what better way to stir things up than by throwing an unpredictable Disruptor into the mix?
If nothing else, your used collection of Character Archetype Cards will make an interesting set of novelty coasters.
If you’ve got as many questions as I have about the craft of creative writing, you’ll know how important it is to try out new things. The more you learn, the more you feel in need of lessons. Every day, as they say, is a school day. That’s what my Writer’s Alphabet is all about. It’s not a dictionary of answers, more a lexicon of suggestions. Some of the ideas are my own, some are based on nuggets of wisdom I’ve picked up along the way, borrowed from people far smarter than myself. It’s not a list of rules (rules are made to be broken, right?). But it might give you a nudge in the right direction, just when you need it.
Graham Edwards – Author & Journalist 