45 Master Characters

Create unforgettable characters your readers will love

45 Master Characters will make your characters and their stories more compelling, complex and original than ever before.

You'll explore the most common male and female archetypes - the mythic, cross-cultural models from which all characters originate - and learn how to use them as foundations for your own unique characters. Examples culled from literature, television and film illustrate just how memorable and effective these archetypes can be - from Gladiators and Kings like Rocky Balboa and Captain Ahab to Amazons and Maidens like Xena and Guinevere.

The mythic journeys of heroes and heroines - the progression of events upon which each archetype's character arc develops - are also examined. Building such a journey into your character's story will enable you to stop worrying about what happens next and get on with telling your tale.

It's a power-packed method for creating characters that stand the test of time

Every novelist, screenwriter and oral storyteller faces the challenge of creating original and exciting characters. Archetypes--mythic, cross-cultural models from which all characters originate--provide a solid foundation upon which to fashion new and vastly different story people. 45 Master Characters explores the most common male and female archetypes, provides instructions for using them to create your own original characters, and gives examples of how other authors have brought such archetypes to life in novels, film and television. Worksheets are then included for writers to develop and map the lives of their own characters.