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The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes Kindle Edition

by Tami D. Cowden (Author), Carolyn LaFever (Author), Sue Viders (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 209 ratings

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Review
An invaluable resource for writers working in any genre.... -- Prof. Richard Walter, Screenwriting Chairman, UCLA Dept. of Film and Television, letter to author, 5/4/00

Finally! Fiction Archetypes made easy. . . . Stuffed with examples and cleverly organized, [this book] earned a spot on my crowded bookshelf. -- Debra Dixon, author GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict, 1996; and Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes, 2000; email to authors 4/00

The Complete Writers Guide to Heroes and Heroines takes the mystery out of creating compelling and memorable characters. Every writer should own a copy. -- Deb Stover, award winning author of nine time travel and historical romances, email to authors. 4/00

The authors have developed a clear and usable system for creating memorable characters. -- Kevin J. Anderson, best-selling co-author of Dune: House Atreides, email to author, 5/25/00.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Many books attempt to show writers how to create believable characters. This one is unlike the majority: it specifically identifies 16 "master archetypes," complete with thumbnail sketches and descriptions of specific qualities, flaws, background, styles, and possible occupations. The authors, all writers and writing instructors, detail eight male and eight female archetypes in Sections 1 and 2 and then in Section 3 discuss how the characters can interact and evolve, often warning that "a writer cannot simply lift the archetypes from these pages." Although these archetypes from these pages." Although these archetypes are admittedly rather stereotypical (e.g., the Chief, the Bad Boy, and the Warrior, or the Seductress, the Waif, and the Nurturer), the book does provide a thought-provoking exploration of character development and its myriad possibilities. Useful examples from literature, television, and cinema are included in the appendex. Although the book is written in an easily accessible writing style, it nevertheless contains more detail than would be needed for most undergraduate programs. It is therefore more suitable for advanced creative writing programs. Recommended for midsize to larger public libraries.
Angela M. Weiler, SUNY Libs. at Morrisville
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

An invaluable resource for writers working in any genre.... -- Prof. Richard Walter, Screenwriting Chairman, UCLA Dept. of Film and Television, letter to author, 5/4/00

The Complete Writers Guide to Heroes and Heroines takes the mystery out of creating compelling and memorable characters. Every writer should own a copy. -- Deb Stover, award winning author of nine time travel and historical romances, email to authors. 4/00

Finally! Fiction Archetypes made easy. . . . Stuffed with examples and cleverly organized, [this book] earned a spot on my crowded bookshelf. -- Debra Dixon, author GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict, 1996; and Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes, 2000; email to authors 4/00

The authors have developed a clear and usable system for creating memorable characters. -- Kevin J. Anderson, best-selling co-author of Dune: House Atreides, email to author, 5/25/00.

About the Author

Tami Cowden always wanted to be a writer, but practiced law for ten years before beginning pursuit of her dream in 1997. Since then, her articles and short stories have appeared in national and online publications. Tami has won awards for her short stories, including the 1997 Individual Achievement in Fiction Award from American Mensa, Ltd. and she is a double finalist in RWA's prestigious Golden Heart contest in 2000. Tami has presented writing workshops at the 1999 and 2000 RWA National Conferences, and at multi-genre writing workshops around the country. She has taught writing at the University of Colorado and currently teaches at the University of Denver as well as online writing classes. She is now working toward a Masters in English with an emphasis in teaching writing. Write to Tami at Tami@tamicowden.com.

Caro LaFever studied political science in college and backpacked through Europe and the Orient. She's been a ski bum, a waitress, a bookkeeper, a loan processor and an accounting software trainer. Finally deciding that she couldn't ignore her dream anymore, Caro started to write. A life-long reader of romance, she's written six books - fiction and non-fiction. A founding member of Heart of Denver Romance Writers, she's finaled several times in the prestigious Orange Rose contest and in the Emily contest. Her long contemporary, "Night Dreams," is a 2000 Golden Heart finalist. Her non-fiction book, "The Complete Writer's Guide for Heroes and Heroines," published by Lone Eagle and co-written with Tami Cowden and Sue Viders, was released in June of 2000. She writes a monthly column called "Beyond Writing" for Painted Rock's online magazine. She has guest lectured at the University of Denver, and teaches classes at Painted Rock.

Sue Viders is the author of 15 non-fiction books, numerous magazine articles and a former marketing columnist for several national publications. She is currently the editor of a national newsletter for artists, and has an on-going column for writers on line. She has taught writing at the University of Denver, and teaches class on-line with Painted Rock. Besides teaching on-line, she is in the process of finishing her first novel.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00HD176J2
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Archetype Press (December 16, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 16, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 724 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 340 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #295,924 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #280 in Writing Skill Reference (Kindle Store)
- #631 in Writing Skill Reference (Books)
- #920 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 209 ratings

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Sue Viders
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Sue Viders, with a B.F.A. degree, began writing in national art magazines to help artists market their creative endeavors, but then switched over to teaching writers, around the world, how to better organize and write more effectively so their books would sell better. Her most well-known nonfiction book often called the Bible of building characters, is THE COMPLETE WRITER'S GUIDE TO HEROES and HEROINES, SIXTEEN MASTER ARCHETYPES.
Approaching the big Nine 0, and having survived numerous bouts with cancer, and other interesting medical problems, along with raising five children and assisting her attorney husband with her typing skills, she is proud to present her essay book. It all started with her newspaper articles, which gradually morphed into the OUT-OF-THE-BOX ESSAY book, containing 44 short thought-provoking and humorous comments on life and living.
However, she also has other numerous nonfiction books, WRITING A NOVEL, CREATING A GREAT VILLAIN, and a card game, DEAL A STORY, THE WRITER'S TOOL BOX, for aspiring writers available with several more writing workbooks on the drawing board.
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Caro LaFever
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Caro LaFever writes sexy contemporary romance in a cabin in the woods. She's friends with a raccoon, some wild turkeys, and occasionally, a bear. Oh. And she has a few human friends as well.
Join her reader's group now and receive freebies and so much more! Yippee! Go to her website at: www.carolafever.com and sign up.
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Tami D., LaFever, Caro, Viders, Sue Cowden
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Tami D. Cowden
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Tami Cowden lives and writes in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her first novel, Cruising for Love, won a Golden Heart from Romance Writers of America, and was published initially by Avalon. It is now available from Montlake Romance.
Tami is also the coauthor of The Complete Writers Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes, a guide to characterization for writers. Tami has presented writing programs on characterization, plotting and scene building at more than 100 writing conferences and retreats, as well as online. Due to popular demand, she also authored a follow up book, Fallen Heroes: Sixteen Villain Archetypes.
A lawyer by day, she is now working on a mystery series about a divorce lawyer who inherits a Las Vegas wedding chapel. Tami lives in Las Vegas with her husband, two basset hounds, and four cats.
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Caro LaFever, Sue Viders Tami D. Cowden
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4.6 out of 5

209 global ratings

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Ron

A book for the future Heroe/Heroian

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024

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Great book, great read. Great for someone still trying to figure out the process to character development.

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ADM

The book on archetypes I've been looking for

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2015

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I've read a number of other texts on archetypes, but this is the most useful I've found. I wanted a book which would not just offer insight, but which I could keep on hand for easy reference—Because let's be honest, no matter how thorough and insightful one of these texts is, we're not going to remember every detail once we're done reading. Being able to quickly find what I need is important. Rather than a wall of text on each archetype, they're broken down into easy-to-locate sections that are genuinely useful to actual writing, such as Flaws, Background, and Occupations. This is as clear a road map as can be given without the authors writing your character for you, I think. I also found the archetype interactions portion to be extremely useful, as this is an an area other texts have failed me. The margin notations make it easy to grab helpful info at a glance, and if you want to know more about how these characters influence each other step-by-step, you can delve further into the text itself. I'm really very impressed with how practically useful this guide is.

As for my quibbles, the references to existing characters are a bit dated (I was surprised to see this had been revised in 2013), and if there was any information given on how archetypes can be either gender, I don't remember seeing it. I went into this book already having that information, but new authors may feel a bit pigeonholed if they believe they're limited to only 8 options because of their character's gender. Something to consider for future revisions.

As an aside, I also appreciated that I could purchase a physical copy, as that way I can keep it at my desk and avoid the distractions of the internet.

9 people found this helpful

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Jeni Teni

Super Sweet!!!!!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2023

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This book was SUPER helpful when writing my novel. Well written.

One person found this helpful

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Baron Von Cool

Good, comprehensive book on character archetypes

Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2013

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Good, comprehensive book detailing hero and heroine archetypes and how they interact with each other. Followed by Tami Cowden's solo sequel, Fallen Heroes: Sixteen Master Villain Archetypes , which is also good, but unfortunately does not attempt to explain how the villains interact with the heroes and heroines in this book.

Another book I like that offers the same idea as this one is 45 Master Characters, Revised Edition: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters by Victoria Schmidt. It not only has a character archetypes, but a complete breakdown and worksheets for charting the different adventure paths for males vs. females. Also recommended is The Virgin's Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative, Spiritual, and Sexual Awakening by Kim Hudson, which focuses on a step by step guide to creating feminine adventures vs. male ones (but a slightly different system than in 45 Master Characters). Both 45 MC and VP provide an easy to understand breakdown of Maureen Murdock's The Heroine's Journey , which itself is a feminine version of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) (the Hero's Journey; theory of mythic storytelling structure used in Star Wars, The Lion King, etc., which Christoher Vogler breaks down for writers in The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition ).

And not just for its screenplay advice, but because it is easily adapted for novelists, I recommend My Story Can Beat Up Your Story: Ten Ways to Toughen Up Your Screenplay from Opening Hook to Knockout Punch by Jeffrey Schechter. It espouses a Jungian theory of a "unity of opposites," so both the hero and the villain and their teams will be mirror images of each other and be out to prove the opposite (or some more reasonable compromise) of the story's theme (such "faith vs. technology" in Star Wars). It provides great examples of this theory from blockbusters like Star Wars, Star Trek, the Dark Knight, etc. If you go to the author's website (with the url link in the book), you can download a cut chapter that extends the mirror image theory not just to the characters, but the first half and last half of the story. So some action that happens in the first half is repeated in the second, only on a larger scale with more dramatic results, which readers like because of its circularity.

Unfortunately, not all of the archetype books mesh well with each other's systems (nor do all the story structure ones), so you might want to pick one to get you started. What's nice about The Complete Guide to Heroes and Heroines is it has the villain sequel, however, that doesn't mean these are the best books on the subject. They're a perfectly good choice, and deliver exactly what they promise, but I love getting the mythic hero/heroine journey story structure help and find myself referring far more to those books throughout the writing process than books that solely provide archetypes.

8 people found this helpful

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Doom

A must read

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2009

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This is my favorite how to write book. Why? Each of the 16 character types has three virtues and three flaws to guide their decisions. I find a character without weakness is not very likable. It is fantastic for keeping my characters in line--mine sometimes get away from me, doing things that don't make sense. It also forces me to actually plot out what traits I want to this character to demonstrate. It gets rid of that blurry character feeling I sometimes have. The book also helps in the blending of types allowing something like a Warrior/Chief to have the strengths and weaknesses of both archetypes.

Could the book be better? Absolutely but I still give it five stars.

--Need more film and book references to match the characters. Agent Booth in Bones is a Warrior, etc. There are several examples in book but can you really have too many examples?

--It is missing villains. Okay, duh, read the title but still. I actually use 45 Master Characters , my second favorite writing book, to flush villains out. 45 Master Characters goes into more depth and talks about gods--I love when we get back to Greeks. The 16 archetypes line up perfectly with the 45 Master Characters. Okay, you may have a point: 16 is not equal to 45 but I'll let you read them to see what I mean.

--I find the archetype interaction fairly uninteresting as this seems to have just as much to do with plot as personality.

--It would have been cool to have archetype conflict resolution approaches and dialog. Situation: my dog got hit by a car. Warrior reaction: "The guy who did this going to pay. I will beat him to a pulp."

--Three virtues and flaws is great, why not have more? Sure there is a core three, but it would be to have options, almost like a creative kick starter.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

MJ

This system works really well for me

Reviewed in Canada on September 27, 2023

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I have always struggled with enneagram and Myers-Briggs systems for understanding personalities and creating characters/arcs. For whatever reason, this system of 16 archetypes really resonates with me. It’s changed how I approach my own writing and how I read novels too. I find the section on character interactions especially useful for writing and reading romance.

JANINE BRAY-MUELLER

For writers who find Enneagrams complicated, here is an alternative.

Reviewed in France on March 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

Yes! Helpful reference book for fiction writers - especially when you find enneagrams complicated or too time-consuming. This is your alternative to creating protagonist archetypes.

This beautifully formatted book contains helpful and informative guidelines for beginner and experienced fiction writers. Well worth buying the printed version.

WomanOfDevon

Really helpful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2020

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I hesitated to buy this book because there were a few reviews that said it lacked examples. But I've only had this book a day or so and it's been a massive help with my numerous WIPs.
It's incredibly helpful as a writers resource. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

Leanne Lovegrove

Useful

Reviewed in Australia on July 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a fabulous guide for writers, a starting point to allow you to fully explore your character.

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The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes Kindle Edition

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