Archetypes for Writers - Summary

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Archetypes for Writersby Jennifer Van Bergen

Betty Edwards writes in her book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, that drawing is a global skill, made up of component skills. "Once you have learned the components and have integrated them, you can draw,” she says.

The same is true of “doing archetypes,” which is the foundation for discovering and writing your own already-existing characters. This new approach to characterization is a global skill, made up of component skills.

The ability to draw, according to Edwards, is not made up of drawing skills, but of five particular perceptual skills. Similarly, doing archetypes – or arkhelogy (from Greek for arch(e)- primary, chief, highest, and logy [from logos]– knowledge) – is not made up of the usual writing skills, but rather of distinct, separate non-writing skills that, together, enable one to do “one’s own writing,” and, in particular, to access and develop one’s existing characters, and, ultimately, to write them in the context of their real lives (stories).

The component skills of arkhelogy are developed through a series of exercises which I introduce in my book, Archetypes for Writers: Using the Power of Your Subconscious. The exercises are divisible into two general sections: (1) separating-out work, and (2) integrating work.

The exercises in the first section (Separating-Out Work) are named:

Character Facts and Circumstances
Universal Drives
Discrepancies
Analogues
Being in the Moment
Universes of Discourse
Emotional Access Work

The exercises in the second section (Integrating Work) are called:

Ectypes
Isotypes
Arkhelogy

Character Facts work teaches you how to separate out facts from your own biases about people you observe. Universal Drives work focuses on learning to identify the basic universal drives in each person. Discrepancies work requires you to identify contradictions in people’s behaviors and to begin to frame them in two-part sentences, which are the foundation of later work in this method. In contrast to Discrepancies, Analogues focus on similarities – not between two behaviors within one person, but between two different persons. With Analogues, you try to “relate” to what you believe another person experienced.

Being in the Moment is the work of trying to focus oneself on an instant in time. Later on, as you learn to begin integrating skills, Being in the Moment integrates with Analogue work and other components, developing one’s ability to zero in on a moment in another person’s life.

Universes of Discourse work is not really a separate skill. The purpose of the exercise is to teach you to identify the “rules” of the dual brain, so that you can understand how it works and how to work with it. This work requires you to watch certain specified movies and identify: the “two worlds” contained in each movie, the rules of each world, and the points of contact between each world. This exercise does not integrate and cannot be used in conjunction with the other exercises.

Emotional Access work is simply work that is focused directly on gaining emotional access. This includes intentionally trying to feel for others, trying to feel for yourself and feel your own feelings, and seeing “destinies” of both yourself and others.

These are the separating-out skills; they are not sequential; nor are they cumulative. They are each separate, but all eventually become merged with the single global skill of arkhelogy. They are like spokes of a wheel, ultimately working together to enable the wheel to turn.

Of the integrating work, Ectypes is the simplest. It merely requires creating a generalization out of a two-part discrepancy sentence. Instead of, “Frank says he loves the winter, but he complains when it’s cold out,” you would write, “HE IS THE ONE WHO says he loves the winter, but complains when it’s cold out.” It is a simple mechanical step that begins the process of finding the meaning that will form the archetype that is hiding within the specific instance.

Isotypes work is the most challenging and takes the longest. An Isotype is something that is similar or identical to the Ectype but has a different history or origin. In other words, you need to find other examples of the Ectype. What would be another example of the above Ectype? It must be something that contains a similar or identical meaning as the Ectype, but is otherwise different. Of course, all Ectypes rely on a discrepancy and all discrepancies are, in a sense, like all other discrepancies. But what must happen in Isotype work is you must figure out what is the underlying meaning of the Ectype sentence. The way to do this is to repeat the sentence to yourself – don’t try to attach an adjective or single word to capture it. That will dilute it or even “unmake” it. Keep repeating the sentence and keep asking yourself, what does it mean? And then look for other examples.

The above Ectype example, of course, is a very simple and general one. Oddly, the more behaviorally and contextually specific an Ectype is, the easier your Isotype work will be. Still, Isotype work takes time and patience and develops your perceptual abilities in a new way. As you find other examples, you will begin to see that the behavior of Frank embodies a particular meaning and may even create or be part of the creation of a particular life course (or destiny) for that person. Eventually all your arkhelogy work will revolve around doing Isotypes. In fact, Isotype work integrates all the previous separating-out and integrative work and merges into or becomes arkhelogy work itself.

How is this? Arkhelogy work is “working at the archetypal level.” As you work with Isotypes, you begin to see the underlying pre-existent patterns, or archetypes, in people’s behaviors and actions. Eventually, you see not simply the behaviors themselves but an entire “secret life” going on, and from that you begin to discern a whole “invisible world” where these secret lives interact, interweave, and form into stories. You are working at the archetype level. You are practicing arkhelogy. You are an arkhelogist. Your writing will never be the same.

Jennifer Van Bergen developed “Archetypes for Writers” while teaching in the Writing Program at the New School University in New York City from 1993-2003. She has a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and teaches English at Sante Fe Community College in Gainesville, Florida. Her hundreds of articles on various topics of wide human, political, and legal interest can be found by Googling her name.