Mythic Proportions

The other night in one of my classes, I asked my students to name all the variations of the Romeo and Juliet story.  Or rather I asked them to name examples of the following story:

two young lovers fall in love over objections.  The relationship ends tragically.

Romeo and Juliet was the most obvious answer.  Other answers included Pyramus and Thisbe, Tristan and Isolde, West Side Story and the more modern Spring Awakening (a great production of which I saw a couple weekends ago).  It seems folks of all stripes resonate with the tragic young lovers story.  We refer to this recognition of a story motif as an archetype, but on an energetic level it is more than that.

Psychologically and sociologically, an archetype is like  a placeholder, a familiar theme, character, situation that crosses cultural barriers to elucidate a given situation.  The reason these stories "resonate" with us is that they occupy a certain energetic vibration  that is naturally familiar to us.  That's what we mean when we talk about something "resonating" with us--we are literally vibrating on the same frequency as the energy we feel in sync with.

What does that say for our writing?  For one thing--there's no need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. There's a reason that there are only about 20 or so   Master Plots to stories.  They work.  They deal with human emotions and situations that have deep roots in the human psyche.  If you are familiar with the concept of the hero's journey (first promulgated by Joseph Campbell and revamped for fiction writers in The Writer's Journey and other books on craft), you know that particular elements, character archetypes and events can run through almost any story.  If you check out just about any blockbuster movie or bestselling book, you can find bits and pieces of the hero's journey evident (if it is not incorporated whole hog).

I am not advocating surrendering originality for structure, but what you want to do is catch the energy of the plot or archetype to give your story extra depth.  The archetype serves as an underpinning readers vibe to on an unconscious level.      

Consider what's hot in your genre right now.  What types of characters, settings, events, themes are prevalent right now?  This represents another type of energy, as well.  Right now, all things paranormal and sci fi are commanding attention.  But the field has also matured.  You can't just throw in a vampire of some sort and call it a day anymore.  Stories have gotten more sophisticated and varied.

When I wanted to sell my first book, I read every romance that the house I wanted to publish with had put out in the previous six months.  I wanted to make sure my book was similar enough to what was out there that it would fit in with the rest of the stories, but different enough that my book stood out.  This definitely paid off, since the book sold to that publisher and they picked up ten or so more.

And I'll tell you a little secret--that first book, Spellbound, was a modified Cinderella story.  The one after that was my take on Sleeping Beauty.  Next up?  Beauty and the Beast, maybe.

How about you?  Do you find the hero's journey or archetypes helpful in your writing?  In what ways do you use them?