Why Are Archetypes Important?

Archetypes are the building blocks of story. But why are archetypes important? Aren’t they just a fill-in-the-blank structures for trite stories about chosen-one farm boys? Not even close. This post is part one in a series that explores and defines archetypes, their origin, and their purpose. The series will correct misinformation and help writers and narrative designers utilize a much maligned tool to connect with audiences.


“It’s great but it’s shite!”

How many of us have recommended a book to a friend saying “You have to read this! The writing is crap, but the story is really good!”

If you’re saying “I have higher standards than that,” a) check yourself, we all love a bit of crap reading; and 2) I’m sure we can all at least think of a few highly popular novels that have absolutely terrible writing. Even ones the rest of us despise and cannot fathom how they’re so popular. Not naming names.

They are popular because they hit some deep emotional trigger. They spoke to the reader’s innermost complex. Maybe an ordinary teen who wants to feel special. Or someone who is dissatisfied with the official doctrine. Or someone who can’t escape a psychologically abusive spouse.

Those emotional triggers come from our complexes, and at the heart of each complex is an archetype.

That’s right, these stories are powerful because they use archetypes.

And I’m not talking about the trite Campbellian hero/mentor/threshold guardian etc kind of archetypes. They may have started that way but they’ve become cliché by rote. They have come to represent story roles rather than actual archetypes (more on that later).

All the posts contained within deal with the life of a writer and give an insider’s look at Pym’s process.
Photo by Tomasz Filipek on Unsplash

But why are archetypes important?

I’ll go into the actual definition of archetypes in the next post, but essentially they represent instinctual and universal patterns in the human psyche, be they characters or experienced. Those archetypal patters are why children are instinctively afraid of the dark. Why we expect mothers to be nurturing. Why we get all introspective at the sight of the vast emptiness of the ocean. Okay, maybe that last one is just me. And a handful of other writers who have penned an ocean-worth of ink about it.

My point is that archetypes are the heart of a good story. The kind of story that has meaning to readers, be it just the one or a whole mass of them. Even when they’re poorly written. Because story beats technique every time.[footnote] I am in no way advocating being lazy about your writing. Some writers are just good at ideas while being terrible at execution. If I find you’re just being lazy I will hunt you down.[/footnote]

You’ve all heard me harp on about all the bad archetypes advice out there. It’s my soapbox. But archetypes can’t be neatly buttoned up on one post, or even half a dozen. They’re seriously complex (no pun intended). Good writers try to understand them. Bad writers follow the fill-in-the-blanks structures advocated by countless blogs and books.

To work with archetypes properly, and to use them to reach our audiences on an instinctual, emotional level, we have to understand where they come from: the unconscious psyche. If that sounded like a load of jargon, it was. But don’t worry, I break it down in the my next post, the Definition of Archetypes.

Other Posts in the Archetypes Series

The Universal Appeal of Archetypes: An Interview