Format: Paperback
Published: June 19th, 2000
Age: Adult
Genre: Non-Fiction – Reference – Writing
Goodreads
Rating: 2/5 Stars
There have been more recent editions of this book since the one I own was published, and I really hope these editions have updated the way they handle the ‘archetypes’ as, to be frank, I found the descriptions and way the archetypes were approached to be very outdated. My main problem with these character types – eight male archetypes and eight female – was they felt like they were leaning too much on sexist tropes and rigid types. There’s also the issue that for the intention of helping writers craft characters, it doesn’t quite work.
It’s not difficult to create archetypes and retrospectively go back and apply them to different characters. The information given is superficial and kind of basic, and where they point out the way archetypes can “change” when interacting with each other, a lot of it boils down to “woman helps man discover emotions, man helps woman be less emotional”. Despite being a “Complete Writer’s Guide”, the examples and instances of the archetypes only really apply to film. Although there is a small amount of possibly good information in here, too much of it was reductive and outdated, and there’s really not a lot any prose writer will get from this. There are much, much better books on the craft out there, so if you were considering this to help improve your own writing, spend it on something that is actually going to help you improve, instead.
Unwrapping Words 