Welcome to Launch Day! Today, at long last, I get to officially share my newest book on the craft of writing and storytelling. For me personally, Writing Archetypal Character Arcs: The Hero’s Journey and Beyond has been quite literally an archetypal journey. I am so excited to finally and officially share it with all of you!
Where Can You Buy the Book?
You can purchase the book at the following links:
Amazon USA (affiliate link)
(Audiobook coming later this year!)
If you don’t have a Kindle but want to take advantage of the cheaper e-book option, you can read Kindle books off your computer, iPhone or iPad, or Android, using their respective Kindle apps.
About the Book
This book dives deep into the possibilities for using all the power of “mythic beat sheets” in your own stories. Whether you’re writing fantasy or mystery or romance or contemporary drama, your stories will benefit from an understanding of how archetypal characters and archetypal journeys inform the life cycle of the human experience.
The first and most important part of the book goes deep with six foundational and sequential archetypal character arcs:
1. The Maiden – Coming of Age
2. The Hero – Slaying the Dragon
3. The Queen – Defending the Kingdom
4. The King – Becoming the Sacrifice
5. The Crone – Facing Down Death
6. The Mage – Surrendering Control
The book then explores twelve shadow archetypes—two for each of the main arcs: the Damsel/Vixen, the Coward/Bully, the Snow Queen/Sorceress, the Puppet/Tyrant, the Hermit/Witch, and the Miser/Sorcerer.
It also talks about the six “flat” or resting archetypes that live in the calm between transformative arcs: the Child, the Lover, the Parent, the Ruler, the Elder, and the Mentor.
And it finishes with a discussion of the twelve symbolic archetypal antagonists that oppose characters in their attempts to complete their mythic journeys: Authority and Predator, Dragon and Sick King, Invader and Empty Throne, Rebel and Cataclysm, Tempter and Death Blight, and Weakness of Humankind and Evil.
I talked about my own deeply personal journey with these archetypes in a post earlier this week, and you can read the official back cover blurb here:
The Six Transformational Character Arcs of the Human Life
Ready to take your story’s character arcs and themes to the next level? This latest book from veteran writing teacher and story theorist K.M. Weiland ventures far beyond the popular and pervasive Hero’s Journey to explore six important archetypal character arcs, representing key moments of initiation in the human experience:
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- The Maiden
- The Hero
- The Queen
- The King
- The Crone
- The Mage
Found in every genre from fantasy to drama to romance to adventure, these transformational stories are the secret of powerhouse fiction—as shown through a wide variety of real-story examples throughout the book.
Writing Archetypal Character Arcs will teach you:
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- The archetypal beats for each of the six journeys
- Which archetypes are right for your particular story
- The best way to use archetypes in a series
- How to choose the right archetypes for supporting characters
- How to use archetypes to identify your story’s theme
You will also learn how to deepen your stories by implementing shadow archetypes (the negative sides of each positive archetype), resting or “flat” archetypes (the fixed stage between each of the main arcs), and archetypal antagonists (the epic antagonistic forces that oppose each of the positive archetypes in their journeys). The Hero’s Journey is just the beginning. Learning about archetypal character arcs will change the way you view stories—and life—forever.
Find the Tools to Write Stories Readers Will Never Forget
Enter to Win the Writing Archetypal Character Arcs Launch Prize
To celebrate the launch of Writing Archetypal Character Arcs, I am giving away a Freewrite! The winner will receive their choice of either the Gen3 Smart Typewriter or the Traveler (value up to $649).
Description of the Freewrite Smart Typewriter and Traveler:
“The Smart Typewriter is a dedicated drafting device for anyone who writes without the distraction—or temptation—of browsers, email, or notifications. Get in writing flow and develop more prolific writing sessions by separating the drafting and editing processes. When it is time to edit, your drafts wirelessly sync to the cloud for export into your software of choice. Push your productivity forward and tap into writing joy!” (Read more about the Typewriter here and the Traveler here.)
To Enter
Winners will be announced Monday, April 3rd. Enter below! (Note: no purchase is necessary to enter.)
Good luck to everyone in the drawing, have fun, and thank you for helping me celebrate the launch of Writing Archetypal Character Arcs!
