Female Archetypes

Posted on October 10, 2022

Lately, in a desire to understand why I write certain types of female characters and yet struggle with writing others, I’ve launched into an in-depth examination of female Archetypes. One thing I have realized is that I don’t struggle to write the archetypes that are most consistent in my own nature, Artemis and Hestia, but do struggle with Persephone and anything Aphrodite-related. So it’s important to not simply mirror my own character aspects but to reach beyond them and write female characters whose archetypes might be foreign to me. I do believe all the archetypes are alive in my psyche at any given time, which is the case with most of us. And though we are not limited to our core archetype, it is generally the one that drives us. Especially when under stress. That’s a great thing to know when creating fictional characters.

I’m currently looking at the Greek Goddesses (archetypes):

The seven goddesses:

• Athena, goddess of wisdom.
• Artemis, goddess of the hunt.
• Hestia, goddess of the hearth.
• Persephone, goddess of the underworld.
• Demeter, goddess of grain and agriculture.
• Hera, goddess of marriage.
• Aphrodite, goddess of love.

I’ll be sharing my female archetypes educational journey here on my blog, and also on my Instagram account at @Femarchetype, so please follow me there.

If you liked it, please share @MindyHalleck

Tweet

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.