This is K. Am Wyland and you are listening to the 534th episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

I hope you enjoy this week's episode, Arcotypeal Character Arts Part 1, a new series.

Artypal stories are stories that transcend themselves.

Archetypes speak to something larger.

They are archetypal exactly because they are too large.

They are larger than life.

They are impossible, but ring with probability.

They utilize a seeming representation of the finite as a mirror through which to glimpse infinitude.

Despite their almost numinous quality, archetypes are a very real force in our practical world.

Think of it this way. All the things we imagine actually exist.

Aliens, vampires, dragons, fairies, all the memories of our actual reality also exist in real time in the same way.

Regardless, whether these things can be proven as corporeal, they still exist within the human experience and impact it.

The deeper the shared belief, the deeper and more meaningful the archetype becomes. the archetypes. This is true, as we've talked about elsewhere, in the very nature of story itself,

and more specifically, in the patterns of plot and character architecture that are revealed in the studies of story theory.

But archetypes show up in a legion of increasingly smaller ways, everything from book genres to iconic character types to symbolic imagery.

For a writer, one of the most exciting explorations of archetype can be found

within specific character

arcs or journeys. These arcs have defined our literature throughout history

and they can be consciously used by any writer to strengthen plot, identify themes, explore life, and resonate with readers.

With today's episode I will be beginning a lengthy series that will start by exploring six particular positive change character arcs.

They are the maiden, the hero, the queen, the king, the crown, and the mage. These

archetypes are not random but sequential marking out what we might see as the three acts of the

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