This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 535 episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors

Podcast. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode, Architiple Character Arks

Part 2, The Maiden Arc.

The First Act of the Human Experience, roughly the first 30 years, may be thought of as

a period of initiation. It is a period of integrating the parts of oneself.

In many ways, it is a period in which the overarching symbolic antagonist may be thought of as fear. We use the

arcs of this period to overcome fear and discover our own empowerment as

individuals within the world.

As with all of the three periods that encompass these archetypal life

arcs, the first act is made up of two partner arcs, each leading into the other, each vitally important to mature development.

The second of these arcs is perhaps the most popularly known of any archetypal character

arc, the Hero.

But the Hero arc cannot successfully

launch the youthful person into adulthood

unless it is founded upon the lessons learned from a completed maiden arc.

Because the Hero arc is told almost to the complete exclusion, at least consciously, of the other life arks, particularly the feminine and elder

arcs, we don't find a wealth of study in writing these other arcs, which is a deep shame since it means that both society and the

individual misses out on the guidance of stories from other equally vital parts of life. It also means writers often feel they

have but one primary model upon which to build stories. Instinctively I

think we all reject this and yet where are the

other models? The answer is that at least some of them are now arising or

rather re-emerging. The feminine arcs in particular are beginning to find voices.

...