Frail but tough women and nosy but loving neighbors: my favorite character archetypes
Now that I’ve been writing for awhile, I can see patterns in my own work: I love to include music (and wish it were less expensive to include song lyrics), I’m a sucker for a good revenge story, I write about sexual assault a lot, and I tend to gravitate toward two favorite character archetypes: frail but strong women and nosy but loving neighbors. I’ll talk about those character archetypes today.
But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Kate Larkinsdale, SE White, JS Pailly, Olga Godim, and Natalie Aguirre. Please stop by and leave them some comment love. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question is, Do you have a favorite character archetype you tend to gravitate toward in your writing?
Favorite character archetype 1: frail but tough women
The main character in my first novel, Vanishing, Inc. (which I still need to revise and resubmit to the 2 agents who expressed interest) is Alex Collins, a woman in her mid-20s who’s hiding from a psychopathic ex-husband in a small Arizona mountain town. When I first started writing Vanishing, Inc. I knew I wanted to write about a woman with wounds and scars, but Alex didn’t take shape for me physically till a Saturday afternoon at the Arizona Highland Celtic Festival. I was volunteering to staff a booth for the local greyhound rescue group when a woman walked by. She was thin and corpse pale, with lovely rich red hair. She looked like she belonged in a vampire romance–as the vampire. I said, “That’s Alex,” and I probably said it out loud because I’m awkward like that. So Alex is thin and corpse-pale, and at the beginning of the book she’s scarred and scared and committed to spending the rest of her life on the run.
We play by Reddit rules around here, so since I alluded to the fact we had greyhounds, I have to pay the greyhound tax. This is Fritz in 2018, a couple of years before he passed:
RIP, Fritzie. You were the best boy.
Dawn Douglas, the main character in Delta Dawn (which I’m happy to report I’ve been working diligently to revise), had leukemia just as she started puberty, and the chemo messed up her growth spurt. As a result, she’s tiny and built mostly like a child. She’s also scarred (from her illness and her abusive father) and scared (that she’ll never be able to put her past–and her father–fully behind her). Oh, and a serial killer is after her. Because of course a serial killer is after her. Lesson one: A Janet Alcorn story almost always contains a psychopath.
I suspect I write these kinds of female characters as a sort-of self-insert. I’ve always been mostly healthy, but I was never strong, never athletic. I like to live vicariously through characters who are weak on the outside but tougher on the inside than they ever realized.
Favorite character archetype 2: the nosy but loving neighbor
In Vanishing, Alex rents a cottage from an elderly woman named Sofie Bowman, who’s everything Alex isn’t: tough, strong, no-nonsense, and comfortable in her weathered skin. She becomes a source of strength, wisdom, and encouragement for Alex. In Delta Dawn, the neighbor is Edie Jakes, a retired reporter who knows everything about everyone. She was a second mother to Dawn when Dawn was growing up and is now a source of support and friendship when Dawn is dealing with her abusive, dying father.
I know exactly where this archetype comes from: my mom and my lack of extended family. My mom and I were very close, but she was the only family member I was close to. Apparently writer-me is still looking for mother figures. Also, there’s something magical about older women. Our give-a-shit gland must live in our ovaries, because once we hit menopause, we are done worrying about other people’s opinions. Every young woman needs a smart-mouthed older woman in her life to keep her grounded. If you’re under 40, get out there and find yourself a Crone Mentor.
Hmm, maybe I should start a business matching younger women with crone mentors. I’ll call it OnlyCrones.
Writing updates
The most important writing update is that I’m writing. Regularly. Just about every day. Also, it’s fun again. Yay!
I’m a member of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime (Guppies is a nickname for the Great Unpublished). Every year they do something called Fantasy Agent. Unpublished members can send a synopsis and the first 30 pages of their manuscript, and a traditionally-published author will review it as though they were an agent and provide feedback. I submitted Vanishing a few years ago and got some helpful feedback, so this year I submitted Delta Dawn. Which means I’ve spent the last 3 or so weeks re-polishing my first 30 pages and shrinking an old, 3-page synopsis down to a single page.
My next big task is to tackle another revision of Vanishing and get the revised version to the 2 agents who expressed interest in seeing a rewrite.
Life updates
Not a lot to report this month. The big news is old news: we’re taking a 16-day cruise to Hawaii to celebrate our 35th anniversary. We leave in a little over 2 weeks, and I’m in full on panic mode trying to get everything done that has to be done before we go. I’m never more productive than I am in the month before a long vacation.
The Memery
It’s a mishmash of memes this month, mostly stuff that’s been lurking in my archive for a bit (yes, I do have an actual meme archive). Here we go:
First up, it’s that time of year again:
I haven’t done much gardening this year, but last year I had my neighbors and co-workers cowering in terror at the zucchini hoard.
Also the steam from draining pasta. Sigh.
What that one lacks in financial logic it makes up for in human logic.
And finally:
If I ever don’t want tacos, skip the ER and haul me straight to the morgue.
That’s it for me this time. I’m in the unfortunate stage of my crone era in which I still have to work a day job, so I’m off to work. If you write, are there characters you tend to write over and over? If you read, what character archetypes do you like most? If you don’t write or read, what’s your favorite taco? (And you should totally write and read, so you can be like the rest of us weirdos.)
24 Comments
Esther O'Neill
Hi Janet , happy September…
Enjoyed, still don’t think I’m creative enough for a course, an d the roof needs fixing again..
Red hair, corpse pale, even after this year’s weird UK summer,
Not necessarily a vampire, or at least, don’t think I am., just dodgy genes. ..
My characters keep heading for adventures in remote places
Two legendary nosy next door to each other neighbours have left our valley, both women, one widowed, one married, separate destinations,
Some of us still trying to work out if we miss them…
Janet Alcorn
Esther, I love your last line! You have a wonderful, dry sense of humor.
My characters are the opposite of yours. I have to poke them with sticks to get them to leave their houses.
Joanne
I love reading about tough, no-nonsense older women who are still willing to try just about anything and seem fearless. They are the best– mostly because I’d like to be one of those one day. I hope you have a great time on your trip!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! I haven’t reached the fearless phase of my crone era, but I’m definitely becoming more and more no-nonsense. So much stuff that used to matter to me just… doesn’t. And it’s wonderful.
alexjcavanaugh
Another writer probably saw that redhead and turned her into a vampire.
Have a great time on your anniversary trip!
Janet Alcorn
She would have made a good one. And thanks! Definitely in countdown mode.
natalieiaguirre
It’s awesome that you’re writing every day. Have a wonderful trip to Hawaii to celebrate your anniversary.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! I’m just happy writing is fun again (and that I’m going to Hawaii).
cleemckenzie
Congratualations on writing and revising and for have such interesting characters to look forward to.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
Crystal Collier
Hey, my daughter is living in Hawaii right now! (And doing school.) Have we visited her, no. Should we? Probably. *rubbing fingers together* Ah, the almighty dollar… Enjoy that cruise! Also, I love the types of characters you gravitate toward.
Janet Alcorn
Nice! Hawaii would be an amazing place to go to school, because you could live there more cheaply than you could as a full-fledged adult and would (I would hope) have more time to enjoy the perks.
I hear you about the cost. This trip is a huge splurge for us. We’re usually pretty thrifty. But you only live once, and if we’re going to do it, it needs to be while my husband is still healthy enough to enjoy it.
Olga Godim
I like your archetypes – they are worthy to explore and write about.
Your memes are great, especially the one about ancestors. LOL. I should do the same.
Janet Alcorn
Right?! That method sounds more fun than Ancestry DNA.
Anna
I like having an older character too. Sometimes a mother, or mother in law or the lovely aunt that keeps offering advice as if they know anything about solving a crime. hehehe
Janet Alcorn
I wrote a short story once about an elderly woman who committed a crime. So much fun.
Kate
Sounds like you’ve found your groove as a writer. I hope you manage to sty there and continue enjoying it.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks–me too! I try to accept that life has seasons, but it’s frustrating when I lose interest in writing.
Jennifer Lane
This made me LOL: “Our give-a-shit gland must live in our ovaries, because once we hit menopause, we are done worrying about other people’s opinions.” 😀 Caring less what people this is the absolute best part of aging for me. Sounds like you enjoy writing Gladys Kravitz nosy neighbors! That’s great you’re writing daily, and I hope you have a wonderful cruise. I’ve been to Oahu twice and would love to check out the other islands. How many will you see?
J.S. Pailly
As someone who has a nosy but loving neighbor, I think that’s a great archetype to include in stories.
Elizabeth Seckman, Author
I’ll never forget that my give-a-shitness shriveled with my ovaries, because it’s true. LOL. It’s like I know now that life is too short to care about the nonsense I used to worry about.
I often write in a crone too. Usually one that dotes and cooks for the same reason I like to write stories set at the beach, I am a dreamer.
Victoria Marie Lees
Bravo, Janet, for writing every day and to be happy while doing it. Happy anniversary! Enjoy that Hawaiian cruise. You are very lucky and truly blessed. Great post!
Toi Thomas
Happy IWSG 15th Anniversary. I like frail but tough women. Not all strong female characters have to be ninjas or combat experts. Glad to hear you are writing a lot. Have fun in Hawaii. Thanks for the laughs. I love a good shredded chicken taco.
Rebecca Douglass
I think my current protag (Seffi Wardwell) might fall into that frail-but-tough group, though she’d probably bop me if she ever caught me using the word “frail” to describe her. (She’s also in the age group of well past giving a shit, so…). She might also at the same time be that crone neighbor.
Also: I’m happy to have some of those zukes. I can’t grow them in my yard.