Category Archives: Motifs at work

Father Knows Worst

Most of the time, storytellers use Father Figures in a positive fashion. They use the figure to provide a Mentor to the main character, to give the Hero something to aspire to, or to provide an emotional anchor for the … Continue reading

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Requited Or Unrequited

Romantic relationships (or romantically tinged ones) in serial storytelling can create problems and challenges for the storytellers. “Unrelieved sexual tension” (as it often gets called) can be used to generate plenty of drama in stories, and when it occurs between … Continue reading

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The Aspiring Writer – Shadow

Well, I’ve finally finished the Traditional Archetype series of videos for “The Aspiring Writer”. Below is the last of them, focusing on the Shadow figure. It’s been fun making these, especially as I decided to give my Aspiring Writer a … Continue reading

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Anti-Heroes, Shadows and Villains

When it comes to creating villains for stories, we can flippantly go for the quick stereotype: the leering, mustache-twirling baddie, who spews out his evil laugh. But if we really want our stories to have depth, we need to go … Continue reading

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Rescue the Maiden

A while back in my little contest for blog topics, the following question was one of the entries: “Is there more to the mythic symbolism of the damsel in distress than just the same poor, scantly-clad beauty trapped in an … Continue reading

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