Archetypes? Or just my types?

 (Reminder: this site is now ONLY my blog. If you're looking for my book links or contact options, events, or any other aspects of my writer life, please visit http://dangerouswhenbored.com )

 

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the August 5 posting of the IWSG are Kate Larkinsdale, SE White, JS Pailly, Olga Godim, and Natalie Aguirre!  

September 2 question - Do you have a favorite character archetype you tend to gravitate toward in your writing?

___________________________________

 Happy 15th Birthday, IWSG! 

So far as I can tell, I joined this party for the first time in 2014…so I haven't quite done the whole 15, but 12 years isn't too shabby. I'll be that tween trying to hang out with the teenagers at my big sister's party. 

 Seriously though, this community has meant a lot to me and has encouraged a habit of reflection about my writing life that has kept me going when the going has been rough. I appreciate y'all!

___________________________________ 

So far as today's question…I don't consciously think about archetypes when I'm writing. My focus is smaller than that--on the individual character in front of me and trying to understand her. But when I look over my body of work, there are types of characters I return to again and again: 

HEROES! I finished my Menopausal Superheroes series in 2025, and it's now 5 novels, two novellas, a collection of shorts. And I've tried to explore a variety of paths to and definitions of heroism: reluctant heroes, antiheroes, true-blue heroes, unsung heroes. The series also has a lot to say about motherhood and caregiving, love, partnership, friendship, and aging. And despite all those heavy themes, it's my most optimistic and sunny work. You can check it out here: https://dangerouswhenbored.com/series/menopausal-superheroes

 

 

On the other hand, I'm also drawn to VILLAINS, and the darkness within all of us. I explore this in my short horror fiction, which you can find in nearly 30 anthologies as well as in my Stories From Shadow Hill collection. (HINT: if you buy these through my Bookshop affiliate, I get a little extra from the sale)

 

And then, because two genres isn't enough for me, I also love, well, LOVE! So, archetype-wise, I guess that's the LOVER in all their myriad forms: lovelorn, pining, confident, demanding, fragile, jealous, caring. My GenX romances (centering people in their 50s finding love) run the gamut!

 

 

 So, are these archetypes? Maybe…but either way, they're just my types :-)