As this is Halloween Week, we thought it the best
time to talk about Paranormal Romances. Join us all week.
We won't bite you...yet!
We won't bite you...yet!
Thank you for your submission. I read
your manuscript, and then showed it to a friend better versed in this genre. He
informed me paranormal is a bit “too long in tooth for any meaningful new
entrant,” at the moment. Best of luck to you in your endeavors.
Regards,
Mr. Agent Man
Long in tooth? Is he delving out fang humor as he rejects me? Oh,
ho, ho, ho. I beg to differ, Mr. big, scary, unattainable-and-highly-coveted
Agent Man.
As long as there is sex, there’ll be Bad Boys. And long as there
are Bad Boys, there’ll be vampires, shape shifters, fairies, and the like.
Maybe it will go underground, but cult fans are loyal fans, and eventually
dominate popular culture again--once the hungry masses crave something “fresh”
again.
Small Town Romance and New Adult are the way to go, huh? Did small
towns suddenly appear? Have women previously skipped ages eighteen to twenty
five, until big publishing decided to slap a label on those formative years?
Dare I point out, the only reason the label exists is because
TWILIGHT and HARRY POTTER fans have gone and grown up. And have you ever seen a
Small Town Romance gain the kind of following either of those two franchises
command? Not to mention Paranormal’s siblings, Fantasy and Science Fiction. Did
you know yet another Star Wars movie
is in production? Never mind Star Trek’s recent and successful
resurrection.
What does that have to do with sex and bad boys?
Sex is libido, our primary motivating source of energy. Libido
comes from your unconscious impulses, your instinctual bodily awareness. A Bad
Boy is a symbol, or what Carl Jung would call, an “archetype,” of unfulfilled
erotic desire. He’s “bad” because he cannot be obtained (or integrated). He
represents the unknowable or repressed parts of ourselves, which we have
repressed for one various reasons, also known as, “the Shadow Self.”
But certainly, unattainability doesn’t stop us from wanting our
Bad Boy. Fantasizing about him. Creating him over and over again in various
forms, guises, and inter-galactic species. In fact, archetypes were discovered
through a story of unrequited longing. Carl Jung first discovered the
collective unconscious and archetypes when examining the fantasies of Miss
Frank Miller-- a single woman in love with a man, but unable to act upon her
erotic interest. Jung researched myths, fairy tales, and religious motifs from
remote corners of the world, to interpret Miss Miller’s images. He found
striking parallels and determined it evidence of the collective unconscious,
which influences all of us through archetypes and instincts.
Archetypes and instincts exist within every human being, from the
moment of birth, connecting us all through collective unconscious--best
accessed through dreams and meditative states. Your waking mind struggles
“against being swallowed up by primitivity and unconscious instinctuality” on
the one hand, but also “resists complete possession of spiritual forces,” on
the other. But when they are coordinated, the archetype provides meaning to the
instinct, and instinct provides the raw physical energy necessary for
archetypes to help man realize his spiritual goals. As a writer and
storyteller, this would translate into fulfilling the “promise of the premise”
of your story (to learn more, read Blake Snyder’s, SAVE THE CAT).
Okay, so now we know what archetypes are, but what do they look
like?
Joseph Campbell hopped on this gravy train and took it one step
further in his book, THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, which examines archetypes
cross-culturally and illuminates The Hero’s Journey. Christopher Vogler, in his
infinite wisdom, reduced and simplified Campbell’s theories in his book, THE
WRITER’S JOURNEY: MYTHIC STRUCTURE FOR STORYTELLERS AND SCREENWRITERS, so we
plebs could understand Campbell without referencing the dictionary for every
other word.
Vogler provides a cheat sheet for essential archetypal roles:
1. Trickster--Embodies mischief and desire
2. Ally--Companionship, conscience, or comic relief
3. Shadow--The unexpected, unexpressed, and rejected aspects of ourselves
4. Shape shifter--Brings doubt and suspense to the story, embodies ambiguity
5. Herald--Issues a challenge and announces the coming of significant change
6. Threshold Guardian--A lesser thug, represents our everyday fears
7. Mentor--Represents the higher self, teaches and gives gifts
8. Hero--Represents the ego’s search for identity and wholeness
2. Ally--Companionship, conscience, or comic relief
3. Shadow--The unexpected, unexpressed, and rejected aspects of ourselves
4. Shape shifter--Brings doubt and suspense to the story, embodies ambiguity
5. Herald--Issues a challenge and announces the coming of significant change
6. Threshold Guardian--A lesser thug, represents our everyday fears
7. Mentor--Represents the higher self, teaches and gives gifts
8. Hero--Represents the ego’s search for identity and wholeness
According to Cowden, LaFever, & Viders, authors of, THE
COMPLETE WRITER’S GUIDE TO HEROES & HEROINES: SIXTEEN MASTER ARCHETYPES,
there are three types of commonly understood characters or archetypes: core,
evolving, and layered. The core character thinks and acts consistently to the
very end. The evolving character starts as one archetype and evolves into
another. And the layered character has a single archetypal core at his
emotional base, but is layered with attributes from other archetypes.
How do archetypes interact to create conflict and move plot
forward?
Let’s take GONE WITH THE WIND, for a romantic example. Rhett
Butler is a layered archetype, a Chief to the world, but a Bad Boy at his core.
Scarlett O’Hara is a Seductress at her core. A Chief and Seductress are both
strong and stubborn and struggle for power. He takes control, while she seduces
it back. However, they both admire each other’s focus, are good in a crisis,
and know how to negotiate. Their characters grow and change; when the
Seductress surprises the Chief in showing him he can be wrong and still
powerful. In the Chief, the Seductress has finally met a man who sees her for
who she is, and is free to be herself without fear of abandonment. However,
Rhett’s Bad Boy layering of cynicism and street smarts eventually persuades his
Chief self to turn away from his Seductress, saving him from emotional
bankruptcy.
What does this have to do with the Paranormal genre?
Bear with me, I’m going to get existential on you; Paranormal,
Fantasy, and Science Fiction are all genres that represent archetypes in their
purest form. Super-human characters with magical powers are a distortion from
physical reality, and are thus flexible in their representation, allowing us to
project onto them our own personal experiences. Why is that important? Because
if you can more easily project your own personal experiences onto an imaginary
character, that character becomes more meaningful to you than another character
confined by the trappings of a more “realistic” representation.
For example, “Oh, I can’t watch that show. The bossy character
reminds me too much of my supervisor. “ So the viewer refuses to engage with
the character, and loses out on what he might gain from exploring what that
character might teach him, or the catharsis of watching a bossy character get
his comeuppance (and all storytelling is about vicarious learning and
catharsis, right?). But if similar archetypal traits were represented by, say,
a vampire, than perhaps the viewer might be more willing to engage, because it
is enough outside his reality so that he is able to escape into the story.
Star Wars, Star Trek, and anything vampire continue to be popular,
because they represent a time and place that have never been grounded in real
experience, and appeal to the bad boy archetype in all of us. Thus, we can
continue to project our collectively unconscious fantasies upon the characters,
unfettered, from the 1970’s all the way up to 2014. That equals popularity,
longevity, and (say it with me) money! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather
be rolling in it.
So, here is what I have to say to all the naysayers of the
Paranormal genre:
Thank you for your prompt response, as
well as your willingness to review my manuscript. I truly appreciate your time
and effort in reviewing my work, and I look forward to proving your friend
wrong about the size and length of my bite.
Warmest Regards,
Mac Perry ♥
Mac Perry is a Creative Arts
Therapist, adjunct professor, and aspiring author of urban fantasy. When she is
not corralling her three-year-old son, she is blogging, editing RWA/NYC
Keynotes, and working on her passion's pursuit. To learn more, check out her
web site at www.macperry.com, or her blog at www.macperrysblog.blogspot.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment