45 Master Characters by Victoria
Schmidt
Who Is Spock?
Every novelist, screenwriter and oral storyteller faces the challenge of
creating original and exciting characters. Archetypes--mythic, cross-
cultural models from which all characters originate--provide a solid
foundation upon which to fashion new and vastly different story people. 45
Master Characters explores the most common male and female
archetypes, provides instructions for using them to create your own
original characters, and gives examples of how other authors have
brought such archetypes to life in novels, film and television. Worksheets
are then included for writers to develop and map the lives of their own
characters. Excellent companion to the works of Joseph Campbell The
first and only book focusing heavily on the heroines journey Includes 45
black & white movie stills and line art depicting classic examples of each
archetype Victoria Schmidt is a screenwriter for film and television. A
graduate of the film programs at UCLA and NYU, she holds a Masters

degree in screenwriting from Loyola Marymount. She lives and writes in
Los Angeles.
Personal Review: 45 Master Characters by Victoria Schmidt
No one will ever argue or debate about the importance of story characters.
They form the basis around which their stories evolve. A strong character
defines the story, making you care about what happens to him or her. This
is true because we come to understand their underlying motivation for their
behavior. The author develops the deeper sense of a character by making
the storywriter aware of what his characters need to do or how they should
behave. We learn what they care about or fear, among other things. In
East of Eden (by John Steinbeck), we learn about Katy, the mother of the
two brothers in the story, who endured a difficult childhood and grew into a
life where she had to fend for herself. This impressed upon the reader,
(John Steinbeck's reader), what was important to her and what she had to
watch out for, yielding a deeper character.
The Superman character and Star Trek's Spock character are two of the
most enduring characters of all-time. Why? Because they possess hyper-
personalities that demand your attention, but why is that so? Some
characters just naturally need to be the protagonist, a hero, king, strong
leader or antagonist. If a writer decides to employ such a strong story
character as his protagonist or antagonist, then he might call upon images
from a higher power. He might want that character to be endowed with
special personality traits.
Victoria Lynn Schmidt cleverly uses Roman and Greek mythological
personas to represent what she describes as Archetypes. She has
defined 45 of them. These well-defined characters are far more
memorable than what most writers try to invent. The best have already
been invented. We only need to draw upon classical examples, as do the
great storytellers of all time. Shakespeare was very well known for doing
that.
Some issues arise when a distinction is drawn between characters of male
or female professional identities. Up until recently, most people thought
that jobs belonged to one sex or the other, making some jobs distinctly
male while others distinctly female. In recent times, that distinction has
become blurred to the point that certain jobs have been renamed:
policeman, police; postman, mail carrier; stewardess, flight attendant;
waitress, food server; fireman, firefighter, etc. Victoria Lynn Schmidt has
again separated the sexes so that writers can allow them to assume
appropriate roles in order to generate master characters. It is important to
remember that in many stories the characters are bigger than life. One
way she achieves this is by the special properties each archetype bestows,
owing to its mythological counterpart, the significance of special traits.
However, she draws a clear distinction between archetypes (distinctive
mold) and stereotypes (arbitrary generalization). Many budding writers

can learn a lot from the manner in which certain professions manifest in
the midst of a story.
Victoria Lynn Schmidt also talks about each archetype's journeys. These
are important because it tells the reader where these people are coming
from and where they intend to go. I like the way she brings in the pieces of
the character in order to frame the archetype. Of course, a skilled writer
will only use the pieces necessary in order to define his particular
character in his particular story.
I will be eager to read the next book that Victoria Lynn Schmidt writes,
having felt supported by her magnificent insights into understanding the
intimate nature of storytelling. She ought to be a tribute to writing manuals,
setting the standard for the invention of new literary tools. Had such a
book been around years ago, I would be much further along. Anyway,
she's here now and you, too can read and discover the magic in her
wholesome and revealing style.
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