It was a book-filled week for me, and not just in the writing sense. Yesterday was the Georgia Romance Writers' annual April workshop, and I was excited to attend as a member this time. I've been to their big annual conference before, but I finally got myself in gear and joined RWA, and then my local chapter.
Good decision.
Yesterday, our workshop speaker was Tami Cowden, and the day was all about heroes and heroines. We talked about hero and heroine master archetypes, and I had a lot of fun thinking about my characters' motivations and figuring out their baseline archetypes. It's interesting - I never think about categorical info when characters are springing to life on the page, but still, my Dartmoor guys and gals can in fact be categorized (loosely) based on their motivations. I enjoyed mapping them out, watching them slide into place in a way that was confirming for me as a writer.
It was a laid-back comfortable discussion, and I would definitely recommend Tami's book The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines. It's a study not in putting characters in a box, or working off clichés, but understanding that there is such room for innovation and unique perspective within each master archetype.
Also, I have to say, if anyone's sitting on the fence about joining a local chapter of RWA - go for it. It's a good place to make connections, and the continuing education opportunities are great.
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