When I was in kindergarden, as a class we built puppets using a light bulb and paper mache'. We would layer the wet news strip around the bulb, and eagerly mix our paints while the paste dried. Once the paste had hardened, the teacher would take a hammer to the light bulb, smashing the interior into a glassy pulp. What was left was a clean hard surface to create and to paint something entirely new. The bulb was necessary to build upon. Archetypes are the bulb. One of the tools I find most helpful, my lightbulb, is The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler. It came recommended from a family member and employs mythic structure initially analyzed by one of the true geniuses of the 20th century, Joseph Campbell. If you have read anything about George Lucas' process for writing Star Wars, his name is certainly familiar. Essentially, he traffics in archetypes, and recognizes the timelessness of effective storytelling.
Understanding the value of archetypes allowed me to bypass a major obstacle I had as a writer; a desperation to be original. I wanted to create stories and characters that people had never seen before and sometimes at the expense of giving a reader something to latch on to that is familiar. What I have come to learn is that nothing is really "original" and true originality comes from combining existing pieces in new ways. Successful story telling is about innovation. Finding pieces to build a story upon can be very liberating.
As I begin to create my new story Yegg, a crusty-punk revenge story, I had a very clear picture of the character and the world he would inhabit. I had a strong thematic sense of issues I wanted to address. And as I iron out the plot for the story, I will draw upon a book that is over 400 years old, Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, to illuminate my protagonist's path. Then, I'll smash the light.
