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The archetypes are a descriptive framework created by scholars in order to describe stories. Someone had a theory, says every story fits into one of those archetypes. Any story you give them, they ...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46856 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46856 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
The archetypes are a descriptive framework created by scholars in order to describe stories. Someone had a theory, says every story fits into one of those archetypes. Any story you give them, they will fit it into one of those archetypes, even if it squeaks a little. For my part, there are stories I struggle to fit into this framework. _The Jungle Book_, for example. (Kipling's work, not the travesty Disney made of it.) Or Hemingway's _The Sun also Rises_. I'm sure a scholar could explain to me how they do fit into one of those archetypes. For my part, I don't really see it. Here's the thing though: **as a writer, I don't care**. Let the classifiers classify. Me - I write. And my story is not "something that fits some archetype" - it is an absolutely unique creation that is entirely my own. Like a child - sure, it's a mammal. It's a Homo sapiens. But all that is irrelevant - only thing that's relevant is that this is my child, and s/he smiles at me. And my child is entirely unique, right?