The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines reveals the sixteen literary archetypes that have starred in fiction for millennia. This resource offers the building blocks for the creation of memorable characters who will reach out and grab the hearts of readers. Review An invaluable resource for writers working in any genre.... -- Prof. Richard Walter, Screenwriting Chairman, UCLA Dept. of Film and Television, letter to author, 5/4/00 Finally Fiction Archetypes made easy. . . . Stuffed with examples and cleverly organized, this book] earned a spot on my crowded bookshelf. -- Debra Dixon, author GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict, 1996; and Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes, 2000; email to authors 4/00 The Complete Writers Guide to Heroes and Heroines takes the mystery out of creating compelling and memorable characters. Every writer should own a copy. -- Deb Stover, award winning author of nine time travel and historical romances, email to authors. 4/00 The authors have developed a clear and usable system for creating memorable characters. -- Kevin J. Anderson, best-selling co-author of Dune: House Atreides, email to author, 5/25/00.

The villain is the hero of his own story - and is every bit as important as the heroic characters. This book contains the lectures and exercises from Tami Cowden's popular online class on villain archetypes. The workshop identifies and examines the motivations of the 16 literary villain archetypes, and shows what happens when heroes and heroines turn to the dark side. Here's what participants have said about the workshop: -I really enjoyed this class. Seeing these archetypes spelled out like this really gives perspective instinct does not. -Not only did this give me some really good tips on villain archetypes, but seeing the thought process behind creating a character for the archetypes helped me with your hero/heroine archetypes as well. -WONDERFUL class, again It was quite a thrill figuring out which archetype matched up with the villianess of my WIP: ) . I have your exclamation about motivation stuck to my wall, just as a reminder. --I did get a chance to apply this to my characters. I put a lot more thought into my characters' motivations and I think I will have a stronger book for it. The workshop really helped me make a more consistant characters and to work through how my characters act. -I'm having trouble getting a handle on my villain in my next book, and these archetypes are really helping me. -The exercises were enlightening as well as a fun way to get into the heads of these characters. - You have given me good ideas for use in my current WIP and I'm certain I'll be using some of the others archetypes in future works.