Can understanding the archetype of your experience refocus your memoir?

An archetype is an inbred response to an outside stimulus, an unconscious disposition.

Tom works hard and has great starts, but at some point, his efforts come to nothing. “What’s the matter with me?” he asks.

Tom seems to be laboring under the archetype of Sisyphus, a man who is punished by having his efforts eternally undone. What has Randy done to anger the gods (often known as Mom and Dad) to have earned being punished for his efforts? How can Tom gain control of his life?

Let’s look deeply into archetypes!

What writer has not had this experience?

One begins a memoir with a sense of the story’s uniqueness. “It simply has to be told,” you know excitedly. “The world needs to hear about this.” Then, as you write week after week, month after month, and sometimes year after year, that uniqueness sometimes evaporates as you distance yourself from the events and the excitement of having decided to write about it.

“My memoir writing has grown tedious,” you bemoan. “I thought what I was writing about was exciting when I began writing. I could feel so much of what happened. The story was compelling. And now, as the time I lived this experience recedes into the past, as the vivid memories resist the tedium of writing by becoming less compelling, I am finding it hard to continue to write. Then I was full of feeling; now, I am full of thinking!”

“Should I give up?”

You have to write at your pace.

Oh, if only you could have written the memoir in a month or two! Wouldn’t everything have been all right then? But you didn’t write it that fast—who could have?

Now you ask yourself how to get back to the visceral urge to tell your story that had animated you rather than have to live with the nag of “I’ve got to get this done.”

Perhaps you can’t get back to that “visceral urge” (any more than you can get back to your youth) but you can access an abiding commitment to write.

Writing needs to be about commitment, not about trying.

Reconnect to the archetype of your experience to revive your story.

One way that has been effective for me is to reconnect with the archetype of the experience. Your story (whatever it is) is the story of the hero’s quest. You (the hero) set out from her/his home (safety, the nest) and pursued the perilous journey (the process that set you at risk?) for the golden fleece (your goal). The hero encounters challenges and setbacks. But s/he prevails—or does s/he?

1. If you have trouble seeing an archetype in your life, imagine telling the story of a Roman or Greek god. Make it up using some of your life details and see what happens. Or tell the story from the point of view of a contemporary fictional hero: Superman/woman or Luke Skywalker.

2. What do you have to say/write about the setting, the action and the characters of your story that are merely an embodiment of an archetype? Sometimes, to use an analogy, it is said of us that we are spiritual beings living in a bodily form. In what way was your story an “archetypal story” living in your particular “story form?” When you discern the bigger story, this will animate your writing. And remember…

The archetype of your experience is a tool for your writing success.

Let’s get back to Tom who is laboring under a Sisyphean archetype.

We can’t know what his problem is; only Randy can know that.

I would ask him if he is afraid of surpassing someone in his life, being more successful than that person.

This could be a fear-of-success story or at least a fear of losing approbation and love from an important person in his life.

A Good “Rule” for Randy to keep in mind:

1. When you are excited about your writing, take advantage of the time you have and write, and

2. When you are bored by your writing, take advantage of the time you have and write.

That’s what it comes down to: showing up for the writing. Forget about “inspiration” and show up when it’s time! Follow your commitment. Success is not about trying. And remember…

The paradigm of using an archetype of your experience can reignite your story for you. Explore it in your way and let me know below how it works for you.

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