Character Archetypes, Conventions, Personas

Archetype

For the purposes of this guide I would like to define an archetype as very typical social understanding or construct regarding a type of person. It is the broadest definition of your character.

Here Is An Example:

• Milly Is a young child driven by strong emotions that can change quickly with a desire to be in control of her surroundings. 

• She also happens to be a toy, from a construction set, that has come to life in a human child's imagination.

Convention

Let's think of conventions as personality traits that characterize the archetype in a very particular but familiar way that could be both positive, neutral  and negative.

Here Is An Example:

• Positive Convention: Milly is a young, orange, freckled, fun loving cement mixer. Despite all of her faults, she is not a quitter and will always be there for the road construction crew.

• Neutral Convention: She is a little bit dizzy and clumsy but makes up for it with a lot of determination and energy (her mixer is constantly spinning). She sometimes blows steam out of her engine when she feels strong emotions, either positive or negative. 

• Negative Convention: She can be very stubborn and demands that her friends always act in her best interest. She can really turn on the charm to get what she wants. 

Persona

A character's persona can be the personality they show (or hope to show) others, and is not necessarily indicative of who they really are. It's often what they aspire to be.

• Milly would like to be the leader of the road crew and attempts to insert herself in that role regularly. 

• However, her short temper and stubbornness provides challenges to her ability to succeed in that role.