ARCHETYPE TIPS FOR FICTION

Reason

Just as his title suggests, the Reason character is present in the story to provide a voice of logic. He is:

• Someone who is fundamentally logical.
• Someone who makes decisions based on logic, not emotions.
• Someone who acts in logical ways.

EXAMPLES

C-3PO in Star Wars, Hamm in Toy Story, Inspector Gordon in Batman Begins, Herod (!) in Claudius the God... the Tin Man, Alice Liddell, Stannis Baratheon, Lloyd Asplund, Kristian in "The Ringstetten Saga", the Clever Princess and her intellectual equal in "The Snow Queen", Juan Carlos Ruiz in real life,  Elinor Woods in my Hogwarts fics,

Emotion

If you’ve guessed that the Emotion character is pretty much the opposite of the Reason character, then it’s a gold star for you. The Emotion character is:

• Someone who is fundamentally emotional.
• Someone who makes decisions based on emotions, not logic.
• Someone who may be negatively emotional (e.g., angry) or positively emotional (e.g., compassionate)—or both.
• Someone who acts in emotional ways.

EXAMPLES

Mr. Ping in Kung Fu Panda, Cathy in Wuthering Heights, Amelia Sedley in Vanity Fair, Melanie in Gone With the Wind... Many a character in the Game of Thrones series: Jaime Lannister, Brienne Tarth, Renly Baratheon (foil to Stannis), Loras and Margaery Tyrell, Theon Greyjoy... Luna Lovegood, the Cowardly Lion (foil to the Tin Man), most leads in "The Ringstetten Saga" (all three arcs, and except Kristian), Sandra Dermark (overlaps with Reason), María Calzada, Marian Woods in my Hogwarts fics, Kyle Glenriver (overlaps with Reason) in the selfsame fics (both foils to Elinor Woods)

A recent bible for creating fictional characters happened to fall recently into my hands.
I identify myself mostly with this character type/archetype: 

The FREE SPIRIT: eternal optimist, she dances to unheard tunes. Playful and fun-loving, she travels through life with a hop, skip and a jump, always stopping to smell the flowers and admire the pretty colours. She acts on a whim and follows her heart, not her head. 
Motivated by following her heart.
Virtues:
-sincere
-upbeat
-imaginative
Flaws:
-impulsive
-meddling
-undisciplined 

4. Free Spirit—motivated by following her heart 
· Virtues
· sincere
· upbeat
· imaginative 
· Flaws
o impulsive
o meddling
o undisciplined - See more at: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/8-master-archetypes.html#sthash.yUr5l5P0.dpuf

4. Free Spirit—motivated by following her heart 
· Virtues
· sincere
· upbeat
· imaginative 
· Flaws
o impulsive
o meddling
o undisciplined - See more at: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/8-master-archetypes.html#sthash.yUr5l5P0.dpuf

4. Free Spirit—motivated by following her heart 
· Virtues
· sincere
· upbeat
· imaginative 
· Flaws
o impulsive
o meddling
o undisciplined - See more at: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/8-master-archetypes.html#sthash.yUr5l5P0.dpuf

4. Free Spirit—motivated by following her heart 
· Virtues
· sincere
· upbeat
· imaginative 
· Flaws
o impulsive
o meddling
o undisciplined - See more at: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/8-master-archetypes.html#sthash.yUr5l5P0.dpuf

4. Free Spirit—motivated by following her heart 
· Virtues
· sincere
· upbeat
· imaginative 
· Flaws
o impulsive
o meddling
o undisciplined - See more at: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/8-master-archetypes.html#sthash.yUr5l5P0.dpuf

4. Free Spirit—motivated by following her heart 
· Virtues
· sincere
· upbeat
· imaginative 
· Flaws
o impulsive
o meddling
o undisciplined - See more at: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/8-master-archetypes.html#sthash.yUr5l5P0.dpuf

The free spirit archetype is a quirky, talkative, charming, and unpredictable individual.

The free spirit character archetype will lighten a serious story, add comedy to a light tale, and just the right amount of unpredictability to any plot. Some well-known free spirits include Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe in Friends, Meg Ryan as Kathleen in You’ve Got Mail, and Emma in Emma by Jane Austen.

The Free Spirit is Eccentric

Following normal conventions is boring to a free spirit. Life should be lived with a splash, is her motto. Her eccentricity shows in her quirky habits, her unusual clothing, her hobbies, and her interests.

She may be an astrologer or an artist. She might be an actor or entertainer. Whatever she chooses as her career, it will be something where her creativity can shine and where the lines of convention and norms are blurry.

The Free Spirit is Talkative

The free spirit character archetype loves to talk. She is one of those characters that will chat about anything and everything, charming some people and irritating others, but everyone still thinks she is adorable.

Her charm lies in the fact that she can tune in to others’ feelings and be empathetic. Her empathy sometimes makes her think she knows more about how people are feeling than they themselves know, and she often sets herself up as a matchmaker.

At the same time, her ideas sometimes appear so far-fetched that others don’t understand her. This comes across humorously. She finds enjoyment in the littlest things, and shares them by telling endless tales.

The free spirit goes with the flow like a leaf floating on the surface of the water.

Free Spirit Relationships

The free spirit is sincere, upbeat, and cheers everyone up. Because she is so much fun to be around, she always receives invitations to parties and events. People don’t take the librarian seriously because of her unusual ideas and habits. Yet she can be highly intelligent, which makes these relationships frustrating for her.

In romance, the free spirit is most likely to fall for a character that is indulgent and patient. Even though he may not understand her process, he sits back and enjoys the show. The free spirit paired with the warrior will lead to humorous escapades (Rapunzel and Eugene, Anna and Kristoff, Liselotte and Gerhard/Hedwig and Alois/Katinka and Gustav Adolf).

Free Spirit Role in Stories

The free spirit serves equally well as the antagonist or the protagonist in a novel. As a protagonist, she injects humor, good feelings, fun, and excitement to the plot. As the antagonist, she is the person who makes everything go wrong for the hero/heroine.

The free spirit is always lighthearted, no matter what role she plays. She brings a ray of sunshine to even the darkest of stories, but she shines with her brightest light in comedies.

Katinka and many other of my female OC:s (in fact, most of them! Think Réna/Ilona, Hedwig, Ulrika) are Free Spirits as well, while the lead male roster in my works tends to consist of dark and conflicted Romantic heroes (Gustavus, Katinka's POW beau turned spouse, for instance).

Fictional examples: Luna Lovegood, Pinkie Pie, Madeline Hatter, Pippi Långstrump, Phoebe Flower, Ty Lee, Sophie in The Misfortunes of Sophie (more details here: http://al261200.blogspot.com.es/2014/04/hyper-girls-in-fiction.html)...

The dark form of the Free Spirit character is the Lunatic. A good idea would be pitting these two characters against each other as enemies:

The LUNATIC: the unbalanced madwoman, she draws others into her crazy environment. The drum to which she marches misses many a beat, but to her, it is the rest of the world that is out of step. Don’t even try to understand her logic – she is unfathomable.

A more complete personality typology listed me as a Mercurial. Think of a person with mercury poisoning (AKA Mad Hatter Syndrome): http://www.ptypes.com/mercurial.html