Storycraft: The Bad Boy, the Best Friend, and the Goody Two-Shoes

Time for more character archetypes, this time focusing on secondary characters. I go over three classics, including their growth arcs, traits, and typical relationship to other characters. They are:

Bad Boy – a character that goes from a nihilistic or chaotic approach to life and authority to a purpose-driven life. Frequently, this is a focus for a romance story, as a Bad Boy represents a popular fantasy: a strong, confident male that can be transformed into being stable while maintaining masculine traits.

Best Friend – mostly a foil for the main character, a best friend has different, often opposite, strengths from the main character. Where the Protagonist is smart but aloof, he is simple but personable (think Sherlock Holmes and Watson). Where the protagonist is physically powerful, he is weak but clever (think Conan and Subotai).

Goody Two-Shoes – a character that highly lawful and frequently an erudite. The goody two-shoes typically grows towards a more fluid relationship with authority, valuing personal loyalty above adhering to strict ethical codes or obeying superiors. When female, the Goody Two Shoes is frequently a romantic interest for a male, since it represents the other side of the bad boy that appeals to males: a chaste, loyal female that can be transformed into a sexually capable partner while keeping feminine traits.

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