17 PERSONA EXERCISE – RACHEL YODER

Monologue: An Arrival

In this exercise, think of a time when you arrived somewhere new and strange. This could be a different country, or college, or the first time you saw Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon.  Jot down a few different arrivals.

Next, think of three archetypes that you can access pretty easily. For me, the mystic, the ditz (a sub-category of the fool), and the reluctant hero all resonate.

(Other archetypes that make particularly good narrators: the cynic, the madman philosopher, the earth mother, the shaman, the trickster, the wise old man or woman, the innocent.)

Now, choose one arrival to narrate. First, narrate it with the voice that feels most natural, your run of the mill narration. “I arrived in Arizona…”

Then, begin your narration again, but this time think of yourself as one of your archetypes or characters. Channel the trickster, or the fool, or the mystic, and re-write the beginning. Think of this as a performance. How can you capture the voice of this character? How do your sentences need to change? Your word choice? Your focus?