Categories of Membership

Novitiates are those who sign The Writer's Order^SM Credo and are admitted to the Order by Van Bergen.  All new members must join as novitiates.  All novitiates must be at least 18 years of age.

Practitioners are those who are progressing through the first through sixth stages of instruction.

Masters are those who have achieved seventh stage or above.  Masters may include published and unpublished authors. Publication of one's work is not a requirement of membership at any stage, including Masters.  Publication of other works, including fiction or other written work, has no bearing on membership or status in the Writer's OrderSM.

Each higher stage incorporates all previous stages.  All stages require certification by Van Bergen or by a Certified Instructor and Master with approval of Van Bergen.

Certification of Stages

There are two components of certification: (1) certification, and (2) active status.  Once a member is certified in a category, that certification is retained for life.  However, certification does not indicate status.  A member may be active or inactive at any stage of certification.

Active Status in the Writers Order

Active status denotes that the member is in good standing and maintains his/her achieved stage of certification through active, daily application of the skills and principles therein.

Inactive status means that the member attained that stage of certification at some point but is either no longer a member or is a member but no longer maintains activity at that stage.

Getting Started

Novitiates are those who sign The Writer's OrderSM Credo and are admitted to the Order by Van Bergen.  All new members must join as novitiates.  All novitiates must be at least 18 years of age.

One may become a novitiate through one of the three following means:

(A) Nomination by a member in good standing and a statement of interest by the candidate.

(B) If not nominated by a member, the candidate must provide:  (1) three verifiable, credible, personal references to the candidate's good character and intentions as a potential participant in the Order, and (2) a one-page typed statement of interest by the candidate.

(C) If unable to provide either of these, the candidate may submit one letter of recommendation of good character/intentions, accompanied by a statement of self-recommendation (minimum two pages typed) which provides detailed reasons for your desire to join, explains why we should admit you, and includes any supporting documentation or material.

*Additional documentation or substantiation of claims made by candidates or referrals may be requested.

Description of Stages

First Stage members (Practitioner) are those who have been admitted as novitiates, have signed the Credo, read the manual, and begun working through the exercises in the manual.

Second Stage members (Practitioner)are those who graduate from the First Stage, regularly and daily do the exercises, are beginning to work at combining the component skills, and have a general grasp of the main principles of Arkhelogy.

Third Stage members (Practitioner)are able to consistently combine the component skills, and have begun to regularly and/or consistently integrate the component skills in their daily lives and to work on developing their character isotypes.

Fourth Stage members (Practitioner) have fully integrated the component skills, are starting to working at the archetypal level, and are beginning to develop the early stages of two or more character isotypes. 

Fifth Stage members (Practitioner) are able to work at the archetypal level at least intermittently in their daily lives, have begun to integrate this work with the rest of their daily lives, and have begun to develop character isotypes for at least three or more characters to the extent that the story archetype (the invisible world) is beginning to be articulable (and articulated) by them.

Sixth Stage members (Practitioner) have, by using the archetypes approach, begun to construct and are working with a complete or almost complete cast of character archetypes and a full story archetype, and are beginning to explore ways to construct the story.  These members have a solid grasp of Arkhelogy work, are able to work regularly at the archetypal level, and have begun to master integration of this work with the rest of their lives.

Seventh Stage (Master) members are able to sustain archetypal-level work consistently and integrate this work with the rest of their lives, while actively working on story plotting and structure.

Eighth Stage (Master)members have completed at least three chapters of their novel, based on the archetypes approach, or one act of a screenplay or extended screenplay outline of the story derived from the story archetype (invisible world).

Ninth Stage (Master) members have completed at least one half of such story.

 Other Terms & Nuances of Membership

  
“Published members” are those who have completed and published their work using the archetypes approach.  For this title to apply to a member, publication must use the archetypes approach but must be in a non-Order publication.

Publication of work that does not derive from the archetypes approach does not count as publication of work for purposes of membership or status as a published member in The Writer's OrderSM. 

The term “published members” thus refers only to Masters who publish work based on this approach.  Publication on our web site, blog, newsletter or other internal publication does not provide publication status for purposes of this category.  (The Writer's OrderSM is not and does not intend to be a publisher.)

“Internally published members” are those who have had some of their work published on the web site, blog, newsletter, or other publication of The Writer's OrderSM.  These publications are for educational and promotional purposes, for individuals and for the Order.

Certified Instructors are those certified by Van Bergen to teach the archetypes approach.  All certified instructors are certified only to teach members at specified stages.  In other words, an instructor may be certified to teach only members up to a certain stage, or may be certified to teach all stages.  An instructor certified to teach all stages must have attained the Master stage her or himself. 

Not all Masters may be certified to teach, however. 

Certification of membership stages may only be carried out by Van Bergen or by a certified instructor and Master with approval of Van Bergen.

Active Membership and Certification:  “Active membership” simply means membership in good standing, or current payment of dues.  “Active status” of certification includes active membership but additionally means the individual continues to work privately or in-class with an instructor who is able to assess the person's work, ongoing active participation with other members in a manner which can be assessed by an instructor, or any other manner whereby an instructor is able to assess the individual's work. 

Certification is not revoked by inactivity, but active certification is.  In other words, you may retain your certification status even if you cease all activity within The Writer's OrderSM, but such status ceases to have significant meaning if it is not actively used in ongoing practice, since skills that fall into disuse tend to be lost and forgotten to the practitioner.

Active status may be renewed each year for no charge for those who maintain membership and active practice at the achieved stage.

Lapsed members and loss of certification:  Those who fail to pay membership dues are considered lapsed members.  Payment of dues within a period of three months after lapse will automatically reinstate the member at his or her previous stage.  Payment of dues more than three months after lapse requires reinstatement of membership.  Failure to pay dues does not necessarily revoke certification status, but does revoke active certification status.

A member in good standing (dues up to date) who fails to maintain the requirements of the attained certification, as specified above, may be bumped to a lower certification and be required to re-certify to re-attain higher stage(s).  Inactivity or failure to practice for three months may trigger consideration for de-certification.

Sponsors:  Those who choose to sponsor our existence or activities, but do not want to participate as members, will be listed on our sponsor page by name or anonymously.