#andruevolution #urbanfantasy #strongwomen #happyreading
Hello and Happy Spring!!
While hanging out with friends we happened onto the topic of characterization and protagonists in a fictional novel; the major and minor characters (or the round and flat characters respectively). The question was, are the main characters any more a reflection of the author than the minor characters? Even in poorly written books or when the author doesn't have a strong voice, or is inexperienced, all characters are still the creation of the author, and therefore suffused with a piece of the writer. But how much is a "piece"? And would a piece of the author be in the "extras" as well? An extra being, not so much a character, but more a part of the setting. Ex: a young boy holding a ball as the protagonist runs down the street.
First we'll decide on the extras, and say that they are a creation of the writer because she "picked" what kind of extra she wanted: little boy, heavy woman reading, mean old man yelling at kids. But I don't think there is much of the writer's personality in the extras aside from the selection.
But if we use, for example, the female protagonist in my books, (as far as writers go, I know me best) the Anastasia Evolution Series, we see Anastasia is Pagan, vegetarian and had a caesarean section at the age of 18. Now, I'm similar to all those things. I'm Pagan, I had a c-section (not at 18) and I'm a vegan, not a vegetarian. Not the same, but they're close enough for this example, and I may have been vegetarian when I wrote the first book back in 2000.
And yet there are also profound differences. Anastasia is younger than me. Her occupation is different than mine. Her physical appearance is different than mine. She lost her parents at a young age, I didn't. She has only two brothers, and so on.
One could argue that Anastasia's defining trait is that she's Pagan, and the same could be said of me. And it's a good enough argument that I wouldn't argue. So why did I do that? Why did I give my main character such a defining trait that so closely resembles my own self if I didn't want her to be some kind of writing construct, or even an author insert?
To quote Joss Whedon: "I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of."
I agree with him wholeheartedly. I wrote Anastasia with strength and pragmatism. I wanted her to explore the things I myself am unsure of. And I wanted her to be all the things I am not, or don't know how to be.
Anastasia is Pagan because I was bored of the protagonists in most vampire stories being Christian. Even characters that aren't openly Christian inevitably tell their story through the eyes of Christianity, or lapsed Christianity, or any of the mono-theistic religions. (Ex: Bram Stoker. Anne Rice-who doesn't always define herself as Christian, but her characters are seen, and definitely see, through the veil of Christianity.) There are so many, it's been done and done again. Also, I was tired of the Pagan voice, in any narrative that had a Pagan voice, being either a silly Neo-Pagan or a blood thirsty Pagan god.
In my experience the perspective of most paranormal or occult themes are seen quite differently through the eyes of a Pagan. On the whole, Pagans are a much more flexible bunch. They view paranatural or supernatural things with a more sympathetic eye. In other words, they don't always perceive vampires or other supernatural creatures as abominations. Pagans assume, if the vampire/werewolf/ghost is here, then it's supposed to be here, and I guess we'll all have to deal with it.
Also, local or societal infractions are dealt with very differently in Pagan cultures, i.e.: Heathen, Wiccan, Druid etc.. Most pagans have a "we are in this together, so let's help each other out" attitude. And those beliefs blended nicely with who I wanted Anastasia to be.
Pulling at the religious thread a little more, it could be said that Anastasia is in the role the savior or redeemer. The Christian ideal of the savior is always male, creating the patriarchal societal norm with which most people view the world, and I didn't want my main character to be seen through such a lens. Meaning if she was Christian the Christian reader would have a difficult time suspending their disbelief of the story because her being a messiah character could never happen. I didn't want her to have to overcome that obstacle.
Lastly, because of the supernatural things that happen to Anastasia I didn't want to have to deal with the hurdle of writing about her Christian disbelief and then the inevitable acceptance of her situation. I didn't want to have to consistently insert her lingering Christian sensibilities.
So getting back to the original question and the other round characters; I would say I also share many similarities with Anastasia's ex-boyfriend and partner: loyalty and sense of humor. I also have traits in common with the horribly horrible characters in the series: anger, revenge, notoriety. Something most readers don't seem to remember when asking me why certain characters are such asshats. Those parallels are there, because I draw on my experiences when trying to create life on the page,
If we're doing our job as writers we imbue all our characters with a piece of humanity, not only the characters we share a gender, and not only the altruistic characters. And if we're doing our job really well, we learn to step outside ourselves and grab a piece of humanity we don't actually own, and give it to our characters so they become believable and beautiful and alive.
Happy Reading!!!
—River
The Anastasia Evolution Series — Amazon.com
Hello and Happy Spring!!
While hanging out with friends we happened onto the topic of characterization and protagonists in a fictional novel; the major and minor characters (or the round and flat characters respectively). The question was, are the main characters any more a reflection of the author than the minor characters? Even in poorly written books or when the author doesn't have a strong voice, or is inexperienced, all characters are still the creation of the author, and therefore suffused with a piece of the writer. But how much is a "piece"? And would a piece of the author be in the "extras" as well? An extra being, not so much a character, but more a part of the setting. Ex: a young boy holding a ball as the protagonist runs down the street.
First we'll decide on the extras, and say that they are a creation of the writer because she "picked" what kind of extra she wanted: little boy, heavy woman reading, mean old man yelling at kids. But I don't think there is much of the writer's personality in the extras aside from the selection.
But if we use, for example, the female protagonist in my books, (as far as writers go, I know me best) the Anastasia Evolution Series, we see Anastasia is Pagan, vegetarian and had a caesarean section at the age of 18. Now, I'm similar to all those things. I'm Pagan, I had a c-section (not at 18) and I'm a vegan, not a vegetarian. Not the same, but they're close enough for this example, and I may have been vegetarian when I wrote the first book back in 2000.
And yet there are also profound differences. Anastasia is younger than me. Her occupation is different than mine. Her physical appearance is different than mine. She lost her parents at a young age, I didn't. She has only two brothers, and so on.
One could argue that Anastasia's defining trait is that she's Pagan, and the same could be said of me. And it's a good enough argument that I wouldn't argue. So why did I do that? Why did I give my main character such a defining trait that so closely resembles my own self if I didn't want her to be some kind of writing construct, or even an author insert?
To quote Joss Whedon: "I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of."
I agree with him wholeheartedly. I wrote Anastasia with strength and pragmatism. I wanted her to explore the things I myself am unsure of. And I wanted her to be all the things I am not, or don't know how to be.
Anastasia is Pagan because I was bored of the protagonists in most vampire stories being Christian. Even characters that aren't openly Christian inevitably tell their story through the eyes of Christianity, or lapsed Christianity, or any of the mono-theistic religions. (Ex: Bram Stoker. Anne Rice-who doesn't always define herself as Christian, but her characters are seen, and definitely see, through the veil of Christianity.) There are so many, it's been done and done again. Also, I was tired of the Pagan voice, in any narrative that had a Pagan voice, being either a silly Neo-Pagan or a blood thirsty Pagan god.
In my experience the perspective of most paranormal or occult themes are seen quite differently through the eyes of a Pagan. On the whole, Pagans are a much more flexible bunch. They view paranatural or supernatural things with a more sympathetic eye. In other words, they don't always perceive vampires or other supernatural creatures as abominations. Pagans assume, if the vampire/werewolf/ghost is here, then it's supposed to be here, and I guess we'll all have to deal with it.
Also, local or societal infractions are dealt with very differently in Pagan cultures, i.e.: Heathen, Wiccan, Druid etc.. Most pagans have a "we are in this together, so let's help each other out" attitude. And those beliefs blended nicely with who I wanted Anastasia to be.
Pulling at the religious thread a little more, it could be said that Anastasia is in the role the savior or redeemer. The Christian ideal of the savior is always male, creating the patriarchal societal norm with which most people view the world, and I didn't want my main character to be seen through such a lens. Meaning if she was Christian the Christian reader would have a difficult time suspending their disbelief of the story because her being a messiah character could never happen. I didn't want her to have to overcome that obstacle.
Lastly, because of the supernatural things that happen to Anastasia I didn't want to have to deal with the hurdle of writing about her Christian disbelief and then the inevitable acceptance of her situation. I didn't want to have to consistently insert her lingering Christian sensibilities.
So getting back to the original question and the other round characters; I would say I also share many similarities with Anastasia's ex-boyfriend and partner: loyalty and sense of humor. I also have traits in common with the horribly horrible characters in the series: anger, revenge, notoriety. Something most readers don't seem to remember when asking me why certain characters are such asshats. Those parallels are there, because I draw on my experiences when trying to create life on the page,
If we're doing our job as writers we imbue all our characters with a piece of humanity, not only the characters we share a gender, and not only the altruistic characters. And if we're doing our job really well, we learn to step outside ourselves and grab a piece of humanity we don't actually own, and give it to our characters so they become believable and beautiful and alive.
Happy Reading!!!
—River
The Anastasia Evolution Series — Amazon.com