For the next two week's Faith in Fiction will discuss Greg Garrett's
Free Bird. I pick up my copy of the book at the library this afternoon. However, yesterday Dave Long started the book discussion about creating a protagonist that reader's will care about/redefining the hero-so to speak.
f a i t h * i n * f i c t i o n: Day 1 of Free Bird – Hero or Protagonist?In much of the fiction I’ve read there are three things that seem to mark a character who we may not always like, but whom we care about.
1. Self-awareness – Someone who knows they’re going bad, but can’t help themselves—well, that’s most of us if we’re honest.
2. Charm – We’re always suckers for a laugh, so a rascal with a quick quip (™ Richard Russo) gets many of his sins overlooked. To a point.
3. Reason – Is there an understandable excuse (often emotional pain) that makes us understand the character’s behavior.-Dave Long
Since I have a WIP that rests heavily on creating a main character--
Angel-- that my readers must cheer for, I'm very interested in this discussion. And I have a little bit more to add to it.
I'm trying to create a character who is still reaping from a past mistake she made years ago. For her penance she has dropped all the things she once loved and cared for: her job, the money, the lifestyle, the man, her church, even her family. She has started a new life for herself and her daughter-a product of this past mistake and her saving grace. Then a disaster happens and she is forced to go back to where she was wrong, in order to save her sister-the last person on Earth she wants to save. In fact, in the beginnning I don't won't her to want to help her. I have to put her between a rock and a hard place, so she has to choose the lesser of two evils, upon which is helping her sister.
In the beginning of the novel to the reader Angel has to appear to a certain extent--a selfish unfeeling prick. However, her appeal comes from her endeering love for her daughter, her unconditional love for her mother, her devotion to God and her intelligence. As the story develops the reader will understand why she has become so aloof, so distrusting. However, to reel my reader in I have to throw a few cookie crumbs out there(clues) so that they can continue this quest with her. I even have to throw in a sidekick to bridge the two sisters and guide the reader to Angel's secret. So I hope this mechanic works for my character, since this is my second attempt at writing a sellable novel.
Now I've reviewed quite a few books :) And I judge quite heavily on character. So I think(my ego shines) I have enough head authority on this. A heroine needs to have those three attributes Dave describe plus they need to be put in a situation where all those things(self-awareness, charm and reason) must be the force that pushes the book along. They have to unite to form the trigger--the inciting incident/meaningful moment/whatever term you want to call it that will ignite the character to not want to change her norm, but must force her to. Then the reader will care what happens to her, because we all know what it feels like to be knocked out of our comfort zone.
What say you? I would love to know how you authors use character to drive your plots?
Writing to see what the end' gon' be,
Dee
