On Protaganists
Been a while, huh? I apologize.
In my mind, a protaganist must be likable — few people want to read about unlikable protaganists, especially if the reader is supposed to be inside that character’s head.
For example, my husband recently read a Sci Fi story where the protaganist murdered, killed, and did all these other unpleasant things. Sure, he was realistic and in character, but it’s hard to read about that.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that a skilled writer could possibly pull off such a protaganist and still make him sympathetic, but it would be very difficult, imo.
Another popular kind of protaganist is the Chosen One, the One who Saves the World — you know the type. Basically, affairs of the whole world revolve around one person and this one person carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, because if he doesn’t do whatever it was prophesized for him DOOM and DESTRUCTION shall come and it’s all very dramatic.
I say that these Protaganists have Special Child Syndrome.
These stories I find to be highly unrealistic. Let’s face it — we are not special snowflakes. If we die, the world will continue without us. We are nobodies in the general scheme of things and if we want to be Somebodies, we have to work at it. It’s rarely handed to us on a silver platter.
Lord of the Rings is good because it takes the Special Child Syndrome character and…twists it. Sure, everything depends on Frodo but he had choices — he could have given up the ring, he could have tossed it aside before it got too much of a hold on him. For heaven sakes, the reason he got it was because of his cousin! It wasn’t a case of being the Chosen One, but a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which I’m sure many of us can relate to that.
From what I have observed in writing and reading both published works and web novels is that the best protaganists are People, like you and me. They make mistakes. They do good, or sometimes only some good. They have reasons for what they do, reasons that aren’t plot deviced because of some prophecy or whatnot.
As Horton said:
A person’s a person, no matter how small.
Or good, or bad.
And, because I’m a Firefly fangirl and this quote seems relevant:
You know they say that mercy is the mark of a great man.
*stab*
Guess I’m just a good man.
*stabs again*
Well, I’m alright.
