A character in my novel dies within the first few chapters.
Not just a generic character, either; some Mr. Smith whose only role is to die at the hands of the main villain to make him look evil and sinister. No, I actually quite enjoyed writing for the character, and their backstory and personality was as deep as any of the others who live on.
At the time, when my writer's group was critiquing it, I received plenty of requests from them to bring this character back to life. It's a fantasy, after all; magic can move mountains, can foresee the future, can bring fire forth from nothing. Why not revive the dead?
Why not indeed.
While I would sorely love to bring this character back into the novel, I'm remaining steadfast in my belief that what is dead should remain so. If death is merely a state of being, a temporary setback for the character to endure, then it cheapens the entire concept of death. After all, if we could bring people back to life in reality...
Bob: Alright Mick, you going to see Danny in the hospital later?
Mick: Nah, not really.
Bob: Why not? He's just come back to life and he could really use some support.
Mick: I would, but I mean... it's only death, isn't it? It's not like it's fatal...
The death of a character should have an impact upon the reader; both the immediate emotional response but also the lingering feeling when they've finished the book, when they think "That was a great ending... it's such a shame Danny didn't live to see the peace he fought for." If you bring a character back to life, you leave only that immediate response. Even then you run the risk of losing that in the future; the next time a character dies, the reader simply won't care. Not just within the novel they're reading, but anything of yours they read in the future. After all, death wasn't an obstacle before, was it?
I think a perfect example comes from a videogame; Final Fantasy 7. Unlike most games that you've heard of, FF7 actually had a story. Not just 'aliens are attacking! Fight them' or 'Save the princess!', but an actual gripping, involving storyline. During this story one of the main characters dies. It comes as a big surprise, completely out of left field, and I'm not embarrassed to say that it was a very moving movement. I actually choked up a bit.
The entire gaming community tried for years to find a way of reviving this character. There were cheats (all fake), hacks (sort of worked) and dozens of conspiracy theories. Entire gaming communities dedicated themselves to finding a way of reviving this character.
And that's the point. They cared. The death of this character moved them; so much so that they wanted her back by any means possible. If she had been revived as part of the story, would they have shown such fervor?
:-Paul.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Prophecy
This is going to be my first attempt at a real writing blog, so fasten your seatbelts, exchange all your Euros for Yen and prepare to be frustrated because no shops outside of Japan accept yen as legal tender!
In the world of fantasy, many stories involve prophecies. In the context of the story these tend to be written hundreds or even thousands of years before the main character is even born, often by somebody either mad or blind. Known as a seer, this person sees into the future and describes the main scenes that the main character will have to endure, often through riddles, rhymes or very vague comments.
So, for example, the seer might say "The chosen one shall want for nothing, yet nothing is all he shall have." At some point in the story it will become apparant that the main character's sword, Drak'thun, translates in an ancient language as "Nothing", and the reader suddenly nods and says "That makes sense now."
Used well, prophecy can give greater context to the main character's actions. Instead of being some farmer's son on a quest for revenge against The Evil One, prophecy can transform the main character into a Hero destined since the dawn of time! (cue the angelic chorus)
Or, better yet, prophecy can even create suspense in the story. In "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin, a certain character is told they will be betrayed three times. Twice, so far, that prophecy has come true, and it keeps the reader interested because they want to find out how the third betrayal will come about and who will be the culprit.
However, not all fantasy writers are so noble in their use of prophecy. Some will use prophecy like spackling paste, smoothing over unresolved plot threads or gaps in logic to further the story. The author might need his main character to climb a mountain, for example, for up there is an ancient temple containing a mystical sword. Hark, however, for the main character has no motivation to climb the mountain, nor does he even know there's a temple up there! So the author will have another character suddenly remember a verse of prophecy that states the chosen one must climb the mountain, and so he does.
Shame on you, fantasy author! And a mystical sword too? Fie, I say!
Of course, it's all well and good saying this now. I have a terrible feeling that thirty years into the future I'll be at some sort of Fantasy Convention trying to promote my latest novel, The Prophecy of the Mystical Sword, and somebody is going to remind me of this blog post.
But hey. I'll be rich by then. I can give security a big wad of cash to drag him outside.
:-Paul.
In the world of fantasy, many stories involve prophecies. In the context of the story these tend to be written hundreds or even thousands of years before the main character is even born, often by somebody either mad or blind. Known as a seer, this person sees into the future and describes the main scenes that the main character will have to endure, often through riddles, rhymes or very vague comments.
So, for example, the seer might say "The chosen one shall want for nothing, yet nothing is all he shall have." At some point in the story it will become apparant that the main character's sword, Drak'thun, translates in an ancient language as "Nothing", and the reader suddenly nods and says "That makes sense now."
Used well, prophecy can give greater context to the main character's actions. Instead of being some farmer's son on a quest for revenge against The Evil One, prophecy can transform the main character into a Hero destined since the dawn of time! (cue the angelic chorus)
Or, better yet, prophecy can even create suspense in the story. In "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin, a certain character is told they will be betrayed three times. Twice, so far, that prophecy has come true, and it keeps the reader interested because they want to find out how the third betrayal will come about and who will be the culprit.
However, not all fantasy writers are so noble in their use of prophecy. Some will use prophecy like spackling paste, smoothing over unresolved plot threads or gaps in logic to further the story. The author might need his main character to climb a mountain, for example, for up there is an ancient temple containing a mystical sword. Hark, however, for the main character has no motivation to climb the mountain, nor does he even know there's a temple up there! So the author will have another character suddenly remember a verse of prophecy that states the chosen one must climb the mountain, and so he does.
Shame on you, fantasy author! And a mystical sword too? Fie, I say!
Of course, it's all well and good saying this now. I have a terrible feeling that thirty years into the future I'll be at some sort of Fantasy Convention trying to promote my latest novel, The Prophecy of the Mystical Sword, and somebody is going to remind me of this blog post.
But hey. I'll be rich by then. I can give security a big wad of cash to drag him outside.
:-Paul.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)