Using the Programme Guide of the World
Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland in August 2017 (to which I will
be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on,
rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf
copy of the Programme Guide. The link is provided below…
The Appeal of
the Bland Protagonist: Many
popular books and series feature a fairly bland protagonist. The panelist
discuss why bland protagonists are popular, how they inform reader
identification with the protagonist, and what they like and don't like about
it! Also, is it difficult to write bland protagonists?
Kari Sperring:
fantasy writer
Caroline Stevermer:
fantasy (YA) writer
Robert Silverberg:
Ah! Ah! Ah! What I would have given to meet this writer in person! I read his
books when I was a KID! (As an adult, I found a copy of REVOLT ON ALPHA C with
its “original” Scholastic Book Club cover…)
Angus Watson:
fantasy writer
Is there a reason
all of the participants in this group write fantasy? Is it an unconscious bias
indicating that fantasy stories are more likely to have bland characters than
science fiction stories are?
Hmmm…because the
first SF character I thought of was Miles Vorkosigan (Lois McMaster Bujold’s SF
Universe hero). He’s absolutely NOT bland and while I’m certain I can’t get
into his head and “feel like” a well-born aristocratic dwarf…I love the
character. Lemme think…I’ve been reading widely lately, so what about Ada
Palmer’s Mycroft Canner? A serial torturer/murderer is hardly bland, though in
TOO LIKE THE LIGHTNING, he is very bland.
I read a very old
Star Trek novel – the main character is NOT bland there, either. Hmmm…Paul
Atreides in DUNE? Not bland. Ah! I have one, Toshio Ishikarwa in STARTIDE
RISING is bland; normal, and not at all sure of himself. Mackenzie Connor WANTS
to be bland, a salmon biologist, but she is anything but. Nope, she doesn’t count.
Lessa of PERN? Nope, she’s queen of the planet in all but title.
OK – let’s look at
fantasy. I don’t read much (almost always under the direct supervision of my
daughter!), but based on what I have read, let’s have a go at it. Starting with
the obvious: Harry Potter. Bland? Yup, even though he lives under the stairs,
he’s the teased, abused, dreary, weary, whiny kid who lives in all of us. The
Pevensie Kids – same thing. Granted, they live during the London Blitz of WWII,
but so did a lot of others who didn’t slip into a wardrobe to find a magical
land.
Let’s get more
serious: Thomas Covenant, anti-hero in Stephen R. Donaldson’s remarkable THE
CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, UNBELIEVER, other than the fact that he’s a
leper, he’s basically a normal, jerk of a guy. Bilbo and Frodo Baggins? “Normal”,
uh…hobbits… who are neither heroes nor great – and in fact, Frodo was so close
to destroying Middle Earth that only the fact that his boring valet saved his
life kept Frodo from blowing all the hard work they’d done up to that point.
After that, my fantasy memory gets pretty sketchy – PERDIDO STREET STATION I
read ten years ago; Jonathan Stroud’s BARTIMAEUS books were grand, you can
hardly call a demon “bland”, but Nathaniel himself is unremarkable in his
world.
So – what’s the
takeaway here?
Couple of things –
fantasy main characters are average Mayras and Miguels. Science fiction main
characters are superhuman Katniss’ and Peetas.
Also, based on the
current and continuing popularity of fantasy, the bland protagonist is the
choice of Twenty-first Century men and women. The superhuman has mostly lost
its appeal except in certain cases.
Master Silverberg
mashed fantasy and science fiction together when he created the MAJIPOOR
CHRONICLES – a huge planet colonized by numerous alien races and Humans…which
has technology either so advanced it’s indistinguishable from magic, or
medieval technology of castles, kings, and knights. However, as I reflect on
it, the viewpoint character, Valentine is both a bland and a superhuman character. China Miéville does the same thing in
PERDIDO STREET STATION – mixing fantasy and steampunk technology. Isaac Dan der
Grimnebulin is a dull and boring scientist in the city of New Crobuzon…who also
does magic.
Creating boring
characters?
Easy peasy –
because us writers as a group are pretty boring! So, if I want to write
fantasy, I start with a boring person. If I write science fiction, I need a
superhuman (a transhuman, I suppose).
Sheesh…this
explains ALL KINDS OF TROUBLE I’VE BEEN HAVING LATELY! My SF protags have all
been normal people, boring people…now I have to go back and look at what it is
I’ve had published recently – but right off the bat, the main character in my
most recent ANALOG story is a Mayan princess…
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