The Pitfalls of Passive Protagonists

[meaganspooner]

As some of you know, last year I attended an absolutely phenomenal workshop, the Odyssey Writing Workshop up in New Hampshire. I had no idea when I applied just how great it would be, though. In all honesty? I went thinking to myself, “Well, I already know how to write. But this will be great for making connections and learning about the

Comments

[cearabrede]

The char in MERCY was reluctant and dragged around the whole first version of the book.

Now, she's choosing to go back for her sister, learning to pay attention to others, etc.

I think having a well defined character arc helps this. Have a thematic element your character can gauge herself against at different points through the book to show growth, and growth in turn should force her to make choices and DO things, etc.

[cearabrede]

Er, that was from me.

Jess Tudor

[meaganspooner]

You make a really great point here. Character arcs! Making the degree to which your character is active or passive a dynamic thing across the manuscript is really great. It's one thing to have a character start out passive... so long as they decide to take up the sword (metaphorically or literally) eventually!

Awesome to hear from you, Jess! :D

[thunderemerald]

This blog post comes at EXACTLY the right time in my novel-writing endeavor! My main character isn't passive exactly, but she's proactive in all the wrong ways, because she hasn't understood the real stakes in her situation until now. Now that she does, I sort of took myself through my version of this list as I plotted out the end of the book. It's so nice to have it all written out here, though! This is fantastic.

[meaganspooner]

Ooh, awesome! Every so often I start to feel silly when I post advice, like who am I to pretend I know what on earth I'm doing... this makes me feel better! Just knowing other people are going through the same issues I am. :D

I love it when things click... you see your novel/character/whatever through a new lens and wham, it just settles into place. Those little moments of realization are part of why I love writing!

[thunderemerald]

Nah, don't feel silly. There are some writers who post as if they Know Everything and are Imparting Their Wisdom Unto the Masses -- but you come across as "I learned this cool thing! Let me share it!" Which is TOTALLY AWESOME.

[meaganspooner]

Haha, yay! That's a relief, seriously. (And yeah, I find that attitude annoying too!)

Ellen passed along your contact info. I am going to write you an emaaaail sooooon. :D *dance*

[ext_275864]

Oh, this is fantastic! It makes perfect sense, but I'd never consciously thought about most of it before--it's especially helpful to get the 'why', instead of just the rule. I think I need to go away and think about my causal chain.

[meaganspooner]

That was basically my entire experience at Odyssey! Things that my instincts recognized as true, but that I'd never heard articulated before, and certainly had never consciously thought about.

Glad it was helpful! Now you know some of what I was trying to say when waving my hands around and babbling about the stakes.

[immortalpadfoot]

It's always funny to me how similar analytical/interpretive tools and creative tools are. It demystifies the creative process which (as far as I'm concerned) is always a good thing (not to mention that it lends veracity to the interpretive process). Plotting a causal chain is a tool used in Aristotelean analysis of plays to determine who really is the main character - who performs the dramatic action that drives the play

[meaganspooner]

Man, I love when you comment on my blog posts. You always make me sound WAY smarter than I am. All Aristotle and Brecht!

I have to admit, though, that that last tip--the making a choice--definitely comes from my theater background. One of my favorite aspects of acting classes was analyzing character--determining the beats and what decisions and shifts in goals/methods accompany them. I want to do a post about that but all my theater notes are back home in the U.S., so it'll have to wait!

I remember someone in my Odyssey class describing the main character as the person in the story who makes the toughest decision. I've always loved that definition, because it ends up being really true. If someone else is always making the tough decisions, then it may be THAT character who's really the main character of the story.

[dotificus]

Hi! I found your LJ via a tweet by Amie Kaufman.

This is a great post. I wish even certain published books could have heeded it -- I think there's a dismaying trend in YA for girl characters to be passive, acted upon, far too often.

[meaganspooner]

I totally agree! My own theory (based on the twisted inner workings of my brain and nothing else) is that we as the writers think that it makes for a sympathetic heroine to have her battered by fate and circumstance. But really, to the reader, it's much more sympathetic when the character is actively trying to change her fate, rather than being pushed along by it.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Amie's one of my best friends, and my housemate right now. Small world, huh? :)

[dotificus]

Interesting! I think you're on to something, although I also think it's more prevalent with girl MCs because of ideas about teh womens. Boy MCs are far less often acted upon --they are agents in the story.

I also think it's because a lot of the YAs I'm thinking of have a romance angle, so to have the girl character be more passive seems to fit a lot of people's ideas of romance.

Is Amie on LJ too?

[meaganspooner]

Yeah, definitely. It's considered more "feminine" to be passive. Part of why I love writing about women is turning that on its head! Showing how tough we can be. :)

She's on LJ at lilykaufman, but she doesn't use it. She blogs at http://www.amiekaufman.com.