Beyond my skill level

[merriehaskell]

(Not-so-confidential to this years' Hastings Point Workshoppers...)

I keep getting the critique that my main character, Dru, (in Prince(ss)) is a little bit boring. Funny--but kinda boring anyway.

Here are the notes I wrote up about Dru before I started the book:

Hero) Dru (Drustan). Prince of Serilda. A "coaster." Does well with his tutors

Comments

[sartorias]

I've got a similar problem, and I don't know if I'm bringing it off. Might be failing miserably.

[merriehaskell]

Interesting!

What I now wonder is, why did I think this was a good way to go when starting this book???

[dsgood]

Anthony Powell did it in his series "A Dance to the Music of Time." One character, Kenneth Widmerpool, makes every belief system he takes up boring. (This may not be difficult with Fascism and Communism, but it takes some talen to make the very idea of sex magic boring.) He also makes everything else he talks about boring.

And yet he's not boring to read about.

I don't know how Powell did it, unfortunately.

[amberdine]

A character might be boring but if they're not bored, then reading about them in the pursuit of whatever they're interested in can still be engaging.

Cozy mysteries do this a lot -- the protagonist is the most boring, everyday, ordinary person ever, but they're caught up in a dramatic event, and they're passionate about resolving it. Even in real life, someone who seems quite bland can be fascinating if you can get them to talk about what they're most interested in.

IMO, it's more about the motivation than the inherent interest-level of the character.

[merriehaskell]

Excellent points...

[redmomoko]

I have some thoughts about this but no time to write them in. Many boring people are often busy.

[steve_buchheit]

Well, the story is mainly about his problems, so having him as the protagonist and viewpoint character isn't so much of an issue. And you can keep the boring character interesting by having (very few) moments of non-boringness. Say, like there are the crucial moments where suddenly Dru does the decisive thing (like falling from the ship). Keep them few and far between, and quickly done (little foreshadowing and buildup) and you end up with a character that for the most part is boring, but you never know what they'll do next.

Say, like the 3 o'clock drunk that always sits by the door of the tavern. Few pay him any attention. He's just a lump of a dirty cloak by the door. Until the big fracas, and as the bad guys go to escape a knife comes darting out from under the cloak killing the bad guy leader while everybody's attention is focused elsewhere.