Reading and Writing and Protagonists

After a long time of promising myself to read more, I finally got serious at the end of last year and started setting goals to finish books I'd started (ones that made the cut anyway), so it was fun to rediscover this post from four years ago (!) at a time when I could celebrate success in that goal.

At the same time, my writing has been a struggle, at least during the past week or so. My protagonist has been elusive (again) and the roads in my story aren't intersecting where they should. After re-calculating my route (again), I seem to have hit paved roads again. We'll see how long that lasts.

This post is a reminder of where I want to go--with my characters and with my reading. I still highly recommend Small Great Things (for anyone looking for a thought-provoking read with complex characters) and I'm happy to report that my new project, no matter how slow the going, ticks all the boxes below.

Now that class is over, I've finally found the time to read for fun. With two so-so novels (which shall remain nameless here) under my belt, I found myself exploring what made them so-so, not stellar.

In both cases, the answer was the same: the protagonist annoyed me. She (in both cases) was okay, and the writing was good enough to keep me turning pages but, if someone asked me if I'd recommend either book, I'd do so with reservations.

Since characters are what drives me when I write, I wondered if there was a takeaway here. As it turned out, there were three: three things not to do with a female protagonist.

1. Don't make her bitchy. I apologize if my language offends, but that's the best word for some of the behavior displayed by one of the protagonists. Since she wasn't consistently so, and I bought that it was part of her professional identity, I accepted it and kept reading, but it kept me from caring about her, pulling for her or identifying with her. I had to ask myself if I'd've felt the same inability to pull for her if she'd been male...and the truth is, I don't know. I just know I'd liked to have seen her unpalatable behavior balanced with a little heart.
2. Don't outshine her with other female characters. In both books, which were written from multiple points of view, I liked the sidekicks better than the protagonist. A lot better. In fact, they were what kept me turning the pages. And, lest you think I only like nice girls, let me tell you that, in the second novel, the side kick was way saltier than the protagonist -- but I bought it because I knew enough about who she was to understand the motivation behind her behavior. In addition, she (the sidekick) was multi-faceted enough that when she did stuff that I didn't like, it was so well-connected to the big picture of her character that I was willing to cut her some slack and read on.
3. Don't leave the reader in the dark for too long. In the second novel, the rationale behind the protagonist's behavior remained mysterious for too long. She was moody, disconnected by choice and carrying a chip on her shoulder for far too long. If it hadn't been for the sidekick, I would have given up on the book and picked up another one. From a writing perspective, another problem with waiting too long for the why behind a character's behavior is that the reveal had better be huge by the time it arrives and it'd better be delivered in a believable and satisfying way. Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

And one more thing, kind of character-related: 

Don't stereotype the rest of the world in too shorthand a way. Minor characters don't need huge backstory, but they need enough personality to entertain us and enrich the protagonist's world. In the second book, the author did this well with a number of fun minor characters who helped build the world the protagonist inhabited. 

Lest you think I'm too picky (the thought has certainly crossed my mind), the purpose of this exercise wasn't simply to criticize. It was to notice.

Pexels via Pixabay

When I finished the books, I felt vaguely unsatisfied. As a writer, I wanted to know why I felt that way. Am I creating the same reaction in my readers? I can never know for sure, but, by analyzing what makes me react that way when I read, perhaps I can avoid making the same mistakes when I write.

My third summer book, picked up after much deliberation at Browseabout Books (my favorite indy bookstore) is Jodi Piccoult's Small Great Things. Why am I naming it while the others remain unidentified?

Because in ten pages, she grabbed me. I care about every single character, even the unlikeable ones (and there are some very unlikeable ones in this book). They're real. They're fleshed out. They're human.

And I can't wait to see what happens to them.

And that is the kind of writing I want to do.