WW: Food for Thought

"I promise you, brother, that nothing like that will ever happen again."

from Dragon Slayer, out now.

(Though, for Vlad, "making things right" is gonna involve some killing)

I'm going to label this "Workshop Wednesday," since it's Wednesday, but it's really more of a "food for thought" kind of post. 

I have a personal writing philosophy that's formed after a lifetime of book reading and fictional character loving. I know that, given a large, ensemble cast, no two readers will have the same favorite character. In writing characters who are well-rounded and unique, no matter their personal traits, you're opening the door to lots of opinions. And I think this is an absolutely wonderful - even essential - side effect. 

We all pick favorites for different reasons. Sometimes it's a character who reminds us of ourselves; sometimes the kind of character we'd like to know in real life. Someone we feel sorry for; someone we hurt for; something we think is sexy; someone so deliciously evil we can't help but love them for it. Someone good; someone kind; someone brilliant; someone unloved. The heroes, and the underdogs, and the villains...we all come at a story from different places. Different characters mean different things for us.

That's why I want all my characters to feel tangible. To feel like real life, knowable people. It's also why I carry their journeys forward across multiple books, showing their organic growth as a series progresses. And it's why I want to create journeys that are emotionally satisfying for the readers who really love those characters. 

For the most part, I have a firm "positive character growth only" policy. With a few exceptions, I am, despite setbacks and bumps along the way, taking characters on journeys that will leave them better off at the end than they were at the beginning. Certainly not everyone would wish to do the same, but for me, I'm tired of negative-growth stories. If I'm going to spend my life writing stories, I don't want to be depressed all the time. No matter where a character begins the journey, if that journey teaches them things, and makes them better, then I think that leaves anyone who loves that character satisfied at the end - even if it's a sad, bittersweet kind of satisfied. 

For instance: Sunday night's episode of Game of Thrones left fans divided...which I admit surprised me. For me at least, I found it immensely satisfying, full of emotional payoffs for just about every character. I mean...Arya Freaking Stark, ladies and gentlemen. Holy cow. 

But I was also so happy with smaller moments, too. Sandor putting aside his terror to save his little wolf pup. Beric Dondarrion being Beric Dondarrion 'til the end, even if it made me go "oh no, Beric." Dany picking up a wight's sword to fight back to back with Ser Jorah...and Jorah himself, being the person who loves Dany most in all the world. Crap, that hurt - but in a good, rewarding, and expected way. And Theon. That's a redemption arc, and a well-deserved one. Even Melisandre, who I have hated; this episode brought home the fact that none of the horrible things she's done have been done in the spirit of cruelty. She has truly believed, all this time, in her cause. We can hate that cause, we can see lack of morality in it, but we understand her. 

There's plenty of people online poking holes in the battle plans, and asking about the illogical logistics. But from a purely emotional standpoint, this episode delivered. Every single character acted so completely in character - down to Jon and Dany not really having any idea how to defend against a siege - that though we cried, and though we might have quibbles over fallback protocol, none of our characters did things that were inconsistent with their narrative arcs as presented thus far. 

This was why passionate fans of Steve Rogers were so totally let down by the end of Endgame - the last on-screen appearance of Evans's portrayal of the character. Not because - as someone tried to mansplain to me the other day - I didn't understand time travel, or because I'm "an angry shipper." But because choosing to live in an alternate past with alternate versions of the people we've spent six movies watching him develop bonds with is so completely out of character. It's an example of negative character growth. Of character arc negation. 

Okay, I won't rag on the movie anymore. Promise.

But those are some examples of what I'm talking about here. In my own writing, it's been fun to see which characters readers care about most - and to see that, as hoped, everyone has a different favorite! Because of this, I don't want to reward only some of my audience. True, you can't please everyone. Probably you shouldn't try, and that's not necessarily what I'm doing. But I want to show all my characters, even - maybe especially - the secondary ones, the same kind of commitment to characterization. 

With Sons of Rome, I know there are readers who love Nik, and Sasha. Val. Some will love Vlad, and Fulk, and Red, and Anna, and Rooster, and I'm willing to bet there are even some who will love folks like Liam, and Richard, when we get to him. These characters all antagonize one another, but none are the villains cast against other characters' heroes. They're all just people doing their best. And no matter how small the parts they play, whether they live, or die, I want fans of those characters to feel like they've been well-served. Like the growth was positive, and organic, and rewarding in some way. 

And then I wonder why it took forever to write Dragon Slayer! 

You can't please everyone, no. But fans of all kinds of media put time and money and love into a creator's work. I don't think it's too much to ask that you leave them walking away, at the end, feeling like that investment was worthwhile.

Just some food for thought.