Hi everyone!
Ok, this is my first year trying Nanowrimo, and my first day too (mainly because I discovered it a few hours ago). Hope i'll get it done, wish me luck!
Anyway, this was my question. I've had a story (nearly fantasy, but not quite) playing in my head for months now, and i'm willing to gie it a shot. Thing is, my protagonist (well, the main one anyway) is neither good nor evil. He discovered the art of forging metal weapons in a civilisation of roughly stone age tech, and although he is going to have a very important part to play in the world because of it, he doesn't really has an ideal to fight for. He'll use what he knows to become chief amongst his tribe, mainly for revenge, but he is truly caring for most of the persons surrounding him. He has no idea of good or evil beside the need for survival, and most of the opponents he will have to face are the same way.
I wanted to know if anyone else has ever tried a fantasy without good or evil character? How does it work out? Isn't it hard to get immersed in the story of someone who never even really thinks about these distinctions?
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Il se fait tard... Prenez à droite.
Appologies for my crappy english everyone! It's been a long time since I had the occasion to write or talk in this wonderful language so... be forgiving ^^ (I'll give you a cookie!)
855 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 08 38
Tons of fantasy stories hav characters portrayed as neither good nor evil. Many readers tend to throw those labels around anyway, but morally ambiguous characters are not new.
I can count on one hand the number of characters that thought about the distinction in a way that didn't a) make me want to barf, or b) make me yawn.
So I have no problems with characters who are slightly less philosophical, ne?
----------All lines are arbitrary; otherwise, we wouldn't have to draw them. ~Nicholas Vesiri
http://atsiko.wordpress.com
22,831 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 08 42
That could be fun to read; I get tired of stories that have such clear-cut, black and white portrayals of good and evil, or stories that praise the protagonist as being a heroic force for good when he's done things that led to disaster or were done for the wrong reasons.
In my own work, I generally don't completely ignore the idea of good and evil, but I frequently subvert it - by having a story that has more shades of grey than my characters (or readers) expect, or by twisting assumptions around about what's "good" and what's "evil" (my necromancers and zombies this year are undeniably the good guys). I've got another story where the main conflict is part of an ongoing war between what's basically God and his opposite number, with a third entity of equal power trying to make peace between them - you'd think one of the three has to be the good guy, right? But if you define "good" as "in humanity's best interest," none of them are - because the only way for humanity to survive is for this conflict to end in a continued stalemate.
Anyway, there's a lot of variation possible, and I for one would really rather read about a protagonist with genuine human motivations and feelings than one who's all about good and doing what's right.
16,800 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 08 46
In my novel, there is a clear evil but it's not that clear as to whether the protagonists are ideally good.
----------72,084 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 09 02
I tend to write everyone as a shade of gray, no one's perfectly good or evil, after all.
But I don't see why he NEEDS a concept of 'good' or 'evil'... all he needs in 'good for us (or me)' and 'bad for us (or me)'. That's what most people operate with anyway...
----------2008 - Winner! - Pot Committed - 50,853 words
2009 - The Viv Kinei Hypothesis - ???
42,056 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 09 08
Shades of gray are what make story good. Really, even when there is an enemy he should never ever be just evil.
When you do adorn the terms evil and good you start crossing into fairy tale territory and not in a positive sense. At least, that's my opinion.
----------My novel's little corner
Toying with widgets!
46,465 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 10 18
I think that sounds like an interesting novel. I, personally, dislike the ideas of "good" and "evil", a lot. There is no good or evil in the real world, so why should there be in a fantasy world?
For example, my antagonist is attempting to destroy and take over an entire kingdom, but that's because he was wrongly - in his opinion - exiled after serving the kingdom loyally for years. My protagonist generally tries to protect people, but has no qualms with killing those who disagree with him. Stories tend to be less fun to read when the characters do good or bad things just because they are "good" or "bad".
----------~Mave
40,138 / 50,000
nov. 6, 2009 - 15 22
Hey, characters who are complete bastards worked for Joe Abercrombie. Several of the main characters in his trilogy seem to be neither good nor evil, just self-serving. Others are blindly following orders, regardless of what those orders might be.
I usually prefer a little clearer cut dichotomy, but if you can craft characters with motive leading to actions, and actions leading to consequences for themselves and those around them, you're well on your way.
----------A Writer's Fantasy
J. Mark Miller
40,296 / 50,000
nov. 6, 2009 - 16 29
my 'bad guy' is a very passionate and loving man who cares for his people and truly believes his unnaturally extended life is necessary so that he can (among other things) go on being a more or less benevolent leader. The Five Sons (Wyvernus and his brothers) have created a civilization far surpassing any other in its time; people have excellent diets, health, sanitation, maternal and infant mortality are low, there is enough spare time for the arts to flourish, etc etc. However. The Sons have extended their lives by more or less killing their own children every so often, eugenics is practiced ('unfit' infants or people are disposed of in a rather unhappy manner), there is severe social stratification, the powerful empire subjugates other nations and tribes, and the Sons's abuse of magic has severe negative environmental consequences. Wyvernus loves his children dearly--but he's willing to sacrifice them for his own ends (less and less willing, as time goes by). He meets my protagonist, Sulema--his long-lost daughter--and here is the child he can keep, his only daughter, and he loves her tremendously. Sulema loves him in return, her long lost father, so imagine how devastated she will be to learn his secrets--and what this might do to him.
One of them will end up destroying most of the world, and I'll not tell you which one. Good stuff.
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