MC Isolation - Published Examples?

watercayman · Dec 6, 2009

Hi folks,

I've got a segment in my WIP where my main character is completely alone. I think I'm getting it down fairly well, but it is a pretty good challenge to keep all the pieces even.

I was wondering if anyone could point out a few published examples of long scenes (a chapter or more), or even a whole book, where the author kept the MC totally isolated? I'd like to see how the masters have handled this, and I'm drawing a blank from memory as to what I've read recently where there is no interaction between characters for a stretch.

I read Stephen King's 1408 last night, and this was a decent example, but he had a few cheats that I can't use - MC spoke to a tape recorder, some of it flashed forward, etc...

Preferably Sci-Fi if you know of em.

Many thanks!!

PoppysInARow · Dec 6, 2009

I don't know any sci-fi, but the Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is a good example. The character spends almost the entire book alone.

HelloKiddo · Dec 6, 2009

Island of the Blue Dolphins.

cbenoi1 · Dec 6, 2009

The Old Man And The Sea?

-cb

watercayman · Dec 6, 2009

Some great suggestions - lol how could I forget the old man & the sea?!

Thank you all - I'll check these out for sure.

katiemac · Dec 6, 2009

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

gothicangel · Dec 7, 2009

Similar problem I've faced with my kidnap novel.

Maybe Land of the Living (Nicci French) or The Collector (John Fowles) would be useful. They helped me a lot.

watercayman · Dec 7, 2009

More great ideas - thank you both very much.

RJK · Dec 7, 2009

Robinson Crusoe, The tell-Tale Heart.

watercayman · Dec 7, 2009

Of course! Great ones - read them both and will have to pull them off the shelf again - thank you.

Lady Ice · Dec 7, 2009

watercayman said:
Hi folks,

I've got a segment in my WIP where my main character is completely alone. I think I'm getting it down fairly well, but it is a pretty good challenge to keep all the pieces even.

Preferably Sci-Fi if you know of em.

Many thanks!!

I suppose you get things like solo missions in sci-fi and fantasy, or the MC's friends have all died.
What about The Metamorphosis? Gregor can't talk to any of his family because he's turned into a bug.

Mr Flibble · Dec 7, 2009

Merchanter's Luck, CJ Cherryh. Poor Sandor, he's been on his own a bit too long and it's sent him just that little bit doolally.

Chasing the Horizon · Dec 8, 2009

I just got done reading Gerald's Game by Stephen King and his MC is alone for the majority of that book. She has elaborate internal conversations with herself, though, but I think that's pretty normal for someone stuck alone for a long period of time. I spend a lot of time alone and have pretty involved conversations with myself in my head, lol.

blacbird · Dec 8, 2009

Pincher Martin, by William Golding
Castaway, by James Gould Cozzens
A Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, of Nantucket, by Edgar Allan Poe
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester (better titled Tiger, Tiger in the U.K.)
The Trial, by Franz Kafka (not physically alone, but absolutely isolated socially)

plus many of the precedingly recommended examples.

caw

watercayman · Dec 9, 2009

LOL my reading list just jumped by a good half-dozen books. All great stuff - thank you all.

I just finished I am Legend - I'd never read it. Wow, very good example of what I need, and also a pretty rough life for the poor guy. So different from the movie. Also nearly 60 years old!

Thanks again folks.

entropic island · Dec 9, 2009

Hatchet, as someone said earlier, is the best example I can think of of this. There are no "cheats", practically no dialogue. It shows amazing plot and detail, without saying a word. It keeps you thinking.

Toothpaste · Dec 9, 2009

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

The main character purposefully isolates himself for a longish section of the book.

K. Q. Watson · Dec 9, 2009

HOUSE of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski did this terrifically.

ChaosTitan · Dec 10, 2009

My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George

Diana W. · Dec 10, 2009

ChaosTitan said:
My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George

I love that book. I remember reading it as a kid!

Elias Graves · Dec 10, 2009

Hmm. I've got one going that occurs in isolation. There are actually two characters but neither is aware of the other's situation. Its very challenging. I keep arguing with myself over the POV in the story. Its very powerful in the first person, though limiting.

EG

benbradley · Dec 10, 2009

There's at least one Larry Niven story (something less than novel length, and I don't recall all these story titles, but they're in his older books of short-story collections, I enjoyed all of them) that involves the MC being isolated for long periods of time. One is when the MC takes a Bussard Ramjet to the center of the Galaxy and back (at the near-C speeds it reaches, time of thousands of years "real time" is only a few years time on the ship). He does have a talking ship computer for a companion but as I recall it doesn't have the same "emotional presence" as another person.

There's (what I think of as) another Niven story where the MC is literally light-years away and months of travel time from his girlfriend or any human being. As I recall, the MC's aloneness was mentioned as a minor thing near the start of the story, but I do recall the line the MC said to himself: "There are advantages to being alone. I'll think of them in a moment."

On the other hand, Niven is known as a "hard SF" author where the stories are very much science/technoligy/hardware based moreso than character-driven. Much more popular were his collaborations with Jerry Pournelle, who it seems is a lot better at characterization and making for a more balanced-and-developed story. If anything, those novels were huge and had "too many" characters...

Maxinquaye · Dec 11, 2009

The Quiet Earth by Craig Harrison. The MC spend most of his time alone, going mad.

watercayman · Dec 11, 2009

Oh yeah - I remember that Niven story - Phosphtoc or whatever his name was! Good idea.

Also read much of My Side of the Mountain last night - great example. Interesting to see the difference in some of the older writing. A lot more forgiving of 'tell' back then. Or perhaps it's the age range? (9-12 for that one). But - certainly showed me that it's perfectly fine to expand on the inner thoughts for quite a while

Thanks everyone - all great examples.

RJK · Dec 11, 2009

What's the name of the Stephen King story about the woman tied to the bed and her husban goes outside and dies of a heart attack or something. She's stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

MC Isolation - Published Examples?

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Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

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Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says: