Non-Human Protagonists

I've read that it's a good idea for SF/F writers to have a relatable everyman as a main character in especially strange world settings. Supposedly, this gives readers a point of stability to help them relate emotionally to an otherwise exotic and unpredictable SF/F world setting.

How much do you find this to be true? Do you adjust the weirdness of your protaginists in inverse proportion to the weirdness of the world setting? (Eccentric protagonist for a 'normal' world setting, more 'normal' protagonist for an eccentric world setting)

Personally, I love reading from the perspective of nonhuman protagonists, and not just sidekick characters but the leading lady/man. Alas, I find disappointingly few.

My favorite aspect of SF/F is the ways it escapes the confines of our normal world, but I always find characters more interesting than setting. So why do so many novels dabble in strange settings while shying away from giving us a distinctly non-human POV character? Is it because it's harder to write? Is it unpopular with readers, and thus harder to sell?

It's heavy on my mind because I love writing nonhuman MCs. My latest book was an urban fantasy with a goblin protagonist from a matriarchal society. I love reading wildly different POV characters like that, but I worry that agents are passing it over as unsalable or too strange.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on non-human main characters. Do you like to read them? Under what circumstances? Do you think they're less popular than more relatable human protagonists? Book recommendations for non-human MCs also appreciated!

sunandshadow said:

My aliens and fantasy races are usually pretty human-like mentally... Culturally they are probably similar to either some historical earthly culture or a mix of historical cultures, or an animal social structure such as a pride of lions. Over all I don't think it's difficult for a reader to relate to my main characters because they have basically the same desires, fears, and feelings everyone does.

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That's a great blend, in my humble opinion. One of the goals of writing is to reveal some insight into the human condition, and for that you need to have some semblance to human thought and relatable emotion, but you can get pretty far afield in other ways.

An alien character doesn't need to be completely alien, after all. You could make a race of satyrs or goblins that have core emotions similar to ours, but tweaked on different axes that still make them distinctly nonhuman. Maybe they're socially pressured to show no emotion at any time even though they rage with feelings under the surface, or they can't address a superior without presenting a small gift first, or sex is not pleasurable but only for procreation so romance would be sexless and the resulting courtship would look really different.

I don't think it's so unrealistic that aliens might be similar in thought and action to humans. Consider animals on our own planet. They're not human and not imitating our culture, but if you really get eye-level with animals when you study them, you'll find pecking orders, grief, jealousy, ambition, and embarrassment all written into animal life that surprisingly mirrors our own.

Black Beauty comes to mind--a book written entirely from the first-person perspective of a horse, yet rings very true to both human sensibility and equine.

BlackMagic528 said:

If you like non-human main characters, then you'll love my writing.

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I'm sure I would. <3 Get thyself published and I'll be first in line to buy a copy!

And if you (or any other AWer) post something with a nonhuman MC in SYW, PM me and send me a link so I can check it out!

There's almost no chance the reader is going to relate to her, but I do expect that readers will understand her. See the difference?

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Definitely. It's kind of like with psychologically monstrous characters. If someone were to write the mindscape of say, a serial child molester, ideally it would be written well enough that we can understand why the character does what he does. We may be chilled by how realistic and relatable his actions are, but we don't necessarily sympathize with the character.

scifiwordsmith said:

One of my favorite books has no humans at all except in historical reference: "At Winter's End" by Robert Silverburg, absolutely fantastic, a whole rich culture, not human, yet, I could completely identify with. The main protagonist, Hresh, is so me, I slipped right into the mind of the character.
... I am curious if there are others like me who are starving for a non human perspective?

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Thanks for the book recc! I'll have to check that out.

You're definitely not alone in feeling starved for nonhuman perspectives. I remember skimming through the fantasy section of the library as a kid looking for anything that had elves, dwarves, or centaurs in it. I like fantasy because of the fantastic elements in it, and since characters are my main draw, I want fantastic characters!

I'm disappointed by fantasy novels that's just a crew of humdrum humans in kind-sorta-midieval settings. Comes off as lazy to me. It's almost like the author was trying to write historical fiction without doing any research. =/

Plenty of books have nonhuman villains or sidekicks, but they come across as weird little oddities, not fully developed characters in their own right. Unless it's the main character, nonhumans rarely get enough stage time to get into their heads.