- Joined
- May 10, 2011
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A classic tragic hero is a basically noble figure that possesses a character flaw leading to their defeat. But what if MC is more deeply flawed, straddling the line between this and antihero--in YA fiction, just how far are we able to carry the ending without alienating the audience?
The typical structure of redemption stories is such that the main character changes her outlook, rights the wrongs she caused and willingly pays for that, often sacrificing herself in the process. A killer who helps to find a more evil killer and then goes to be judged. A stalker who dies to save the person he used to stalk. There is a whole batch of "a popular girl dies, comes back to hang around and realizes she was a bad person when she was alive" stories in YA. But what if our YA MC does something much worse than not being nice?
I had curiously polar reactions to a story in this vein. Ranging from "nooo why did she have to die?" to "pff, she got off too easily".
The typical structure of redemption stories is such that the main character changes her outlook, rights the wrongs she caused and willingly pays for that, often sacrificing herself in the process. A killer who helps to find a more evil killer and then goes to be judged. A stalker who dies to save the person he used to stalk. There is a whole batch of "a popular girl dies, comes back to hang around and realizes she was a bad person when she was alive" stories in YA. But what if our YA MC does something much worse than not being nice?
I had curiously polar reactions to a story in this vein. Ranging from "nooo why did she have to die?" to "pff, she got off too easily".