Intentionally Irritating Narrator

jarbabyj · Feb 2, 2006

Hey all, I believe this is my first post here :hooray:

I am an aspiring novelist, produced playwright and magazine dabbler. Amongst the bushels of rejection letters indicating how hard it was to reject my work :rant:

Are suggestions from helpful editors to improve my chances of getting published. Some I hate (change the whole plot!) and some I'm considering.

Firstly, the novel I'm currently shopping around has a nameless narrator. She is a burntout housewife, and the whole point of her namelessness is that everyone in her life has a nickname for her, based on how they regard her (kitten, princess, baby). But she's also severely unlikeable.

What do you feel are the keys to success in convincing someone to read a novel wherein the person guiding you through the tale is NOT someone you'd particularly admire? Of course she changes throughout the story and comes to see the error of some of her beliefs, but I wouldn't want the reader to mistake the character's thoughts for MINE.

Does that make sense?

Jess

reph · Feb 2, 2006

For me as a reader, humor goes a long way in softening the effect of a narrator or point-of-view character I wouldn't want to meet. Does Princess have amusing thoughts?

I start with the assumption that the author is a good person even if the characters are rotten. This may not be realistic; surely there are wicked authors.

travNastee · Feb 2, 2006

No matter how irritating (or even borderline stupid) a character is, if I can find something, anything, about them that I can see in myself, or they have thoughts that a lot of people think but don't want to say (and are funny) then I can put up with them, especially if they start a slow turn toward the mainstream (but not too far in, as that gets kind of dull and you lose any edge that the character had that was appealing)

nandu · Feb 2, 2006

However irritating a character may be in real life, you may want to know his/her inner workings. It is sometimes more fascinating to get into the mind of an eccentric person than a normal one. So I'd say the writing will carry the story.

For example, I'd never want to meet a serial killer face to face in a dark alley, but I'd read a novel with one as MC if his twisted motivations are skillfully revealed.

Cheryll · Feb 3, 2006

nandu said:
For example, I'd never want to meet a serial killer face to face in a dark alley, but I'd read a novel with one as MC if his twisted motivations are skillfully revealed.

Exactly. The character of Hannibal Lector immediately comes to mind. The man himself was a monster, but he had a human side that was well-spoken, intelligent, and likeable. No one is all good or all evil.

In my first manuscript, I have a character that is in direct opposition to my protagonist. I don't WANT the reader to like him at first. He's rude and abrupt and highly opinionated towards my main character when they first meet. But I show his softer side in that he loves his family and dying wife.

I agree with the above advice about inserting some humor amongst the negative or a characteristic that's likeable. Again, any character that is all sour grapes or eternal sunshine will eventually bore the reader.

Cheryll

Cheryll · Feb 3, 2006

Oh... and welcome, by the way! :welcome:

Cheryll

maestrowork · Feb 3, 2006

If you write a three-dimensional, complex, full-blooded, interesting character, people will go along with it. I think the problem may be the "intentionally" part. If you deliberate make your character a certain way, then your character is not real. And when your readers sense that and see that the character is a caricature, then they'll lose interest.

NeuroFizz · Feb 3, 2006

In the pulp classic by Dan J. Marlowe, The Name of the Game is Death, the protagonist (Earl Drake) is a horrible man. He comes off as a sympathetic character because everyone else he runs into is worse than he is. We also get glimpses of his early life, which give him incredible depth.

I like the idea of using humor--particularly if it's sarcastic, even acerbic.

Cheryll · Feb 3, 2006

NeuroFizz said:
I like the idea of using humor--particularly if it's sarcastic, even acerbic.

I agree. I think this would work well with your particular character.

Cheryll

Intentionally Irritating Narrator

jarbabyj

reph

Fig of authority

travNastee

in a bulletproof vest...

nandu

Cheryll

Cheryll

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

Cheryll