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writing a trickster character - story list?

Layla Nahar

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Hi all -

On several occasions I've had a trickster character show up in a story, and then I get stuck because of how I think. Like, I need to come up now with some riddles - like the Sphinx's, or like Smaug's - that sort of thing. And then I've had magical characters who make a promise with one hand & then there's that genie fine-print, when they kind of take it back with the other.... I have a hard time being tricky and clever that way. Any suggestions, tips, tricks etc as to how to come up with convincing trickster deeds/words?

ETA: If you can recommend a story (or stories) with tricksters, I'd love to hear it. Something new or something trad is fine :)
(see post 6, as well)
 
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blackcat777

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I always have fun with the way trickster characters lie by omission, giving a literal answer to a question but failing to mention the most important, potentially deal-breaking aspect. "That artifact is at the bottom of the gorge!" (Does not mention giant dragon living at bottom of gorge.) Then the trickster can blame-shift to the person who asked the question, for asking the wrong question. ;)
 

MythMonger

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Homonyms and words with double meanings are probably a good place to start.
 

Cyia

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Wording is key. Tricksters are "legal to the letter," regarding what they say. So where a regular person might hear: "I won't harm one hair on your head," and interpret that "I won't hurt you," to a trickster, those words mean that the pledge is to leave that one promised hair safe and sound; the rest is fair game.

They're also, often, agents of chaos. This doesn't make them evil or even mad. It means that they shake things up when life's moving too smoothly. (life itself is chaotic on a sub-atomic level - tricksters are, in a way, the embodiment of entropy) Stability may be the opposite of chaos, but so is stagnation, and their function is to stop things from stagnating and decaying.
 
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Harlequin

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Suggestions for riddles and enigmatic sayings--have a look at logical fallacies, and logic exercises.

A classic one (just an example):

A ham sandwich is better than nothing.
Nothing is better than happiness.

Therefore, a ham sandwich is better than happiness.


Word plays, logic plays, pedantry, all that sort of stuff.
 

Layla Nahar

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Hey - thanks everybody - some great ideas to think about

I realized something after posting - I need to read more trickster stories... (and traditional stories with riddles & such like)

So - now I'm wondering if people might know any stories with trickster characters and/or riddles & such like -

So far the list from my head is: Bre'r Rabbit he's a trickster, right?, and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel has a trickster; & there's the Sphynx, & Smaug for riddles.

Movies and short stories would be great (because time...) but I'm also interested in novels
 

lonestarlibrarian

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Have you ever read about the Oracle of Delphi?

There was one famous prediction in Herodotus. Croesus wanted to attack Persia, but he wanted to check with the Delphic Oracle first as to whether it would be a successful campaign. The answer came back, "If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed." So Croesus crossed the river and invaded Perisa... and Cyrus promptly defeats him, making Croesus realize that the "great empire to be destroyed" was his own.

Here's a list of other Delphic oracles that have been preserved through anecdote.

You also might pop over to TvTropes and read up on their examples of Trickster Tropes and their list of Sub-Tropes.
 

Carrie in PA

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If you want a movie - I love Bedazzled (Brendan Fraser/Elizabeth Hurley version, and there is also an earlier version). In exchange for his soul, he gets wishes granted. I can't remember how many - 5 or 6. Being a smartass, he snarks that he wishes for a Big Mac. They get on a bus and go to McDonald's and he buys his own Big Mac... she later reminds him that it was a wish fulfilled. He wishes to be rich, so she makes him a Mexican drug lord. He wishes for fame, so she makes him a superstar basketball player, but he's really, really stupid and has a tiny penis. My point is, it's all about being completely literal.

For riddles, I'd read old fairy tales where riddles abound.
 

Cyia

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The Monkey's Paw has a similar "nothing for free" take on wishing. Actually, most genie/jinn stories have some sort of component that requires the person to carefully word what they want.
 

blackcat777

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Now you guys are giving me flashbacks about that Twilight Zone episode that horrified me as a child where the dead husband comes back to life and starts screaming because he's filled with embalming fluid. Ugh, careful what you wish for!
 

Axl Prose

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Hey - thanks everybody - some great ideas to think about

I realized something after posting - I need to read more trickster stories... (and traditional stories with riddles & such like)

So - now I'm wondering if people might know any stories with trickster characters and/or riddles & such like -

So far the list from my head is: Bre'r Rabbit he's a trickster, right?, and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel has a trickster; & there's the Sphynx, & Smaug for riddles.

Movies and short stories would be great (because time...) but I'm also interested in novels

Bre'r Rabbit was a boss! Batman comics with the Riddler have some good stuff that might help. You might want to look at reviews though, some suffer from pure comic nonsense. But some are really good and pull off truly trickster stuff.
 
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Axl Prose

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If you're going Batman, Joker would actually be the better trickster model.
Very true. Great trickster dialogue. He can be telling someone he hates them and his whole reason for living is to kill them, but he says it in the happiest, jokingly, why can't we be friends type of way ;)
 
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