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Jun. 27th, 2008 09:09 pmI had my writer's group last night. It had some interesting things happen.
In the part of the story I submitted, Alec was rather cruel to a slave. He hit the slave so hard that the boy fell. Alec really doesn't like the slave. On of my readers said that he shouldn't have done that because it made him unsympathetic and he was the hero. He need to be sympathetic. She rooted more for the slave and his master than she did for the hero.
I'm not going to change the scene. Alec is not the hero of the story, he's he protagonist. Which is rather different than hero. If anything it gives you more lee way in how they can act. It lets them be more human. He can have more flaws as a protagonist. He doesn't have to live up to a hero's expectations. To a hero's morality.
Heroes are supposed to be Good.
Eragon is supposed to be a hero. He dislikes slavery. He fights for the down trodden. He's against tyranny. He does this because its the Right Thing To Do. He never has any second thoughts or wishing that he was doing something else. Tristan from the Fifth Sorceress is also like this. And we all know how they turned out to be.
Alec on the other hand, doesn't want to doing what he's doing. He's not a reluctant hero, he's just doing a job for his bosses. He'd rather be home with his boyfriend. Slavery is just the way things are. Sure, he wouldn't necssarily want to be a slave, but then again, I wouldn't necesarily want to be a burger flipper, but that's just how things are. Now I'm not saying that slavery is right. Of course it's not. But in the sort of society that Alec lives in, it would be there. There are laws (in most places)regarding the treatment of slaves. After all they are property and an underfed beaten slave is useless because they can't work.
I suppose the fact that I'm trying to get at here is that yes, maybe he shouldn't have hit the slave like he did (or anyone else for that matter), but for him not to have would have been out of character for him. He has a temper and the slave was there for him to take it out on. It may not make him sympathetic at the time, but I'm sure in the long run it'll make people empathize with him more. Because he's more human. Just like the rest of us.
In the part of the story I submitted, Alec was rather cruel to a slave. He hit the slave so hard that the boy fell. Alec really doesn't like the slave. On of my readers said that he shouldn't have done that because it made him unsympathetic and he was the hero. He need to be sympathetic. She rooted more for the slave and his master than she did for the hero.
I'm not going to change the scene. Alec is not the hero of the story, he's he protagonist. Which is rather different than hero. If anything it gives you more lee way in how they can act. It lets them be more human. He can have more flaws as a protagonist. He doesn't have to live up to a hero's expectations. To a hero's morality.
Heroes are supposed to be Good.
Eragon is supposed to be a hero. He dislikes slavery. He fights for the down trodden. He's against tyranny. He does this because its the Right Thing To Do. He never has any second thoughts or wishing that he was doing something else. Tristan from the Fifth Sorceress is also like this. And we all know how they turned out to be.
Alec on the other hand, doesn't want to doing what he's doing. He's not a reluctant hero, he's just doing a job for his bosses. He'd rather be home with his boyfriend. Slavery is just the way things are. Sure, he wouldn't necssarily want to be a slave, but then again, I wouldn't necesarily want to be a burger flipper, but that's just how things are. Now I'm not saying that slavery is right. Of course it's not. But in the sort of society that Alec lives in, it would be there. There are laws (in most places)regarding the treatment of slaves. After all they are property and an underfed beaten slave is useless because they can't work.
I suppose the fact that I'm trying to get at here is that yes, maybe he shouldn't have hit the slave like he did (or anyone else for that matter), but for him not to have would have been out of character for him. He has a temper and the slave was there for him to take it out on. It may not make him sympathetic at the time, but I'm sure in the long run it'll make people empathize with him more. Because he's more human. Just like the rest of us.
