Pandragon Dan

Everyone loves a good hero. In fact, a hero is the basis of all great storytelling. Whether they are an underdog, a warrior, or just someone that wants to make something of their lives, a good hero/heroine will keep the audiences sympathies and keep them entertained throughout as they follow their journey from beginning to end, supporting them all the way.

But sometimes, just sometimes, you come across a hero or heroine that is just so unlikeable, you just want to punch them! Whether it’s because they are selfish, badly written, or just plan villainous in their actions, these are the type of characters who just want to make you sarcastically cry out “Our hero, ladies and gentlemen!” (apologies to Linkara)

And today, in this blog, I look at my personal Top Five of what I consider to be the worse heroes/heroines ever written. These are the Top Five characters that, for some reason or another, just p*** me off! And maybe they will to. So let’s get down to it.

A few things before I start, because I’ll probably open a hornets’ nest in this list. Firstly, I WILL mention some characters that are beloved by many, so please bear in mind that A) this is just MY opinion and B) this is not 100% serious and not intended to be taken entirely seriously. I will elaborate on why I think these characters are so unlikeable as heroes so as to justify their reason for being here. Hopefully I won’t get trolled too much for this!

Anyway, before we start, some honourable mentions.

Bella Swan from Twilight and Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Prequels

Yeah, yeah, I know that EVERYONE and their mother has done blogs/videos about these characters and how they are so obnoxious, whinny and completely transparent (just to name a couple of examples, the Nostalgia Critic Listed Bella as number one in his Top 11 Dumbasses in Distress videos and the Distressed Watcher did a whole video on the Star Wars Prequels, listing how Anakin was a whinny little brat), and personally I don’t have anything more to add to that.

Besides, the examples I’m giving I fell are WORSE than Bella and Anakin put together! So let’s go on, shall we?

1. Duke Nukem of the Duke Nuken Games

Duke Nukem may have wow’d the video game world with his early games – but since Duke Nukem Forever he’s become somewhat of a pariah. Now I’ve played Duke Nukem Forever and it’s not really as bad as people say it is – but after about 12 years in development, you would have expected something a little better than this.

So, what don’t I like about Duke Nukem? Well, in many ways, he is pretty cool. His voice has a cool, Clint Eastwood type tone, he can kick alien ass while cracking jokes, and he just oozes machismo from everywhere – making him kinda like a cross between James Bond and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But honestly, I find him one of the most sexist characters in video game history.

Not that I’m trying to sound like a feminist, but I kinda have a problem with the fact that the only female characters in the game are scantily clad strippers, nude women who have been abducted, or just random chicks who want to get off with Duke. This isn’t the 40’s anymore, this kinda of attitude just doesn’t work in this day and age. Ok, so I may have written a few sexy females into my stories – but I do at least try and give them a personality to go along with it so that they aren’t just there for fan service.

Now, Duke Nukem does have a certain level of parody to it, so I wouldn’t really be worried about this too much – if not for the hive level in Duke Nukem Forever. In that level, he finds that women have been abducted and impregnated by aliens (there is even a scene where a couple of hookers from the beginning of the game explode with aliens from their belly and dying in a completely inappropriate way) and he has to kill them to stop the aliens coming forth. Does he show any remorse or sympathy for killing these poor women to save their pain? No, he just continues to crack jokes and doesn’t show any hint of sympathy for his actions. That is just despicable! And don’t even get me started on the “wall boobs” scene.

Overall, Duke’s type of humour just feels dated and few I think would actually find him funny. I get the odd chuckle from here there and now, but otherwise I just find Duke a really unlikeable hero – especially with his attitude towards women.

2. Light Yagami, AKA Kira from Death Note

Even thought I have an interest in Anime/Manga, Death Note is just one of those stories that I’m just not really into. Main reason – I think the main character is just a complete monster. Some people have praised the fact that Light (aka Kira) is a character that you can both love and hate, but honestly, I just can’t stand the guy. Even though I get his motivations, I just can’t support him.

For those who don’t know this series (adapted from a Manga and turned into an Anime and live action film), Death Note is about a boy that comes into possession of the Death Note, a book that kills anyone when someone’s name is written on it. Light uses this book to start killing the criminals of the world (along with a personification of Death), but eventually becomes corrupted by power and gains a god complex. The crux of the story features a team of investigators trying to track down Kira (as he has named himself), led by L – a highly intelligent young man determined to bring him down.

Now, I can understand Light’s motives to a certain level – he wants to bring justice in the world. But the problem I find is that he is willing to put innocent people – even members of his own family – in danger to do so! I’m sorry, but I can’t support anyone like that! If Light had some sort of redeeming qualities to his character (in the way that Tony Soprano did) then I would probably get behind him a little more. But because he is so focused on his goal and doesn’t care who he has to step on to do so, then I just wished he would get his comeuppance.

Luckily (SPOILERS AHEAD!) he does! Eventually he is caught and trapped. But Light, in his arrogance, summons the spirit of Death, telling him to write a name in the Death Note to show his power. Death writes in Light’s name, having grown tired of him, and finally Light gets a taste of his own medicine! Even though his death is kinda drawn out, it is satisfying to see the cocky little s*** beg for his life.

Light is quite possibly one of the worst heroes in Anime – possibly even in existence. I would say he is just as bad (if not worse than) King Joffery from A Game of Thrones, or A Song of Ice and Fire if you want to go by the book series. Sorry to any Death Note fans reading this, but I just really don’t like this character.

3. Napoleon Dynamite

I’m probably one of the few people that didn’t find Napoleon Dynamite the least bit funny – partly because I found the main character so unlikeable! How unlikeable?

Well, I’m gonna leave a link to a video by The Cinema Snob, from his The Worst Films of the Decade (done back in late 2009), in which he featured Napoleon Dynamite on there. Skip the video to around 14:32 and listen to what he says about the character of Napoleon Dynamite – because pretty much everything he says in that video is what I would say about the character and I would just be repeating him! (Contains some swearing).

http://thecinemasnob.com/2009/12/29/the-worst-films-of-the-decade.aspx

Ok, that was a short one – moving on!

4. Benjamin Spooner Briggs from Limbo of the Lost

This one not many of you will probably know about – and for good reason. Limbo of the Lost is a point and click adventure that was released around 2008 for the PC – but was quickly halted and pulled from sale. Why? Because it was discovered that the backgrounds were ripped off from other games, Elder Scrolls, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Thief – even the opening sequence is directed ripped off from a scene in the Spawn movie! And that’s just SOME of the things they plagiarised. Nowadays, copies of the game are kinda hard to find and are somewhat of a collector’s item – but as a game it is just horrible! The animation is poor, the story makes no sense and the acting is just terrible!

But anyway, onto the character of Benjamin Spooner Briggs (who has a perfect English accent in this game, even though I’m pretty sure the original Captain Briggs was American – please correct me if I’m wrong). After the sailing of the Marie Celeste, Briggs was taken by two supernatural beings and forced into the land of Limbo, where he must try and find a way of escape and overcome his fears.

Pretty basic story, but the way Briggs has to do this usually revolves around people getting hurt in some way, shape or form. And does he show any remorse to it? Not a bit! He walks across a wooden board, causing dust to fall into someone eyes, causing them to be eaten by a wood insect – barely bats an eyelid. He has to look at a paper to get some information, so rather than just asking if he could have a look, he blinds the poor fellow! Not only that, but when he’s investigating several mysterious deaths by a mad cult, resulting in many more people dying in the process, does he show even the slightly hint of remorse? Nope! Not at all.

Ok, so compared to others on the list, he isn’t that bad a character – but he doesn’t seem to show any real emotion to the things going around him – nor does he really make any attempt to understand the characters around him and their plight. But mainly, he’s just a dull character and you can’t really get behind him because he has no personality.

But there is one thing I WILL show you – the ending to Limbo of the Lost. It is one of the most bat**** crazy things I’ve ever seen in my life! Normally I would give a spoiler warning, but because this game is so bad, and has no real story, I think I can get away with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcvdDtnM_0

Ok, now onto number 5. Boy and I about to open Pandora’s Box on this one!

5. Padme Amidala from Star Wars Prequels

Remember how I said at the beginning that there were worse characters than Anakin Skywalker and Bella Swan? Well, here she is! Padme Amidala! Possibly the worst heroine in the history of Star Wars - and even fiction itself!

Now, I’ll admit, at first I found this character just mildly annoying. She was bland, didn’t do anything and her relationship with Anakin was some of the most awkward scenes I’ve ever seen in my life. Which is a shame as I think Natalie Portman is a fantastic actress (her roles in Leon and Black Swan were just amazing), so she was wasted in this role here. But after reading a blog that appeared in my Triberr stream, going onto explain why Padme is one of the worst characters ever (I can’t remember the name of the blogger, nor remember the link, but if that person is reading this, then thank you for opening my eyes) I now have to say I totally 100% agree with everything she said and can’t believe that I missed it the first time.

Like I said, at first I thought Padme was just a bland character that served little than a plot device – but there are two instances which highlight her as an idiot. Spoilers follow.

The first is from Attack of the Clones when Anakin admits to her that he slaughtered an entire village of Sand People, the ones who took his mother. He even admits to killing women and children and saying how much he hated them. How does Padme react to this? “Being angry is to be human!”

Ok, two things. Firstly, in The Phantom Menace, Yoda explained that anger is one of the powers of the Dark Side of the Force. So you do NOT say this to a Jedi – and being around Jedi’s for so long she should know this. Secondly, he just admitted that he committed mass genocide and her reaction was just “Meh, s*** happens.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Maybe Padme just has a thing for murdering maniacs – she and Kratos from God of War should hook up!

But the second thing, which is what the other blogger mentioned, is what cements her as the worst heroine ever. In Revenge of the Sith, after she is choked by Anakin, she is taken to a medical bay. The doctor says that she is dying, even though she is medically fine – she has just lost the will to live. Not only that, she is pregnant with twins (who we know will be Luke and Leia). But all she can think about is Anakin, the guy that tried to kill her.

So, let me get this straight – she’s about to die, about to leave her two children motherless, and all because she can’t stop thinking about a guy who tried to kill her. WHAT A COW!!! I mean seriously! How dumb is this b****?

Now some Star Wars fans have defended Padme, saying that she believes that she can turn him back to the side of good and be a pure source for him. Sadly, I don’t buy that for one second. I find it hard to believe that ANY woman, no matter how much she cared for a man, would want to associate herself with a murdering, needy freak like Anakin, unless she herself was not right in the head. To me, the whole Padme/Anakin thing seems to glorify abusive relationships and tell the audience that it’s ok to be in one. And that is just horrible!

It’s a shame, because Padme is really the only female character in the series (aside from a few female Jedi and some other minor characters), so the series is lacking a good, strong heroine. And the heroine that is in it is little more than a dumbass in distress. I never thought I’d say this, but Padme is so bad, she even makes Jar-Jar Binks tolerable!

Ok, so that’s my list. Hope you enjoyed it and please leave a comment below. Do you agree or disagree with me? Is there a hero/heroine that I missed out? Please let me know as I would love to hear it.

And just to finish off, Happy St Patricks Day everyone! Go out and, as Father Jack from Father Ted would say – DRINK!

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PANDRAGON

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Chances are, many of you would have heard the expression Deux Ex Machina (pronounced Day-oo Ex Mack-in-na) at some point, however, some of you maybe never knew what it meant before. Indeed, I only learned the meaning of Deus Ex Machina myself less than a couple of years ago, reading a Spider-Man comic of all things!

To explain what it means, here is a quick example:

Our hero (or heroine) has been tied up in an abandoned building with a bomb set to explode. They are tied up pretty tight and have no way of escape, their only fate is to wait until the bomb explodes. Then suddenly, a rat comes along, chews through their rope and helps them get away in time.

To basically sum up, it’s when the protagonist is stuck in a seemingly inescapable situation, and then something comes along (whether it be a person, creature, object or whatever) and helps the protagonist win the day. No doubt you’ve seen this many times before – whether in films, books, comics, TV, etc. It’s a pretty common trope, but one that has mixed reaction from writers and watchers alike.

The term Deux Ex Machina was first coined during the old days of Greek Theatre – the phrase being Latin for “God From the Machine”. In the old days, an actor, playing a god, was lowered down by a primitive crane (a machine) onto the stage to save the hero from death or a similar problem. This was used by the writers/poets of the time to resolve a plot that they could otherwise not resolve – using “cheap” writing to help get the hero out of a situation.

As a plot device, writers tend to have mixed feelings about the Deux Ex Machina. Some consider it “hackneyed” and even “lazy writing”. There is a school of thought that believes that Deux Ex Machinas ruin the tension and drama of a piece if a hero is stuck in a hopeless situation, and then is saved by a convoluted and utterly implausible solution. Some consider it a lack of creativity on the part of the author and a cheap way to end the story. Believe it or not, J.K Rowling has often been criticised for her overuse of Deux Ex Machinas in Harry Potter. Mainly in Harry conveniently learning to use a new spell when he was previously unable to before, but when the situation calls for it, it saved his ass!

Myself, I actually don’t have a problem with Deux Ex Machinas. Whilst I can understand why people don’t like them, I’m of the school of thought that believes that if it helps resolve the plot satisfactorily, then do it. After all, the general rule of thumb in writing is that the protagonist must overcome all obstacles and end up saving the day – so if a Deux Ex Machina helps save the day, why not use it. We can’t all be GRRM and kill off our main characters all the time.

Hell, I myself have been guilty in using a Deux Ex Machina in my books, because I genuinely could not think of any other way to end it. To be fair, Fantasy and Sci-Fi by it’s very nature has tons of Deux Ex Machinas, usually involving a new spell or something like that. So really it would make me a hypocrite to say that I don’t like this plot device.

Having said that, if you are going to use a Deux Ex Machina, it MUST be plausible and still fit in within the context of the story. It can’t just be shoehorned in for the sake of it. The worst kind of Deux Ex Machinas are ones that appear from out of nowhere and just feel rushed. Remember, a story must still work within the concept of Suspension of Disbelief and if you throw something in that is too implausible and outside the context of what you have set up in your world, then that could be considered lazy and stupid.

Here’s what I mean. Let’s say we have a story set during a zombie apocalypse. The main characters are trapped all sides by zombies and about to be eaten – then Deux Ex Machina enters. A good way to do this would to have the military come in suddenly and blast them to pieces. That would still be considered realistic within the context of the story as it stands to reason that the military would be mobilised during this kind of event. However if, say, the Justice League (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc) came down to save the heroes, this would be utterly ridiculous and beyond the Suspension of Disbelief (unless it was a story set in that Universe, but for the sake of my example, let’s say it isn’t).

Ok, maybe a better example would be to give a good and bad version of a Deux Ex Machina. Let’s start with a good one. (Minor Spoilers follow).

In the film It’s a Wonderful Life, the main character is about to kill himself at Christmas due to the financial problems he is in – until an angel shows him what life would have been like if he never existed. Realising that he actually does have something worth living for, he returns to his family, only for all the townspeople to arrive at his house and donate him money to pay off his loans. This actually works because, if you think about it, the people are paying him back for all the good he’s done over the years. Also, this type of Deux Ex Machina helps bring the film to a happy ending – and considering the last hour or so has been really depressing, this is one of those feel good endings. So this works in my opinion.

However, a bad version of the Deux Ex Machina is the film American Psycho. For the most part, this is a pretty good film – and the killings are brutal and uncompromising. It ends in a brutal display where the main character goes on a killing spree and then decides to turn himself in. Only to discover that all the killings were in his head and they never actually happened. This, for me, was a cop out and I felt it made the film sorta redundant in a way as most of it didn’t actually happen. It’s still worth watching as a film and has some interesting insights into the human mind – but this ending spoils it for me and ruins an otherwise great movie. I think it would have been a lot better if he actually DID do all the killings and ended up being arrested. They way it ends just leaves me scratching my head and wondering what is going to happen next.

In conclusion, I say the Deux Ex Machina isn’t so bad really. So long as it fits in with your story, and isn’t just put in for the sake of it, why not use it? After all, there’s an old saying here – “when all else fails, send in a guy with guns blazing!”

Agree, disagree? Please leave your comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Pandragon

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Above image is copyright of it's respective owner.

So I was all ready to just settle down and do some writing over this weekend – then I read this interview. Now, normally I enjoy reading author interviews, especially by big name authors , I love reading their insights into their inspirations behind their writing, their success and even advice into helping authors with their works.

But reading this interview with author Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Milhone series (which is a number of novels done in alphabetical order like  A Is for Alibi, B Is for Burglar, C Is for Corpse, all the way up to V Is for Vengeance)... well, let’s just say THIS was my reaction to it!

Ok, it will probably be best if you read the interview first to understand where I’m going from. Long story short, she seems to have this idea that self-publishing is a crime against publishing and any who do it are “lazy” and “wannabes”. Check out the link below first, then come back to this blog to understand why I’m so utterly amazed at how much of an epic fail this is.

http://louisvilleky.com/2012/08/louisville-author-spotlight-welcomes-sue-grafton/

Read it? Good. Moving on.

Now, if that is the way Mrs Grafton thinks about self-publishing – fair enough. That’s her opinion and she is entitled to it. I actually would not have a problem mentioning this as part of her interview in of itself. But what concerns me is that the question prior to all this was “Do you have any words of wisdom for young writers?” Therefore, she wasn’t actually giving this information as an opinion but rather ADVICE to all authors out there. This troubles me because someone of her statue should know better – considering that even authors like J.K Rowling don’t seem to have a problem with self-publishing.  And, as a supporter of self-published and indie authors (and being one myself), I feel that I just can’t let this go.

Now, this post had already been discussed by author Benjamin X Wretlind, which is how I found out about the interview (I’ll leave a link to his blog below), so I have asked him if I could also do my own blog on this, which he kindly agreed to. Whereas his blog was extremely impassioned  (and I respect him for speaking his mind), I’m going to take a more subjective view on this post and give my thoughts on this.

Before I start, I want to say that this is NOT a personal attack on Mrs Grafton, nor is it a personal attack against any of her fans or any published authors. I just disagree with many of the points she raised and feel I should express an alternate view. Additionally, I am not claiming to speak for all the self-published authors out there (I would not be so arrogant) and I am aware that many authors can speak their own mind, so the points I raised are purely based on my own opinion and life experiences. Please bare that in mind when reading this blog.

What I have done is taken a few segments of the interview that I think are particularly bad and put my thoughts underneath. Let’s get to it.

Don’t self-publish. That’s as good as admitting you’re too lazy to do the hard work

Sorry to pour water on your fire, but what you said here is utterly, completely WRONG! Being self-published means you HAVE to do all the hard work. You have to promote  your own work however you can, you can’t just sit back and wait for the monies to start rolling in – because they won’t. In fact, many authors get turned off by self publishing when they realise what hard work is involved. If anything, you need to be prepared to work twice as hard if you decide to self-publish.

By your argument, I could say that YOU are lazy getting your work published through an agent/publisher as they are the ones that do all the work for you and all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the royalties. But then again, that would be an ignorant statement wouldn’t it?

Perhaps you should try self-publishing before bitching it. You may actually prefer it. Just saying.

The indie success stories aren’t the rule. They’re the exception

Surely ANY success story from any author (self-published or otherwise) is good. Why should you say that indie author successes don’t matter? That would be like saying Tom Daley doesn’t deserve our respect because he only got a bronze medal in the London Olympics!

Yes, I will admit it is always a heart warming tale to hear of an author being accepted by a big name publisher and becoming a bestselling author – but surely it’s equally as amazing learning about an indie author becoming a bestselling novelist without the support of a major publisher. And it has happened! M.R Mathias, author of the The Wardstone Trilogy  is one of the best selling indie authors out there, for example as is author L.M Preston, who’s book Bandits was the number one best selling free ebook, alongside The Hunger Games, which was the number 1 purchased ebook. Surely that must count for something?

ANY success story deserves to be praised as far as I’m concerned, regardless of where it’s from. Discounting a book's success just because of the way it’s published is just stupid.

The self-published books I’ve read are often amateurish. I’ve got one sitting on my desk right now and I’ve received hundreds of them over the years. Sorry about that, but it’s the truth

That's actually a legitiment argument - at least to a certain extent. I have read some self-published works that are pretty bad and often put together very roughly or poorly – but at the same time I have also read a large number of self-published works that are beautifully put together, formatted and printed to a professional standard. So, to me, saying that self-published books are amateurish is as ignorant as saying all blondes are dumb (they aren’t by the way).

Also, what you said is YOUR truth, not THE truth – there is a difference.

Don’t forget that not every author is as lucky as you, we can’t all get a publishing deal – that’s why self-publishing is offered as an alternative. And with the release of the ebook, it’s now easier than ever for an author to get published themselves. But just because an author isn’t publishing through a major publisher doesn’t make them any less readable than a publisher author. Again, you’re making judgments without actually doing any research into it.

The hard work is taking the rejection, learning the lessons, and mastering the craft over a period of time

Surely self-published authors can do this WHILST they are putting their work out? I’ve learned more about my writing craft through self-publishing (from reviews and tips from other readers/authors) than any English class I ever went to. Writing is always a learning curve and authors are always learning as they go along. I find it very hard to believe that any published author gets it right first time – they still learn all throughout their lives and improve on things to be a better writer. Well, most of them anyway.

And again, why should they have to go through rejection from publishers/agents when they can just do all the work themselves? No, for me the hard work is learning to take criticism for their work and learning from the reviews of their books. I think so anyway.

To me, it seems disrespectful…that a ‘wannabe’ assumes it’s all so easy s/he can put out a ‘published novel’ without bothering to read, study, or do the research

Actually, most self-published authors DO research the world of publishing in their selected writing field – and many of them are readers as well. How else are they going to learn how to write and publish a book.

To me, it seems disrespectful...that an ‘author’ assumes that a ‘self-published’ writer doesn’t do their research or reads any books without actually doing some research themselves to make sure her point is justified. Just saying.

Oh, and one more point, many authors prefer to go down the route of self-publishing because they would rather have control of a project themselves. That was one of the reasons why I decided to self-publish. The major advantage of this is that indie authors write the story the way they want to write it and you often find that they go against many conventions to tell a unique story. Some of the most original books I’ve read have been self-published books.

Self-publishing is a short cut and I don’t believe in short cuts when it comes to the arts

No it isn’t. It’s an alternative. I’ve covered this before so don’t need to go over it.

I compare self-publishing to a student managing to conquer Five Easy Pieces on the piano and then wondering if s/he’s ready to be booked into Carnegie Hall

And I compare you, Mrs Grafton, to a troll! Someone who publishes comments on the internet without properly researching or having any logical thought to their comments and then expecting everyone to go along with them.

In all fairness, Mrs Grafton is entitled to her opinion and if that’s the way she feels then fair enough. However, the fact that she was trying to pass this off as actual advice to aspiring writers did actually make me cringe. Once again, I like to reiterate that I am not doing this post to discourage fans of Mrs Grafton, nor am I trying to give her a bad name. I just felt that her comments were (with all due respect) elitist and ignorant – and someone of her standard should know better. Don’t forget, despite what you may believe, indie authors are readers too – and based on the amount of negative comments on the interview post, I worry that you may have bitten the hand that feeds you. If you anger readers, you can see your sales drop pretty quickly.

Then again, I don’t know Mrs Grafton personally and I’m sure she’s a nice person at heart. Maybe she meant no harm in these comments, but she certainly should have phrased them better. Reading her comments, they just come across bitter and laced with jealousy that so many indie authors are topping the Amazon bestsellers lists (or at least doing very well). I would hope that she would look back at this interview and realise what a big mistake she had made, if she hasn’t done so already.

Perhaps the title of her next book should be W is for What the hell was I thinking?

Be sure to also check out Benjamin X Wretlind’s original post on his blog at http://bxwretlind.com/blog/2012/08/18/f-is-for-f-you-sue-grafton/ and please do follow his blog for some interesting insights on the writing world. Please also leave your comments about this post below to let you know her thoughts.

Thanks for reading guys! Until next time!

Pandragon

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One of my favourite pastimes (which I do when I have a spare moment or two) is browsing writer’s forums and talking with other writers. Prior to blogging this was the way I tried to get feedback for my work, using the relevant sections to post sample chapters of my work for feedback. Along with this, I also posted some sample images (once people started asking for them of course) to go along with the written text. Feedback was pretty positive for the most part and the artwork did get a lot of the praise.

However, there was one forum poster (who shall remain nameless), who sent me a rather scathing email in response to this. Basically, the core of the email (which I will not be posting on here) was that he was extremely offended by the way some of the female characters were portrayed – as in physically. In particular, the character of Zarracka – he thought that the fact she wore a dress that barely contained her breasts was offensive to his feminist sensibilities and “sexist”. He then went onto some long tirade about how male writers “can’t write female characters without them being scantily clad whores” or words to that effect.

Well, to answer that question in the old fashioned manner of Spinal Tap...

Ok, in all seriousness, he’s entitled to his opinion and I will always respect that people will have different views to yourself. However, at the same time I do believe that any author should have the right to defend their work, so I politely replied back to him with answers to his questions. But he just would not leave it and came back with loads of other things that he had problems with – and this whole experience inspired me to write this blog. I will point out now that this is NOT a personal attack, but rather my view on some of the points that he raised.

As I’ve stated on previous blog posts, I love and have respect for women and believe that I write stronger female roles than male ones (in my personal opinion). But that being said – well, I am a man and I have the same urges that they all do. I personally don’t think that there is anything wrong with a female character being portrayed as a little bit sexy, any more than it is a male character being portrayed as hunky and muscular. We as humans are obsessed with beauty after all! It’s been a part of our culture since humans walked the earth. However, I do NOT agree with characters being portrayed in a derogatory manner and I would never create a character that was like that.

At the same time, I also believe that it’s important to create a character to type. For example, if a character is a succubus, vampire, or maybe a female assassin then it makes sense that the character would be alluring and attractive as they use seduction to snare their pray. By the same token, if it was a film or TV show set in the Amazon jungle, then you’d expect the tribes living there to wear little clothing given that the jungles have intense heat and they have little knowledge of modern clothing.  However, if you are just having a character that wore a skimpy swimsuit and her only contribution would be to get kidnapped and burst out of her clothing every five minutes – then that IS wrong, unless you’re writing erotic fiction. But that’s another story.

Here’s the thing though, I don’t necessarily think having a sexy character does anything to detract from their personality (assuming they have one). Indeed, many superheroines/action heroes are usually portrayed as pretty, but they also are strong confident women that can take action when the time is needed – that way we can respect them as characters as much as we can sexy symbols.

A good example is the superheroine Power Girl (see above pic), who is sometimes used as a kind of parody of the “sex symbol” ideal. She’s often portrayed as having a rather large *ahem* bust – which is often both a gift and a curse for her. Whilst this is usually distracting enough for her enemies (allowing her to beat them up), she sometimes gets a little bit annoyed about the way men view her. There’s a really comical scene I remember reading where she saves this man from a burning building, but he’s too distracted by her chest to thank her. Power Girl gets so annoyed that she chucks the man back into the burning building! (Don’t worry though, she goes back to save him). That adds a lot of humour to the scene in my opinion and this is why I like Power Girl out of a lot of DC characters – the writers don’t always take her adventures too seriously and like to throw in a little fun now and then.

Next point I wanted to raise was the subject of men not being able to write good female leads. This I personally think is totally ignorant – especially when you think that some of the most iconic female characters were created by men. Wonder Woman – created by a man (although his wife helped with her creation), Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Created by Joss Whedon (who is also a feminist I might add). Even Xena Warrior Princess had a male creator. Sure these characters are worshipped as “sex symbols” in their own right and are quite pretty – but that doesn’t detract from the fact that they aren’t damsels in distress and can look after themselves – which I feel makes them empowering.

In my view, saying that male writers can’t write good female leads is as ignorant as saying that female writers can’t write good male leads (I could use J.K Rowling as an example here with Harry Potter, but to be honest I never really was into Harry Potter. Although I know that any fan of H.P will agree on this point). Any writer is capable of creating equally good roles, regardless of gender.

Now, last but by no means least, I want to address the point he made about my character Zarracka being portrayed as too sexist. Well, for the purpose of this blog, here is a character design for her so that you can decide yourself.

I agree that her image is a little bit towards the alluring side - but let me clarify something. The artist that did this – and other artwork in the book – is female and a feminist. All the character designs were done by her and I gave her complete freedom to design these characters – given her only basic design descriptions and a copy of the book for reference. She drew these characters as she saw them with little direction from me and this is how she saw Zarracka. Indeed, Zarracka is a somewhat sexual character that is extremely vain and cruel, so it makes sense that she would try and look this way (I refer back to my “creating to type” argument). She drew the character based on how she saw them and not once did she ever draw in a derogatory manner. Just for further example, here are some of her other female character designs of characters in my book.

As a side note, I think having a female artist work for me has helped me as a writer – because whilst she is pretty open to the stuff I write about (including darker elements), she has some standards of what she will not draw and she will always tell me if she isn’t happy to draw something. This I think has help build a mutual respect between us and I always think it’s great to get a female perspective on a piece of work.

 

Anyway, that’s my feeling on the subject. Again I’d like to remind you all that this is not an attack against that guy that emailed me – I just disagree with a lot of the points he put across. My overall feeling is that there is no problem with making a character look sexy (whether male or female), as long as it isn’t derogatory and as long as it fits in with their character. And as long as they have a strong personality to make them stand out.

 

Agree or disagree? Or is there a point that I missed completely/should have raised? Please leave a comment below.

 

Thanks for reading!

Pandragon

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All images copyright of their repsective owners.

With the exception of the images of characters within Trapped on Draconica, I claim no ownership of any of these images.

Todays topic is something that has been widely discussed by many writers/readers since - well since before blogging started I guess. But today I'm having my say on the matter.

In my opinion, an ending is probably one of the most important things of any story - be it in book or film or even game form. The ending in the last scene in the story, the moment where the reader/watching looks back over the course of story and thinks either "damn, that was a great story," or "that was the worst piece of s*** I've ever seen/read in my life since Battlefield Earth." An ending should leave you with a lasting impression of the whole story and make you want to recommend it to your friends - or better yet, read/see it again.

The big question is, how do you end your story. I think it's fair to say that a common opinion is that every story should have a happy ending - but then there are some who consider that cliched and prefer to go with a "darker" or "sadder" ending.

Now, I like happy endings - but I also like bad endings. But which is better? There's only one way to find out! 

Actually, that's just a joke. I just wanted to get Harry Hill in my blog. :)

Anyway, onto the subject at hand. To be honest, I don't think it should be too surprising that happy endings are more popular. After all, in the old days of film, these were the ONLY types of endings we got - as the Film Code of Authority prevented evil of any kind from succeeding. Nowadays, story tellers have a lot more freedom in the way they tell their stories - and even many video games include multiple endings (some good, some bad) to make the player decide the outcome based on their choices.

If I'm being honest, I'm actually a fan of BOTH types of ending. In the old days, I used to always try and avoid a "happy" ending and tended to go for something a bit darker. But as I grew more experienced, I started to realise the importance and power of a happy ending. But at the same time I appreciated the power that a "bad" ending could have.

I'll try and explain below.

Whilst it could be argued that happy endings are somewhat of a cliche and overblown, I actually do not have a problem with them. See, for any good story to work (and it doesn't matter if it's a Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, whatever) the protagnoist needs to go through a journey. Along that journey, he or she has to suffer somewhat, ie, lose everything, fail along the way, etc. Therefore, when he/she achieves their goal, the audience feels elated and pleased for them as they have suffered with him. A happy ending for the audience is somewhat of a "pain relief" as they have wanted the character to survive. Sometimes a happy ending can be sad as well, as the hero can look back on what they lost along the way.

Two examples of where I think a happy ending can work (and I should warn you this part contains MINOR SPOILERS) is the film Slumdog Millionaire. In that film, the kid is fighting to become a millionaire and is able to answer the questions quite easily - but it's only because the questions bring up moments of his traumatic past and the horror he's had to go through. Because we are seeing his past torments, we really want the kid to win. I actually really felt myself routing for the protagonist and hoped it would have a happy ending. The other example is Pursuit of Happyness, based on the real life experiences of Chris Gardner. In that film, Chris (played by Will Smith) has to struggle with homelessness, no money, whilst trying to look after his son. It's so heartwrenching to watch as Chris is a nice guy and you really want him to do well. Then when he becomes a millionaire, you feel so happy for him as he geniunely had to struggle to get there. Or, as another example, the struggle that Frodo has to go through to destroy the One Ring in Lord of The Rings and the happiness that we feel once Sauron is defeated.

I think the general feeling of a happy ending is that it makes a reader or viewer feel fulfilled and relieved - whereas a sad ending leaves them disappointed and unfulfilled. But you should NEVER underestimate the power of a bad ending. They can have just as much dramatic impact as a happy ending, filling the reader/viewer with a sense of fear and terror, or mourning for the loss of humanity. Horror movies, for instance, usually like to put a twist at the end of it to fool the viewers into thinking that the protagonist escaped the horror - when in fact there is something else out there to put a downer on their happy moment!

But at the same time, a bad ending doesn't necessarily have to be bad in the sense that the hero didn't win - they can be poignent and have real emotional depth to them - especially if they are based on true events. For example, Titanic didn't (and in my opinion, couldn't) have a happy ending because of the people that died when the Titanic sank. Ok, so the main heroine lived on - but they still didn't excuse the fact that she lost so much, and that people died. By the same token, movies about the Holocaust can't exactly end well due to the subject matter. I even once watched a film based on the Hiroshima incident and knew full well that wasn't going to have a happy ending.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that a happy ending is great and I think I would prefer it over a bad ending. But bad endings (if done well) can have a massive emotional impact and make us really emotional.

For me personally, though, ANY ending, no matter bad or good, has to be right within the context of the story. It has to feel like a natural outcome. If you're just trying to force a happy ending into a story for the hell of it, that's wrong. And if you just want to have a bad ending just because you feel like it, that's wrong also. An ending MUST fit in with the theme of the story, no matter the genre.

For myself, I will most likely go down the route of a happy ending - but I want to make sure that my protagonists suffer along the way, so that the ending feels like a justified outcome. I do occasionally go with a bad ending now and then, I'll make sure that it is justified. My lastest book, All Hail Emperor Gothon, for example, is quite depressing and doesn't have a great outcome, given that it's a prequel to the main villain - but if you read Trapped on Draconica, you know that the story ends ok at the end.

So that's my two cents. Sorry for being a bit neutral in the arguement, but I just can't choose one ending over another. However, I always love to hear your opinions, so please leave a comment below to let me know what type of ending YOU prefer.

Thanks for reading guys. Have a great weekend!

Pandragon

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