A few weeks ago,
Linda Poitevin, author of The Grigori
Legacy, asked for what others thought made a good “kick-ass heroine.” She was
working on a post for
Fade into Fantasy,
which turned out to be quiteentertaining, but in the course of gathering suggestions,
she posed aninteresting question: “Also, most kick-ass heroines have a pretty bleak
background that they’re trying to either ignore or overcome, but recently I’ve
heard this aspect called cliché. Do you agree? Is that kind of dark history
important to you, or do you think it’s been overdone?”
Granted, there are quite a few heroes and heroines suffering
from childhood trauma or guilt over past sins: Harry Dresden, Harry Potter, and
Ned Stark to name a few of my favorites. Yet not all protagonists suffer so
much inward trauma, though my current inability to think of an example says a
great deal about how rare they are.
(While editing this post I remembered that Buffy Summers has no
traumatic past.)
Still, the concept of the hero with a dark past goes back
millennia. Greek myth alone teems with it; though, many a god or demigod didn’t
let it bother them too much. Poseidon did not take it too personally that is
father ate him. Hercules lost little sleep over the fact that Hera sought his
death.
However, before we go further, let’s first look at how we
might define a bleak past. Is it emotional or physical trauma that still
affects the character? If the trauma occurred but the character has already
moved past it or it does not affect them, does that count? Is it dark choices
the character once made that for which they now seek to make amends? Is it as
simple as a character losing a parent or sibling through natural causes? How
much suffering or trauma must a character undergo to qualify for a bleak past?
Unfortunately, the answer to this ranges widely. I’m sure
each of you has your personal opinion. In my mind, normal events, like the
death of a parent or a few heartbreaks, don’t count. After all, these are
natural parts of human existence. But when your aunt and uncle start locking
you in the cupboard beneath the stairs, you reach beyond the ordinary. So for
the moment, let’s define a bleak past as one containing extraordinary—as in
does not occur in normal childhood or life—elements or one so fraught with
heartache that no room remains for happiness.
To answer the question, I went through my collection of
writing books and pulled any volume that dealt with characters. Not a single
one suggested creating a dark past for a hero. Not one advised inventing
secrets, trauma, or anything else for a protagonist’s background, which
suggests that these elements are not necessary for great story or a compelling
character.
Why then do authors include them? Why do some readers enjoy
them?
The closest explanation I found was from
Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint by
Nancy Kress. “As a writer, you want to create complex characters because they
feel more real to readers. Readers know that they themselves are not simple
inside and tend to dismiss or distrust one-dimensional characters. Of course,
this depends on the genre you are writing. In some genres, such as adventure
stories, the simple, all-conquering hero is fine. Nobody wants James Bond to
have an oedipal fixation, and if he does, we don’t want to hear about it,” (page
51). Kress’s words suggest that the tolerance for a dark past varies by genre. Literary
fiction is more tolerant than adventure, for example. I suspect this is linked
to the level of character development a genre encourages. Literary is all about
character, and James Bond doesn’t need layer upon layer reveled to remain
totally awesome.
However, as genre is a convention created by booksellers for
categorization and shelving purposes and so readers can more easily locate
stories they like, let’s step out of that constraint. While genre conventions
may influence choices an author makes in character development and plotting,
they by no means define them. In the end, most authors are telling a story
about characters they care about, genre conventions or no.
As I poured through the book, I noticed that some archetypes
are much more disposed to dark backgrounds than others. Consider these examples
from that book:
The BAD BOY: “Secrets
from his past formed the BAD BOY. A BAD BOY grew up on the streets,
even if he lived in a mansion. Families have provided nothing but pain and hurt
for the BAD BOY. Perhaps they merely ignored him, but more likely his family
abused or abandoned him. He might have been a runaway; living on the streets
was a better alternative to what awaited him at home,” (page 11).
The LOST SOUL: “An
isolating event in his past defined the LOST SOUL. He might have been a
normal child to begin with—maybe slightly solemn and given to introspection,
but willing to smile and play with others. But a defining event isolated him
from society, shaping this boy into the man he would become. Illness or injury
kept him apart, or maybe it was the jeering prejudice of the other kids. Either
way, his response was to remove himself, withdrawing to an inner refuge where
no one could touch him … or hurt him,” (page 27).
The WAIF: “The
WAIF was molded by her sense of isolation. Sweet and unsure, this baby
girl searched every adult face looking for the love she so desperately desired,
but never found the answer in anyone’s gaze. She was an orphan, whether
literally or simply because her family failed to give her the love and
attention she craved. She never found a support system—which was the one thing
she truly needed,” (page 77).
Even the descriptions hold sorrow. Comparatively, such archetypes
as the CHARMER, the CHIEF, the SPUNKY KID, and the NURTURER come with a sense
of goodness of life. The BAD BOY, LOST SOUL, and WAIF all needed painful events
to mold them into their archetype. Such is not necessarily true for the others.
So perhaps, in addition to bleak pasts, readers grow weary
of certain archetypes. Are archetypes, like subgenres, capable of coming in and
out of vogue? Certainly, certain genres and subgenres encourage some archetypes
over others. For example, it’s rather difficult to sell a WAIF heroine in the
romance genre these days, and the era of PROFESSORS and LIBRARIAN in the
science fiction genre has faded. Are we moving away from BAD BOYS and LOST
SOULS? If urban fantasy is any indication, the current trend is toward WARRIORS
and CRUSADERS.
What are your thoughts? Are dark backgrounds becoming cliché?
Can archetypes come in and out of popularity, and if so, which ones are on the
rise? What qualifies as a dark past, and what are normal elements of life? Do
you like heroes with dark pasts? Does genre play a part in any of this?
