Writing Fantasy Heroes
Page 16
Katerina had already made her choice, and never wavers. When Ivan falls in love with his wife and seeks to make their marriage real, he knows that he is not marrying a woman, he is marrying a kingdom as personified by the woman. He will have to take responsibility, along with her, for saving the kingdom.
So is his heroic choice—reluctant though he has certainly been—pure in its heroism? He takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom, but he also gets the love of the woman he loves. So when he risks death by facing Baba Yaga in her lair, is he doing it to save the kingdom, or to please his lady?
One might say that it makes no difference—but in creating a literary hero, the difference is huge. But remember, I like to blur all those crisp, clean lines. He has come to accept personal responsibility for the kingdom; he does not act for Katerina’s sake alone. Yet he does act partly for her sake as well. He is not pure.
Which is just as well, because in the end it was not that particular heroic choice that saves him. In fact, he comes to understand that while his role in it was vital, even central, he is not really the hero of his own story. Someone else is. And yet, because he never wanted to be a hero, he is content to find out that he was someone else’s tool for much of his life. The outcome of all is a good one, and he was brave and self-sacrificing when such deeds were called for. But he didn’t have to die.
He still pays a price. His children, when they are born, must choose between the America of today and the Taina of their mother’s past; eventually the bridge between the times and places will close, and those who are trapped on one side without being able to see those on the other will grieve. The loss is real. Yet the children themselves, though they might be lost at some future date, are also Ivan’s and Katerina’s reward. Yes, the kingdom was saved; yes, they are rulers there, and good ones, as best they can manage it. But their love, and the children born of it, are the “happily ever after” that they get despite the fact that this is a Russian story; it is also half American, and we must have our happy endings.
So…is Ivan Smetski a Reluctant Hero? He certainly does not pick himself for a heroic life, but his first heroic choice is that of a Hero of Circumstance, and his second one is “tainted” by the fact that he is motivated at least in part—and probably in largest part—by his love for Katerina.
She also is a hero chosen by fate—she was born royal—but she fully embraced her heroic role and willingly embarked on whatever that role required of her. She is a hero, but not a reluctant one: she is a Hero by Career.
Ultimately, then, Enchantment is more love story than hero story. There are heroes in it, and Ivan’s reluctance is attested on many pages. But in the end, it did not all rest entirely on his shoulders, as it did with Ender Wiggin and will, when I finish his story, with Alvin Maker.
So let me give you perhaps the purest Reluctant Hero to be contained within the pages of a single volume of my writing: Mack Street, the hero of Magic Street.
I began that novel on a kind of dare. A friend of mine, Roland Bernard Brown, wrote to me at the very beginning of our friendship that he wanted me to write a hero who was an American Black male. I was certainly a reluctant writer—I knew well the pitfalls that await a writer who tries to write a story inside a culture he does not belong to. But Roland helped me greatly, and there’s also the fact that humans are humans; I think Magic Street may well be my best novel.
Set in the upper-middle-class black Los Angeles neighborhood of Baldwin Hills, the story of Mack Street shows him as a magical child, conceived under circumstances reminiscent of the Virgin Birth…and Rosemary’s Baby. He grows up innocent as a wandering child; he has a home, but he is also adopted by the entire neighborhood, becoming a child of community.
Gradually, though, he realizes that the magic that is erupting into the world through a place in Baldwin Hills is uniquely his problem to contain and control. People are dying or losing all they love, and only Mack can stop it. Truly his role was thrust upon him, by birth and by his unique ability to solve a problem; but he is also deeply reluctant. He never sought heroism. He was happy and his life was good, and solving the problem will end all hope of happiness for him, though he does not understand, when he makes his choice, quite why.
When it becomes clear that his very life is part of the cause of the dire evil that has befallen the community he loves, there is only one solution: To end that life. And he embraces the choice, extinguishing himself and his hope of happiness. That he doesn’t actually die, that there is a person who remembers having been Mack Street, is beside the point. The life of Mack Street is over, and it was a good life, but to continue it would have meant that others would pay a high price in misery and loss. For Mack, that would not have been happiness. So no matter what he chose, his happiness was over; he chose, then, to give up his freedom, his self, for the sake of all.
For many years my wife and I kept the slogan “Noble Romantic Tragedy” on little signs stuck to walls in various rooms of the house, so that I could keep focused on what I aspired to write. With Enchantment I came very close; with Magic Street I think I achieved it. And now, writing this essay, I suspect that much of what puts Magic Street across that fine but all-important line is the fact that Mack Street is my most perfect Reluctant Hero.
So now that I’ve said all this, what have I accomplished? Is this a formula that you can follow? Oh, I hope not. I hope you will learn the other lesson, that it is what you unconsciously care about and believe in that will make your stories most powerful and truthful. And yet it will not hurt a thing if you are aware of these elements of the Reluctant Hero, as long as you never distort your fiction to achieve them. Tell the story that feels true and important to you, regardless of rules or formulas or mythic patterns or archetypes; they only work when they are unconsciously followed.
My worry is that every time I articulate a rule, I then set out to break it. When I told students at Elon College to avoid suicide stories, and stories in first person present tense, what did I do but go home and write a tale told in first person present tense by a man who has just blown his own head off with a shotgun? I’m afraid I can’t escape my own determination to flout authority, even when the authority I’m flouting is my own.
Yet I also know I have no need to worry, because as I have also said here, it is impossible to write stories without a hero, even when you try. You will subvert your own effort without even knowing that you were doing it until after—if you ever realize it at all. And what’s true of you will be true of me. I have warned you that you will fail if you try to follow these observations like a formula; but I warn myself along with you that we will also fail if we try to violate the formula by creating its opposite. Unless you truly do not care about your work, you cannot make it heroless; and, to be frank, I believe that even those who swear they do not care, that their art is just a game that means nothing to them are fooling themselves. You cannot tell a story without coming to care for it, even if you meant not to; and to the degree you care about it, you will use it to tell some truth, even if you think you don’t believe that anything is true. It’s built into us hairless big-headed primates, a primitive need that expresses itself, for some reason, in hero stories, which we cannot live without and still be human.
Afterword
Jason M Waltz
The mythologies and pantheons of every culture and belief system were filled with super men before there was a Superman. We humans have always been fascinated by heroes. We require them to give us hope—and targets at which to aim. We expect them to be heroic—yet are a little bit surprised every time they are; we demand they triumph—yet are slightly disappointed when they do. We’re grateful—and jealous. This is what makes heroes addictive, for we oblige them to be us and simultaneously more than we can (believe ourselves to) be. En masse and individually.
We thrive on tales of heroics. Across every culture, through every era, we speak of heroes. Ever since that first person stepped into the gap, prepared to risk it all on behalf of something more and save
d the moment, we’ve been talking about them. Looking to them. Praising them. Creating them. Being them. Yet most of all: sharing them.
Doing so uplifts us and binds us as a people, for we innately need each other to share these stories of admirable individuals with motivations and deeds that all of us can aspire to.
Share them we have, through every medium of communication: oral traditions to movies, biographies to campfire tales, hieroglyphics to video games, song and verse and art to finger puppets, sand sculptures and tattoos. Heroes are in our myths, legends, folklores, morals, creeds and fairy tales. They are created and learned of by adults and children…and believed in, trusted, and imitated by all.
The sharing of heroes infuses the marrow of our life.
Yet the telling of them is but the universal third of it; there is also the being and the creating. This being, of course, is what it’s all about, for without the actual deeds of heroes—why, we would have none. Ah, but it’s the final third of which we’ve just read, that bit about the creating of our heroes that churns within the souls of many…of you. Do the words embodying all that you hold heroic burn within, seek release through your fingertips and lips?
Writing Fantasy Heroes gathers the expertise of recognized storytellers; professionals with well-known and adored heroes come to share from their wells of knowledge and experience, and provide the tools and attitudes crucial to sharing those heroes. They cannot create for you though. Only you can bring your heroes. You write their deeds; you deliver their tales to the world. It’s your turn to create our heroes.
So what does make a hero?
He or she is the embodiment of mankind’s desire to save itself. The iconic figure of our hopes to be more in the face of the worst that can be done to us…even by us. Often in spite of our personal desires and despite our inclinations. Aragorn succeeds as hero not because he sought to—but in direct opposition to his own hopes and desires…and fears. Conan is heroic not because he wishes to be—but directly as a result of his ill-favored desires, his pursuit of wealth, women, and wine…and his contempt for the barbarity of ‘civilized’ man. Heroes—reluctant or not, intentional or not—save the regular people and succeed in doing ‘good.’
‘Good’ matters. And we want someone to do good by each of us. Thus, saving us regular people is good and heroic. As is giving us values, such as what it means to trust and be trusted, to be brave; what courage looks like, and that honor and truth can resonate deep within us. Heroism sings to us of what it means to be human and its song is powerful.
Why a book about Fantasy Heroes though? Epic battles, awesome weapons, untamed magics, fearsome warriors—fantasy is more than all of these. It is a reflection of our world and time minus the cloudiness of contemporary realities and preconceptions—and it fires the imagination to expand and embrace concepts lacking or unbelievable in our current life. Escapism? Not a chance. I despise that description: I name it Freedom.
David Gemmell would have been a splendid inclusion to this book. A master of heroic fantasy, his untimely death in 2006 robbed us of the opportunity. After his death, James Barclay commented:
David believed in the great strengths of humans and their capacity to defeat evil and save good. He reflected those strengths in his novels as well as in everything that he said…while [he believed] it was almost impossible to define ‘heroism’ so far as he was concerned, there was one thing he always bore in mind. And it was this: that when for all others, all hope is gone and despair and defeat are inevitable, for a hero, there is always something that can be done.
Keep sharing your heroes—for we’re only as good as they are.
Jason M Waltz
Milwaukee, WI, USA
December, 2012
Contributors
Biographies, photographs, and selected bibliographies, were provided by the contributors:
Alex Bledsoe
Alex Bledsoe grew up in West Tennessee an hour north of Graceland (home of Elvis) and twenty minutes from Nutbush (birthplace of Tina Turner). He now lives in a Wisconsin town famous for trolls. Find more about Alex at www.alexbledsoe.com.
Eddie LaCrosse novels:
The Sword-Edged Blonde (2007)
Burn Me Deadly (2009)
Dark Jenny (2011)
Wake of the Bloody Angel (2012)
Tufa novels:
The Hum and the Shiver (2011)
Wisp of a Thing (2013)
Memphis Vampsloitation novels:
Blood Groove (2008)
The Girls with Games of Blood (2010)
Firefly Witch chapbooks:
The Firefly Witch (2012)
Croaked (2012)
Back Atcha (2012)
Collection:
Time of the Season: Three Holiday Stories (2012)
Jennifer Brozek
Jennifer Brozek is an award winning editor, game designer, and author. Winner of the Australian Shadows Award for best edited publication, Jennifer has edited ten anthologies with more on the way. She has more than fifty published short stories, and is the Creative Director of Apocalypse Ink Productions. Jennifer also is a freelance author for numerous RPG companies. Winner of both the Origins and the ENnie award, her contributions to RPG sourcebooks include Dragonlance, Colonial Gothic, Shadowrun, Serenity, Savage Worlds, and White Wolf SAS. Jennifer is also the author of the long running Battletech webseries, The Nellus Academy Incident. When she is not writing her heart out, she is gallivanting around the Pacific Northwest in its wonderfully mercurial weather. Jennifer is an active member of SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. Read more about her at www.jenniferbrozek.com.
Selected collections:
In a Gilded Light (2010)
Karen Wilson Chronicles (2012)
Selected novels:
The Lady of Seeking in the City of Waiting (2012)
Selected nonfiction:
Industry Talk (2012)
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card was born in Washington and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he teaches occasional classes and workshops and directs plays. He recently began a long-term position as a professor of writing and literature at Southern Virginia University. Orson currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child, Zina Margaret. Find out more about Orson Scott Card at www.hatrack.com.
Ender’s Game series (begins with):
Ender’s Game (1985)
Speaker for the Dead (1986)
The Tales of Alvin Maker (begins with):
Seventh Son (1987)
Red Prophet (1988)
The Women of Genesis (begins with):
Sarah (2000)
Rebekah (2001)
Pathfinder novels:
Pathfinder (2010)
Ruins (2012)
Selected novels:
Enchantment (1999)
Magic Street (2005)
Selected nonfiction:
Characters & Viewpoint (1988)
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (1990)
Glen Cook
Glen Cook was born in New York City, lived in Indiana briefly, grew up in Northern California. He attended the University of Missouri, served in the U.S. Navy, then worked for General Motors in various capacities until he retired to become a fulltime writer. Author of nearly 50 books, he is best known for his Black Company and Garrett Files novels. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Glenn is pictured above with his grandson Joshua.
The Garrett Files (begins with):
Sweet Silver Blues (1987)
Bitter Gold Hearts (1988)
The Black Company (begins with):
The Black Company (1984)
Shadows Linger (1984)
The White Rose (1985)
The Dread Empire (begins with):
A Shadow of All Night Falling (1979)
October’s Baby (1980)
All Darkness Met (1980)
Instrumentalities of the Night novels:
The Tyranny of the Night (2005)
Lord of the Silent Kingdom (2007)
Surrender to the Will of the Night (2010)
Selected novels:
The Swordbearer (1982)
Sung in Blood (1992)
Dleoblack
Dleoblack is a freelance illustrator, working in digital medium, and skilled in fantasy art. Visit his online portfolio at www.dleoblack.deviantart.com and contact him at www.dleoblack.com.
Steven Erikson
Learn about Steven and the world of The Malazan Book of the Fallen he co-writes in with Ian C. Esslemont at www.stevenerikson.com and www.malazanempire.com.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen:
Gardens of the Moon (1999)
Deadhouse Gates (2000)
Memories of Ice (2001)
House of Chains (2002)
Midnight Tides (2004)
The Bonehunters (2006)
Reaper's Gale (2007)
Toll the Hounds (2008)
Dust of Dreams (2009)
The Crippled God (2011)
The Kharkanas Trilogy:
Forge of Darkness (2012)
Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach:
Blood Follows (2002)
The Healthy Dead (2004)
The Lees of Laughter's End (2007)
Crack’d Pot Trail (2009)
The Wurms of Blearmouth (2012)
Ian C. Esslemont