Evil Genius
Today at lunch, I said the following thing to Woofy:
“Writing novels is like walking a tightrope over shark-infested waters, while juggling knives and fire.”
Later, I added:
“While naked.”
To which, he then added:
“Yeah, and with people down below pointing up at you and laughing.”
At that point, the metaphor kind of broke down. Because, at the very least, you don’t have to go through the writing process in front of people.
What got me thinking about this was one of the many intriguing challenges one faces while telling a story:
The Counter-argument.
Every good story has one. It’s the enemy of The Argument, which is the thematic powerhouse that fuels the whole story. If you make your Counter-argument too weak, then your Argument doesn’t get to flex its muscles and decimate it with righteous fury. But if you make your Counter-argument too strong, it can start feeling like The Argument. Hence the tightrope. Or is that the juggling of knives and fire? You decide.
I’m caught in this trap right now on Novel #3 and I’m finding myself oddly persuaded by my own Counter-argument. Make no mistake, my Counter-argument is diabolical. It’s just that it’s also sort of true. In fact, it’s kind of an Evil Genius.
I guess I’ll have to soup up my Argument somehow, maybe give it superpowers.
the good does not always triumph. sometimes darkness is needed for the light to show the way.
ok you know what, i am just kidding about that. i don’t even know what that means.
however, if you are very persuaded by your counter-argument, maybe it is supposed to be a “bad-guy” (loosely put because good and bad depends on the protagonist) story? no?
oh, let the counterargument win if it must! or maybe the argument is too one-sided and the protag needs synthesis.
You guys are dangerous. Let the bad guy win? Jheesh.
Could be fun though, couldn’t it?
this is yer Hegelian dialectic, no? IOW, what Claire said: sounds like an opportunity for growth and realisation.
well, my alighment is lawful-good to say the least
but… could be dangerous if the actions were done in the anti-hero type of way.
That was my immediate reaction, too; maybe it’s implicit in the way you framed the question.
It just occurred to me recently that the hero of my novel might actually be a bad guy. I think I would be okay with this.
At the very least you could leave readers pretty troubled, with the sense that maybe it didn’t turn out as happily as the hero seems to think it did.
Consider the ending of Watchmen!
I have yet to consider the ending of Watchmen because I’m reading it now. Or trying to, I should say. I’m finding the dialog difficult to swallow, as I can’t quite tell if it’s tongue in cheek or just really cheesy. But I might get attacked by hordes for saying that, so I won’t elaborate. I’ll just keep reading and hope for the best.
I love to leave readers “troubled,” but it is a delicate balance. A few readers mistook the Counter-argument of Cycler for the Argument and were, justifiably, horrified by the book. But I guess it’s best not to worry about stuff like that. Readers are individuals.
I think you should let your hero be the bad guy. Sounds intriguing.