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The Hero Takes a Back Seat

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Loni Townsend

I’ve noticed something odd with my current work-in-progress. Isto, book 2 of the Ninier series, is sitting at 123K at the moment. Only 16K of that belongs to my hero. It’s the lowest word count of all my POV characters (so far).

I’ve sat and pondered why this might be the case. Had I fallen out of love with my hero? No, he still haunts the corners of my mind, talking to me with that lopsided smile on his lips. Is he not an integral part of my story? Nope, he’s the reason behind the central problem. Then why are all the words coming from people other than him?

Then I realized why. In this story, my hero isn’t the one with the primary struggle. Instead, he’s the constant–a static character. Those around him are forced into discovery, while in the previous story, he was the one propelled into the unknown. That change, that dynamic nature, gives me more to work with when it comes to writing.

Oh, he’s still the protagonist, and he’s still the one who has to figure out how to get out of the mess he’s made. I’m pretty sure his word count will jump up, once I get past the swampy middle-ground I’m in. Plus one of my other characters has the unfair advantage of getting 60K worth of words dedicated to his POV last November for NaNoWriMO (35K of which extends past the point in time I’m currently writing at).

The concept of Static vs Dynamic characters isn’t a new one to me. I just hadn’t really thought of it in the context of the Ninier series. Cera in the Cera Chronicles is a static character. She needs to be in order for her series to work. And there are some awesome static characters out there (Sherlock Holmes as an example). I think I just enjoy writing dynamic characters more.

What about you? What type of characters do you like writing best?

A side note: I joined 8tracks.com and made a playlist for Isto. Yeah, I know, I’ve posted it before via YouTube, but videos tend to inject a lot of dead air time when really, I just want to listen. If you’re interested, here it is!
[8tracks width=”200″ height=”322″ playops=”” url=”http://8tracks.com/mixes/2177344″]

2 thoughts on “The Hero Takes a Back Seat”

  1. Aldrea Alien says:
    August 7, 2013 at 7:57 PM

    I know of a few fantasy series which do that.
    Wheel of Time would be the main one, but there’s a huge amount of character pov’s and plots and the characters are all on their separate journeys …

    Interesting mix you’ve got there (especially intrigued about the last two). Surprised we’ve several songs in common for our stories.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      August 8, 2013 at 6:14 AM

      We have similar tastes in books. Actually, it doesn’t surprise me that we have similar tastes in music too. This book is a little lighter than the next one, so I’m not sure how many of those songs would match up. I’ll have to listen to your mixes to find out!

      Reply

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Welcome to my blog. I post here on Wednesdays most of the time, but you can find me on social media any day of the week. My topics include my stories and writing, life at the Town's End, creating and tinkering with graphics, things I learn and think might be helpful to others, and the occasional amateur photo. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you around.

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