 Action/Adventure: July 13, 2016 Issue [#7743] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: The Lone Protagonist Edited by: Storm Machine  
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“You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.”
― Joss Whedon
“The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn't.”
― Iain M. Banks |
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Many of the stories we read have an entire cast of characters. Think Lord of the Rings - an entire company to help Frodo on his way. Even when Frodo thinks he needs to go off on his own because of the danger, Sam goes with him.
However, some stories require a long period of time where the protagonist is alone. Remember Castaway? Tom Hanks was alone on that island for a very long time - except when he befriended the volleyball. While that was odd, it was a strategy to make him seem less on his own.
I've been reading an anthology, and the main character from one story has lost the other two members of her crew when the story opens. Because she's in the future, her tech allowed her to create a ghost of one of her team members, and that ghost speaks to her through her space suit. He was neither complete nor trusted due to lack of memory and insufficient time to build him. The unreliable ghost gave her someone to interact with and made us question all of her decisions, too, while she ran for her life.
Letters are another way to explain things that are going on, and some stories are told nearly entirely this way. A lone protagonist might recount his adventures to someone else, and the readers might never see a response. I've read a few stories that did this, and the Martian is the newest big example of this. The Martian uses a video log, and we only see when he chooses to update it. So a few days (sols) might pass between entries, and that's fine. It allows us to pass through the boring stuff quickly.
Memories often intrude when we're alone, and that can be another way to break things up. The memories come at points where we are struggling with that lone protaginst, and they allow us something to hold on to while the protagonist is stuck in a specific spot.
Nonhuman characters make a great counterpoint, whether they're intelligent or not. It might be a pet dragon (How to Train Your Dragon) or a skittish bird who won't come to your hand.
What do all of these have in common? Bringing actions to your protagonist while they're alone. A specific job or set of things that must be done can carry the protagonist through a period alone, but when that period extends past that list - it might be time to employ some extra ideas to keep the narrative moving.
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Monty 
Thank you for an interesting News Letter.
Thank you.
willwilcox
A very poignant article. Good job! 
Appreciated.
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