[Perry] Lessons Learned from Flinx and Pip Part 2

I half considered trying to pull off some sort of April Fool’s thingummy (which is the official term), but couldn’t think of anything clever.

So?

In lieu of that, we forge ahead to another lesson learned.

Do not leave your main character alone.

I don’t remember where I heard this piece of advice, but somewhere along the way, I’ve read or been told to leave my protagonist on his own for as little as possible.

The reason why? Audience boredom.

Unless the focus of your story is of a solitary nature, a character alone is boring.

Boring.

Let’s pull out some examples.

Throughout the fourteen books that comprise this series, Flinx gets stranded and virtually alone in some alien, inhospitable environment at LEAST six times.

In many of these occasions? Him being stranded is the main thrust of the book.

I say ‘virtually’ alone, because his pet miniature dragon (aka, flying snake Pip), is with him. But because Pip can’t actually speak? Their interaction is limited.

We are then treated to an interminable amount of time where Flinx wanders the wilderness, constantly runs into dangerous new creatures and terrain, and eventually, manages to make it back to his ship and civilization or rescue.

This happens again, and again, and a-fucking-gain.

It’s boring.

It’s boring because there’s no dialogue. It’s boring because there’s no conflict.

Let’s address these problems separately.

Lack of Dialogue

Think of watching a group of people, even just two or three people on a hike through a forest. You have dialogue. You have banter. And even if they don’t say anything? You have body language to read.

Imagine this is a movie. People hiking through the woods. It might be a bit of a tame movie, but you can get a movie out of that, right? If danger threatens, stakes will rise, you’ll see people working together to overcome obstacles.

It’s fun. It’s entertaining.

Now imagine a movie where it’s not people. It’s just a person.

One person, hiking through the woods. Maybe he runs into a bear and has to hide in a tree for a while. Maybe he has to find shelter.

That can be kind of entertaining, right? I mean, there was that movie with Tom Hanks a while ago that wasn’t too bad and he was stranded on a deserted island, right?

Now imagine this is a movie franchise.

And the main character gets stranded again. And again. And again. All alone each time, using his wits to overcome dangers and find his way to safety and civilization.

Over and fucking over again.

This isn’t a plot device. This is a fucking trend. At a certain point, it becomes a statistic.

At some point? Generally, after the first or second time this happens, it becomes fucking BORING.

But it happens again, and again, and again.

Hells, he literally gives Flinx AMNESIA from a fall in one of these later incidents to spice things up. So not only do we have to once again watch him struggle to survive alone in an inhospitable place, we’re treated to the most cringe-worthy amnesia related dialogue ever.

Flinx looks at his pet flying snake, who he can’t remember. He’s all, “You? You seem to know me. Or maybe you’re from around here and you like me for some reason. Who can tell? I have to find a name for you, something to call you. I think I’ll call you Pip. Why did I think of that name, I wonder? It just seems to fit you somehow. Ah well, no point worrying about it. I’ll just call you Pip until my memories return.”

Please, someone, stab my eyes out?

Lack of Conflict

Here’s a more insidious problem.

Let’s say you start reading a book. Even if you don’t know it’s a series.

The main character is introduced to a world ending, apocalyptic threat…then in the middle of the book, gets stranded alone in a dangerous place.

This isn’t a collaborative effort. There is ONE main character, and this character is it.

What are the chances that they won’t survive this inhospitable environment?

Zero.

Absolutely none.

If there are other characters around? If your main characters comprise of a party, you gain conflict and…and…a sense of something at risk because there isn’t ONE irreplaceable character that HAS to survive, do you know what I mean?

Hell, even the Lord of the Rings (I’m referring to the movies as I can’t quite remember how the books handled this scene) had the balls to make you think Gandalf was dead for a while, at least, till he came back, all levelled up with new gear that he got from solo-killing the boss.

When you strand your character all alone in a dangerous place? But you also make it clear that the apocalyptic threat is NOT going away without this character’s personal intervention? There’s no risk. There’s no more danger.

Which…seems silly then, to place the character in a situation where the ONLY interesting thing that’s happening, is the “dangerous” environment that he’s interacting with.

It’s the difference between watching someone climbing over a chain link fence and watching someone scale a mountain.

If you NEED to strand him in these dangerous places? If you at least put SOME character with him, you have conflict and something at stake as THOSE characters could be injured. Those characters could die.

But to place the one, irreplaceable, needs to save the galaxy, character alone in a dangerous place?

It’s just not dangerous.

It’s not fucking INTERESTING, because we all know the shape of these stories. We all know he’s going to make it through the incident.

Summary

Unless the story is designed as a survival story with a solo character (like something like Cast Away), I don’t think it wise to leave your character alone for significant periods of time.

Save for the few, few exceptions, your audience KNOWS that the character will survive to tackle the larger threat present. This deflates tension and kills any sort of suspense that you’re trying to build.

Having other secondary characters around the main character can often keep your audience engaged as we all know that secondary characters are NOT immune. That they COULD die.

And that? That balance between hope/fear?

That’s where you want your audience to be when a tense situation comes up.  Better that than “Oh, come off it. We all know he’s going to live.”