December 2012 – Bran Lindy Ayres

The Age of the Anti-Hero has been long. Some credit George Lucas and Han Solo for popularizing the trend that had started first in literature. Some literary anti-heroes are Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein; Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby; Gollum from J. R. R. Tolkein‘s Lord of the Rings series; Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger; Dexter Morgan from Jeff Lindsay’s Darkly Dreaming Dexter (also popularized as a tv series).

Basically an anti-hero is a hero who sees morals as more of a guideline than an absolute. They are not averse to breaking laws and bending rules to reach their stated goal.

So what lead to the downfall of the traditional hero?

People wanted someone they felt they could relate more closely too, not some moral ideal. They wanted a hero that was gritty and as morally corrupt, or at least questionable, as they feel themselves to be. This trend has spawned a great number of vigilante types in fiction and movies. While they (usually) make for interesting characters, the type has grown stale and overused due to ceaseless repetition of the same tropes.

As any of you who follow this blog know, I’m a huge fan of villains. Anti-heroes amuse me because they are pseudo-villains. Now this is not to say that there aren’t some that I don’t genuinely like. While they are a grittier, more true to life hero than say, Superman, they still have their issues.

So it was with much surprise and a little chagrin that I realized I had found a true hero that I’m completely in love with. Let me explain what I mean by true hero and then I will discuss my adoration of this character.

A hero is morally upright, places great importance on doing what is right and just, does everything in their power to help those who are weaker or in maligned condition, they have integrity, honor, are trustworthy and true to their word. Their sense of right and wrong guides all they do.

I’m getting bored just explaining the term.

But I understand that this is something all of us wish we were and few of us will ever fully accomplish. So now on to how I fell in love with a hero.

I tend to watch cartoons with my children. My son had found a newer cartoon on Netflix that I didn’t really pay attention to until he was several episodes in. I sat through one episode and was hooked. At first I was more interested in the villains, but then in one episode the hero did something I found shocking. He made a mistake, an error in judgement that resulted in people getting hurt. And it hurt him. He was mortified and humble in is apology. Something sparked in my mind and I began to watch him more closely. By the end of the second season I am not ashamed to say that I was an emotional wreck. I won’t spoil the ending for you but it was not a typical one for a children’s cartoon.

You are probably wondering who I’m talking about. So please allow me to introduce him:

Optimus Prime in the new Hub series Transformers Prime

Meet Optimus Prime. At least his newest iteration. I grew up watching Beast Wars and later Transformers Animated (which I gladly will forget, even when it first was out I got irritated with it) then along came the Bay movies. But it wasn’t until this most recent aligned continuity (which includes 2 novels, 2 video games, comics and the cartoon) that I feel Optimus really came into his own. His backstory is much richer and more involved than ever before with two novels explaining where he came from and how he met Megatron. Previously, we were shown little of how Optimus became leader of the Autobots and came to wage war on the Decepticons. In the Bay movies he’s not given much characterization other than being a warrior and the leader of the Autobots. Transformers Prime (TFP) goes way beyond this and even allows us to see him not just as a Prime but as a person. He has fears, hopes, makes mistakes, gets embarrassed and enraged, but through it all he is still Optimus Prime.

His first self imposed priority is to keep his team safe. Next he does his best to protect humanity. Life, all life, is precious to him and he even hesitates to deliver the final blow to his enemies. He states several times that it is his desire not to kill the Decepticons but to change their minds. Being an Autobot or a Decepticon is a choice and one that carries with it grave consequences.

Optimus might be humble and willing to listen to his team, but that doesn’t mean he is a push over either. He is not above admitting his mistakes either. In the final episodes of season one he faces one of his greatest challenges in the form of a god reborn. Even when facing a figure out of Cybertron’s distant past he displays great courage, honor and humility in addressing Unicron. If you do not wish to have the show spoiled for you, do not click play.

I’m sure you are wondering just which episode turned my head, so to speak. Honestly, it was late in season two and the Autobots had just suffered a resounding defeat. Optimus returned to base wounded and went right back to work trying to decode the Iacon database in the hopes of finding some way to defeat the Decepticons. It was at this moment I realized just how selfless and self sacrificing he is. Going back and re-watching the entire series I gained a much greater understanding of him and of his determination. I gained an all new respect for him as a character once I read the novels. He’s suffered through some horrific things and had immense responsibility thrust on him. Yet, he hasn’t given up or wavered in his beliefs.

Most heroes seem two dimensional at best. They seem to be self-righteous do gooders, incapable of true humility even if they are self sacrificing. Altruism while an admirable quality is often seen as a weakness by most. Being willing to sacrifice oneself is one thing, knowing the appropriate time is another. In the novel Transformers: Exodus by Alex Irvine, Optimus makes a very valid point about honor and sacrifice, one that I have never seen put so plainly or even addressed. He asked a fellow Autobot what the worth of honor was if that honor led to a senseless death that could have been avoided? It is this attitude that endears him to me. He sees the bigger picture, he understands that having honor and pride is not enough, it must be tempered with humility and meekness. Realizing that one cannot always win just because they think they are in the right. Sometimes losing is just as effective, you allow your enemy to misjudge, miscalculate and overreach.

This does not mean that Optimus has not made errors in judgement or simple mistakes. He is not infallible and he’s not make out to be. But he accepts these failures, learns from them and becomes more determined. He’s not afraid to apologize and admit he is wrong, to his own team or to their human allies.

There are many other reasons why I find him so appealing, but I feel that it is best to discover them on your own. I’m still getting used to the fact that I adore the big bot. It’s a testament to the skill of the new writers that they’ve made a hero even I can love.

[TV] Transformers Prime: Season 2 (geeky-guide.com)
Nerd Bite: The Anti-Hero (scotzig.com)

Or why character backstory is vital to your story.

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
Maya Angelou

In preparation for NaNoWriMo, I read numerous blogs about plot and structure and how to do both. What I’ve not seen many writers mention is the need for well thought out characters. Plot is after all character driven. Without meaningful characters there will be no plot.

So how do you go about creating a character that is compelling?

My advice; start at the beginning. No wait, let me explain. Start with where you see your character now. Their beginning in your story. Now go back. What lead them up to this point? What decisions did they make? What people influenced them? What outside actions took their toll? How does their upbringing influence their current thinking and actions?

That’s a lot to think about.

Maybe you aren’t sure how your character’s history has influenced them, or maybe you aren’t convinced it matters. Let’s explore a couple of examples to see how this could work. (A note before we continue: writing a character’s backstory is for your information, when writing the actual story you want to keep as much of it as possible hidden from the reader, only revealing what is absolutely necessary. We’ll discuss why later in the post.)

Once Upon a Time . . .

There was a young gladiator. He risked his life for the amusement of others on a regular basis. He trained, he grew and became mighty, fearless and feared. His ambitions did not stop at the arena walls. He wanted to foment change, to start a revolution.

There was a young scholar. He read, cataloged and reported on the goings on of the empire. He learned and within him grew a sense of what is just, what is right and respect for the sanctity of life. He dreamed of a world without corruption, without oppression of the weak and less fortunate.

And one day they met.

“From the greatest love comes the most vicious hate.”

This meeting took place quietly, no grand fanfare, no one really took much notice till later when events started to happen and the revolution was well under way. They fought for the same ideals yet their methods were as different as night and day. Understandably the gladiator turned to force, using his great charisma to sway the masses to his side, and using his sword when words failed. The scholar knowing little to nothing of fighting opened the debate with their ruling council, using his intellect and many years of study to try and persuade them. The gladiator was impatient and took matters into his own hands much to the horror of the scholar. Their friendship shattered as the council bestowed the scholar with the most important title their civilization had to offer. The gladiator, frustrated and feeling impotent now turned his attention from overthrowing the caste system to destroying his onetime friend.

In their current iteration we rarely hear anything about how these two met or why. We only know that they were once friends and are now bitter enemies. Yet their back story is critical to where they are now.

Some of you may recognize the characters I’m speaking of here. I have not named them because I want the focus to be on their back story, not on who they are.

In my novel Sorrow’s Fall little is said of my protagonist’s upbringing outside of a few comments on his training and a random memory or two that is relevant to what is currently happening. He does not dwell on it, yet is shapes his actions, defines him. Without his past he would be a radically different person.

There are many times when a character seems to just appear out of a fog with no back history or explanation of why or how they came to where they are. Sometimes the reader is willing to put aside this in favor of learning about the character. Wolverine comes to mind. He himself did not know his past and it haunted him. His lack of a past drove him forward, dictated his actions and even his friendships and alliances. He was unwilling to trust anyone.

Then there are characters who we are introduced to just as they reach a defining moment in their lives. Peter Parker/Spider Man for example.

In each of these examples, the writer knows exactly where these characters are coming from. Or should. Knowing where your character has been makes determining where they are going much easier. Why is that so?

We are the sum of our experiences. Your character should be too. This might take some in depth research and hard soul searching. But, that is what writing is about, finding those hidden truths about ourselves that others can relate to, those hidden gems are what make outstanding characters.

Happily Ever After . . .

So even though pretty much 98% of your character’s back story won’t end up in your actual prose, it is still a huge part of the story. Without it the characters have nowhere to go and no drive to get there.

Lets look back at my first example of the gladiator and the scholar. Without their past they would have no reason to fight each other now. There would be no sense of betrayal on either side. No one but the two of them truly know the depth of their emotion over what happened, except their writer. You should know these types of details about your character as well. Knowing when to use them in your story is a different beast altogether.