So here and there I've been working on an as yet untitled superhero tale. I must have rewritten the beginning close to half a dozen times, and I think I've finally settled on a starting I actually like. The main problem is that I'm worried that the protagonist may be a bit too offensive. Everett is a racist, sexist, and a homophobic old man... now I know what you're thinking.. BUT I'm none of those things and by the end of the story 'Everett' won't be either. I would attempt to handle it delicately and avoid using any overtly offensive slurs, but I think his attitude by itself would be offensive.
So onto the idea... Basically, Everett stumbles into a battle between two super-powered aliens, one of whom (the hero) is dying. Before she passes away she passes her powers onto the only available vessel, Everett, who she senses isn't a completely lost cause. But in in order gain use of the powers and defeat the big-baddy his heart must be free of hatred. So, he's transformed into the very things he hates the most. I'm sure you can guess what that might be considering what sort of site this is... There's no identity death involved and the changes would all be purely physical. I like the redemption angle, but this has the potential to be so very offensive and I really don't want to ruffle any feathers.
You're thoughts and comments would be appreciated.
Comments
Subterranean Squirrel!
Gopher it!
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Okay, what would he hate most?
If not a TG person then perhaps a bi/lesbian AfroAsian mixed race woman pregnant out of wedlock... deliberately?
What you might do to reduce any misunderstanding without weakening the tale, beyond careful tags and intro warnings... let the reader discover thru flash backs or other means WHY he is as he is.
A born ass, raised that way or became a racist etc after bad experience(s)?
IE I always want to know the WHYS of a story.
John in Wauwatosa
Then use that background to build on/contrast how SHE reacts, for better or worse to her change. IE does SHE redeem herself and become a true heroine? Or does she revert to/repeat the mistakes of his life?
You imply SHE does learn her lesion but how deep does she fall until she reforms?
John in Wauwatosa
Avoid the stereotype
Why not have him start as Asian or African and turn into white? Other races can and are just as racist as whites. It may not be PC to talk about it in the US, but it's true.
Bingeing on Boston Legal
Not sure if it will help but watching Boston legal I've noticed whilst remaining watchable they regularly successfully defend the indefensible and attack those seemingly of much more pure heart.
Rhona McCloud
Sounds good
Seems to me that someone like that, once they realized they needed to become what they despise, would try to tell themselves that (1) it would only be temporary and no one would know, (2) that it would only be "appearance" and that he wouldn't REALLY become or really BE what he despised, and (3) that he would be different from "them" -- since he would be the same person inside.
He'd be afraid that someone he knows would find out and that they'd think he changed because he wanted to, not because he had to. Maybe the obligation to change could be difficult for him to explain, even if he understands it in his heart.
He would be greatly shocked and hurt to see people, especially people he knows, take him only for what he appears on the surface to be.
Honestly, though, I don't see how the story would be offensive. Certainly he and other characters will say and do offensive, awful things, but it could only be offensive if it were presented as the way things would be, and you're obviously not going to do that.
Good luck with the story!
Characters do not equal authors
Good morning D.A.W.
Characters are characters. I doubt that any reader would equate a character with the author. Despite all the evil characters Stephen King has put into his books over the years, I doubt that anyone really thinks that he wants to incinerate Las Vegas with a nuclear bomb (like one of the characters did in the climax of "The Stand").
No character is completely evil or completely good. If you're afraid that your character is going to come off as someone with no hope of redemption, why not show him doing something good, on screen, but out of the public's view. Let the audience know that he isn't a completely lost cause. As Luke said of Vader "There's still good in him, I can feel it."
Go ahead and write him the way you want. I'm sure your beta readers will tell you if you've gone too far to the dark side with him.
Besides ruffling feathers is a good thing. It shakes people out of their complacency.
Maybe???
It might soften the blow for the reader to disclose early on why your main character has developed such horrific bias.
Nothing totally excuses bigotry, but sometimes a spoonful of WHY does help. (Think of talking to people in their eighties and having to mentally excuse them for words that have become politically incorrect.)
I personally think your story has wonderful potential.
My question is ... why do you care so much what a few people on this site think?
Most of the actual readers on this site are quite silent. I'm not so sure that comments and kudos expressed are always indicative of what the majority of people want.
For example . . . my stories get very few positive comments and kudos compared to others. (I won't say who because people are very sensitive.)
YET . . . Erin tells me that my book sales through her continue to be a nice source of revenue. (I don't take any part of what is charged. This is my way of helping Erin keep the doors open.) If people are willing to pay money for my stories, that means much more to me than comments or kudos, although both comments and kudos are nice.
You need to think about your reader, and be sensitive to the reader's needs, but tell a great story with imaginative and believable characters in a breath-taking setting and your story will be loved.
Good luck.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Look at
Morpheus's Ribbon. Al in that story is a beer guzzling, cigar smoking Humanity Firster. However, he added in a reasonable reasons why. Al did it to protect his family from a perceived danger. That added a depth to the character that carried through to the end.
Did your character lose his job to make way for a less qualified person of color because of Affirmative Action? Raised in a very conservative area or even molested as a child?
Remember you need to give some clues that he is redeemable early on. Sexist could mean he doesn't think women belong in the work place, but holds doors for them and other older traditions. If you make him an old man who hates everything you just might have a hard time getting your readers to read far enough to see the redeemable parts.
Just some thoughts
hugs
Grover
Shoe on other foot.
Oh, tales such as these are the most just of deserts. :)
I'll reveal just a few of my own lapses. I fell into a crowd that called Arabs Sand Niggers, Rag Heads and Jihadis. Just deserts #1: Today I am Muslim and because I had been raised to be misogynistic, I am female.
Just deserts #2: I had been raised to fear and hate Wet Backs, but after I traveled to Honduras to help in the rebuilding after Hurricane Mitch, I came home with a deep love and respect for Hispanics. What Spain did to the native population there is without excuse.
Just deserts #3: My parents always called black people Niggers. But after I went to Kenya, I came home with a deep love of Africans and their descendants in America.
So, if you write such a story, I will most definitely read it. :)
POV
You can solve this by shifting the point of view. If you use a third-person narrator with a distinct personality, you could say things like, "Everett saw a couple of men holding hands and coughed out a word so vile that it would burn through the page were it printed here." At the end of the story you can reveal that this whole time the narrator was either the voice of the intelligent alien power or that of Everett post-transformation, or keep it mysterious. Or even go first-person from the point of view of Everett's new alien conscience from the start: "The only available specimen was so unacceptable that I nearly self-terminated, but I had a duty to complete the mission and see that Qzx was removed from the galaxy. So I set about emoforming the host."
The road to Redemption is
The road to Redemption is Rockey. Indeed life is full of offensive people who with a little push get their come uppens and learn from the experiences. Humor is a great way to buffer the astringency of a characters behavior.
Sounds like a story I will love to read.
Huggles
Michele
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
When I have offensive characters....
...they get their mouths washed out with Palmolive or Life Buoy....although it can eventually lead to .....soap....poisoning....
Love, Andrea Lena
The character
Thanks all for the input... You've all helped me put my fears (mostly) to rest. It was my intent to give my character some life. I do plan fleshing him out and giving his personality some color and not just making him some monochrome bigot. His dislike of homosexuals won't be explained right away (you just know that he dislikes them), but his racism is explained pretty early on (the mugger who killed his wife was african-american). His misogyny (and perhaps his homophobia a little bit too) is more the result of the era he grew up in, but isn't so much direct malice toward women as the antiquated 'that girl needs to get married and pop out a few babies' and 'women don't belong in the work place' sort of attitude.
As far as his transformation goes the plan is to make him a bisexual African-American woman. His attitude won't change right away, but through his experiences and the way he get treated will lead to the realization that he's had it wrong all along. There will be a few bumps along the way, but he will definitely become a true hero story by the end of the story.
Have a delightfully devious day,