McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

balance of sympathies

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Shecky:

--- Quote from: neurovore on June 08, 2010, 02:42:43 AM ---I think Watchmen is actually doing something more complicated than that polarity, by a long shot.

I see four moral poles in Watchmen; the Comedian at "nothing really matters so do whatever the hell you like" moral nihilism, Dr. Manhattan at "nothing can be changed so just hang around brooding" existential nihilism, Rorschach at a spurious moral absolutism which pretty much always boils down in practice to "let's go hurt people we think are scum until by chance alone we find a clue", and Ozymandias at pragmatism, which to my mind the text demonstrates as capable of outmatching each of those other poles.

--- End quote ---

Certainly. Although even expanding to four is an oversimplification; the underlying psychological influences motivating and governing each character are multifaceted, and the "bad" isn't necessarily as bad as it's made out to be, while the "good" is equally not entirely as it would be portrayed (e.g., Rorschach DID do a lot of good despite being reprehensible in many ways, Dr. Manhattan DID help a lot despite being aloof and disconnected and uncaring in most ways, Veidt was in many important aspects purely out for his own advancement to the detriment of others, etc.). The key is that EACH of them had something for everyone to like and something for everyone to dislike... just like people.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: KevinEvans on June 08, 2010, 07:19:51 AM ---Every one is the hero in their own story.

--- End quote ---

I very much don't believe this, because of the small number of truly malevolent real people I have met, the majority saw themselves as villains and took pride in it.

meh:

--- Quote from: neurovore on June 04, 2010, 07:42:06 PM ---Ideally, I would want characters on either side of the central conflict, as close to equally sympathetic as possible.  I am not particularly interested in the story having a hero or a villain, let alone a hero defeating a villain; it's a complex issue where I want to explore questions rather than throw out simple answers.

--- End quote ---

*goes to hunt down his copy of Schismatrix*

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: meh on June 09, 2010, 05:12:00 PM ---*goes to hunt down his copy of Schismatrix*

--- End quote ---

Now that setting is a good example, particularly "Twenty Evocations".

Der Sturmbrecher:
I'm new to the writing craft, but am also an avid reader. Hopefully you get something out of this.

The movie The Prestige. Excellent film. If you haven't seen it, see it. If you have, skip to next paragraph. (click to show/hide)Basically, it's about two contesting magicians, played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. An accident at the beginning causes Jackman's character to lose his wife in a trick performance. Bale's character had proposed the possibility of tying a different sort of knot for her to escape from in the trick. At the funeral, Jackman asked "Which knot did you tie?" Bale responds. "I don't know." That response sends the two apart and begins a contest of sorts, first they sabotage each others' acts (Jackman throwing the first punch out of grief), and then it becomes a goal to out-think the other magician for each of them. The ending is quite interesting...
Despite his flaws, I continuous found myself favoring Jackman's character. Likely cause? Reader's sympathy was well established at the beginning with the loss of his wife. Maybe I also just preferred his performance.

The beginning of the story favors Jackman's point of view as well. You never doubt that the story is about both, but you see a little more from Jackman's eyes. This stacks up with previous posters' advice that I saw.

Alternatively, you could go the direction The Dark Knight did. The Joker was a completely despicable character in terms of moral make-up, but it also made him fascinating, and easily my favorite character in the movie. One way to go might be to make one of your characters someone who the readers are drawn to in spite of rather than because of themselves, and have the other be palatable and entertaining.  Unlikely given your plot description, but possible.
Inevitably,  readers will pick sides. One way you can keep the balance a little is to keep them guessing, like Rowling did with Snape. I love Snape as a character, and am glad he turned out good. But I also would have loved it had he been the Machiavellan villain I’d heard one theory call him, topping even Voldy and being the real antagonist. If you change the circumstances surrounding your characters, it’ll keep them wondering who’s going to do what.

Hope you get something good out of this, and good chance to you!

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