Southdog
Caustic, handle with caution
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2021
- Messages
- 201
- Points
- 83
I recently got back into writing, and I've elected to publish an ongoing story called Mage of Red Clay. It's about a- well, a Redneck Magician from the state of Georgia. The story is mostly going to be centered on his employment-patronage by his draconic boss, his complicated relationship with his elven ex, and his problems with his dangerous line of work. I'm gunning for the protagonist to be a certain brand of
To be blunt, Bobby, the protagonist, is not a nice person. He's been jaded by his life in the magical world, and at this point in time can only really go along with what he's doing in life- dangerous, high risk work for a shadowy employer- until he either can't do it anymore, or it kills him. He has a very dim and narrow view of magicians and magical creatures, with a special hatred towards non-physical entities, like ghosts, fairies and demons. He usually terminates them with extreme prejudice if they don't comply.
And they usually don't, since even in the magical world, social strata exists, and pact-making humans like him are generally not given even a half bit of respect by anyone outside their patrons.
Bobby is a powerful character in the sense that when presented with certain problems (in the prologue, his encounter with the entity in the graveyard is resolved with a one word invocation, albeit at the cost of injuring his hand with purifying fire), he can utterly steamroll them. In the sense that if there were to be a fight, he'd come out on top, and if there were to be a duel of magicians, usually, he'd be on top. However, I'm not trying to make him overpowered, he has issues he needs to work through. And his preferred method of steamrolling whatever is in front of him is biting him in his ass.
Bobby is also not necessarily evil, but absolutely not a good person. This is what I'm wanting to convey in writing, with how Bobby has very few qualms with using unsavory methods and oftentimes petty motivation. In the prologue, for instance, he uses light magic to eradicate the unknown entity, and he's a frequent drinker. He has a lot of vices he indulges in, and underneath his morose exterior he's an angry, bitter person. He treats the demons he summons extremely poorly, and has little regard for mundane life- that is, our normal Earth- or for anything nonphysical in nature (like fairies, ghosts, and demons).
So, at what point does one draw the line between evil, and just being a petty asshole with issues? Does Bobby sound like a well-rounded character with room to grow? In what ways do readers find interesting nasty, scummy protagonists like this? I do eventually plan on contrasting him with another non-romantic lead important to the story, but that's in the notes for future chapters, and I'm interested in what Scribblehub thinks and if there's any advice to present.
To be blunt, Bobby, the protagonist, is not a nice person. He's been jaded by his life in the magical world, and at this point in time can only really go along with what he's doing in life- dangerous, high risk work for a shadowy employer- until he either can't do it anymore, or it kills him. He has a very dim and narrow view of magicians and magical creatures, with a special hatred towards non-physical entities, like ghosts, fairies and demons. He usually terminates them with extreme prejudice if they don't comply.
And they usually don't, since even in the magical world, social strata exists, and pact-making humans like him are generally not given even a half bit of respect by anyone outside their patrons.
Bobby is a powerful character in the sense that when presented with certain problems (in the prologue, his encounter with the entity in the graveyard is resolved with a one word invocation, albeit at the cost of injuring his hand with purifying fire), he can utterly steamroll them. In the sense that if there were to be a fight, he'd come out on top, and if there were to be a duel of magicians, usually, he'd be on top. However, I'm not trying to make him overpowered, he has issues he needs to work through. And his preferred method of steamrolling whatever is in front of him is biting him in his ass.
Bobby is also not necessarily evil, but absolutely not a good person. This is what I'm wanting to convey in writing, with how Bobby has very few qualms with using unsavory methods and oftentimes petty motivation. In the prologue, for instance, he uses light magic to eradicate the unknown entity, and he's a frequent drinker. He has a lot of vices he indulges in, and underneath his morose exterior he's an angry, bitter person. He treats the demons he summons extremely poorly, and has little regard for mundane life- that is, our normal Earth- or for anything nonphysical in nature (like fairies, ghosts, and demons).
So, at what point does one draw the line between evil, and just being a petty asshole with issues? Does Bobby sound like a well-rounded character with room to grow? In what ways do readers find interesting nasty, scummy protagonists like this? I do eventually plan on contrasting him with another non-romantic lead important to the story, but that's in the notes for future chapters, and I'm interested in what Scribblehub thinks and if there's any advice to present.