World-renowned author Joe Stockley fumed silently. The queue was moving at a snail’s pace and the elderly woman in front of him was the snail in question, except for being dry and withered instead of slimy. He laughed grimly to himself. Just imagine, he thought. Me, one of the most famous men in the world and winner of three Nobel prizes, waiting in a bank queue like some kind of workaday idiot!
If it hadn’t been for the watchful eyes of Jixitia, his sultry, mysterious female companion, he might have considered pushing his way to the front. As it was, he was keen that the pneumatic yet exotic ninja should report back to her shadowy employers that he was a compassionate man of the people. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to impress her personally, he reflected with a sly glance at the rear of her catsuit.
Again, very well observed. I can't quite put my finger on it, so I'd love to know what narrator in what novel inspired this post. Sounds like fun times.
ReplyDelete's Dan Brown, isn't it? And about as far as I normally get reading them these days.
ReplyDeleteAnd he's going to diiiiiie an horrible deaaaath in just a few more graaaaaafs.
ReplyDeleteJixitia. Dude how do you come up with this stuff. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteA bit like in Vanilla Sky. Let's make everyone hate the protagonist, how could the film possibly fail?
ReplyDeleteYet wasn't this what Austen tried to do with Emma? .. exception to the rule, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong that I kinda of love Joe Stockley?
ReplyDelete... a sly glance at the rear of her catsuit.
ReplyDeleteInspired. And inspirational as well...
I don't know about this entry. I would totally read this and enjoy sentence of this character. He's a cad but he enjoys himself. It's only when the supporting characters look up to the asshole main character and the asshole main character never gets his comeuppance or realizes he's an asshole, that's when the story gets unbearable.
ReplyDeleteHey, it worked for House... ;)
ReplyDeleteI was about to say. I've read some awfully good novels about unrelievedly vile characters.
ReplyDeleteDone entertainingly: Flashman
ReplyDeleteDone badly: later Heinlein (especially "Number of the beast")
You know, I actually think I like this if it's done carefully. Too many writers go over-the-top trying to make their reader like the protagonist, even when that compromises the personality of the character. Some of the most interesting and fascinating stories I've ever read have been by authors who narrated their story through the eyes of the 'bad guys', or characters that are in fact really rather unlikeable.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, I think that Virgil's Aeneas is intriguing because there are so many times at which the reader just can't like him - he's entirely unsympathetic during the Dido episode. Virgil doesn't even try to make the audience like him at that point; he actually points them right towards the opposite. He's violent and bloodthirsty during the battle with the Italians, after the death of Pallas. He's cold and really quite a flat character in many respects - not nearly as well-rounded or likeable as, say, Homer's portrayal of Odysseus. If the great classics can do it, surely it can be a good thing as well as a potential trap.
To be sure, Aeneas is not nearly as extreme as this, but I think I quite enjoy a really vile protagonist so long as they don't fall into the 'Anti-Sue' trap of no redeeming features and/or punishment for their nastiness at all. I agree with puggapugga on this one.