Jeremy is an emerging speculative fiction writer and professional illustrator from Sydney, Australia, now living in Dunedin, New Zealand. His first novel manuscript GRIMSHAW: The Binding Passage is part One of a flintlock fantasy trilogy and was recently selected for the inaugural QWC/Orbit Manuscript Development Program in 2008.Sydney Writers’ Festival: Heroes and Criminals, Memory
Typical — the darkest discussions I’ve attended as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival were also the funniest. First thing Saturday morning was spent listening to Australian authors Steve Toltz, Chris Wombersley, and Michael Robotham as they talked about flawed good guys and sympathetic baddies in Heroes and Criminals, followed by Memory, a very frank discussion by Australian Venero Armanno and young Texan author Stefan Merrill Block on the recollections of lost friends and a family cursed by Alzheimer’s disease. I do hope that the organisers of the Festival release these discussions as podcasts, they were brilliant.
I’ll talk more about the Heroes and Criminals simply because I went in there with a specific purpose in mind and walked out with three pages of notes. The weakest character in my Grimshaw manuscript is the protagonist — in my first draft a lot of stuff happens to him, but I hadn’t really found a solid grasp of who he was. I was hoping to gain a better understanding of the character and thanks to the discussion I believe I have. Hopefully I’ll be able to apply this successfully to the next draft.
I think the best way to approach the discussion is to simply list some of the points made by each author:
- Touched on Australia’s complex attitude towards criminals as heroes; we are sympathetic towards bad guys if they are facing off against worse guys, are anti-authoritarian, or provide the reader with a sense of higher justice. If the bad guy can somehow bring the people and the media on side, we’re far more forgiving of their actions.
- Believed that Ned Kelly is not a particularly Australian anti-hero; most cultures have their “bandit king” as part of their legends.
- We are willing to follow the exploits of evil protagonists as long as a sense of “inevitable justice” pervades the narrative; if we can sense that they will face a righteous fate at the end of their story then we are willing to follow their story.
- Heroism need not be defined by grandiose actions, but constant little acts.
- Challenged writers to provide empathy and sympathy towards all characters, to make unlovable characters lovable. He also said he strived to make his characters “flesh and blood”, believable.
- Examined our desire to see heroes fail.
- Empathy for villains can be created simply by showing the villain acting with kindness (I couldn’t help but think of Bruno Ganz’s portrayal of Hitler in the excellent film Downfall, showing repeated acts of love towards members of his staff and his pets).
- Asked why dystopias are easier to believe in that utopias.
- Regardless of what you’re writing, readers want to know what happens next.
- People aren’t born psychopaths. There is always a reason why they have developed into one, something in their past that has broken them.
- Heroes are typically far too worthy to be likable; weaknesses in heroes made them more human, battling demons both internal and external made them easier to relate to, but that we always surprise ourselves with what we’re capable of.
- When asked about concern that people out there might copy some of the actions of his villains, he said that he had brought his up with criminal psychologist who told him that it was not something to worry about “these people are out there doing these things already”.
Posted: May 26th, 2008 under Events, Writing.
Comments: 1
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Comment from 5tephe
Time: May 27, 2008, 11:05 pm
Both talks sound great!
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