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Well, the bride looks a picture in the dress that her mama wore
So yesterday, I finished "The Gift of Music," for Andy LaPierre, who y'all will have the pleasure of meeting next year some time. I seriously have no idea what to do with the story, and said so to Steve, after he read it last night.
"Why not try to sell it?" he asked.
Which is -- wow. What an idea. I don't remember the last time I submitted a story, cold. Somewhere in the last decade or more it became clear that I wasn't writing commercially viable short fiction and I just stopped submitting stories. I didn't stop writing stories, because...well. But I did stop submitting.
We did the chapbooks, and of course there's Splinter Universe (which I fear may not be a viable "market" for this story until sometime next year).
Anyhow, I'll think about that. . .a little later. Today, I have a pile of chores before me, having chosen to devote yesterday to getting Andy out of my head. I also have a full-blown summer cold, and all I really want to do is lie on the couch and watch endless episodes of "Maverick."
Or maybe not.
Before I vanish into the Land of Chores, though...I don't know how many of you follow Ursula Vernon's blog, where, a couple days ago, she was ruminating on the lack of less-than-bright protagonists in fiction. Here's the post. Which I read with interest. Ursula identifies three "stupid" leads in her post -- Buttercup from The Princess Bride, Bertie Wooster from the Jeeves and Wooster novels, and Freddy, from Cotillion -- and wonders why there are no others.
Now, after 'way too much thought, it occurred to me that all three of the characters Ursula identifies are comic characters -- The Princess Bride is, after all, a farce; the Jeeves books never pretend to be anything but broad comedy; and Cotillion is definitely one of Heyer's lighter works (though I must go on record as being at Freddy's feet).
So, here are my questions: (1) Can you (yes, you) think of any non-comic novels in which the main character is not extremely bright, or gifted in some manner that makes intelligence into a non-issue? (2) Do you feel a lack of, in Ursula's phrase, "good stupid characters" in fiction?
Have at it.
#SFWAPro
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1. Charlie Gordon from Flowers for Algernon.
2. Jack Shaftoe from Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle.
3. Graham Smith from Resonance (http://www.baenebooks.com/p-344-resonance.aspx) by Chris Dolley.
4. Forrest Gump from the same-titled novel. I haven't read the book so not sure if it falls under "comedy" category.
5. John Coffey from The Green Mile by Stephen King.
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I'll offer up Little Women, it has the clever sister and other 'not-so-clever but with other desirable qualities' sisters. None of them is really dumb though. As a side note, when we took a poll in college to ask which Little Women we identified with 100% of the girls choose Jo. Which explains why are so few non-bright characters around.
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In the same vein there's Kornbluth's "The Marching Morons" where the time-travelling lead character, John Barlow is the least intelligent person among the Real People who runs things in the future.
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One thing I really like about Christine, considered as a stupid main character, is just how sympathetic Hambly's portrayal of her is. Stupid people are complicated human beings, too.
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- Shadow from Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" is of about average intellect.
- Rose from Louisa May Alcott's "Eight Cousins" (and its sequel) is average or perhaps even a bit on the flaky/dumb side.
- Garion from David Eddings' Belgariad series is more or less average in intelligence -- he starts off pretty dumb, in fact, but it turns out that's more ignorance than actual lack of intelligence, but even in the sequel series, he's still only average, relying heavily on the advice of those whose intelligence exceeds his.
- Jonesy from "Before I Wake" by Eli Easton, which is a short story rather than a novel, but Jonesy's below-average intelligence is, in fact, a plot point. (And the writing is so beautiful, I just couldn't bypass the mention. Full disclosure: I work for the publisher and was the editor for this story.)
There are probably more with characters of at least *average* intelligence; I'm having parts of my house renovated and my bookshelves are mostly covered up so I can't look at them properly.
As for part (2)... No, I don't generally feel the lack. I consider myself to be of above-average intelligence (well, don't we all?) and it takes a pretty special skill at writing to sell me on spending time living in a character's head if it's not going to keep me guessing.
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Hero Wantage is no mental giant. It’s hard to tell because she starts out so ignorant. She’s probably smarter than Sherry.
Meliara from Crown Duel. She isn’t supposed to be written stupid. But watch her get an idea in her head. An avalanche of countervailing evidence cannot change her mind. I can’t reread the books, she’s such an idiot.
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Y'know? I hadn't thought of it, but it's pretty clear at the beginning that Hero and Sherry are working at about the same level, though Sherry has "town bronze," and poor Kitten of course has been stuck in the country playing Cinderella.
Of course, there's the scary fact that Gil is the Brains of that Scooby gang...
Me Too!
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The private detective in Anthony Bidulka's mystery novels, starting with Amuse Bouche, seems to me to be a little dim, and somewhat flaky, but the book doesn't make a big deal of it.
Also, there are various main characters that start out young and stupid, then grow out of it. There are also various novels where the main characters do incredibly stupid things. I can think of a few examples. But I'm not sure that's quite the same thing.