A few weeks ago I was on a panel about Grief in YA Fiction at the NYC Teen Author Festival (Shara did a great recap of the whole symposium here). The moderator, author Jon Skovron, pointed out that in my new YA contemporary novel, THIS SIDE OF SALVATION, “the parents really fail their children.”
It’s true --- a year after their older son dies, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper close the door to his bedroom and tell their two younger children to “buck up, move on, and focus on the good in our lives.” Dad finds solace in religion, but he takes it to a disturbing extreme and eventually starts speaking in nothing but Bible verses. Mom tries to hold her family together, but she has her hands full keeping her husband from killing himself. So 16-year-old narrator, David, and his 17-year-old sister, Mara, must fend for themselves emotionally.
Then they’re literally on their own when their parents vanish the night their cult leader has predicted the world will end. Left behind to solve the mystery of their mom and dad’s disappearance, David and Mara don’t dare call the cops, fearing their parents will end up in jail and they’ll end up in separate foster homes. They’ve learned adults can’t be relied on or trusted.
So on the grief panel, Jon wanted to know how I created characters (the parents) who caused so much pain but were somehow quite sympathetic.
First, I tried to see the world through the Coopers’ eyes. I’ve never had a child, but I’ve heard that losing one is the most devastating experienceS a human can have. It can cause irreparable damage to the surviving family.
Second, I know that everyone grieves differently. While I might want to cry alone, you might want constant hugs, or vice versa. David’s parents no doubt thought they were helping their kids by encouraging them to move on. Or maybe their own sorrow was so terrible that seeing it reflected in David’s and Mara’s eyes was more than they could bear.
But ultimately the most important factor --- and this applies to all characters in all situations --- was something I figured out while writing THIS SIDE OF SALVATION:
**Writers are like lawyers. It’s not our job to like all of our characters or agree with their choices. But it is our job to represent them to the best of our abilities.**
All characters deserve a fair hearing. All characters deserve to be more than plot devices, or mouthpieces or target-practice bull’s-eyes. Though I don’t expect all my characters to be loved or even liked, I want readers to at least get where these people are coming from and why they act the way they do.
But while I may be a lawyer, it’s not a reader’s job to be a neutral judge. Authors can’t handpick impartial readers the way lawyers choose jury members. Readers are more like the folks sitting in the courtroom gallery. They’re free to bring their own issues, preferences and emotional baggage to every book they pick up.
I know I sure do! I know that for me to like a book with a jerky bad boy, it has to be written twice as well as one featuring a nerdy nice guy. (Unless it’s written from the bad boy’s point of view --- in which case, put it in my eyes now.)
When readers call a character “unlikeable,” sometimes it’s because of their own biases. Maybe they judge a character harshly because they don’t approve of or agree with his actions. Maybe they’ve never had a similar experience and have trouble imagining themselves in the character’s place.
OR…
Maybe that character’s motivations weren’t well-developed, or his choices had no clear logic. Maybe some backstory or dialogue that got cut for length or pacing could have helped that reader understand. Maybe the author’s own sympathy for the character made it hard to view him through another’s eyes.
Sure, real people can be inscrutable and inconsistent, but unlike life, fiction has to make sense. It’s the author’s job to foster empathy. We owe it to ourselves, our readers and the people we create.
That doesn’t mean we have to write “likeable” characters (whatever that means); we just have to write understandable characters. Once we’ve done that to the absolute best of our ability, all we can do is hope that readers meet us halfway.
This Side of Salvation book video: http://youtu.be/r8AT9Tsx0AI
Jeri Smith-Ready has been writing fiction since the night she had her first double espresso. A steady stream of caffeine has resulted in twelve published novels for teens and adults, including RT Reviewers Choice-winning fantasy EYES OF CROW, as well as the PRISM award-winning WICKED GAME and SHADE. Her latest is the YA contemporary novel THIS SIDE OF SALVATION (April), which Booklist called a "smart, unpredictable, and well-rounded tale" in its starred review.
Jeri lives in the rolling hills of Maryland with her husband and two cats, who often play tag-team "sit in the author's lap and keep her from writing." (The cats, that is, not the husband. Though actually...) When not writing, she's either out running or on Twitter.
