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March 7, 2009 7:58 AM

I'm writing a novel. Help me research characters!

I'm writing a SF novel (I'm unpublished) chronicling humanity's expansion to the stars. It will be a revenge novel (but very different from "The Stars My Destination") and would like your help in generating a few reading lists that will help flesh out the main characters. I'm looking for novels or movies of any genre with characters that have similar characteristics as mentioned below. Plot similarities are not as important as character similarities. The novel is set in the future about a hundred years.

Protagonist: A young twenty-something "Everyman" who is targeted for assassination by the World Government (WG) for his ability to provide the missing link to a method of space transportation that will come in direct competition with the WG's currently existing method. His wife, however, is caught in the cross fire and dies instead. He vows revenge. A good example of his story arc would be if AJ Soprano over the seasons started off a little nicer and devolved, fight by fight, murder by murder into a real murdering sociopath like Christopher. His character will have the fire of Gully Foil (The Stars My Destination), the murderous intent of Josey Wales, and the torment of Hamlet.

Mentor: On the surface he is a mediocre old professor. But dig a little deeper and you'll find he has deep connections not only with the WG but with individuals of highly questionable character. Ultimately he turns out to be a key player in the underground revolution (UR). In fact, he is a double agent accepting grants for WG research and reporting his findings to the UR. He also serves as a valuable recruiter for the UR. He is in a sense the project manager for the creation of this competitive means of transportation. He has deep connections with influential people in the United States of North America (a severely diminished descendant of the USA). He is one part Obiwan three parts Gordon Gecko.

Supporting Character: On the surface she is as gorgeous as she is . . .mature? This comes from the fact that she used to be an executive in the space transportation company placed there surreptitiously by a clandestine WG organization. As she made her way up through the ranks she began to disagree strongly with the intentions of the WG org. At the peak of her career both in space transportation and espionage she disappeared, changed her appearance and identity and now spies for the Mentor. As a teenager she was raped. She never found justice and as a result has lived her life seeking justice and inner peace hence her original motivations for joining WG and ultimately for leaving WG. She works with Protagonist a lot and since she has no justice for herself becomes irresistibly attracted to him only after he makes his first kill in his own quest for vengeance. Her own story arc will long outlive that of the protagonist's. In fact, she will be the protagonist of the sequel. She should be as gorgeous as Megan Kelly, as ruthless as Tony Soprano with just a hint of vulnerability as deep and fragile as Linsey Lohan.

Antagonist: He is a WG spy and the murderer of the protagonist's wife. He screwed up and has to finish the job--very difficult now as the protagonist is very hard to find. He is not an "evil" character but is very practical. World government is what people want. It has produced no wars in the time it has risen to power and he will do what he can to preserve that peace. He is Fiedler in "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold."

Let me know what your recommendations are for books containing characters like these. Thanks in advance.

posted by Lord Fancy Pants to writing & language (4 comments total)

The Count of Monte Cristo is IMHO the apotheosis of the revenge novel (and directly inspired The Stars, My Destination). Every character you've listed is in there in some form or another.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:29 AM on March 7

As a woman and an SF fan, I strongly encourage you to read Women in Refrigerators and then think long and hard about why one of your female characters is raped and the other is murdered.
posted by rdc at 2:35 PM on March 7 [5 favorites]

Thank you for the Women in Refrigerators wiki link. I intend to make the supporting character a woman that many women (perhaps 25% of women) can relate to. Rape is an issue that has destroyed many lives including the lives of a number of my friends and loved ones.

(Plot Spoiler) The supporting character although never finding peace will go on in sequels to become the most powerful person in the history of humanity. In the larger scheme of things she is far more important than the current protagonist.

I am especially interested in novels involving extremely powerful women or women who overcome extreme difficulties to become powerful. I'm thinking "Snow Queen" and "Tripoint." I'd be grateful for any suggestions.
posted by Lord Fancy Pants at 6:36 PM on March 7

I'll second The Count of Monte Cristo, and up the ante by recommending Gankutsuou, which is an anime version of Monte Cristo in space. Beyond that I'd recommend clicking around on tvtropes.org since you already know what archetypes you're playing towards and you can find various examples of all the ones you've listed so far. Here's a few links to get you started:

He Knows Too Much, The Everyman, He Who Fights Monsters, Best Served Cold, One World Order, The Obi Wan, La Resistance, Older Sidekick

The best thing you can do is to simply start writing and not sweat the details yet. Make your character a person, and see how they develop. Ask if the motivations, on both the side of good and evil, make sense and are conducted in a true to life fashion. For instance why would the government decide to kill your character instead of stealing his knowledge? I don't need an answer to that here, but your audience will. Allow plenty of room for your creations to surprise you and twist off into new areas that you weren't expecting. Learn to love revising once you've figured out what someone's about, or backtracking and adding the foundations for revenge once you figure out its eventual conclusion. But most of all just start working on it and don't psych yourself out pouring over what's already been done or trying to sketch out a multiple book saga before there's anything concrete on paper.
posted by CheshireCat at 11:18 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]