Brendan Gannon

Mary Kole over at Kid Lit recently had a post about the problem with immortal protagonists in fiction: namely, when someone can’t die, traditional types of “high stakes” conflict won’t work. You should read it! I mean, after you read this awesome post here.

Her point about big conflict falling flat reminds me of another issue I see a lot in paranormal fiction. I had a professor once who referred to it as “crossing over into the fantastic.” In the first act of the book we get a feel for the protagonist’s “normal” life, with hints that something is about to change. In Act Two, it changes: the protagonist enters the realm of the fantastic. In THE HOBBIT (and THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING), it means leaving the Shire and going into the Wild. In DRACULA, it’s Harker crossing the mountains into the old country, where superstition reigns. In YA Paranormal, it’s the protagonist finding out/becoming a vampire/angel/demon/werewolf/mermaid/wizard/minotaur/mind flayer/whatever. Or, in an exciting variant, finding out their crush is one of the above.

Act One is hard to screw up. We identify with the main character with a normal life, and we’re excited about the hints about what’s coming. Act one is all about tantalizing unanswered questions.

Act Two is the problem.

In Act Two the questions get answered, and now the book is about what it’s really about. I’ve read so many books with cool set ups that didn’t deliver the way I’d hoped. (I won’t name names. *cough*THE MAGICIANS*cough*) With YA Paranormal, that means that once we round the corner into Act Two we’ve established the paranormal elements. They become stage dressing and plot devices. “I can’t be with him because he’s a vampire and I make my living hunting vampires” is really just Romeo & Juliet warmed over. Swap out the paranormal setting with, say, the world of institutional finance, and you’d have the same story. Once you introduce the paranormal it becomes normal.

"Your on-site recordkeeping has never been up to regulatory standard!"

I think the best way to avoid this “ho hum” feeling in speculative fiction is to avoid world building. Not entirely, but give the reader just the bare minimum. Act One and the big reveal of the supernatural elements are exciting because we uncover new, strange things. The more worldbuilding you do, the less new and strange you leave for the reader to discover.

Here are some ideas on how to keep paranormal from becoming normal:

• Don’t put in an “info dump.” Even a deftly-executed one. Keep the protagonist busy solving one problem after another, with no time to stand still and learn things. Make her fight for every bit of secret of knowledge. If the plot requires a big reveal, save it for the end. You see this in the Harry Potter books–he picks up small clues throughout, goes into the climactic showdown with only partial knowledge of what’s going on, and gets lots of answers at the end.
• No characters who know all about the paranormal world. Almost every book with paranormal/supernatural elements has one of these, and they bore to tears. For the reader (and usually the protagonist) the paranormal world is wondrous, bewildering. For this character, it’s perfectly normal. They can tell the protagonist what she needs to know, which makes them very convenient for the writer, but see the point above. If you need to have this character in your book, keep them away from the protagonist. When Frodo is chased out of the Shire by Black Riders Gandalf is already months overdue, and Frodo must make his own way in the wilderness without him for several chapters.
• There are no rules. The more rules govern your vampires, werewolves, faeries, and kobolds, the more they seem like government employees. It’s unrealistic, besides: the real world operates on loose guidelines, assumptions, insecurities, and folly. Don’t spend hours detailing the Way Things Work in your paranormal world. Spend that time (if not actually writing) understanding the spirit of the world. Know how it should feel instead. The fewer Important Capitalized Words are involved in your paranormal world, the better. Which leads us to…
• Let your characters stay frightened and confused. They shouldn’t be thinking, “How am I going to overcome the vampire’s supernatural strength and mesmerizing gaze so I can stab them with the Enchanted Ruby Ballpoint Pen,” they should be thinking “Holy $#%$#, vampires!” I know, I know: they did think that for a chapter when they found out about the vampires. But would you get over it in a few days? A few weeks? Uncovering the existence of malicious undead is something that would disturb and haunt a person for the rest of their lives. Which brings us to…
• The reveal never stops. As young children it takes us years to figure out how the world works and what place we have in it. Your protagonist just discovered that everything they know is wrong, and they’re back where they were as a toddler, having to figure out the confusing, appealing, frightening new world they’ve been thrust into. When plotting, understand from day one that you’ll need to keep introducing new wonders/terrors/secrets in a way that fits the story. Either hold back what you’ve got or leave room in your story for more to come. Looking at Harry Potter again, Rowling does this really well. She gives us heaps of worldbuilding in the first couple of books. And at that point, magic is no longer all that cool; we get how it works. But then there’s an untrustworthy magical government, time travel, ancient undocumented spells, secret societies that dodge Muggles and wizards alike, nonverbal and homemade spells, unlikely allegiances… She breaks the rules she established in the beginning, or more accurately, shows that they weren’t really rules at all.

I know I promised a follow up to my post about why you shouldn’t be making apps. It’s coming!