Post History
In a novel I plan on writing soon, the main protagonist (and indeed nearly everyone else in the story as well) is an elf. Humans are present, but they are far in the mountains, living in disorganiz...
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-12T17:48:58Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/17685 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T04:21:01Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/17685 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
In a novel I plan on writing soon, the main protagonist (and indeed nearly everyone else in the story as well) is an elf. Humans are present, but they are far in the mountains, living in disorganized tribes, and barely ever mentioned. **Will my reader have trouble identifying with an elf at first, as opposed to a human?** It seems that in a lot of fantasy fiction containing humans and elves, the hero is always a human. As I see it, the reason is to help the reader identify with the hero. Even Frodo, who is technically a Hobbit, is not portrayed too differently from a human. He is short, but that is rarely mentioned as I recall. My elf, on the other hand, can wield magic, looks different than a human, is skilled with the sword and bow, and is a lot more agile than a normal human. Will having an elf-hero distance the reader? Or is how the reader sees my hero entirely up to my writing? _Note: I believe who the hero is doesn't determine how the reader sees him. I believe the writing decides that. I want to be sure though._
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2015-06-12T16:49:49Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 4