Can the protagonist lose his strength without losing the reader?
In studying writing, I've learned that you need to give your protagonist something - usually a quality - that makes the reader want him to win. Without this quality, the reader doesn't care what happens to the protagonist, or simply doesn't care for him, period. I call this quality the protagonist's strength.
Here's the situation: I'm currently writing a book about a hero who starts out full of perseverance. He believes that they can fight against the enemies arrayed against them, and giving up is furthest from his mind. Throughout the course of the novel, the hero receives a series of emotional and psycological blows designed to make him doubt whether this is true. These blows culminate in one final blow, which proves to be too much. The hero gives up and essentially decides that the situation is hopeless.
Do note that after that point, the hero then goes through a series of events that bolster his perseverance, until the climax arrives, and his doubts are shoved aside, his resolve emerging stronger than ever.
Question: The hero's strength in this book is his perseverance: the fact that he doesn't give up. How can I essentially have him lose his strength, the thing that makes the reader want him to win, half way through the book, and still keep the reader?
Notes: Obviously having the hero lose his strength isn't terribly advisable, so I have duly altered the way things happened in the book. I thought this question was likely to help other writers though, so I posted it.
1 answer
Part of why we read fiction is to learn something by going through an experience with the character --that's what makes identifying with the character important. For someone to lose what they and others have always felt is their core strength is a real experience, and one that could be compelling to go through in fiction --if it resolves in a way that feels real, not fake.
For that reason, I disagree with your comment that it is not advisable. If the overall message of your book is "just give up," I'd personally find that off-putting. But if the lesson is "sometimes we try so hard that we get in our own ways," that's something I could find valuable as realized in a fictional context.
(Possible other lessons: we all need help sometimes, no one makes it entirely on his/her own, or even when you're at your personal lowest, all hope is not gone)
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/19115. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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