Comments | fangs_fur_fey: Gee mom, what's with the stake?

sharonashwood in fangs_fur_fey

Gee mom, what's with the stake?

Jul 05, 2010 21:23

In Unchained: the Dark Forgotten (released July 6!) my bad-ass, monster-hunting heroine is also the mother of a ten-year-old daughter. Ashe is a widow, and she’s returning to the family and home town she left years ago. Although she still hunts the occasional nasty beast, Ashe’s focus is on winning a custody battle with her in-laws. So, she’s hung ( Read more... )

Comments 16

templarwolf July 6 2010, 04:55:01 UTC

Now you've got me thinking of ideas for a UF version of Lone Wolf and Cub...

gothicsparrow July 6 2010, 05:02:53 UTC

I think a lot of writers prefer to have their hero/ine to have as few responsibilities outside monster hunting as possible, so they can just go monster hunting in another city if the plot demands it. Or if the hero/ine is terribly scarred by their past, it may be implausible for them to be looking after kids when they're having trouble looking after themselves?

Maybe it's just writers repeating the genre default?

sinanju July 6 2010, 07:25:55 UTC

I think we don't see families much in PNR/UF for the same reason we don't see all that much of it in adventure fiction in general. It's hard to be (and hard to write about) a hardcore monster slayer (or crime fighter in general) when your family is always getting in the way.

From the pulps on (if not earlier), adventures have tended to be unmarried, childless, and as often as not orphans--or least any family they did have were few and far away. Doc Savage, Tarzan, The Shadow, Holmes*, Modesty Blaise, any number of private eyes, etc. They might have loved ones or friends--but spouses? Children? Almost unheard of.

It's not just PNR/UF.

*Okay, maybe a brother....

jer_bear711 July 6 2010, 13:27:51 UTC

Heh, I found that even giving the main character a dog (<

jer_bear711 July 6 2010, 13:28:38 UTC

No idea why my paragraph breaks got lost there. Sorry about that. *kicks LJ in the tires*

sharonashwood July 6 2010, 14:41:52 UTC

There is definitely a culture thing about the Shane-type hero who comes in to a town, cleans house, and rides off into the sunset. I think of it as a Western (as in cowboys) trope all about independence and self-determination, etc. It's a very persistent archetype.

There is something interesting about taking that character and saying, "Okay, you're not an island. Get with the program."