Dealing with family in a written story?
Hi!
I'm currently writing a story. My protagonist will be embarking on a long journey, and her family, consisting of her father, mother, and younger brother, will play little or no role. I don't want the protagonist to have to worry about them or waste too much time thinking about them while she's just wandering around. It's a fantasy story. Do you have any ideas how I can keep the family out of the story without completely removing them?
I don't want to portray the protagonist without a family because that wouldn't fit the story or her character development. But if she's close to her family, I won't be able to avoid mentioning them.
I've also considered letting the family die partially or completely, but I don't know if I want that kind of impact on the protagonist.
Do you have any ideas? Thanks for your answers.
Ps. this question doesn't really reflect my spelling skills, so please don't be put off, thanks 😀
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The fact that the protagonist does not have to worry about her family is simple: it comes from a stable family that has no great worries or problems. She knows her parents are fine.
I would rather enrich thoughts on the family for the character. I often don’t like it so well when a fireworks of external conflicts are burned down in a novel, but there are hardly any inner conflicts.
Internal conflicts could be:
– She wants to return to her family, but she has to carry out an important mission.
– She is trying to resolve a conflict violently on her mission, but she thinks, how could I still see my parents in my eyes after that.
– She has to do with a child on her journey: the thought of her little brother influences her behavior.
Maybe she can write funny letters home. In order for her parents not to worry about her, she presents all the experiences as bitter as possible. For example, she survives a forest fire and then writes in the letter: “Today it was very warm, for dinner there were crispy pheasant roasts.”
Thanks for the answer.
I find your solution is definitely a good approach.
But since it’s more a darker fantasy story, I want to work with the psyche of the protagonist on a jwden case. Letters are not possible in the story.
I’ll remember that with my brother. And above all, the point where she thinks of her morality and her parents.
Thank you.
You could do it like in Narnia. Or even in “Gregor” I believe: the time in the fantasy world is slower than the time in the “real” world.
However, she should still miss her family, that is dnan maybea cuh not so great. You could also think of more complex constructs.
For example, as if the fantasy world was a dream or a book. In a short time, years pass, but after that, it’s like you’ve never been gone, even for yourself.
Or any magic that keeps the memories of at home or allows to lead both lives in parallel.
Or something else.
You’d have to look who fits into your story and what result you would like.
I actually thought about it. However, as I imagine that the protagonist ultimately remains in the other world, I had difficulty finding a way as the sadness about her family could not have such a great influence on her.
Vlt let me know if I can reconcile this, thank you!
If she wanders around, you can let her think about her family, otherwise she gets home hurt, but otherwise she doesn’t have to worry about her family.
Or she didn’t have a good relationship and wants to forget about it.
but the family does not disappear and we say the whole lasts 2 years, then the family will ask where it is and then one would have to explain to the family where it was, etc., and all the things like uni, work, just family, friends… the whole area will know about its abnormality. And the family is of course the most problematic.
No, it’s literal that you simply don’t get closer to the whole family and the previous environment, for example, if you explain why not – for example, because the protagonist always pushes the thoughts.
That’s why she misses her so much that she pushes every thought of it, but she is always reminded and then she’s not well.
I don’t want to. The family plays a major role in the life of the protagonist. She’s a family man. But as soon as she goes on the trip she has to say goodbye to her family, or she won’t see her anymore. I just fell into letting the family die, but I don’t want to avoid too great psychological damage that must be worked up later.