Did you have a fun childhood? Mine is—hazy. There’s a whole chunk of haze, times that melt into each other in a fuzzy way, not very differentiated. But I guess it was basically good haze, though, with minor dilemmas: school competitions, favorite teachers, beloved books and spelling bees, math fears, adventures on horseback, “shows” in the backyard and “only” divorce (and infinite sibling rivalry) as a potential trauma. All in all, though, fine. I think I came through undamaged.
And that has the wonderful Michele Dorsey (a fabulous true friend of the Reds and ...here she is as an adorable child!) wondering, I guess, if I would be a good protagonist in a novel. (And happy pub week, darling Michele!)
MICHELE DORSEY: My friends and I were sitting on a porch the other day having a lazy, rambling summer conversation, when one accused another of having a happy childhood. The rest of us pounced on the poor woman who dared to recount a happy memory while we poised ready to detail our miserable childhoods. As I listened, I realized how fertile a field a miserable childhood is for a writer and how many of my characters have suffered through one. Can a character whose childhood was happy be a worthy protagonist?
In my new standalone suspense novel, Gone But Not Forgotten (July 2023 Severn House), Olivia Rose Taylor had worse than a miserable childhood. Hers was stolen when her mother fled an abusive husband who threatened to murder them and relocated to Vermont under new identities. Olivia is forced to live in obscurity so as not to bring attention and endanger them. Her mother is diagnosed with dementia before Olivia can convince her to reveal their identity, which Olivia is desperate to learn before she starts a family of her own. Just as Olivia finds the courage to search for the identity of her family of origin, someone sets out to stop her.
If Olivia didn’t have a crappy childhood, I wouldn’t have had a story to tell. Someone merely trying to kill her isn’t nearly as intriguing as having dark, ancient family secret as the motivation.
I began thinking about other characters I’ve written. Sabrina Salter in my series, (No Virgin Island, Permanent Sunset, Tropical Depression, Salt Water Wounds), on St. John in the Virgin Islands had a wretched childhood. Her mother abandoned her when she was a toddler, leaving Sabrina with a drunken father, and a maternal grandmother who wouldn’t acknowledge her. No wonder Sabrina found love in all the wrong places and ended up killing her husband, even if it was an accident. When I pondered about two works in progress, I realized the protagonists in both had troubled childhoods. Am I fixated with rough childhoods? Was I channeling my own, which I would characterize as glum, a word that just popped into my head.
But wait. Lots of characters in books I have loved had crappy childhoods. Who didn’t love Kinsey Millhone, the protagonist created by Sue Grafton in her alphabet series about an orphan raised by a stern aunt. Kinsey was scarred and quirky, but we rooted for her. Barbara Havers in Elizabeth George’s Thomas Lynley series, plagued by bad habits like smoking and eating junk food, is still having a miserable childhood well into adulthood. She’s the character in the series who rises above the aristocracy and creeps into our hearts.
Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins may take the prize for traumatized childhoods. Rawlins was a black child born poor in Louisiana, orphaned by the age of eight, who jumped a boxcar to Texas, where he became self-educated in skills from sewing to literature.
The list of protagonists with tortured childhoods is long. Ann Cleeves has given us Vera and Matthew Venn, both with dark childhoods. Michael Connelly has graced us with Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller, who had the same father but didn’t meet until adulthood. Both had blighted, but different beginnings.
Can a character be interesting without having had a miserable childhood? Does anyone in life honestly have a valid claim they had a happy one? Or are we simply living in an age that invites us to wallow in misery? Do I read and write about people who had desolate beginnings because I want to experience their ultimate triumphs or to find comfort and camaraderie?
I’d love to hear from the Reds about the experiences of their characters and whether their own childhoods affect how they create the backgrounds of them. How do readers feel about the flawed characters who are the products of sad beginnings?
In the end, I am a sucker for a happy ending, and what better way than to have a character who starts life one rung down climb to the top of the ladder?
HANK: How about you, Reds and readers? Writers, do your characters have flawed childhoods? Or readers, would YOU be a good protagonist?
C. Michele Dorsey is the author of Oh Danny Girl and the Sabrina Salter series, including No Virgin Island, Permanent Sunset, Tropical Depression, and Salt Water Wounds. Her latest novel, Gone But Not Forgotten will be published by Severn House in July 2023.Michele is a lawyer, mediator, former adjunct law professor and nurse, who didn’t know she could be a writer when she grew up. Now that she does, Michele writes constantly, whether on St John, outer Cape Cod, or anywhere within a mile of the ocean.
I'd probably be a boring protagonist. I had a happy, relatively trouble free childhood. I had friends, biked everywhere, didn't worry about stranger danger. Bad things happened, but not to me. I was frustrated though by all the things boys were allowed to do, but girls were not. Of course we had bomb drills, and films on how to survive an atomic bomb if it didn't land on you. We managed to survive the Communist menace. When I was in high school my little brother was diagnosed as autistic. No one knew what to do about it. Then when I was in college my youngest sister became seriously ill with kidney failure. Our family life changed even more then. So, happy childhood with clouds drifting in later in my teens and early twenties.
ReplyDeletePat, I remember those bomb drills! You make a good point about how even happy childhoods can be sprinkled with unhappy events like a sibling's illness.
DeleteOhhh..so true! I was terrified of being killed by an atomic bomb. Huh. Forgot about that. :-)
DeleteCongratulations, Michele, on the new book . . . I’m looking forward to discovering the secrets of Olivia’s past.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader, I tend to root for the protagonist struggling to overcome that miserable/difficult/sad childhood, even if it’s just a touch of misery in those otherwise happy growing-up days. There’s definitely something appealing about the downtrodden managing to overcome and become successful. But if misery-infused beginnings were the hallmark of an interesting protagonist, you’d have to count me out. Granted, no childhood is “perfect,” but I have to say that mine was generally a good one . . . .
Joan, I think when the protagonist has to champion an earlier hardship, it's an invitation to the reader to join the adventure. It's how we become invested in her quest. It's nice to see you sit on the brighter side of the porch!
DeleteI read No Virgin Island a few months ago and enjoyed it very much so now I need to continue on with the series. I had a pretty normal childhood until my body started changing and my life was never the same afterwards. I became a recluse and tried to quit school to keep myself away from all people (male people) but mom wouldn't let me. I'm kind of glad that she didn't and I went on to college. I'm grateful for good friends and family that kept me sane in my insane world.
ReplyDeleteThere's a story and I'm already hooked. I can feel for this girl and also wonder how her mother coped.
DeleteI'm so excited about this new book, Michele!
ReplyDeleteI would be one of those friends you would pounce on, with a happy childhood and lots of fond memories. And most of my protagonists had happy upbringings, too, with the difficult parts coming along in adulthood. My only one with a difficult childhood is my new Cece Barton - more on that later.
I realized after reading Pat D's comment that my teen years had clouds drifting in, too, with my parents' marriage disintegrating, my oldest sister dropping out of college to marry someone entirely unsuitable, and my grandparents dying.
DeleteEdith, I am intrigued about Cece Barton. Your second comment makes me wonder about how much perception affects our view of childhood. Is it a choice whether we focus on the happy parts or are drawn to the darker moments? I had a writer friend who was always inviting me to "press down" and not gloss over the things I didn't want to think/write about. But I'd still like to sip lemonade on the side of the porch with the happier kids!
DeleteTrue, Michele. My next-older sister (less than two years older) remembers the dysfunction in our family even in the younger years, but I didn't experience it that way.
DeleteMichele, I'm so thrilled to see you here, and delighted you have a new book out! This is a wonderful question to ask and agree that it's hard to get interested in a character with a happy childhood. The only one of my characters who didn't suffer trauma is the Key West food critic Hayley Snow (except for parental divorce!) My editor at the time was concerned about whether my writing was too dark for a cozy series:), and I worried about leaving her room to grow and change. So that reminds me that backstory is sometimes dependent on genre and subgenre, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteLucy, since we share a book birthday and a publisher, does that make us twins? Which of us will be the happy twin? Twins are another great device in writing about childhood. I do agree that the genre affects whether a writer wants to do a deep dive into the darkness, including a miserable childhood. But a little misery can go a long way and if the character is already satisfied with her life, where is there to go? If all of the conflict is external, will the character feel like cardboard?
DeleteHijacking your comment thread - Cece Barton is a twin, and the adult twin is in the series. It's been fun creating the backstory and the continuing one!
DeleteSounds delicious!
DeleteI am a twin, with three other siblings as well. It has become clear to me that no two children experience family the same way. And that can lead to misunderstandings and conflict. Fascinating, but sometimes sad.
DeleteYou are so right about no two kids experiencing the family in the same way!
DeleteCongratulations, Michele! Looking forward to your books!
ReplyDeleteI think a good story can come from wonderful childhood beginnings. Sometimes in spite of happy younger childhoods, missteps are made in teen years or early adult life, leaving many potential 'problems' to overcome. What I am saying, I suppose, is that no one sails through life drama-free; sooner or later there will troubles.
Point well taken, Judi. Conflict is inevitable in life!
DeleteI would have to say none of my protagonists had unhappy childhoods. Sally Castle has an overbearing mother, but that hardly makes for an unhappy childhood. Jim Duncan's parents are still married - his life didn't get troubled until his wife ditched him. And Betty Ahern is living through war, but she's still living at home with parents and siblings who love her and the feeling is mutual.
ReplyDeleteAside from the normal "troubles" of growing up, I had a happy childhood as well.
And congratulations, Lucy!
I'm glad to see the happy end of the porch filling up, Liz!
DeleteInteresting question. Both of my protagonists had traumatic events in their teens, but overall happy childhoods. As for me, I think my parents did the best they could, but both were deeply flawed individuals. I was fortunate to have a strong extended family, which sometimes extended as far as friends' parents, who stepped in as needed. Overall, I wouldn't trade it.
ReplyDeleteKait, I think my response to you got lost in the conversation! I wanted to say that many children whose families are less than happy find a relative or family friend to attach to as their "rock." God bless those rocks (my Nanna in my case) for what they do for kids and how they make great characters for writers.
DeleteCongratulations Michele! Such a fascinating topic. I'm not sure anyone gets through childhood unscathed. Another interesting backstory is that of the privileged childhood that also contains trauma and sadness (Tommy Lynley in Elizabeth George's series for instance). As for me (and my twin sister), our childhood no doubt looked pretty good from the outside, but when you dig a little deeper, you find my dad's "nervous breakdown" and my hospitalization at age 4 from kidney disease. The hospital did not allow children to visit and the separation from each other led both of us to be 'unhappy' twins in different ways going forward.
ReplyDeleteMichelle - big congrats on the new book! And oh boy, yes, a main character in a mystery novel needs a traumatic backstory because otherwise why doesn’t she just called the police?
ReplyDeleteExactly. The story is over before it begins.
DeleteI could see a protagonist who had a happy childhood and grew up to be a trauma-free person. Because, somewhere along the way in life, they will encounter, become involved with people who sat on the other side of the porch. And then we will root for them to survive.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great way to reframe the issue, Flora.
DeleteI like Flora’s concept of an adult encountering obstacles of life, rather than always the tortured character. As a reader i have quit many book series because the tortured became cliche. If the characters does not grow and overcome their past, I am not interested. A person may get involved in a mystery because it interests them or they are nosy, they do not have to be tortured!
DeleteIf you were to ask my sister or myself, I think you would get two different answers. She seems to remember all the negative things about a person/life, and gloat about bringing the subject up, and I like to remember only the best and forget the rest. Surprisingly we both grew up in the same house with the same parents/grandparents, but I was lucky to get my father’s glass more than half-full outlook on life. As an example, he owned a ship chandler’s-grocery business that had to go out of business in the late ‘80’s. When he closed the doors of the store, he burned the accounts receivable books. Many a person about town remembered him for his credit, thoughtfulness, and still owed him many (thousands) dollars. He greeted each person as though he had no idea that they were in debt to him.
ReplyDeleteAs for books, the Kate Carlisle’s Biblio books have the most wonderful family associated with it. I don’t know that I could live with them, but they make me chuckle to read about them. Also, no matter about the character’s earlier life experiences in Ann Cleeves’ books, she has created people who seem to rise above things, and enjoy life – not be a misery-guts to everyone they meet.
Margo, you are so right that different siblings can have a different take on their childhoods, which can depend on birth order or when major events occurred within the family history. My younger sister, who was born after our brother died as an infant, has an entirely different recollection of our family than mine. Neither is less valid.
DeleteCongratulations on the new book! What a great premise for a story.
ReplyDeleteI often thought the unhappy moments of my childhood stemmed from parents who were authoritarian and critical. Later I realized, it didn't start with them. My mother was told, "children should be seen, and not heard" so that was her experience. She did better than those who raised her.
I think that might be true for each generation. My parents troubles came from their parents, and so on all the way back. And each generation tried to do a little bit better.
I'm thinking about some of my habits after reading your comment, J.C., and how I often attribute them to being a child of children of the depression (saving paper bags, elastic bands, etc.). There is a trickle down effect among generations. I like the idea that if each generation tries to do better...
DeleteCongratulations on your latest release!
ReplyDeleteMy main character buries her emotionally abusive husband (natural causes), sells off or donates her past life, and, with her teenage daughter, takes a new job in a new place.
When I was fourteen, my parents announced we were moving from New Jersey to Cincinnati and loaded us into the station wagon. I started high school the next day.
Fast forward to when we moved our youngest from Atlanta to Cincinnati during her freshman year of high school. Enduring a repeat of the same move as a parent was such an overwhelming experience that I had to write about it.
And there is where adversity transforms into inspiration, Margaret! Lemons into lemonade on the porch, I say. This is why I find writing healing.
ReplyDeleteMichele, I'm so happy to know you have a new book! Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteAs Edith said, different members of families have different perceptions of their childhoods. As the oldest in our family, I was there for all the drama; my younger siblings saw less and less.
My husband's upbringing could not be more different than mine. From the outside, his looked idyllic, safe, and utterly rock-solid secure, while mine was none of those things. However, when I met him he talked about how "bad" he had it, very Eeyore-like. I would never call my childhood happy in any way, and yet I myself was a fairly happy kid, most of the time. I'm smiling in every picture. Attitude, I guess.
Fascinating, Karen. I wonder which character readers would want to read about more and whether there is a secondary character who helped shape your attitude. I'm seeing how flawed childhoods draw readers in just as the comments here have pulled me in.
DeleteHmm. I'd say the "secondary character" in my case was the library, in the collective. I spent most of my childhood reading, and escaping mentally to a safer, happier place.
DeleteOMG, I love that!
DeleteMichele, congratulations on GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN - what a compelling story idea!
ReplyDeleteI blame Charles Dickens for the tradition of protagonists-with-bad-childhoods. He worked out his own miserable Victorian childhood in almost every book he wrote to the extent that we use his name as an adjective for squalidly terrible. And he was an international bestselling author and a huge celebrity! It's no wonder writers started following his formula for success, to the point where it's not a formula anymore, but a basic foundation of character-building.
Here, here! Who is going to argue with Charles Dickens?
DeleteCongrats on the new book, Michelle
ReplyDeleteMy protagonists seem to share my own really lonely childhood. Not abused or in danger but without playmates—we lived in the big house outside the village. I had to amuse myself and had a career woman mother so not much closeness. Both series heroines had similar experiences. Rhys
Rhys, I think it's noteworthy that your heroines are no less delightful creatures for whatever they suffered in childhood. Good to remember that a lonely or miserable childhood does not necessarily translate into a miserable character, just a more interesting one.
Delete
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good book. Congratulations.
I think the best description of my childhood is that it was "challenging". We had very little money ever and we moved one heck of a lot due to a single mother who was trying to raise two children with few practical job skills but a deep love for opera, literature, and the fine arts. (She wanted more than anything to be an opera singer.) As you can imagine, there were many unhappy moments in that scenario, and some real tragedies that happened to my brother, but you would be surprised how many happy experiences also wove in an out of that life. Consequently, I'm less attracted to reading about sad protagonists than those coping with difficulties and overcoming obstacles. I'm always drawn to the bad-beginning-but-good-outcome storylines. :-)
Elizabeth, your mother sounds fascinating. Even with the challenges of your childhood, I'm imagining arias being belted out while you're packing boxes for the next move. I'm with you about sad protagonists if they simply wallow in their misery. But the ones who strike back, I could read about them forever.
DeleteMe, too. And yes, she was certainly fascinating. Despite all the pillar to post setting, she provided an abundance of riches in other ways.
DeleteI think it depends on the type of book you are writing. Can a character in a romantic comedy have a happy childhood? I'd say yes. Plenty of cozy sleuths have happy childhoods. But you are right, this book wouldn't have worked if Olivia didn't have a bad childhood.
ReplyDeleteAnd be sure you get this book. It's great!
Thank you, Mark! I think you make a valid point about when a happy childhood would work for a protagonist. Olivia's past prompted her quest, which is what got her into trouble and handed me my plot.
DeleteThis is such a fascinating question, Michele. Honestly, I've never really thought about it before. I frequently describe my childhood as crazy train breaking down in dysfunction junction and as traumatic as it was - boy, howdy, was it ever - I also felt very loved (thanks, Mom) and I have a truck load of really wonderful memories. Childhood trauma certainly shaped me, but the unconditional love I received gave me resilience. Dang, I'd make a fabulous protagonist - LOL! Thanks for giving me a new insight into my own protagonists. I can't wait to read GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.
ReplyDeleteJenn, I agree that you can experience childhood trauma and still feel the unconditional love. And it doesn't necessarily have to come from a parent. Some of my bittersweet memories are my best. The year my father lost his job, we gave the strangest Christmas gifts to each other. I remember one was a waste basket.
DeleteGreat post! I agree with what Mark Baker above said. It is possible for the protagonist to have a happy childhood. It also depends on the type of story.
ReplyDeleteThe post reminded me of a tv series in Britain. The TV series is called DEAF MEN IN YORKSHIRE. There was an episode where the men were competing in telling the saddest story. One man talked about wearing old clothes. Another man went further and said the roof on his house collapsed. The next story got sadder. Then the next story got sadder. The last person who won the competition told the saddest story of all. That was a while ago.
Diana
Diana, I'm obviously going to look this series up! My cup of tea.
DeleteNot sure if it is on YouTube or BBC or ITV, Michele. Worthwhile to check it out.
DeleteDiana
I’m from the different siblings, different views on our childhoods. My sister saw my mother behave badly and never forgave her (or sought help via counseling to manage her feelings). I am four years younger and missed the drama so had a good relationship with our mother. But as frequently happens, my husband, the outsider coming in, saw the personality types for what they were (sister and mother very similar in personality so clashed). Overall, though, I think I had a pretty great childhood. I do like the rough beginning-but-strong-personality-wins-the-day-and-finds-a-happy-life story. Congratulations on your new book, Michele. — Pat S.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pat. It makes sense that as a mother matures, she would provide different experiences for her children. That should mean the later you are in birth order, the better adjusted you are. I better save that premise for a different day and another book!
DeleteDear Reds. First, I LOVE your blog. A great way to spend time during my day. On the topic of childhood memories, I suffered from a blissfully happy childhood. I say suffered because after becoming an adult and listening to most of the people I knew who had terrible stories from childhood, I convinced myself that I had blocked out my real childhood. Modern psychology said that those who have terrible experiences, block them out in order to stay sane. I was sure I must have been tortured to the degree that everything was blocked and I made up all my memories to cover the blight. When I was in writing classes and had to write something of memory, I felt like a fraud. Everyone had some awful experience to relate, something to survive, and I could only remember happy times. Then I reached out to family members, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. I didn't dare ask my mother since she was probably the torturer-in--chief. Gradually I gathered information from all quarters plus lots of photographs. Guess what. I had a great childhood!!! I was loved, cherished, and spoiled. Unless the conspiracy of silence went through my entire family - on both sides - I was what my memories said I was - happy. I wasn't bullied, beaten, or abandoned. I had two loving parents who gave me everything in their power to give. I had four grandparents, three (living at the time) great-grandparents, and fourteen aunts and uncles who welcomed my visits with open arms. I had cousins with whom I spent hours at play - even staying at their houses at times. It makes for wonderful memories to share with my children and rerun with family members (most of whom had good childhoods also - it must be a family curse) but it is lousy fodder for storytelling. I have to borrow other people's angst to give my protagonists something to overcome. It is very hard to overcome a happy childhood.
ReplyDeleteMichele, dear. It would be an understatement to say I’m merely looking forward to Gone But Not Forgotten. Your characters—the ones who survived difficult childhoods and the ones who aren’t haunted by their youth—are so well written, book in and book out.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been surprised that so many of my characters have lost a parent early in their lives. That didn’t happen to me personally, but I think I worried about it when I was young. It’s so interesting how we carry this stuff around for decades and then somehow it all spills out on the page.
Congratulations on GBNF - can’t wait to dive in!
That was me, Brenda B.
ReplyDelete