# Non-human Main Characters?



## Hibana (Dec 18, 2011)

As a new author, should I risk having a story focused around non-humans? Or one without any humans whatsoever? (Basically, are humans needed for an audience to feel sympathetic to the characters?)

None of my main characters are human at the moment - one's a (fairly weak) spirit trapped in a physical form, second's a shapeshifter (humanoid-ish form to a giant serpent thing with claws), third's a... elf-thing, but not really. The second two have human-ish values (although not twenty-first century human values) and are more-or-less comprable to humans, but the first is more alien than anything (or at least intended to be). 

Also what about them (and society as a whole) having radically not twenty-first century values? As in not seeing all that much wrong with sacrificing an intelligent being, or with a caste system, or with colonialism and oppression of a native race. Could a character be portrayed as good, but still either having little to no problem with the way such a society operates, or not really caring/ thinking about it? The shapeshifter and the elf do still find things like honor, compassion and defending/ protecting ones friends/nation/people important, and do have strict moral codes (the elf especially), and even the spirit-thing keeps its word and kinda helps the other two (although otherwise it's pretty much amoral). (The shapeshifter's a bit selfish, too - basically, if you're not someone she owes a favor, a friend, or one of her people, she's not overly inclined to go out of her way for you or angst about your fate - she's also the one from the 'human' sacrifice culture). Should I revise the characters to make them more sympathetic, or leave them as-is?

Does anyone else have mostly or all non-human main characters? (Or dramatically not 21st century cultures?) How are you portraying them?


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## Sheilawisz (Dec 18, 2011)

Hello Hibana, and Welcome to Mythic Scribes!! =)

I am happy to hear about another writer with stories about characters that are not human... In my stories there are no humans at all, and all the main characters are a different species that includes a long furry tail, claw-like hands with four digits, large eyes, pointy ears, fangs and a rather sadistic nature =)

The common people in my stories are that species and they have powers of their own...


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## writeshiek33 (Dec 19, 2011)

i belive you can have non human characters but with human qualities also i think there might be books out there that you can feel for


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## Terra Arkay (Dec 19, 2011)

I second what writeshiek33 said.


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## Reaver (Dec 19, 2011)

Hibana said:


> As a new author, should I risk having a story focused around non-humans? Or one without any humans whatsoever? (Basically, are humans needed for an audience to feel sympathetic to the characters?)
> 
> 
> Does anyone else have mostly or all non-human main characters? (Or dramatically not 21st century cultures?) How are you portraying them?



I've been working on a side story to my main piece where the main character is an Orc named Lawh.  In my world, they do sort of resemble the "Tolkienesque" D&Dish types as far as appearance, but their culture and society are quite adavanced and their government a constutional republic, much like our own.  It's a lot of fun to write a story for Lawh and his non-human friends.


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## zizban (Dec 19, 2011)

A non-human character is doable. I remember reading one book (whose name I forgot) that the narrator was a horse.


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## Steerpike (Dec 19, 2011)

You can make a character of any kind of physical (or even incorporeal) being you can imagine. Ultimately, they all end up being "human" characters in another form.


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## Jabrosky (Dec 19, 2011)

I once tried to write a story with a T. Rex for a protagonist. It didn't work out very well in the end, and most of my stories have human protagonists these days, but I still love the idea.


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## zizban (Dec 19, 2011)

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle doesn't have a human main character.


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## AmericanCrime (Dec 28, 2011)

I think as long as your non-human character has human qualities like others have said before then it will be successful. Readers need to be able to identify with the main character in question. I don't see that as being very achievable if the main character is non-humanoid, his culture is to alien, or he himself/herself doesn't have any human emotions & characteristics.


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