Character Concept Question

[Antaus]

Rite of Passage

In the link above I wrote a short story for a character who is a human/alien hybrid for a challenge. This character has been floating around in my head for several years but I haven't done anything with her until now. After writing this story she has proven to be quite interesting to me, however there's something I'm concerned about. The character in this story actually detests the fact that she's half human and considers this a weakness, having grown up among those of her alien lineage.

What I'm concerned about was if the character hates her humanity so much, would something like that put readers off?

 

[Caged Maiden]

The best answer I can come up with is...it depends.

By that I simply mean that we all have things we detest about ourselves and wish we could change. That alone doesn't make her unlikable. Execution will be the deciding factor if you ask me. If she's internally ashamed, maybe working twice as hard as anyone around her to "prove" she's just as good, is really relatable. On the converse, if she moans about her "problem" or acts in some way about it that alienates the reader, it's harder to align with the character.

So no, not necessarily will the reader be put off by the fact that she hates her human half, but make sure her conflict is presented in ways that grip the reader, make them experience it in a way. Can you use it in a humorous way? to add tension? as a sort of inner secret the reader knows but no one else does? There are loads of ways you can play it, but to me, engaging the reader in the disdain for her humanity would be preferable to just flat-out saying something like, "Sara hated her human side." You gotta make it mean something, like, "All Sara knew about her father was that he was human. Nothing else really mattered. He could go to hell, whoever he was, and if she ever met up with him, she was happy to be the one to send him." OR "Being half human was akin to being half earthworm. No one talked about it. They didn't need to. She wore her shame on her face and hands, where her scales never fully formed and hideous smooth skin, weak material that it was, let anyone with half a brain know she was a mix breed."

I think if you have a clear view of your character, the subtle ways she feels will shine through, without having to beat the reader over the head with it. That's my advice, anyways, for what it's worth.

 

[Antaus]

Actually, it's more like...

About to greet her father Kalianyra's attention was caught by something in her peripheral vision and looking to the left while turning, she came face to face with a mirror. It wasn't uncommon for Rendor to keep one by the door for the purpose of fine tuning his appearance before leaving. Almost instinctively freezing she was taken aback by the sight of the six foot young woman staring back in the floor to ceiling mirror. A face of smooth brown skin and eyes framed by long black hair that tumbled down over her shoulders. Were one to meet Kalianyra on the street they wouldn't think her Thendacian at all, in fact more than once she'd been mistaken for human.

It was no great secret why she looked this way, the product of a secret project by her own government to create Human/Thendacian hybrids for the purpose of infiltration and espionage. Nearly a century ago the entire program had been aborted during a power shift within the government and all of the test subjects were destroyed, save one. It was a fate that she too would have suffered had her 'father' not intervened. This was something that wouldn't have even been possible were he not one of the most powerful men in the whole of the republic.

As Kalianyra continued to look at the reflection in the mirror small whispers began to rise up in the back of her mind. Memories of people back home who would stare at her, the sound of others snickering as the 'wannabe Thendacian' walked by. This very face a daily reminder of the mockery the young woman was to her own people. Muscles tensed, an upper lip curled, and with a loud snarl Kalianyra drew back driving her fist through the mirror and the metal plating of the wall behind it. Falling to the floor in a shower of glass several of the pieces cut her arm on the way down. It only took a moment for the wounds to close and the Thendacian regenerative ability was one thing Kalianyra was glad to have inherited.

 

[Panda]

Self-bigotry (not sure if that's a real term or if I just invented it) is an interesting (albeit sad) concept. I didn't find Kalianyra off-putting but, if you're going to write more about her, it is an issue that's going to have to be addressed. I'm not saying you have to write a preachy anti-prejudice story or anything, but I wouldn't want to see her self-hatred be a static trait, because it isn't a healthy attitude to have.

Also, the fact that you made her human genetics non-white means your readers will assume Kalianyra is symbolic of a biracial woman who wishes she were white. (Or at least that's the assumption I'd have made.) I don't know if this was your intention or not. This isn't a bad thing; one of my favorite things about sci-fi/fantasy is that real-life issues can be explored metaphorically. A story about an alien/human hybrid learning to accept herself could be a great way of discussing biracial identity if you write it correctly. (Also, I love the fact that Kalianyra's human half being black means that the non-humans are the symbolic counterpart to white people, completely subverting the idea that white people are "normal" and non-white people are "other" that appears in so many stories.)

 

[Antaus]

Also, the fact that you made her human genetics non-white means your readers will assume Kalianyra is symbolic of a biracial woman who wishes she were white. (Or at least that's the assumption I'd have made.) I don't know if this was your intention or not. This isn't a bad thing; one of my favorite things about sci-fi/fantasy is that real-life issues can be explored metaphorically. A story about an alien/human hybrid learning to accept herself could be a great way of discussing biracial identity if you write it correctly. (Also, I love the fact that Kalianyra's human half being black means that the non-humans are the symbolic counterpart to white people, completely subverting the idea that white people are "normal" and non-white people are "other" that appears in so many stories.)

I'm not quite sure exactly what you meant by this. It wasn't my intention for Kalianyra to represent a biracial woman who wanted to be white, metaphorically. I really hadn't thought about it that far to be honest. She was meant to be hybrid who hates being human at all. If she had her way she'd be completely alien and abandon her human heritage, although that's obviously not possible, nor did I ever intend to have it happen. Also Rendor isn't the genetic donor of her alien DNA, he's just someone who adopted her. However they do have an actual father/daughter relationship and care for one another.

 

[Panda]

Let me rephrase what I was trying to say:

You've got a character who's half human and half alien. She's adopted by an alien when she's an infant and raised by him, growing up in the alien culture, viewing humans with the same sort of xenophobia that the other aliens do. She's prejudiced against humans, therefore she's prejudiced against herself. You've got a really interesting set-up for an internal conflict. Kalianyra is her own worst enemy, and that makes her a compelling character.

Here's the thing, though. Real people in real life deal with this sort of self-hatred all the time. Human beings like to categorize themselves and others, and look at the world from an "us vs them" perspective. This doesn't work so well when you're both an "us" and a "them." It's not just a race thing, either. I've known bisexuals who feel like they've been rejected by both the gay and straight communities. And of course it doesn't always happen, either: Most biracial/bisexual/bi-whatever people are perfectly well-adjusted individuals who don't hate themselves. It's just that when you're taught to be a bigot against group "X," knowing that you yourself are part "X" means you hate yourself.

So you've got a fictional character with a fictional dilemma that mirrors a real dilemma. Some readers are going to assume that this is an allegory and that you're trying to say something about self-bigotry. I assumed (wrongly, it turns out) that this was intentional and that your decision to give the character dark skin was a non-so-subtle way of pointing this out to the reader. So I just wanted to let you know that people reading more into your story than you meant is a thing that can happen. Also, I don't think you've written anything offensive about Kalianyra, so I hope I don't come across as attacking you. If anything, I like what you've written so far because, as I've said, I think it poses an interesting internal conflict.

 

[Reilith]

I just say - think of Spock. He was always trying to be the mos Vulcan he could be - but even though he wanted to control his emotions and human side, he evolved from that to become himself, embracing his heritage. That way of putting it could be helpful to you, I think.

 

[ChasingSuns]

I just say - think of Spock. He was always trying to be the mos Vulcan he could be - but even though he wanted to control his emotions and human side, he evolved from that to become himself, embracing his heritage. That way of putting it could be helpful to you, I think.

I too thought of Spock. I think that this is a great opportunity to create an internal conflict for the character, as long as it is portrayed as a sort of conflict. It is something that can help the readers relate to the character on a deeper level. I think that it does need to be portrayed as a sort of conflict though, because without it you might have some difficulty gaining sympathy for the character.

 

[Antaus]

I know this might sound like a dumb question, but it's coming from a person who's never had internal problems on the same level as the character. Sure I have my personal demons like anyone else, I just don't hate myself. The question is how would someone, with Kalianyra's level of internal conflict, be likely to deal with it?

 

[Caged Maiden]

um....self-destructive habits are how a lot of people deal. Risky behavior, general disregard for their own safety. It goes on in other ways, substances, self-mutilation, acting out in any way possible to take the attention off the thing they hate and make other people "perceive" them as somehow otherwise troubled or as something else entirely. I'm a self-destructive person. It sin't a nice feeling, but it reared its head more when I was a teenager than it does now. Not eating, not sleeping, not taking care of one's self. Depression, reclusive, anxiety, codependence on another whom the person thinks is awesome or otherwise derives strength from, I can go on and on. There are lots of coping mechanisms

 

[spectre]

They loved the interracial struggle of Spock!

 

[K.S. Crooks]

I just say - think of Spock. He was always trying to be the mos Vulcan he could be - but even though he wanted to control his emotions and human side, he evolved from that to become himself, embracing his heritage. That way of putting it could be helpful to you, I think.

I also instantly thought of Spock (at odds with his human half) and B'elanna Torres (at odds with her Klingon half). Many of the things your character feels about humans will most likely be things that most of us understand about our species in general, either through personal experience or through the history of our mankind. The contrast between the alien culture and humans is what will make this work. The way they are different from us in their beliefs and behaviours.
As people have pointed out Star Trek is very good at this. The key is to have ingrained traits that are easy to identify with the species. Vulcans- logic, suppress emotions, had very violent history until they turned to logic. Klingons- regard honor and loyalty the highest, warriors, prefer to die in battle vs die of old age.
Be able to do the same for your species and it will make the reader understand the point of view of your character and her people. Good luck with the story.

 

[Helen]

think of Spock.

Exactly.

And Spock is half alien and half human for a reason.

RIP Leonard Nimoy.

 

[MineOwnKing]

I think that falling in love can be transcendent of accumulative woe. We can learn appreciation for ourselves through admiration, kindness and sensual bonding. But eventually the anchor of indomitable angst will tug against the tide, and such a person will feel windless in an inescapable harbor of real-time disappointments. Yet at that point the disappointment could be shared and thus alleviated or eliminated.
A good drunk sometimes helps.