#thor feels
I read a critique of a book that compared the characters to the relative popularity/interest level in Loki and Thor, saying that Loki is more interesting because he has conflicts and changing/growing motivations and desires he pursues that come from within, whereas Thor is basically content with his life of drinking, fighting and sex, and only reacts to external threats. I can see their point. At the same time, point one is that there’s nothing wrong with external threats driving an adventure narrative. That’s a valid and often interesting story structure. In fact, it’s arguably necessary for a serialized adventure story. Point two is that basically happy and well-adjusted people can have growth and interesting motivations and reactions… they just happen differently, or more subtly and slowly perhaps.
From what I can tell, the problem with that book’s main character was that she was ultimately not used in an interesting way by the narrative, and nothing super interesting happened for her to react to or grow from. Thor is different ‘cause you can do almost anything with a comic superhero character in general and Thor in particular, as we can see even in the range of tone and subject matter in current Marvel Thor movies. I mean, most stories that care about plot basically need a main character constructed like Thor, while antagonists and secondary characters are more free to have overarching agendas. At the same time, putting that kind of hero into a smaller, more character-driven story is also possible, as a lot of fanfic demonstrates.
Anyway, this makes me wonder what the 'secret’ of making a naturally well-adjusted character like Thor interesting in a smaller story would be. Basically, what if the stuff the main character has to react to is just… not that gripping, or kind of predictable, or even not the point? Does the character have to be dramatic in and of themselves then?
The main 'secret’ is the relationship/relationships developed between the characters, as far as I can tell. The 'main character’ is not the point; the dynamic is the point of interest. That’s not to say I actually think only striving, conflicted characters like Loki are truly interesting. Thor is interesting! You can’t really be 'too boring’ or 'too normal’ for a story to be great; that’s actually ridiculous. Being conflicted and intense as a person is essentially just easier. It’s a shortcut, basically. As a writer, that story writes itself. It’s just… with someone like Thor and without an external source of conflict, I think suddenly you have to have some subtlety and attention to detail, noticing all the tiny things in life that actually matter and make it feel 'real’ and important as you’re living it. You can reveal hidden depths and subtleties in any character, even if they’re just going out to a bar with friends. It’s just… easy to fail, and hard to keep the reader’s attention.
I think a lot of writers also write 'normal’ and well-adjusted characters without being very intentional about it, unlike good fanfic writers, who generally are fixated and obsessed with every tiny detail about Thor. Like, the writer may use broad strokes too much with such a character, or not be good enough at capturing small, mundane moments in an elegant, vivid manner. They may even believe their smaller stakes plot may fool readers into thinking it’s super important. Essentially, the problem is generally the writer not respecting their readers’ intelligence and not being interested enough in their own main character.
