Yesterday I wrote about a couple Stephen J. Cannell novels I’d just read, including Cold Hit. Thinking about the book some more, I came up with further thoughts about something I’d praised Cannell for—his handling of characters.
The book is oddly dated by its presentation of a worst-case scenario based on aspects of the Patriot Act. Remember back around 2005, when everybody was scared that George Bush was turning the country into a police state, and how all the powers given to Homeland Security would have progressives herded into concentration camps for crimes of sedition? All that stuff’s still in force, right? Apparently, now that the Democrats are in charge, those same laws are suddenly benign.
Anyway, much of the tension in Cold Hit arises from friction and territorial infighting between the local police and federal agencies. One character in particular, a federal agent whom Cannell spends a lot of time teaching us to hate, turns out—in the end—to be a decent public servant, one who’ll never be the hero’s best buddy, but who deserves and gives respect.
It seems to me one of the weaknesses of contemporary Hollywood (I know I’m jumping abruptly from novels to movies. That’s because I think fiction sins far less in this regard these days) is that characters in movies almost never surprise us anymore. Hollywood has become all about stereotypes. All southerners (I’m sure you’ve noticed) are gap-toothed, undereducated bigots (except for Tommy Lee Jones). All preachers and priests are hypocrites at best, and probably sexual predators. If someone hunts, or votes Republican, they will be unsympathetic. All Latinos are “simple but proud” (to quote a good line from Thomas M. Sipos’ Hollywood Witches, which I reviewed not long ago), all Native Americans are simple but proud with mystical powers added, and all African Americans are wise. Young white males are drunken slackers. Young kids are smart-mouthed, and more intelligent than their parents. The moment a character appears, you already know all about them.
If you’re writing a story, surprise us with your characters. Find good in the ones you don’t like. Find flaws in your heroes. Your work will gain a lot of depth.
All posts by Lars Walker
Reading report: Cold Hit & Three Shirt Deal, by Stephen J. Cannell
Over the holiday, I read a couple more of Stephen J. Cannell’s Shane Scully novels, Cold Hit and Three Shirt Deal. It would be pointless, I think, to give either of them full reviews, unless one of them was bad (neither is), since I’m already on record as enjoying the series. So I’ll just post some thoughts, thought while reading.
1. Does the Los Angeles police department really allow an officer to be their spouse’s immediate superior? If they do, I think they’re nuts.
2. At one point in Cold Hit, Scully as narrator talks about the integration of female officers into the force. I thought the passage was interesting, because he listed good arguments the old guard used against deploying smaller, weaker female patrol officers. He largely answered them, not with a strong counter-argument, but by saying “It’s done, there’s nothing you can do about it.” I find that suggestive (in the inviting-of-thought sense). Probably it’s just me.
3. In spite of his theoretical advocacy of a co-ed police force, Cannell makes heavy use of the inherent pressures, interpersonal and job-related, that come from men serving alongside women in dangerous situations. One could, if one wished, read the whole series as a subtle argument against female recruitment. Again, that’s probably just me.
4. When I first picked up a Cannell novel, I didn’t expect much in the way of character development. Cannell is a television writer/producer, and that medium isn’t famous for the depth of its psychological insight (though The Rockford Files, one of Cannell’s shows, featured some of the best character writing ever done in the medium). I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps as a relief from the constraints of the one-hour series, Cannell goes very deeply into the psyches of his characters. Indeed, in Cold Hit, he probably took it a little too far at one point, having a certain character make a personal disclosure worthy of Oprah’s show, in the middle of a gun fight. But that’s a rare misstep.
5. One drawback of the series format is that it’s hard to allow the heroes to change as much as classic story structure demands. Cannell has done a wonderful job of solving that problem by making surprising changes in his hero’s relationships, especially in Three Shirt Deal. What does Scully do when his wife/superior officer, previously the prudent one in the relationship, now becomes the crazy risk-taker, and he has to act like the grownup? The results are amusing.
By the dawn's Erling light, Part 3
As I attempt to finish up this little series of posts on American themes in my Viking novels, it would make sense to try to trace some direct lines between Erling Skjalgsson’s career and the birth of the American republic. This might seem far-fetched, but the Norse are not aliens to us. The Vikings aren’t just the ancestors of Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes. They established permanent enclaves in a number of European countries, notably (for the purposes of this discussion) Scotland and England.
I’m rather surprised, in looking through my personal library, to find very little written about the permanent cultural influence of the Vikings in these places. But I do find hints.
Arthur Herman’s book How the Scots Invented the Modern World* highlights how the Scottish Enlightenment informed the thinking of the men who made the American Revolution. Is it pure coincidence that much of Scotland—especially the Northern Isles and the Highlands—was heavily settled by freedom-loving Norse, with a tradition of representative democracy? Continue reading By the dawn's Erling light, Part 3
Sign of the times?
I’m not a great one for end-of-the-world prognostications, but all my life I’ve heard of this (or something like it) as being a sign of the Last Days:
Protestant translators expect to have the Bible — or at least some of it — written in every one of the world’s 6,909 spoken languages.
“We’re in the greatest period of acceleration in 20 centuries of Bible translation,” said Morrison resident Paul Edwards, who heads up Wycliffe Bible Translators’ $1 billion Last Languages Campaign.
Portable computers and satellites get the credit for speeding things up by about 125 years.
Full story here, from the Denver Post.
Apocalyptic or not, it’s good news.
By the dawn's Erling light, Part 2
Erling Skjalgsson (hero of my novels, The Year Of the Warrior and West Oversea to date) has held an ambivalent position in Norwegian historical memory. As a deadly opponent of King Olaf Haraldsson (who became St. Olaf, Norway’s patron saint) he landed on the wrong side of history. More than one historian has baldly called him a traitor.
And yet he never came under the kind of opprobrium that fell on his kinsman Thore Hund (Thore the Hound), who was one of Olaf’s killers. The Erling we meet in Heimskringla, a history which held a place next to the Bible in Norwegian homes, was just too attractive. To put it bluntly, St. Olaf looks rather shoddy next to Erling in Snorri Sturlusson’s account. Erling is tall, handsome, a liberator of slaves, and famously heroic. Olaf is short, fat, stubborn, proud, and rather vicious.
There’s sometimes a hint in the sagas (less in Heimskringla than in some others) that Olaf’s conflict with Erling and his kinsmen and allies was about the Christian faith. Doubtless that was how Olaf saw it too, since he was the kind of man who believed himself to be ordained by God, and that his enemies were God’s enemies.
But that wasn’t true. It was about government. It was about liberty, personal and regional rights, and a republican form of government.
It was a very American conflict, centuries in advance. Continue reading By the dawn's Erling light, Part 2
PowerPatton
This is brilliant. Floyd, over at Threedonia, has turned Gen. George Patton’s famous speech to the Third Army into a PowerPoint.
By the dawn's Erling light, Part 1
Phil has suggested that I write about the American political themes in my Erling Skjalgsson novels. This had never occurred to me, but it’s an excellent idea, because I have indeed had our American republic much in mind as I wrote.
There’s a scene in my novel The Year of the Warrior, where the missionary king Olaf Trygvesson is talking to some Norwegian farmers, trying to persuade them to convert to Christianity. One of the reasons he gives for converting is the glory and wealth of the Christian countries. He speaks of the great cathedrals and palaces in England and France, beside which the low wooden halls of the Norse were unimpressive.
This is emblematic, I think, of a political difference that runs through history, a problem that’s been solved in various ways. How do men live together in a society? Will there be freedom (which can become anarchy), or will one central authority control everything (which can become tyranny)?
In the days of the Romans, and later in the early Middle Ages, there was a division between the Latin cultures—those descended from the Roman empire—and the Germanic cultures, which were generally democratic in nature. I might symbolize them by the Roman palace or basilica, and the Norwegian hall. Continue reading By the dawn's Erling light, Part 1
Linkage
WORLD Magazine reports that Mosab Hassan Yousef has been granted asylum in the United States. The son of a Hamas founder, he turned against terrorism, spied for Israel, and embraced Christianity. Youself had been threatened with deportation for his past terrorist associations. That would certainly have resulted in his murder.
In his book, Yousef describes growing up admiring Hamas and hating Israel. He said he bought machine guns and a handgun in 1996, but the guns didn’t work and he was arrested by Israeli forces before he killed anyone.
Yousef says he started working with Shin Bet after witnessing Hamas brutalities in prison that left him disillusioned. He gravitated toward Christianity after his release in 1997, joining a study group after a chance encounter with a British tourist at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.
Thank God. Thank God.
DISCOVER Magazine reports on scientists who are studying a unique form of sign language, developed by deaf schoolchildren in Nicaragua. The researchers are discovering new things about the power of language, and the very real effects it has on how we think about our world (or don’t).
This is a fascinating result, especially since the first group of adults were older and had been signing for a longer time. It’s clear evidence that our spatial reasoning skills depend, to an extent, on consistent spatial language. If we lack the right words, our mental abilities are limited in a way that extra life experience can’t fully compensate for. Even 30 years of navigating through the world won’t do the trick.
Tip: Mirabilis.
Maybe I exist after all!
I’m sitting here dumbfounded. Andrew Klavan–THE Andrew Klavan, the power cord of whose laptop I am not worthy to untangle–has linked to my story about the “outing” of my pastor, in its separate life over at The American Culture.
Nunc dimittis.
Pastoral letter from the future
A PASTORAL LETTER
From Bishop Judith Hardanger-Hansen
Dearly beloved,
There has been considerable dissension in our fellowship recently, and a number of hard words have been spoken, causing much pain. I feel it my obligation to address the matter directly, exercising openmindedness and charity, both to the enlightened, Christ-like people who agree with me, and the knuckle-dragging Nazis on the other side.
From its inception, the Merry Pride movement has been like the wind of the Holy Spirit, breathing new life and new ideas into the church. Sadly, however, some people do not welcome change, and run from the challenges of a new day.
In case anyone reading this is unaware of recent history (home-schooled people, perhaps), the term “Merry” was adopted by the oppressed group formerly known as “adulterers,” employing a pun on the word “marry,” to give their lifestyle a more positive public face. They felt it intolerable to be forced to live any longer with a name that bore the weight of centuries of misunderstanding, prejudice, and oppression. Continue reading Pastoral letter from the future