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  1.  

    This is such a cliche, mostly because being an orphan gives a character free reign to angst as well as freedom to do what they want without parental supervision. And yet I’m considering using it.

    Discuss all aspects of the whole dead parents/orphan situation. Is it overused? What do people usually get wrong when they try to write about orphans? (ie, common pitfalls) This is kind of a really common storytelling device, so I figured it needed a thread.

    Conversation about neglectful/absent parents can count too, I suppose.

  2.  

    I used it quite a bit in my story, but I don’t feel like it’s too contrived. It’s a setting with a high mortality rate. There’s one surviving parent between my two leads when it starts, and all previous parental deaths are plot points, so it hopefully doesn’t seem cheap. Neither of them really angst about it either, or at least so my early feedback would suggest, which ask me why ______ wasn’t still really sad all the time when ______’s parent(s) died 10+ years ago. Quite a few of the secondary characters are without parents as well, but orphans are more likely to fall between the cracks and end up in a location where I can include them than somebody with a family would.

    At any rate, I wouldn’t be too concerned about using it, as long as you execute it in an honest way. If your character deals with it naturally and you don’t harp on it, most readers will give you a pass. I’d assume you’re not just thinking of including it as a cheap sympathy device. If you elaborate more on your specifics, I can try and give you some advice.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeApr 7th 2010
     

    It depends on how it’s used. As with many plot devices, it can be used well in many different contexts.

    Best Example: Batman. The loss of his parents spurred him to become a crime fighter. In this context, his being an orphan is vital to the storyline and profoundly shapes who he becomes. We sympathize with him as he relives the event (even thirty-some years later) and are given a taste of what a horrible place Gotham City really is.

    Good Example: Harry Potter. It’s a straight-up archetype, but it gives Harry a unique opportunity to view the world through his own eyes. Without his own parents’ influence and with the Dursleys all but denying him theirs, Harry must formulate his own perspectives and opinions while learning for himself who is trustworthy and who is not. It’s also a bit of a literary device here, as Harry is a foil for Voldemort and how he dealt with being an orphan.

    Pretty Good Example: The movie Meet the Robinsons. Will’s being an orphan spurs him to create, create, create and invent, invent, invent—all in hopes of convincing some couple out there to adopt him. When that doesn’t work, he creates another invention to tap into his memories so he can remember his mother, all so he can find her again. But one thing leads to another, and before you know it he’s whisked off to the future by his future son, then all but trapped in a temporal paradox. In this example, Will’s being an orphan is vital to the plot and not just angst fodder.

    Bad Example: Eragon. Why is he an orphan again? I don’t know; I fell asleep halfway through Eldest. Probably something to do with the Evil Empire of Evil. Eragon’s being an orphan has nothing to do with the plot of the series and is rarely mentioned. It has no impact upon his psyche—except, of course, when he’s angsting about being an orphan.

    Horrible Example: Renesmee in Breaking Dawn. Oh, object all you want about how She Isn’t Really an Orphan and Jacob Cares About Her So It’s Okay. Bottom line: Her parents abandoned her so they can relive their honeymoon all day, leaving her with a cool-character-turned-pedophile. This might actually be a good horror story—if the author didn’t treat it as something sweet and cute. Aww, look. Bella gave up her daughter so Jacob can be happy and eventually love her the way she deserves to be loved and RUN RENESMEE!!!!! RUN ANYWHERE ON EARTH BUT OHIO!!! THERE’S A BIZARRE CULT OF FAMILY MEMBERS YOU’VE NEVER MET WHO WANT TO SUCK YOU INTO A MEANINGLESS EXISTENCE OF WATERY CHILI AND MEDIOCRE SPORTS FRANCHISES!!!!! PLUS THEY’LL PROBABLY SEND YOU BACK TO PEDOWOLF!!!!

    Ahem. So yeah. In my opinion, it all depends on how it’s used.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeApr 7th 2010
     

    It’s simple.

    1. You don’t have to deal with the parents, meaning that the characters usually have no restraints to what they can and will do.

    2. If the parents died in some horrible way that gives the protagonist both backstory and motive if he wants to seek the revenge path.

    3. It gives the chance of developing the character, how he dealt with their death, if he even really cares, etc.

    Having the protagonist be a orphan really just offers a lot of opportunities for development.

  3.  

    Horrible Example: Renesmee in Breaking Dawn.

    They left her with Jacob? For no good reason? Wow. That just won the Worst Parent award.

    There are actually two main orphans in my WiP. The rich female protag tries to think of her parents as little as possible. She doesn’t really care that much about them, or miss them at all, because she never knew them. Also, her parents’ marriage and her resulting birth was something of a scandal. (Out of all the angst potential, I guess there is the most here. The character in question has long accepted her situation, so I don’t believe that wangst will be a problem.)

    The other protag lives in a slum, so it’s not that surprising if his parents die of disease. He does have an elder brother, so he’s not completely alone in that sense. He had a much closer relationship with his parents than the female protag, but he’s the kind who doesn’t really like to talk about intimate feelings. Preventing internal angst will be the important thing here.

  4.  

    A pitfall I see is when (mainly in a present day setting) a character is orphaned and there are very few options considered. So it’s like: the main character’s parents die, they have no living relatives, and so they have to be adopted as a plot point or sent to a horrible orphanage.
    What bothers me the most is that things like foster care or finding other relatives (there have to be some cousins or something) are never mentioned.
    And I might be wrong, but don’t most parents have a plan just in case they die while their kids are minors?

    Ugh, and the whole Renesmee thing is why I could not stand Breaking Dawn, among other reasons. The brain bleach did nothing to erase that horrible memory. >.>

  5.  

    Well yeah, there’s still care offered by the state. It’s not necessarily horrible, as far as I know.

  6.  

    Eragon. Why is he an orphan again? I don’t know; I fell asleep halfway through Eldest. Probably something to do with the Evil Empire of Evil. Eragon’s being an orphan has nothing to do with the plot of the series and is rarely mentioned. It has no impact upon his psyche—except, of course, when he’s angsting about being an orphan.

    Spoilers follow.

    My character is an orphan. She wants revenge on the government who killed her parents. I claim validation.

  7.  

    About Eragon: Yeah, why didn’t they just go straight to the part about Brom being the father? Oh yeah, because that would have been much too straightforward, right? In that case, how did Eragon end up with Garrow in the first place?

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeApr 11th 2010
     

    Because his mother dumped him.

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeApr 11th 2010 edited
     

    Eragon: Even his own mother tried to escape him.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeApr 11th 2010
     

    Eragon: Even his own mother tried to escape him.

    SSHHHH!!!! Don’t let Eragon hear you or he’ll start angsting and crying again!

  8.  
    I think it's become such a common thing that it doesn't even really matter as long as you do it well. My lead's father dies early on in the novel which is what gets the whole plot moving but he still has his mother whom he very rarely sees after he leaves for his big quest. I haven't really thought much about how much his death will effect him. I'm thinking of doing a deathbed scene with the whole "I was always proud of you" thing but man that's cliched and lame. Maybe I should just have him die instantly and see how my main character takes it without ever knowing if his father loved him since they have a pretty bad relationship.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeApr 11th 2010
     

    Eragon’s mother was a slut.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeApr 11th 2010
     

    so was Red’s. I mean, come on lady, you don’t even know who the father is.

  9.  

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2010
     

    Perhaps I was subconsciously channeling super effective.

  10.  

    Wait, which webcomic was that?

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  13.  

    It seems that in fiction, the parents either completely control the child or teenage character’s life, or they could be dead. You know, divorced and/or always working and out of the house.

    I don’t think missing parents (as in just not there often enough) are overused. The majority of people I know really do have parents that fall into one of those two categories. However, I can’t recall ever meeting an orphan. Most people just have neglectful parents/parents who aren’t smothering their children.

    I think it’s become such a common thing that it doesn’t even really matter as long as you do it well.

    Exactly. Not every orphan is going to have to angst about there lack of parents, yadda yadda. It all depends on execution.

  14.  

    A lot of British teen girl fiction (Eg Confessions of Georgia Nicholson, Andrew Matthews’ books, Ally’s World, etc) has parents who are around and make an impact on their kids’ lives if you’re looking for examples. And no, not all of it is terrible.

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2010
     
    I have at least one character who is an orphan. I made him that way so I wouldn't have to deal with his parents' reaction when he's falsely accused of theft and exiled for fifteen years. Especially since his father would probably steal the show with an elaborate revenge plot, and the story would start being about him instead. But the hero does have family, he and his younger brother are raised by their older sister and their father's friend, who eventually marry. And said family members are extremely nice, so there's no 'abusive stepfamily angst'.
  15.  

    It’s occurred to me that the dysfunctional marriage between the king and queen in my WIP might actually be a gender-flipped version of my parents. Everything makes so much more sense now.