The Eve of All Hallows
October 31, 2013 by abigail padgett
Here’s a Halloween tale to ponder.
Charlaine Harris, author of a humorous mystery series, has received death threats after concluding the series at book 13. The announcement of the series end was made in May, and there was vituperative outrage from fans (?) then. But apparently something new has happened, because there’s a sudden outpouring of response to Harris and “author death threats” on social media sites frequented by authors, including me.
So what’s this about? The standard interpretation is that these people threatening mayhem and murder over mere fiction are obviously “wacko, loony, deranged, fill-in-the-blank.” Bottom line – they aren’t “normal,” which of course the rest of us are.
On one level that’s true, but here’s the thing. “Normal” is a closed system, a hothouse in which we are protected from everything scary, excessive and weird. But the veil (those steamy hothouse windows) cracks sometimes, permitting the entry of spooks.
Like the fact that, hey, it’s all fiction! The attachment of Harris’s readers to her characters is no less real than the attachment of many to movie stars, presidents or mythological figures. I know a woman whose house is filled with JFK memorabilia; she goes into full mourning every year on November 23 and cries at the mention of his name at any time. She’s not remotely “wacko,” has a happy family and high-level job. And would, at least in her mind, kill Lee Harvey Oswald or the conspirators actually behind the Kennedy assassination if she had a chance. As might thousands locked in a similar attachment, if they could blame the death of Elvis on anybody but Elvis.
We’re wired for these attachments to fictional/fictionalized embodiments of ideas and feelings. They happen only in our minds, contribute to our identities, never change and thus never betray us. And woe to anybody who messes with them!
As, in this case, the author who created them and, godlike, can put an end to them. In the realm between fiction and reality, it’s always Halloween.
Posted in Uncategorized, writing | Tagged author death threats, Charlaine Harris, fiction and reality | 6 Comments
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Nice post, such appropriate reading matter for this night.
Sent from my iPad
>
Wonderful post. Must check out Harris’ work. Yes the veil is thin this time of year.
I kind of think that this attachment to fictional characters is like love that never goes stale because you never have to pick up after the character, nor smell his/her bad breath. You know, that early phase where you convince yourself that this person is the perfect friend/lover/ boss for me. We think alike, we have the same values, and even if sometimes we don’t, it is only on the unimportant things–the phase that usually lasts 12-18 months. Then, in real life, you have to see if you can make it through the next couple of years and find ways to compromise and admit that it is not a perfect fit.
With book characters you get to keep thinking that they would be a great friend/lover if only they were real–that they would definitely not have bad breath or leave their underwear on the floor to be picked up by you.
So true, Ruth! Real people are flawed, inconsistent and prone to leave dishes in the sink and underwear on the floor. Fictional people may have flaws, but from the safe distance of the reader’s perspective these seem “interesting.” Fictional people stay in character, behaving predictably through countless books. And since dishes and underwear do not make for riveting plots, they aren’t there! I guess the argument could be made that imagined relationships with fictional or fictionalized people are a form of sloth, or cowardice. Certainly such interior relationships cross a clinical line when they result in death threats to authors. But on the healthy side of that line such attachments provide a world of wished-for experience completely unavailable in reality. Bottom line – reality would be flat beer without stories. Reader anger, vicious reviews on Amazon and death threats are just the dark side of the game, the necessary risk taken by writers. Also by everybody else who happens to wander into the path of somebody whose interior fiction has failed.
First, what is that angel photo really?
Second, the movie “Misery” could make any popular author nervous. Poor Charlaine! People who NEED stories such as those in the series just concluded should write their own. At the least, they’ll entertain themselves; maybe they will even have talent. Perhaps they’ll even give Charlaine a run for the money in her own field.
Third, those of us (including you, me, and your friend mentioned above) who were alive during Camelot still miss it, and some of us carry a bit of it forward into the future.
Finally, in the phrase “worship from afar,” which is what rabid fans do, note that it not only contains the word “afar” but the word, “worship.”
worship from afar
Hi, Linda Jean –
The angel is in a Bonn, Germany, cemetery full of fantastic statuary of which I took hundreds of photos I now have no idea what to do with.
Stephen King nailed it with MISERY, but that whole syndrome (the over-identified “fan”) remains curious, doesn’t it? Somebody should do the research. I’m imagining people for whom real life is snagged somewhere, unevolving, tedious and boring. They lack either the imagination or the courage to smash whatever bubble they’re trapped in and seek the experiences they crave, so they fixate on fictional or fictionalized characters who in some way represent them, their ideas and feelings. When a fictionalized character (movie star, etc.) dies, or especially when a totally fictional character does, they feel the loss in some deeply personal way I have trouble imagining. It hurts them; it’s an assault; they panic and react, some publicly threatening whomever they see as responsible. Really, somebody should write a book about the syndrome. When you think about it, about the fact that all cultures seem to acknowledge and sustain a human proclivity to identify with fictional figures, it’s odd that nobody talks about it.
“Worshiping from afar” is apt if the terms are defined very broadly. “Worship” usually involves the idea of deities, gods, personalities so “other” than the mundane as to inspire awe. But can movie stars, politicians and characters in novels do that? Apparently. It’s just so interesting!
Abbie