Enter, Dandelion

If you’ve read my novels (which I know you have ;-)), then you know that I’m not generally one for inserting humor into my stories. I tend more toward thriller, toward drama and intrigue, than toward silly. Though I do attempt to throw in moments of lightness, of joy and laughter, I don’t generally include actual humor—just lighter scenes to break up the intensity levels. That’s why I picked today’s author, and today’s topic.

Andrzej Sapkowski – The Last Wish (The Witcher)

(being that I’ve only read the two short story books and the first book of the actual series, I’m just going to use The Last Wish [book] as my primary example here)

If you’ve been watching my Goodreads, then you know this is the second series I’ve been reading, alternating with the Orson Scott Card’s Ender Saga. It’s also a series that I’m very glad I started reading, for very many reasons. I’ll only be talking about one of those reasons today, but I might mention the others at the end. ;-)

For today, I want to talk about Sapkowski’s ability to blend humor with the incredibly high intensity of the series’ subject matter. The Witcher is an insanely intense story, where literally anything can happen—which is why it’s important for there to be a level of humor. Without it, this series would likely end up more horror than fantasy fiction, and it would lose a lot of its nuance.

See, The Witcher series is focused on an enhanced individual who hunts and kills creatures for a living. It’s a dark story, full of terror and monsters and a growing fear in the background, a knowledge that the witcher can’t keep doing this forever, and that the world is falling into chaos. So there needed to be a way for the reader to get through that without feeling exhausted, without having to put the book down now and again to come up for air, to get out of the darkness. Why? Because this isn't a horror series, nor was it intended to be.

Enter, Dandelion. Yes, like the flower. I like the guy too much to pronounce it like that, so I call him Dan-dillion. Feel free to judge me for that.

But this is the part that I wanted to talk about today, the reason why I think authors really ought to make a study out of books like The Last Wish. Dandelion is the comic relief, yes, but he’s more than that. He’d also a really smart and really fun character, and one that is in some ways easier to latch onto than the titular witcher.

Sapkowski was brilliant to add such a character, and to do it in this way.

Dandelion isn’t even in the whole book, but he’s there long enough for readers to attach to him, for us to understand who he is in this world and why he’s important to the story. He’s laughable and he knows it, and he doesn’t care—and that’s probably part of what makes him such a good character.

It’s something a lot of writers tend to neglect, when writing such dark stories. We forget that readers need a little bit of lightheartedness, that they need to poke their heads up and see the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s why we need characters like Dandelion, characters who nearly transcend the story and make it into something altogether different.

And that’s what Sapkowski did in The Last Wish, to the point that when Dandelion wasn’t so heavily featured in one of the next books, it took me much longer to finish.

If you’re writing a book and noticing that it’s getting too intense, that you might need to add something to make it flow better and make it slightly easier for your audience to swallow, consider reading The Last Wish. I don’t care whether you read the rest of the series or not: just read that one. Meet Dandelion, right at the time when you need him to be there in the story. And use what you’ve learned to better your own craft, your own story.

That’s part of what we read for, you know. Never forget that.

[love]

{Rani D.}

P.S. Honorable mentions!

The Last Wish is also a good one to read if you’re looking to market for another country. It’s a translation, so you’ll be able to see some of the pacing differentials there. Check out Blood of Elves as well, if you need a good example of pacing.

The Last Wish is actually a collection of short stories that were blended together to make a pseudo-novel, and Sapkowski did it marvelously well. It’s one of the best short story books I’ve ever read, mostly because of the way he blended them together. If you’re looking into doing anything of that nature, please, do yourself a favor and read this book.