Hypertext Magazine asked Spencer Fleury, author of How I’m Spending My Afterlife, “Neither of the main characters in your book comes across as especially likeable, in the sense of being people the reader might want to spend time with or know in real life. Are you worried readers might be turned off by this?”
By Spencer Fleury
I’m not. I mean, I’m sure some readers will fail to connect with Alton and Nicole for exactly that reason—as characters, they’re selfish, petty, and dishonest, though in different ways from each other. Alton’s a white-collar criminal whose first instinct is to abandon his family and go into hiding when the authorities start closing in. Nicole drinks too much and is having an affair behind Alton’s back. It’s easy for a reader to ask, why should I care about what happens to these people? I don’t even like them.
But even if you don’t like the Carvers, you still just might be able to relate to them. Alton’s problems really start when he realizes that people do not see him the way he sees himself—to them, he’s a joke, a terrible colleague and boss, a distracted and absent husband, and they all seem to be happier now that they think he’s dead. This is a devastating blow to his psyche, and all the decisions he makes from then on are a direct response to it. True, few of us engage in self-delusion to the lengths Alton does. But haven’t we all—at one time or another—worried that maybe the world was laughing at us behind our backs, that we were on the receiving end of a giant practical joke that everyone else was in on? Now imagine discovering it was all true. How would you react?
As for Nicole, her behavior is rooted in the way being married to Alton has isolated and numbed her. It’s not spelled out explicitly, but you can certainly get the sense that their marriage hasn’t been much of a marriage for some time. All she really wants is what she was promised when she and Alton first fell in love. Now she’s casting about, trying to find fulfillment where she can, sometimes in ways we may not approve of but that are still recognizable and relatable. Maybe you haven’t been exactly where Nicole is, but you’ve probably felt that same disappointment and directionlessness at some point in your life.
As a reader myself, I’ve always been drawn to stories featuring unlikeable characters. When I was in high school, I remember reading Catcher in the Rye and Less Than Zero concurrently. Scarcely a likeable character to be found. But Holden Caulfield was interesting. The scenesters surrounding Clay were compelling to me in their vapid nihilism. And that’s what it’s about. You’ve got to give readers a good reason to keep turning pages. But even characters we wouldn’t invite over for dinner can teach us something about what it is to be human, which is what all the best fiction does.
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Spencer Fleury has worked as a sailor, copywriter, economics professor, and record store clerk, among other disreputable professions. He was born in Michigan, spent most of his life in Florida, and now lives in San Francisco. How I’m Spending My Afterlife is his first novel.
Learn more at SpencerFleury.com