Today, I decided to write something inspired by my favorite book, Armor by John Steakley. I'd love to say that the first time I read this book I was struck by the characters and the storytelling and, I suppose I was, but I honestly can't remember my first time. This is an amazing book that I have read so many times over the years and one I try to read once every year.
While I'd love to talk about how much I enjoy the book and why, what I really want to do is talk about what I find so intriguing about it: The story is told in two parts and the only character that takes constant part in both parts is a suit of armor. Armor. This isn't just any suit of armor, but an advanced scout power suit that's capable of running for days without any support and tearing through hordes of enemy bugs. That's damn impressive, but nothing compared to the pilot of the suit of whom the first part is about. He. Just. Will. Not. Die.
And then, his part of the story ends and we follow a completely different group of characters through their own story, farther along in the Bug War. Only the suit ties them together. The second half tells the story of how the suit and the records it holds affects these new characters and their own problems.
It's fantastic.
To get to what I find intriguing, I love the idea of telling a story where an inanimate object is one of the main characters, if not the principle character. That brings some challenges because an inanimate object cannot act. It can't make decisions. It can't feel. If it can't do any of that, how can it be a character? It can change. And, an important pillar of storytelling is change, isn't it?
At this point, I'm just going to throw questions and ideas around to see if they stick: How could an object change? It could change if other characters acted on it. It could change with the passage of time. In the book, the titular armor changes as more of its history is revealed. How can the object affect the story? By affecting other characters who can act and make decisions. If the object in question were powerful enough, it could affect the environment, too, which would then affect the other characters. At that point, the object might be considered a force of nature more than an inanimate object.
I'm going to take an object and play with some of those ideas and see where they take me. How about a sword? Swords are in lots of stories. Every story needs a cast of characters, so I'll bring in a few more: The sword's owner, that woman's husband and their son. We have four characters, at this point. To begin the story, I think the son and husband are working on a farm or in a tavern and the sword is returned with the body of the woman, who was slain in battle. The sword, then, is a constant reminder that the wife and mother is not there. But, she was probably a hero, and sacrificed herself to win the day, or something like that. So, the sword is also a reminder of her hero status. I think the sword would also serve as a focus for daydreams and memories for both the other characters, which brings the woman in as an active character. I can see the husband getting lost in a memory of times he shared with his wife as he stares at the sword, and the son losing himself in imaginings of his heroic mother on the field of battle.
I think there's a great story to tell of the husband and son overcoming their grief and coming to terms with their loss in the immediate present. Advancing the timeline a little, however, brings out more possibilities. What if the sword becomes a beacon for people who worship the woman as a hero? Pilgrims from all over the land would flock to their farm to see the sword. That affects the lives of the husband and son because they are never alone and are always forced to speak with those pilgrims of their wife and mother who is long gone. Maybe the son comes to resent it and that resentment turns to a more active target, his father.
Later, if the sword leaves their hands somehow and is found or rescued by someone else, how does it affect that new character's life? What if that sword becomes a reminder of something the nation would rather forget, so it becomes an outlawed artifact and people are forced to hide it away?
With this example, it looks like I've come up with a story of loss, sacrifice, remembrance, resentment, worship and rebellion. That's a lot of potential.
But also, is the sword the main character? I don't know; I think that would depend on how the story is written. I don't feel educated enough in creative writing or storytelling to discuss the how of writing it as the main character, so I'll leave that question without an answer.
I know this is not a brand-new idea; there are no new ideas under the sun. I'm just one person who is stumbling through this on my own, playing with stories because I love stories. This was a fun idea and I think I'll play around with it and write a bit of fiction. In fact, I may use that as a posting schedule here: Playing with ideas one week and then executing those ideas for the next.
That's all for this week! I hope it was a fun read and I hope it inspires something in you. Thank you for reading.
