Do all protagonists have to be GOOD guys?

Protagonist…Good or Bad?

by

Luke Murphy

My very first adult novel was CUJO by Stephen King (what were my parents thinking? LOL). Like I said, I’ve never been a horror fan, but King in a genius. That book scared the bejesus out of me, but it was an exceptional read and it brought me in touch with a side that thrilled me. Being scared or frightened is an emotion that appealed to my inner being and I craved more.

They don’t make good horror movies like they used to, but every now and then I like to watch a horror movie to connect with my youth. I know, weird, eh?

So my real question is: Do all protagonists have to be GOOD guys? We’ve all read books about zombies, ghosts, ghouls and brutal serial killers as antagonists, but what about protagonists? Is the term “bad protagonist” an oxymoron?

One of my favorite shows on TV is Dexter. What would you call him? Is rooting for a serial killer such a bad thing?

That’s what I had in mind when I first sat down to write my début novel, DEAD MAN’S HAND.

Dead Man’s Hands is a crime-thriller set in the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas. It takes readers inside the head of Calvin Watters, a sadistic 6’5”, 220 pound African-American, Las Vegas debt-collector framed by a murderer who, like the Vegas Police, finds him to be the perfect fall-guy. He's not a man to be taken lightly or a book for the faint of heart.

When thinking about creating the main character for my story, I wanted someone “REAL”. Someone readers could relate to. Although it is a work of fiction, my goal was to create a character who readers could make a real connection with.

Physically, keeping in mind Watters’ past as an NCAA football standout and his current occupation as a Vegas leg-breaker, I thought “intimidating”, and put together a mix of characteristics that make Watters appear scary (dreadlocks, patchy facial hair, body covered in tattoos), but also able to blend in with those of the social elite.

His every movement is done with precision and a slowness that dramatizes his actions. As he’s torturing his victims when collecting debts the atmosphere is built up by where the scene takes place. His “workshop” has been created to scare his prey. His methods are brutal, and he has a 100% rate of collection.

One author, one marketing plan

 by 

Luke Murphy

My marketing started with the writing of my book. I always had a plan, an idea of the plot, but now I had to think about the characters and setting, and I had to think about my target audience in this stage.

I wanted characters who readers could relate to. Characters that were real, not fictional to the point of unbelievable. My protagonist, Calvin Watters, is as real as they come, with faults and weaknesses like us all. Because of my sports background, I wanted Calvin to also have an athletic background. I was a pro hockey player, but I decided that hockey would be fine for a Canadian fan base, but I wanted to cater worldwide, so I chose football. I believe that more people follow football than hockey.

For the setting, I needed a major market in the United States that people would want to read about, so I chose Sin City, Las Vegas. Everyone is interested in this fast-paced, party-all-night lifestyle and city that is party-central.

In today’s society, most people don’t realize that writing a book is more than just putting a good story down on paper. I learned this quickly. Agents and publishers want someone with a “platform”, someone who already has a fan base and is guaranteed to sell books. It’s risky for a publisher to take a chance on a new writer, because there is no telling how many books they will sell, no matter how good that book may be.

In 1999 I graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in Marketing, so I felt I had a running start at promoting my work.

It took me two years (working around full time jobs) to complete the first draft of my novel.

I’m going to skip through the writing phase and seeking and agent/publisher, because this post is about actually marketing my début novel.

Once my publishing contract was signed, then the real work began, building my “platform”. I knew that when I signed on with a smaller publisher that the bulk of the promotion load would fall on my shoulders, and I accepted that.

I did four things quickly: created my own website, started a blog, and opened a Facebook page and Twitter account.

Now, I have been fortunate to have had many jobs in my life, jobs that have created interest in not only myself, but what I do.

Here are some things I did next:

-      I scribed a letter to all of my email contacts (2500) and all of my FB friends (2500).

-      I scribed a letter for all of the media outlets (radio, TV, print) in the cities where I played hockey, or have contacts. One of the benefits of playing professional hockey was that I went through a lot of interviews with personalities in all forms of media.

-       I picked out the site for my launch party and spoke with the owner about it.

-       I played hockey for teams and leagues all over North America, creating a fan base in a variety of cities, and also worked in hockey camps, so I already had some followers that I contacted.

-      I was a reporter on the radio for a couple of years after retiring from hockey, and my radio reporting was a presence on the web as well as in radio.

-      My sports column (2006-2009), Overtime, which was a main feature in The Pontiac Equity, not only had a following but helped in writing concise and exciting prose.

-     I composed a list of local stores for potential book signings.

-     I compiled a list of local stores to sell my book.

Next I picked out my target audience and searched the web for them:

    -   Thriller readers looking for an atypical thriller hero—an African-American who is no saint.

    -   Sports fans will be fascinated by Watters’ struggle to recover his decency and win, a kind of Blind Side story with little sentimentality and few illusions.

    -   A Las Vegas setting—the world of The Hangover movies and many youth films like Bridesmaids—will appeal to 20s-30s readers.

   -   Watters’ romance with a former prostitute will appeal to younger female readers.The marital tension between Detective Dayton and his wife will interest adults. Both men and women will enjoy the twist on the femme fatale figure of the murderer’s lover, who has her own schemes.

  -      Lovers of history, as the term, “Dead Man’s Hand”, is a legend dating back to the Wild West of the 1800's.

I started creating relationships on the internet through Facebook and Twitter. I met not only authors, but fans of the genres I write.

When my book was released in October, 2012, I felt I had a solid foundation to stand on, but I still had a long way to go.

I contacted media for interviews, held book signings, joined shows and blog toured. I contacted anyone who wrote a blog and asked about being a guest. I joined Pinterest, Linkedin, and Google +, as well as sites created to support Indie authors. I did anything I could to get my name out there, get my book in front of readers.

My publisher set up special promotions where my book was FREE on Amazon for certain periods of time. All of this was done to increase my following, and expand the awareness of my book on a worldwide scale. This will hopefully lead to future sales with not only my debut novel, but subsequent books if I’ve fortunate enough to write more.

I’ve been happy with the result thus far, but I don’t have anything to compare it to. I feel that the more books I write, the more success I will have. The more I get out there, the more excitement and interest is garnered.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

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