The Unexpected Protagonist

An interesting fact (interesting maybe only to me) about the Jack Mack novels is that Jack did not exist in the original idea for them. They were to focus on Errol McFee, with his cousin Brendon in something of a sidekick role. Some of those initial ideas found their way into other stories, particularly the Wilk novels (written as Stephen Brooke).

Instead, I found myself unexpectedly writing about young Jack McFee when I started on 'Among the Many Worlds.' That, I think, worked out well.

Why did I drop Errol as my protagonist? Mostly because he was both too competent (in a rather narrow way) and too quirky. He definitely worked better as a mentor to his younger cousin. Jack does grow away from his youthful hero-worship of Errol over the course of the first two novels and has pretty much come into his own in the third, the current work-in-progress (to be titled ‘Dim, Distant Stars’).

Errol does not even show up in this latest story, aside from mentions as being on a long diplomatic mission/honeymoon in the aftermath of the war. Brendon is around but in the process of retiring to country life. Jack stands on his own, now.

As well as in future novels, it is to be hoped. I certainly have ideas for those but it is anyone’s guess when (or maybe even ‘if’) I will get to them. Right now, ‘Dim, Distant Stars’ stands at about 30,000 words. I am not sure how many will be added but I do know I will be jettisoning a good bit of the projected second half to tighten the story up. Jack will have to visit the ruins of Earth in a sequel.

And just maybe settle down with—well, Jack hasn’t quite made up his mind about that, and neither have I.

Mary Sue

Jack McFee, protagonist of the Jack Mack novels, is admittedly a bit of a ‘Mary Sue.’ That is quite intentional—or at least I consciously developed the character in that direction once I started working on the stories. This allows his actual failings and character flaws to stand out the more.

I did have something of a ‘James Bond in space’ concept in mind when I started with Jack. That grew into something more like ‘Tom Jones in space.’ As with Tom, he attracts female attention and also as with Tom, he is a little too prone take advantage of it. Yet—also as with Tom—he remains a bit of a well-meaning innocent. At least at times. Jack is growing out of it as the stories continue.

He is a highly competent person, more able and more intelligent than pretty much anyone around him. He is also likely to be overly-detached, and every bit as happy on long solo missions as he is among friends. Those who consider themselves his friends, that is—Jack is not sure he can feel true friendship, much less love, toward anyone.

So I’m willing to give him Mary Sue-like success in his professional career, but balance it with a somewhat bumpier personal life. That career continues in my current WIP and we shall see where it takes him. After all, Jack is still only twenty years old and has lots of room to grow. An entire universe.