Ficlets

Jim C. Hines:

A number of people have compared my goblin books to the Shrek films. I enjoy Shrek, but on one very significant level it doesn’t work for me. I’m sorry, but Shrek is no ogre. He’s a big, strong, ugly human with lousy table manners.

His desires are human. His pain is human. He even tries to turn himself into a human in the second movie. We never see another ogre, aside from his wife (and kids in the third movie). We never learn about ogre society, or what it really means to be an ogre.

When I was writing Goblin Quest, the most important thing to me was that my goblins remain goblins. I didn’t want to write a story about a selfish, backstabbing little coward who came to understand the value of honor and heroism and sacrifice. Jig needed to grow, of course. But he needed to do so in a way that stayed true to goblin values of backstabbing and cowardice.

That turned out to be a challenge, because foremost on the list of goblin values is protecting your own skin. The best way for Jig to do that was to hide in the lair and let the bigger, stronger, stupider goblins deal with the crisis. Fortunately, authors are manipulative bastards, and I was able to set things up so Jig’s best hope for survival involved going along on the adventure.

But that led to a larger problem: how to make a selfish, cowardly runt into a lovable character? I wanted people to enjoy these books, after all. A human who displayed the same traits as a goblin would be despised, and rightfully so.

As with many things, the answer was simple, once I finally figured it out. I needed to let Jig be himself. Jig is only a jerk when you think of him in human terms. As a goblin, he’s a bright, resourceful little underdog. Given how goblins are treated by the rest of the world, they have to be conniving and cowardly to survive. Because not all monsters are lucky enough to be big and strong and scary, with three successful films and merchandising all over the place.

Ahem. Anyway, the more I explored goblin society, the more I came to understand and love Jig’s dysfunctional little community. Sure, he’s waiting for the first possible chance to stab the heroes in the back and run away. And yes, when he sees the dwarf, his first thought is of barbecue. He’d probably even betray his entire group for a new pair of boots.

But those are the very traits that make Jig such a wonderful goblin.

Visit Jim C. Hines’ blog here. Also, read first chapters and extras for both Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero.