11 Lessons From John Flanagan's Books

I mentioned in last month's LFTM post that I've been reading John Flanagan's books. If you haven't heard of him, what are you doing? Get a life. 

(I'm kidding.)

John Flanagan is an Australian author (*cough like me cough*) most famous for his series Ranger's Apprentice and Brotherband. If you haven't read them yet, go read them. If you have read them, Halt is the best and you won't change my mind. 

For today's post, it's a new format. Instead of picking one thing like I did with the Freja Peachtree trilogy or Zootopia and expanding on it, I'm gonna pick a bunch of things I've picked up and go over them briefly. 

If you like the first format better, let me know in the comments. But without further ado, here's eleven lessons from the world of John Flanagan. 

Read Part 2 here: 3 More Lessons From John Flanagan's Writings

Bads

1. Swarthy bad guys. 

First up, in almost every time our gang of rangers/raiders travel, you can tell who the bad guys are because of one defining feature. They're swarthy. 

From Google dictionary: 

Swarthy. Adjective. Dark-complexioned. 

Do I need to say that this is racist? 

The world RA and BB are set in is heavily based on the Medieval era and I get that the world was pretty racist back then. But it's also a fantasy series. There's no good excuse for having swarthy bad guys amongst a cast of white heroes. 

2. Strong females aren't girly.

Source: Giphy

Here's another casting problem. Every lead female shun traditionally girly things like needlework over things like slingshotting or hunting. Namely: Evanlyn, Lydia, Maddie...

There's a certain part in the BB series where the girls in Lydia's hometown are described to be "sissies" for liking to dress up and sitting around doing needlework all day. I think it's in Book 2 The Invaders but I'll have to double check.

Females can be strong without having to give up dresses or makeup or sewing. We're certainly not sissies for dressing nicely. Strong females don't necessarily have to like traditionally manly things either.

Let's compare this to some female characters from one of my favourite webcomics, The Silver Eye. Berlyne wears dresses and even sews her own, but she also likes knives. Idony is the sweetest and probably more traditionally girly, but she's a tough nut. Both are strong female characters with "girly" characteristics but are in no way sissies. 

3. Only lead males and lead females can get together. 

Said the minor character.

Source: Imgur

This is a problem specifically toward Brotherband. Specifically to one sentence. I can't remember the book it's from or the exact quote, but here's my best shot at summarising it.

"Lydia looked from Hal to Stig. She liked both boys but knew she had to pick between one of them some day."

Maybe it doesn't sound remotely like Flanagan's writing voice, but whatever. You get the point. 

If you're not aware, Hal and Stig are the two main male characters and Lydia is the only main female character. There's also around six other possible contenders. (Does not include Thorn, FYI.) 

With eight guys in total, why is Lydia forced to pick between the two main characters? Why not Ingvar, who she clearly has better chemistry with? Better yet, why not none of them?

It's not necessary for the MCs to get together simply because they're the MCs. It's okay for one MC to hook up with a less major character so long that character is developed enough. It's okay to have no romance at all. 

4. Telling gestures.

We see this a lot in Flanagan's books. Character made a something gesture. Will made a dismissive gesture. Thorn gave a threatening gesture. 

At first glance, it seems fine. But...what dismissive gesture did Will make? What threatening gesture did Thorn make? 

Writing this way falls victim to the oh so famous writing "rule" show don't tell. Despite what you think should be shown or told instead of the other way around, gestures like these are definitely something you should show, not tell.

It's better to say Will waved his hand or Will shrugged *it* away instead of dismissive gesture. Likewise, Thorn shook his fist or Thorn wolfishly snapped his teeth is better than threatening gesture. 

Peeves

5. The apprentice becomes greater than the mentor.

Anything you can do I can do better. 

Source: MakeAGIF

Lesson 5 is something that irks me SO much. It's more of a pet peeve than something strictly bad, so take this with a grain of salt. 

This is more for the RA series. What gave it away? Ranger's *Apprentice*? 

The mentor character, in this case, Halt, is set up to be the best at the Ranger trade. Famous, athletic and a master of tactics. Will, on the other hand, is in no way up to scratch. He's good at climbing, but that's about it. 

You get the normal phase of training and a solo mission (rarely) before boom! The apprentice's reputation has grown. Their skills rival their mentor's. Eventually, the mentor has to admit that their trainee is better than them. 

Ouch. 

6. The MC is naturally gifted.

For some reason, all the main characters are naturally talented with sword fighting or navigating or whatever. It's a common theme with every series from Flanagan's series. 

Because the MC is blessed with awesomeness at what they do, it comes easily to them. We don't see them struggle and work to become better. They just are. 

What makes this either a strong character development point of plain unbearable is how the character acts about it. With Hal and Will, they're both modest about their abilities so there's no character development. If they were, say, arrogant or something like that, it would make their natural talent more bearable. 

The point is, readers like seeing characters grow, change. Readers relate to characters striving to become better. It comes in two ways, physical development and character development. Natural gifting is physical development, leaving character development the only other way to show growth. Unfortunately, we don't get much of it with either MC.

7. Constant reminders of the MC's awesomeness. 

Source: Giphy

The books are written in third person omniscient. That's fine. But the thing is, whenever we get into a minor character's head, it's usually to see the character think of how good the MCs are at their job.

Or another character, usually the girl or the mentor, will quietly comment how amazing the MC is. The narrator will even straight out say that the MC is so good at sword fighting or inventing, etc. 

It's understandable, even rewarding at times, to hear people admire our hardworking MC. But we don't need to be reminded every. Single. Time.

Let their actions speak for themselves. Let other characters help them and in turn, the MC can help other characters. Readers will recognise their expertise. No need to say it. 

8. "In truth..."

Here's a little thing I've noticed across every book. When the characters are joking, a character might teasingly put another character down. For example, Ulf and Wulf might be bickering about who is uglier. It gives a good laugh until the narrator would say, in truth, neither of them were ugly. Both boys were rather good looking and... (#TrueStory. Go read the Brotherband series.) 

The "in truth..." part is unnecessary. If you've set up the characters, or whatever the punchline is, the reader already understands why it's funny. That's why we laugh. Or at least smile.  

9. There's no lasting change.

Source: Tenor    

One thing readers love is growth. I've mentioned this before and I'll mention this again. We love seeing people change over time. Not just people, but situations, relationships, things that readers can relate to. 

Not many significant changes happen. Apart from a few deaths, there's no lasting consequences. Ingvar wants to leave because of his bad eyesight? Hal fixes it. Stig falls in love with a girl from the other side of the sea? The girl dies so Stig can go home. Someone gets stabbed? They're back in action by the next book without reminiscing over the event.

It's almost as if the author is afraid of change. While the books in the series are mostly episodic, as the characters grow up, things have to change. Even something small, like a new fief or ship, is enough. 

The closest thing to lasting change I can remember is Alyss's death. But we don't see Will directly reacting to it. We only see him later, way after the event and seeing him recover. We're told he's angry, out for revenge. When something this big happens, readers need to see it happen.  

Goods

10. Jokes that are funny.

My absolute favourite thing about RA and BB is the humour. Fun fact: the scene I remembered the most after my first read through is from Ranger's Apprentice: The Early Years 2 where Crowley nabs the chicken drumstick. I distinctly remember choking on my food reading it. 

Because this is the third-ish time I'm reading the series, the initial humour has kind of rubbed off. But I've gathered four steps that make jokes funny.

Set up character >> Set up the punchline >> Give the joke >> Pay off the punchline  

To explain this, I'll use an example from Book 6 of Brotherband. Thorn has been set up the past five books to be sometimes grouchy, rough and downright scary. It also doubles up as the set up for the punchline because he's a ferocious warrior, famous across Skandia. Thorn has toughed it out hundreds of times in his long life. 

The joke happens as Thorn and Stig are paddling in canoes when Stig complains his feet are wet. Thorn pays off the punchline with:

"Thorn made a sympathetic clucking sound with his tongue. 'Poor baby,' he said. 'When we get home, Uncle Thorn will tuck you up with a hot rock in your blankets.'"

Big, tough Thorn calling himself "Uncle Thorn" is something uncharacteristic, but because it's done jokingly and in character with Thorn's teasing trait, it's hilarious.  

11. Accuracy.

Source: Giphy

I'm a huge advocate for accuracy in books. It's why talking about being accurate is my first post. RA and BB rely on action scenes using real weapons and tactics. It's obvious Flanagan knows what he's talking about because everything is ridiculously accurate. 

Lesson? Do your research. 

That's it

~ 

That's a wrap on eleven lessons. Basically: don't be racist or sexist, show don't tell, MCs don't have to get everything just because they're the MC and let things change irrevocably. Be accurate and nail the humour. 

But before I finish, here's one more lesson. Halt is the best character. If anyone says Halt isn't the best character, they're wrong. 

Related: 

Do Books Really Need A Moral?

3 Reasons Why Accuracy Is Important

3 More Lessons From John Flanagan's Writings

Have you read any of John Flanagan's books? Did you have a favourite books or character? Did you notice any of these lessons yourself? Have these helped you? Leave a comment below. If you liked this post, be sure to share, follow and eat chocolate for more content! (Eat chocolate anyway.)