Heroes with Flaws
Some of the feedback I've received regarding Bad Bishop is that the main character, Jerald Norim, is — to put it lightly — a bad guy.
Not a bad guy in the sense that he's the bad guy. I think that's understood. But he's a deeply flawed person who does some things that most people find reprehensible. And for good reason.
This is intentional.
At the start of the Scions of Oth series, Jerald is a pretty selfish person. He's sleeping around behind his wife's back, while she's none the wiser. That's a pretty shitty thing to do (to put it mildly), and hard to reconcile with the fact that Jerald is also the protagonist.
This fact about his character is the very origin for the title of book one: Bad Bishop.
To illustrate what I mean, let's turn to the chess board.
Here, white's bishop is considered bad because it is blocked by two of its own pawns. It's unable to control the board or see past those pawns. This makes the piece ineffective and can make it a liability as the game progresses.
That bishop is Jerald.
He's let his judgement slip. He's allowed himself to give into temptation, and in so doing has made himself a liability to his crew and everyone else on board the Intrepid.
This is only book one, though. There's 9 books in the series as of now (with two more seasons to go) and Jerald has come a long way so far. He doesn't stay stagnant throughout the series, which is something I made a conscious effort to portray in my writing.
At the end of the day, if you prefer your heroes to be spotless and without flaws, I totally get it. Those just aren't the heroes that I write. They seem less 'real' to me, and ultimately more compelling as they have to overcome their struggles — and ultimately — overcome themselves in order to fulfill their role in the story.
