But in the sequel to that novelization, Kotzwinkle is allowed by Spielberg to make up for those flaws by giving us a hard-working, dedicated botanist as the main character, whose plant friends have silly names on occasion, but who is given the chance to really develop as a character.
That's true. I've read E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet by William Kotzwinkle. It was penned three years after the first movie's release (the novelization of the movie was written before it was actually released which explains why E.T. is so out of character in it a lot) and so E.T. is much more in character and lovable based on how the audiences came to know him through the movie. I was lucky enough to obtain a copy with the original illustrations which are excellent and serve the story well. E.T's character in this book sequel actually reminded me most fondly of how I portray the Wogglebug in at least of my writing. He's at odds with the higher intellectuals of his planet, he loves a human child and will do all he can for him, he has only a handful of other friends on his planet and they unite with him in his new journey, and of course he is equally intellectual and tenderhearted and tries his best to put both to the best of use. Especially at the same time and one of them might conflict with the other for a moment at least. The book really told a lot of E.T.'s home planet that was delightful and made sense especially along with how E.T. and the others of his kind grow like trees more than humans and his fingers will light up each time he does a great deed. The ending of the story was sensational as well as delightful (not to spoil it) and left it open for a third book that hasn't come to be unfortunately.
You have this absolutely golden opportunity before you, since Wogglebug is in the public domain now, to show him struggling with the balance between intellect and emotion, and otherwise being not just admirable but relatable.
Exactly! I am so glad you seem to understand precisely what I've been trying to explain to all here for years. Thank you for understanding.
Since you don't suffer from the same pressures Baum did -- if memory serves, he was kind of in Arthur Conan Doyle's position of being prodded by his publisher to grind out more novels in a series he was growing tired of -- what will be some of the ways you avoid the flaws in Baum's presentation of the Wogglebug?
For starters he is the main character of the series I'm writing and it's set in Genoma instead of Oz which is a fantasy land more closer connected to our world than Oz. In his first adventure he basically teams with Sylvie in getting all of the residents of the Enchanted Forest to unite to combine their magic forces together to save the Forest from the villain's wrongdoing. In this way he both connects to being the heart of all nature as an insect, and a big one as a great source for bringing together all the other elements in a big and meaningful way like a human would. He achieves his worth of being respected of having "the seven living values of intelligence" which are courtesy, kindness, honesty, loyalty, courage, perseverance, and humility. Which he had heard Professor Nowitall talk about a lot in his lectures and discourses. He knew them from the start, but just had to go through experiences to know them all completely by heart.
He then goes on in the next movie to find out about and how to use the four keys of wisdom, which appear to him in the form he is the most comfortable with of course. They represent four aspects of his best qualities. These are intelligence through honesty and good intentions, deep unconditional love, and optimism in the joy of living, and natural growth. He learns how to share all these values and wisdom keys with others around him no matter where he goes. He next learns to travel beyond Genoma and soon ends up in differnet dimensions where he gains enlightenment by the end of the series.
I quite like it that you will allow him to keep some personal flaws and difficulties to overcome. Paradoxically, it seems easier to love a character who does have some flaws, because you've said he's also part-human, and that's a very human trait -- struggling against one's own negative tendencies.
What other techniques will you use to avoid some of the difficulties that trip up even the very greatest novelists and screenwriters? Genoma's forest has an array of powerful guardians, but Wogglebug and Sylvie will be necessary to save the forest nevertheless. So I'm betting each of them will have to reach deep inside themselves to draw on strengths, too. That's a powerful message -- just letting us watch the characters become stronger through facing the powerful enemies you described.
Yes, Sylvie and the Wogglebug will both need to reach deep inside themselves to draw on their strengths to face powerful dark adversaries in the first movie and in more to come. For instance Sylvie has a fear of heights which the Wogglebug helps her to overcome in increasingly bigger ways throughout the movie series. Sylvie starts out as mostly shy and reserved (so did Harry Potter at first) and then as she grows older through the series she becomes an ever smarter and stronger heroine with a big heart that she is inspired to grow to be because of the life lessons she gains from the Wogglebug and how he learns also along the way.
I've also figured out how to always present the Wogglebug as being a three-dimensional character while also showing how he was always a good and lovable one from the start, but nonetheless have him evolve to a higher consciousness as a greater hero by the end for all the right and logical reasons and purposes.
The Wogglebug in addition to learning about how to deal with many kinds of people and situations through the Seven Living Values of Intelligence and the Four Keys of Wisdom, also gains the ability to be a great hero through dealing with dark adversaries in the right ways. At first he makes a mistake in how he does so in letting his anger and pride get the better of him but he soon learns from this mistake and corrects it shortly after in the first movie. Then from there on he only gets better at it, as well as better at all the things he is good at and was becoming good at.
He only actually achieves a full hero's degree of being dubbed as "practically perfect in every way" during the final three movies and especially the last one. In which he's evolved right up to where he is able to show courtesy and kindness in the face of even the darkest adversaries because it is to rescue a weaker creature in need of him, and after he is praised for this he just smiles modestly and says he only does his best. And in all the movies before this one you get the vibe he's getting ever closer to this great final metamorphosis through his new experiences and challenges and there is a good reason why they are all in the places they are in each movie in each order.
