(Hopefully this title grabbed your attention!)
What is a pícaro, and what does it have to do with a blog dedicated to creative writing?
I’m here to tell you! Picaresque literature, it turns out, was an important inspiration in The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope, releasing June 15!
THE TRADITIONAL SPANISH PICARO
I very nearly got my PhD in Golden Age Spanish literature, but I called it quits before oral exams and writing a dissertation. Apart from Don Quixote (of course!), my favorite texts from Golden Age Spain were the picaresque novels (and any play by Calderón de la Barca. He is stellar. Should be far better known outside the Spanish-speaking world!)
The subgenre of the picaresque novel, considered to be the only genre of literature to originate in Spain, is so named for the figure of the pícaro. He’s rather an anti-hero, to be honest!
The pícaro is generally young, or starts off young–a small boy. The original pícaro (and my favorite) is around ten at the start of his story. His name is Lazarillo de Tormes, and if you can find an English translation of the anonymous novella of the same name, it’s well worth a read.
Some tropes of picaresque literature include:
- Social commentary. The pícaro serves richer masters, and that set up allows for interesting reflections on the state of society.
- Poverty. As you might have guessed from the previous point, pícaros are poor and often find themselves in dire straits.
- Travel. The pícaro is always clever, sometimes ruthless, and tends to take advantage of his masters. This means he is often fleeing from one master to the next.
- Episodic in nature. It is common for a picaresque novel not to have a major story arc but rather to be a series of adventures as the pícaro travels here and there.
When I started the first draft of my upcoming release, I was still in graduate school, and I knew INSTANTLY that protagonist Kora needed a pícaro of a little brother! And she got one.
ZACRY PORTEG AS PICARO
Kora’s brother Zac is bold, spontaneous, witty, and quite possibly more clever than is good for him.
He has his share of picaresque adventures, getting into trouble and escaping from here and there. He has great survival instincts, that’s for sure.
While my books weren’t written to give social commentary on the real world, Zac’s antics in the early chapters definitely pull back the curtain to expose something rotten in the state of Herezoth.
Zac has a heart of gold, though–which most traditional pícaros definitely do not. I attribute that to the influence of his family, especially his father and his sister.
Mark you calendars for the June 15 release! You can also read an excerpt featuring Zac here!
Creative Writing with the Crimson League 
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