Monday, April 9, 2012

H is for Hero

Today's A-to-Z Challenge is on heroes. So what makes a hero? Are they the characters that can bend steel? Are impenetrable to bullets? Able to shoot laser beams out of the their eyes all for the sake of truth, justice, and the American way?
Or is there something more than that? For D I posted about the decisions and how decisions are what define who your main character is, not what their abilities are. I compared Harry Potter and Voldemort and how they had similar backgrounds, and despite being very talented wizards, it is Harry Potter that is the hero and not Voldemort.

Is your main character heroic? If he or she isn't coming off the page as so, ask yourself, "What makes a good hero?"

Real-life heroes are in abundance around you. Often they are dressed in an outfit, and that outfit rarely has a large letter written in it like an 'S' written on it. Those outfits are usually those of a policeman, a fireman, a school teacher, or (and I think I saved the best for last) a person in the Armed Forces. What sets them apart from non-heroes is their willingness to sacrifice themselves to make the world better. They sacrifice their time, their energy, and sometimes their very lives.
So make your main character heroic. Make him willing to sacrifice himself for the world, for the girl of his dreams (or visa versa), for their family, or for their country. Those are the heroes worth cheering for, and the thing you want more than anything else is for your readers to be cheering your main characters on.

ps, Ask me sometime about this last picture sometime. :)

2 comments:

  1. My main character these days is an anti-hero....Look forward to your challenge run…
    --Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  2. I'm asking about the last picture! :)

    I just finished a WIP where the girl is an unlikely hero. And she's also not a hero, but a traitor too. Very complicated being those heroes sometimes and interesting that it depends on how you view them as to whether they are or not :)

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