 Action/Adventure: September 07, 2005 Issue [#564] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: Vivian  
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| Hi, I’m back in the Action/Adventure fold again. I enjoyed myself so much last time that I had to come back and visit. Vivian reporting as guest editor again. |
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Heroes and Heroines
All action/adventure stories and novels, even poems, have to have a hero or heroine. More and more heroines fill the bookshelves, too. What chacteristics do we want in our heroes (or heroines)? For what do we search when we read, use when we write? Let’s examine creating a hero (I’ll just use the term hero for the rest of the editorial, but everything applies to a heroine, too).
A hero needs to be believable.
"Okay, fine," someone says. "How does a writer make a hero believable?"
One way is to pay attention to the small stuff, the details. That doesn’t mean as writers we have to include everything possible in the story or novel, but we should have the hero so developed, in our minds, that he or she lives.
Natashya Wilson, www.aresix.blogspot.com, as well as numerous composition books and my notes from writing classes, workshops, and clinics, include the following information when examining the components of a hero:
1. The hero should be appealing and should inspire.
Reading about him/her should give readers a feelings that they, the readers, too can achieve their goals. The hero should help readers to find courage and the will to continue. Any hero needs to be strong and intelligent, as well as be human with flaws that readers can understand but with the ability needed to succeed.
No matter what, the reader must be able to relate to the hero on some level.
2. The writer needs to develop the hero completely.
I noted earlier that the heroes should be developed in our minds until they are real. We should have a background, childhood, friends, family, home, and likes and dislikes all in our mental files. We need to note his motivations, phobias, the people he respects. Not all the information will go into our stories or novels, but the details are there, making our hero real. If we made our heros live for us, they are more likely to live for readers.
3. Every hero needs a special skill or quality.
We should ask ourselves what gives him an advantage over the bad guy or guys, and why he doesn’t give up? Then we use those answers to enhance our hero.
4. The characters around the hero need to be interesting and fully developed, too.
Those around our hero should be worthy of him. The love interest and the villains should have depth, be realistic and believable. The hero should have a reason to love the other person; the heroine should be in love with someone worth loving. The villain should test the merit of the hero.
5. The plot should grab the reader’s attention and challenge the hero.
Readers have to care what happens and want to continue reading.
6. Make sure the hero has an emotional stake in the outcome.
Another way to help the reader care is to create an emotional stake for the hero. He shouldn’t want to “win” just because it’s his job or is the “right” thing to do.
7. Add a touch of romance.
A bit of romance enlivens the plot and makes the hero more human. The romance should not be the main focus or just thrown it, but it should be a natural part of the story.
Many of today's stories and novels throw in romance and/or sex scenes without ryhme or reason (used a cliché, I know). Anything inserted in a story, including romance, needs to add to the plot, move the story on, and/or enhance our interest in the hero or another character.
8. Write for your audience.
Who do you want to read and enjoy the story or novel? The plot and characters should appeal to those people.
9. Make dialogue believable.
Nothing ruins a hero, or a story, for a reader faster than stilted or contrived dialogue. Practice what you write. Speak it aloud. Try it out. Is there unnecessary profanity? Do characters “talk” so that readers understand as well as other characters? Listen to people talk, and then clarify for readers.
Are you ready to try creating your own hero? Let me know if you think I succeeded in my story
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Comments from last month’s issue:
I appreciate all the wonderful comments in the feedback from the August 10th newsletter.
billwilcox
Very nicely done, Viv. I think your articles was easy to follow and the tips write on.
Thank you, Bill. I appreciate the encouragement.
Puditat 
Viv, an excellent editorial on suspense. These points are well worth several readings, and this will make it into my resource file. Thank you.
I'm glad to be able to offer helpful information. I know I learned from this research, too.
esprit
Vivian, This guestletter has some good points, thank you. I find I learn something new and useful to me as a reviewer from most of the letters even though I don't write in the genres. I learn and attempt to pass it on through my reviews. These newsletters can be a wonderful source to writers and reviewers alike.
Thank you. I never thought about how much help we can get from newsletters to become better reviewers. Good point.
Red - - > Hard at Work
Congrats on another great newsletter. This was a great informational piece...
Thanks. I'm glad to hear that my research is helpful.
Bruce
I really enjoyed this weeks newsletter. Yes, most of it was common sense, but we still need to be reminded of it occasionally. Your style did just the trick and caused me to ponder my last couple of stories. Thanks
Bruce
I'm glad what I wrote was clear enough to follow and understand. 
Rooster Roo
Hello Vivian Gilbert Zabel,
Excellent newsletter! Very educational indeed, this is a keeper, no doubt.
Thank you for writing it. Now I know what is wrong with my first short story. Well I got a lot of work to do so I hope to see you again in my mailbox. Where to start? Oh yes, the first paragraph! Where is my colour hook?
Rooster Rou
Researching and reading information for this newsletter helped me better understand what I need for my own stories. Thank you for your kind comments.
Fletch
This was a great newsletter with important advice. I think people, including me, can get so caught up in thinking about the other elements in their stories that they forget about the basics, like creating suspense, especially right away. Well done!
So that we can improve our writing, we need to keep reading and learning. So often we do become too involved with our creations that we need to step back and observe a bit. Thanks for writing.
robi4711
Guest or no, I needed this information. Thanks.
Thank you.
Kit1
This is a reply to the Profanity Newsletter.
I'm a great fan of Terry Goodkind's work and when it comes to profanity, he had made up his own swear word, that always induces a laugh when read. This is mainly said by one character - Zedd and the word is 'Bags'. The funny this is, it's treated like a swear word by other characters, i.e. they tell him not to swear infront of children and he was even told off by a child for using that word.
The lesson here is it's not really necessary to put profanity into a story, but if done in such a way as mentioned above than it is more readily accepted, because of it's comedic value.
That is very interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully the suggestions given will help you create a strong, human, believable hero.
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