SPOILER ALERT - Lord Of The Rings
Terri Wu batted her lashes as the two young men in front of her rolled in the newly watered lawn, swinging fists and scrambling to get the upper hand. Her silken chocolate hair billowed in the breeze and pinned her skirt against her leg, showing off her luscious curves. She shrugged and meandered away from the brawling boys, bringing out her phone to browse through her latest notifications. “I win! I get to take her to prom!” Terri waved a hand, giving a small “Uh huh” in congratulations without deviating from the small screen in hand, in which she remained only half interested. Okay, the above paragraph may work as the start to a story, maybe a decent first-try hook, though it lacks action and engagement. But what if I told you that was the climax of the plot? That everything had built up to that particular moment and that particular decision? Sound like something you’d read? Me neither. Why not? The fight could have been epic. All of the others characters certainly seemed to care enough. But our heroine wanders around aimlessly, not giving a crap, and misses the final punch. Sure, you could save it by making the young men get after Terri and neither of them taking her to prom, but if she still didn’t care, if the book ended with her blowing a gum bubble and staring off into space, your readers would wonder what the heck they’d read. Let’s take a look at two different characters. The first has a muscular body, strong chin, thick blonde hair, and baby blue eyes. His name is Bernard. The second is a scrawny, sort of hunched fellow with a shifty gaze and thinning hair. He isn’t that old, but he looks it. His name is Damian. Based on the description alone, who do you think is the hero, and who is the villain? Pretty easy, right? But then we find out that Bernard owns a run-down, flea-and-mange-infested puppy mill and Damian adopts as many senior dogs as he can fit in his house. The role has switched, hasn’t it? Until we find out Bernard inherited that puppy mill from an uncle and is trying to heal and adopt out those puppies and Damian uses his animals for dog fighting. If you didn’t judge these people during the introduction (which is simply saying you judged them the opposite way that society expects of you), kudos to you. But I’m pretty sure 99.9% of you judged them after the second wave of information and that’s okay. I would, too. The point is; people are complicated. We never know anyone’s full story from first glance and even if we did, we still wouldn’t understand their motive and reasoning without actually being in their head at a crucial point in time. When writing a worthy hero, it’s good to keep this in mind. Purpose is everything. Merely owning or doing something doesn’t make you a good or evil person, it’s your motivation. Samwise Gamgee is an excellent example of this (and honestly, who here doesn’t think Samwise WASN’T the hero of LOTR?). All of his acts of heroism, fighting Shelob, saving Frodo from Orcs, carrying Frodo up Mount Doom, were done out of simple and selfless loyalty to his friend. He never expected anything in return and THAT is why so many love him. THAT is what makes him my favorite character in all of literature. His heroism would mean squat if he’d done it all to take the spotlight from Frodo or if he was jealous. He actually held the Ring and his greatest temptation was to grow a freaking garden. Who doesn’t aspire to have such a pure heart? This is why motivation means everything to your protagonist. Add something that is meaningful and relatable to the reasoning behind their actions. What have you done that might be negatively judged by society, but was done with good intentions or vice versa? Look at yourself. Look at your friends and acquaintances. Forge Your Legend.
2 Comments
Joanna Guerra
6/13/2016 04:30:09 pm
Regan, you have a very assertive and spunky way of teaching here. I love it!
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R. B. Knight
6/14/2016 10:49:35 am
Thank you, Joanna!
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