Every story needs a hero, a main protagonist that faces challenges and overcomes them. The success of your story relies on how well you develop this character. They need to be relatable, suffer a weakness, draw the reader in and make them feel invested in their fate! In order to write the best hero, you need to follow four steps.
In this article, you will learn to follow these four most important steps to develop your hero’s character. You will gain more clarity in your writing. Your story will be way more captivating, and your readers will love you for it!
Four steps to write the best hero of your story
Step 1: Make your hero relatable
Your reader needs to be able to relate to your hero. Make the character more like them than not. This will help them get invested into the story and feel like the hero is someone they can actually become. So, in order to decide who your hero is, look at your audience first.
However, the hero does not have to be ordinary. They can have unique attributes that set them apart. They can be a dog, an alien, or even an object like a rock (think about, for instance, the Fantastic Four). Nonetheless, they must still feel human. They must have a human side to them.
Similarly, they can have powers normal humans don’t have. They can grow and learn to be truly extraordinary, but first, they must appeal to the readers’ experience of themselves. Readers are looking for characters they can understand and look up to. Present your hero firstly as an ordinary person, and secondly as one with extraordinary qualities.
Step 2: Give your hero a defined weakness
Your hero must have a defined weakness. This can be something that causes them to feel fear, pain, sadness, etc. The hero should not be perfect nor invincible. They need something to trip them up, something they must overcome in order to become who they need to.
In essence, this is part of being human. In every day life, we also have to deal with our own flaws and weaknesses. We need to deal with our pain and negative experiences. So does your hero.
Step 3: Give your hero a worthy adversary
Your hero needs to have a worthy adversary. This adversary can be an evil villain, a monster, or it can be an internal struggle. This adversary should be evil or challenging enough to make the hero suffer, yet vulnerable and not completely overpowering. Your hero needs an obstacle that causes them to feel fear, pain, and suffering. It should especially tie in with your hero’s weaknesses. This adversary can also come out of nowhere and surprise your hero.
This adversary does not need to be permanent. It could be something they must get past in one part of the story, or it could be something they must overcome for its entire duration.
Step 4: Give your hero a transformation
Your hero needs to go through an effective transformation. They need to overcome their formidable adversary, but in the process, they grow or are changed themselves. And this change should stick.
This is what will make your readers love your character. Your hero will rise from all the suffering, and all the setbacks, and defeat this adversary. Your hero will learn something, and they will be changed forever. They will never be the same again. Then they will be ready to take on the next, even bigger adversary…
Follow these four steps to write the best hero to be successful
These steps will help you build a relatable hero. Remember, the traits of your hero need to be human, and they need to be relatable. Like us, normal every-day human beings, they need to have their weaknesses and face their challenges. And lastly, they need to grow and be transformed over the course of the story.
Following these four steps will help you write the most engaging story for your readers. You will captivate their imagination and inspire them with your hero.
This will help you on your way to become a best-selling author. Other tips to help you on your way you can find in this article.
Have you considered content editing?
To help you write and publish the best stories that will captivate and inspire your readers, at Cardinia Ranges Publishing House we provide professional editing services. We have several experienced editors, many of them are published authors themselves. They can help your story shine and your hero becoming the character your readers will love.
Get in touch with us to see how we can best help you.
