HOW TO CREATE A BORN HERO

Some heroes are made, others are born into it. We are going to investigate the Born Hero today. Notice that we’re sticking with the Mariah Carey lyrics on this one too. Many writers look at this kind of hero as boring or out of date.

I would disagree. I think that this hero just needs to be crafted differently as time progresses. Superman used to be the kind of hero that people wanted to save the day. He had the power, so why not?

These days, we don’t really like people meddling in our business, unless we are under duress. So the Superman hero needs to be crafted with a different take. He can’t just interfere whenever a woman gets her purse stolen. She has to be allowed to fight back, and only when she cannot win, does Superman need to step in.

What are some essential elements of this Born Hero? Keep in mind that the Born Hero will change with time, and we are in an era where people want judicial independence.

STRENGTH:
These characters need fortitude. They should already be doing things that show their power. They should hate evil, want truth, and stop at nothing to get it. These characters are not necessarily developed into their heroism, yet they discover the lack of limitations on their heroism.

What does that mean? Superman doesn’t realize that he’s a hero, but he finds out new powers about himself such as laser vision and cold breath, which enhance his ability to be a hero. What progresses more than the hero is the evil. Don’t misunderstand me. There is still character development, but not necessarily hero development.

The people who this hero protects become more oppressed by the dominating evil, and so this hero emerges.

FLAW:
This hero must have some kind of flaw. There must be something that makes him weak, something that he cannot overcome. Maybe his sense of justice tears him apart because the more he tries to prevent evil, the more evil exposes itself to him.

Maybe he’s prideful. Maybe he’s insecure.

Whatever his flaw is, use it to push the hero away from his mission. It should be an internal driving force.

BELIEVABLE:
Believability needs to be true for all characters, but I would say especially for the Born Hero. Many BH are so powerful that their villains could never defeat them, in which case, there really is no conflict. A BH still must not be more powerful than the villain, meaning that the villain needs to have something that makes him better than the hero.

I hope this helps! Thanks for stopping by.