Heroes

A while back, I had a poll up called "What's your favorite element of a story?" The answers varied: Characters, writing quality, setting, plot. Whatever you picked/would pick, my favorite will ever remain...


characters!

Characters make the book. Bad characters ruin the story for me. I mean, if they're not great, what's to keep me from putting down the book? (not much.) I am CONSTANTLY, and I will repeat, CONSTANTLY spouting my favorite character quotes. Bad plot? The characters can suffice. Bad setting? Bloom where you're planted. Bad writing quality? Well, there's really not much you can do about that. If the quality is bad, chances are the characters will be, too.

Heroes. What do you think of when you read that word? Some King Arthur type MC dressed in shining battle, swinging a sword? A naive peasant boy who discovers he's really the air to Such-and-Such and he's the only one who can save the kingdom from total annihalation? (sp?)

Heroes aren't what they used to be. Instead we're supposed to be content to settle with the perfect, sparkly, impossibly handsome guys like Edward Cullen (and for the record, he's really not cute). Whoa, perfect? Whoever said that was okay for a character? Don't get me started, as I feel very strongly on this subject. I have a post about it, "I tried to be perfect" here and another called "What Happened to the Heroes?" right here.

Nobody here on this earth can relate to a book character who's perfect. If the character is perfect at the beginning of the story, where will he be at the end? Oh, right. He'll be exactly where he started. Stagnant. Similiar to pond water in that he doesn't move, he can't make mistakes, and he can't learn.

Chivalrous? Oh no, we couldn't possibly have our hero be chivalrous. We couldn't possibly have him be a gentleman to the girls. That would be, like, weird. And it's out of the question that our heroines could actually be respectful and loving of the guys. The hero shouldn't save the girl; she can totally handle this on her own. She can spew disrespectful remarks in the face of the guy and he's supposed to just be cool with that.

Heroes aren't being chivlarous because heroines aren't being respectful.

He's more than just a plaything. The hero is more than someone to just toss when the heroine is finished with him. "Thanks, but I don't need your help. I got it covered." Can't we see some plain, old-fashioned decency on both ends of the spectrum? What happened to the Knights of the Round Table?

The waterworks. Right now I'm listening to Praise You in This Storm by Casting Crowns, and it's brought something to mind. Do our heroes always have to be rock-solid and emotionless? Would it be so bad for the heroes to shed some tears, too? Isn't that what's real? Or would that just be an insult to their honor?


Alright. I think I got it covered. If I left anything out, just tell me!

Next post--my favorite heroes. And then...heroines.

Oh, and by the way--I've started a book review blog! Go check out Today Was a Fairytale! I love my followers and I ADORE your comments!!!