What is a Hero?

What a thrilling surprise on New Years Eve to discover myself among the ‘Heroes of 2015’ according to Peninsula Living magazine! The article honours inspiring people in the community by sharing their stories, which for me was all about the money I’ve been raising with my Northern Beaches Writers’ Group for The Kids’ Cancer Project, selling our two books, Scribbles in the Dark and A Dolphin for Naia. It’s so nice to be noticed and acknowledged! As the group’s leader, a great deal of my 2015 revolved around these two books. Though of course I benefited too – I got to help fund research into childhood cancers (such a good feeling!), and I got to experience the sales side of the book industry. It’s tough out there!

So tough in fact it’s changing the way I write. I love writing stories where my main characters are stronger than they realise, though also damaged from past experiences. This is realistic for me because everyone has a past and we can all choose whether it controls us or we control it. The moment we refuse to let it determine who we are, we gain greater control over our lives.

In the same way, a writer can also choose how to represent their characters – realistically or fictionalised – and that determines who they become in the reader’s eyes.

I was talking with a writer buddy the other day, and we both realised that our goals for the day were what I now call ‘vanilla-ising’ our main characters. Reading 100% realistic characters may not always be a pleasant experience, and most readers read for pleasure, so we’re both now trying to take some of the colour out of our 100% realistic characters to make them more palatable for a modern audience.

It’s a tricky task because of Han Solo.

As most Star Wars fans will know, there’s a scene in the original 1977 movie A New Hope where Han Solo is in a Mos Eisley bar cornered by a bounty hunter called Greedo, who wants to kill him for the bounty on Han’s head. Han tries to talk his way out of it, but as soon as he knows there’s no point he appears to shoot Greedo dead, before Greedo can shoot him. When that movie was re-released in 1997, director George Lucas was concerned the scene revealed Han to be a ‘cold-blooded killer’, so inserted a scene showing Greedo shooting first. Some fans didn’t like this – Han Solo is a scoundrel and we love him for it! We don’t need him to be anything other than who he is! So in the 2004 DVD release, the scene was altered again so that Han and Greedo shoot at the same time.

Some fans still aren’t happy because these changes alter Han’s character. He’s supposed to be morally ambiguous at the start of the movie, so that his later transition from anti-hero to hero is significant and meaningful. Lessening one lessens the other.

Of course there’s no pleasing all fans everywhere, and that’s why it’s so important to get the balance right from the beginning. Too much realism and a character can get depicted more unfavourably than intended. Too little and they lose the uniqueness that made them who they are – a truthful representation of a person, a hero of the everyday.

“We could be heroes” sings Alesso/Tove Lo in the song of the same name, reminding us that any and every day we can all make a difference.

We don’t need to be superheroes with powers to change people’s lives. We don’t need to be leaders to pave the way of the future. Which is why I asked my eight and ten year old children (after watching several X-Men and Harry Potter movies these school holidays!), what actually makes a hero?

They said:

• Bravery
• Kindness
• Smartness – using your individual talents however you can
• Talking to people rather than hurting them
• Controlling your temper
• If you are sad, controlling yourself so you don’t hurt others through your sadness
• Not being an arrogant show-off

What a great list!

It’s achievable too – no matter what our individual challenges in life, it’s within our reach to be heroes in this way. So I respectfully disagree with Peninsula Living’s article, though I’m flattered (thank you so much Peninsula Living!). My writers’ group and I are no more heroes than anyone else! We’re just doing what we can to help, writing our way into reader’s hearts and heads, telling our stories to inspire the next generation of heroes.

What heroes most inspire you, fictional or real?

Please share in the comments as I need all the help I can get trying to find the right balance for my main characters!