My first draft of Odessa, then called Dragons in the Dark,
could have given a garbage dump a run for the money in stink. I was so happy
and proud to have the entire 600 word story finally written and out of my head.
As you know, if you’ve read any of my interviews, the entire story has resided
in my head for over thirty years awaiting the right moment and amount of time
to pop out. When it finally did and I read it through the manuscript was
obviously full of errors, bad writing and a fatal flaw. I had no distinctive
main character—no hero or heroine.
Because the story is about a group of seven teens, I assumed
they could all tell the story. But it didn’t work that way. I had to decide
which of them would tell the story to the reader and be the hero of the book
series. Once I knew that, I revised the story about eight times, writing it
from Myrna’s point of view, until I got it right. The funny thing is I have a
strong driving need to revise it again. I’m guessing that’s a common feeling
for authors. And one day I might do it, who knows.
But I digress. My point is this: There are certain aspects
of a hero/heroine an author must provide for the story to work.
1-Your protagonist must be interesting. There should be some
quirk, personality trait, etc that makes your hero special. Why would a reader
care about her and what happens to her? This was my first big area of
improvement and why I need to revise Odessa—Myrna isn’t likable enough and she’s
too white bread.
2-While the reader doesn’t need to feel sympathetic for your
protag (as in the case of a detestable character-murderer, rapist, etc), they
should be able to feel some empathy for them. Maybe a horrific childhood that
created their current character.
3-Protags should act bravely.
4-As the ‘god’ creating your characters, it is imperative
the author knows every aspect of each main character in the story. They should
exist in the author’s head as surely as any living person. There are many
character creation templates to help with this. I’ll post my own in my next
posting.
5-Conflict, conflict, conflict. Your story must have a
general overriding conflict, but so should each of the characters—especially your
protag. If your hero has no inner conflict or problems to overcome, what makes
them interesting enough to hold a reader’s attention?
6-In addition to or in conjunction with a conflict, your
hero should have a weakness. They may not realize it at first, but sometime
during the story it should come to light and they must work on improving that
weakness while accomplishing their tasks.
7-All characters in a story, but especially your
protagonist, must change and grow throughout the story. If you are writing a
series, each book should have a character arc of growth which is different from
that of the series.
8-Your hero must have a reason for doing whatever they are
doing in your story. The protag’s younger sister was kidnapped; her parents
were killed and the murderer is after her; she is trying to get someone
specific to fall in love with her. Whatever the reason, without a purpose for
the protag’s actions/journey, you have no story.
9-Make sure your hero is believable. No one is completely
good or absolutely bad. Even angels and demons can have slight issues causing
them to question their behavior. This is what has made the Romantic Vampire so
attractive.
10-The war and final battle between the protagonist and
antagonist should be satisfying and believable. Even in a Sci Fi story set in a
far-away universe, the conclusion to this battle can be believable to the
reader if the author understands human nature and sticks to the rules of world
building they’ve created. If the story is historical, make sure you stick to
the actual history of the event.
These are just some of the things I’ve learned over the past
couple of years and have tried incorporating into my writing. And from personal
experience as a reader I can conclude with this final nugget. If you have an
awesome main character(s) your story doesn’t even have to be awesome because
the character will carry it—but if you can have BOTH, you’ll have a
best-seller.
Rebecca Ryals Russell is a MG/YA Fantasy Author of two
series: Seraphym Wars Series for YA and Stardust Warriors Series for MG
readers. There are currently three books of each series available via eBook
wherever eBooks are sold, with several more currently in edits and others in
the works. Follow Rebecca’s progress at Under the Hat of Rebecca Ryals Russellor Tween Word Quest.
