![\"hero\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/hero.jpg?resize=660%2C496\")
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Before I begin I need to clarify that this is not a list of demands for the mainstream media or any writer but instead a self revelation and some personal thoughts on the topic of masculinity and a little brainstorming on how to create and portray a hero.<\/p>\n
There’s a lot of discussion and resources on how women are portrayed in video games, film and popular culture. It’s inspiring, empowering and challenging to research as a woman. It also got me thinking if this is how the female leads are supposed to be portrayed what kind of crap are we writing into our male leads?<\/p>\n
To be blunt there’s a lot of those apathetic muscle bound heroes or sexy sad vampire stalkers. Is a hero really nothing more than a gym membership and dysfunctional personality?<\/strong><\/p>\n Popular culture and society might be all up in my face about what makes a real man and there is pressure to create hollow heroes. This contradicts with my moral compass and integrity as a writer and human being.<\/p>\n So, what is the definition of a hero then? <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Dictionary.com<\/a> describes a hero as “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.”<\/em><\/p>\n In order to create our hero we should be asking ourselves these questions\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Think like your hero\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The hero always goes on a journey of some kind. Metaphorical or physical it is a test of his courage and quality of character. The end of the journey is often the result or reward and the driving motivation for his journey.<\/p>\n A typical summer movie will make his motivation for saving the world a hot girl that he gets to make-out with.<\/strong> Which essentially makes the heroes motivation sex and generally that’s not considered a brave deed.<\/p>\n Let’s say the hero is saving the world from space aliens.<\/em><\/p>\n What if his motivation is the well being and safety of his community and his courage is demonstrated by not being intimidated by the superior space technology.<\/em><\/p>\n One of his noble qualities is believing in the strength and skills of the heroine<\/a> and teaming up with her to protect his planet from an invasion.<\/em><\/p>\n He invents something with the help of his community to take down the invading space armada. In the end he is rewarded with a safer universe and the prosperity of his community through the invention of this new technology.<\/em><\/p>\n Some key points this plot makes is\u2026<\/p>\n As a storyteller I should aim higher for a great story, a courageous, daring, inspiring and meaningful story because a hero is constructed to achieve great things and in doing so inspires his fellow human beings to change the world.<\/p>\n Avoiding popular clich\u00e9s and stereotypes makes space for more creative innovation.<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though I’m not a dude I find it offensive that often popular culture chooses to portray a real man as some primeval beast with a lack of emotion that has no choice over his sexual and physical impulses. This is not a healthy image for boys or men to have of themselves.<\/p>\n You are all so much more awesome than that and carry the great potential of a hero within you. All you need to do is something courageous.<\/p>\n “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort<\/em> \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before I begin I need to clarify that this is not a list of demands for the mainstream media or any writer but instead a self revelation and some personal thoughts on the topic of masculinity and a little brainstorming on how to create and portray a hero. There’s a lot of discussion and resources … Continue reading Constructing a Character : How to Write a Hero<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[42,46,45,54,44],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-filmmaking-2","tag-how-to-write-a-hero","tag-how-to","tag-nanowrimo","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1Xv5J-40","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":808,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions\/808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanjatheawesome.com\/capricious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nand convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”<\/em>
\n– Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n