What qualities make a compelling fictional hero? What qualities make a compelling real-life hero?
Click here for ordering information. The first depends largely on what type of book you are writing — the hero of a crime novel or an adventure novel will often not work as the hero of a romance. But the short answer is the hero who works in any given story will be a character who possesses and through the progression of the story develops and/or demonstrates the most important traits the audience for that story sees as important in a hero. In other words, the most compelling hero is a reflection of the audience’s expectations, and yes, this does change with time. The answer to the second question is, therefore, pretty much the same as the answer to the first. The most compelling real-life hero is the one who demonstrates the traits the audience thinks are most important in whatever situation is being addressed. The only difference that I can see that operates between what works for heroes fictionally versus what works in real life, is that in fiction set in other times, both historic
