I would hope that most writers are aware that a compelling story should have a hero, not a mere protagonist. By ‘hero’ we don’t mean ‘sinless savior,’ but simply a normal person with a moral compass. In today’s world a hero might never have memorized the Golden Rule or the Ten Commandments, or read the Sermon on the Mount, but even if your hero does not have any faith-based values (yet,) he acts like he has. He doesn’t go around killing, stealing, lying or committing adultery on a daily basis.
Recently I watched the old movie ‘The Great Escape’ on Pluto TV. I’ve always loved that movie and watched it many times with my late mother.
In ‘The Great Escape,’ a group of British and American men are prisoners of the Germans during WW2. These men are fellows with a highly functional moral compass. They are prisoners because they chose to put their lives at risk for their fellow man— they were doing the right thing (unless, like the modern neofascist/antifa movement, you think that freedom’s not a good thing.)
But in the prison camp, they are under the control of the Luftwaffe— the German air force. Their camp has rules that their captors expect them to obey. But their duty as officers means that they are to try to escape, and to make life difficult for the Germans.
So, these honorable men break the rules to dig tunnels, steal things, lie to their guards, take wood from the rafters and their bunk beds to shore up the escape tunnels, forge papers, and do all sorts of naughty things normally done only by criminals.
Why is that interesting to us? We don’t watch movies about purse snatchers, second-story men, or vandals, do we? But this is different— it is honorable men, men dedicating their lives to taking up a duty to defend others, who are doing these things in an a noble cause— getting the Nazi boot off the face of mankind.
We all have an urge to do not-right things— Christians would call it having a sinful nature due to the fall of Man into sin. I remember as a little girl going to a store with my tiny bit of pocket money to buy toys. Every time, I found many more toys to want than my pocket money would buy. I might have fantasized about stealing toys— but my parents didn’t raise me to steal— they took me to Sunday School, after all. Plus, if the store man had caught me stealing, I would have the deep disgrace of having my father informed. My father was a store manager himself. He talked about shoplifters sometimes— and never in a flattering way. I felt if I was caught stealing, I would be diminished forever in my father’s eyes. And the best way not to get caught stealing was not to steal.
But that didn’t stop me from wanting things I couldn’t afford. And so I could get caught up in the idea that in some strange special circumstance I too might steal, forge, do many other bad things— in a good cause of course.
In ‘The Great Escape,’ which was based on real events, many of the escaping prisoners paid with their lives. The two American characters, Steve McQueen and James Garner, lived, but each lost a close friend. Garner and McQueen ended up right back in the camp they escaped from. So even though they were doing the right thing, they paid the price for the normally illicit things they did as part of the escape plan.
In your own fiction, sometimes your heroes will be in extreme circumstances. Since their goal will be a morally good one, they may be justified in doing some normally not-good things. They may kill an attacker, steal unattended food or clothing to aid people they are rescuing, lie their tongues off to a Nazi-like oppressor seeking escaped victims, and otherwise do ‘naughty’ things in a good cause.
Placing your heroes in such situations makes your story more exciting. And letting them do things that aren’t normally allowed in these situations make them seem less ‘priggish’ and hypocritical— the standard accusation against anyone who chooses to have and follow a moral compass.
~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~
Recommended Reading:
The Pulp Mindset – JD Cowan.
Pulp Fiction – Robert Turner.
How to Write Pulp Fiction – James Scott Bell.
~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~
Coming Soon!
My new online novella, A Lycian Patriot. Since something in my hero’s past is toxic to the Wattpad crowd, and I don’t have time or energy to post on Wattpad and then move it, I will be posting much of it on this WordPress blog. An expanded version will be available in ebook format through Smashwords and maybe KDP.
[An earlier story in the Lycian series, available free on Wattpad: Banned Books, Banned Girl : A girl with an autism spectrum disorder escapes government confinement and works a ghost job removing banned books from bookshelves.: https://www.wattpad.com/story/269878745 ]
~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~
Follow me!
*MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/nissaannakindt
My very new Substack newsletter: https://nissaannakindt.substack.com
Keto Substack: https://nissaantimatter.substack.com.
Gab (free speech alternative): https://gab.com/nissalovescats
Defend Trad Marriage group: https://mewe.com/group/5bca1f9c73a3f14e7c8572e5
My Antimatter Life 