An unlikely hero . . .

I just finished the movie Man of the Year, with Robin Williams. For those who haven’t seen: Robin Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a satirical, political comedian who ends up running for President of the United States and winning. The hitch – there was a computer glitch in the voting system (wow! Doesn’t that sound like real life?) and he wasn’t actually, legally, technically elected.

Tom Dobbs learns about the computer glitch from the head female computer programmer of the company hired to develop and oversee the voting machines. Can Tom Dobbs believe this woman who spouts technical information regarding his actual loss in the race? Is she crazy? On drugs, as voting machine company keeps inferring? Someone with an ulterior agenda? Or is she legit and he, as President-elect, the fraud?

Hence is born: an unlikely hero.

I’ll not tell you whether he accepts her truth as his truth. It is the dilemma of this movie that reminds every writer of our central purpose: CONFLICT!

Not just any simple-minded conflict, but the internal, tear-your-soul-out kind of conflict we must inflict on our characters. Without conflict, will a reader care what happens to our hero? Our heroine? Never.

Think back on great literature . . .
Sense & Sensibility – ah, certainly there are any number of heroes and heroines on these pages. But they weren’t unlikely choices. They did what I expected. Pride & Prejudice, same thing. Don’t get me wrong. I love these books. But these characters weren’t unlikely heroes. Only people who ultimately did the right thing.

Something I more recently read, however, fits the bill.
Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell. Simple farm-girl Verity Ashton cashes in on her exceptional beauty by becoming London's most sought-after courtesan in order to save her younger siblings from starvation. Does she have a choice? Not really, not as the story unfolds, but through her struggle to entertain men and not lose her own inner identity, the reader sympathizes, empathizes and roots for Verity. When opportunity finally presents the chance to return to a simple way of life, Verity seizes it. Her stint into proper society doesn’t last as her most recently spurned lover tracks her down and destroys her image of propriety. Verity has every right to despise this man, but her innate sense of honor and dignity prevails once again. Instead of destroying him, she saves his very soul.

Hence is born: an unlikely hero. Or in this case an unlikely heroine.

The pay-off for this type of conflict is dramatic and satisfying. It isn’t about a character doing the right thing . . . or following what they’ve been brought up to believe. It’s deeper, darker, more painful and the suffering is shared with the reader, who not only want this character to survive, but to thrive.

Share it: story you love the best with an unlikely hero or heroine.

Until next time
~ Sandra

PS ** I have another book-signing at Barnes & Noble scheduled for September 6th, 2007 @ 7:30pm. I'll be signing HARM'S WAY.