The Hero Writing Art

In journey essay

in free journalism

The Hero Writing Art

by Jacob Malewitz

Heroes come and go, but in fiction, in storytelling, they become immortal. Whether you've watched the PBS show The Power of Myth, watched and loved sci fi epics like Star Wars and Star Trek, even looked at the gumshoe in the film noir story, you've loved heroes. You can't help it. We all love heroes.

I first took to heroes when I was a boy struggling to find his way. Oh. I could watch them, but I wanted to be them, to be looked up to like the comic book guys Captain American and Iron Man, my first tastes of the comic book hero phenomenon. I grew up. I watched Star Wars. I read tons of fantasy and science fiction novels. I grew up more. I found the likes of Coppola and Kurosawa, the guys who came after Stan Lee and Jack Kirby,the ladies who came in and said "heroines" aren't to be forgotten.

The hero writing art can spark in you in similar ways. After all, comics and cartoons sparked my interest in heroes, guys and girls who did the right thing in situations where they could do so different.

Your examples might be different, but how you will write them is already in your DNA. Even if you lived in a village at the edge of the world, you'v known heroes. And if you're an artist, or even better a writer, you likely toy with the hero writing spark every single day.

Novelists create all kinds of heroes. Screenwriters, directors, graphic novel authors and artists, manga storytellers, anime and animation creators--the list could go on.

So how do you create a hero the likes of Luke Skywalker, Peter Parker, or Jake from Chinatown? Do you write your hero as a cookie cutter of Star Wars or crime stories, or do you create your own? Sometimes the hero ends up being you. In one of his books, Stephen King wrote of a falling hero trying to stay away from booze; he didn't want to drink; then he drank; and Stephen was at the same time battllling his own alcoholism. The novel, "The Shining," may be one of the best horror novels ever (and my personal favorite of his, beyond "The Stand).

Storytellers create with instincts, so write with your instinct. Sometimes you can create a hero who is so different from you you'd hardly believe it. Sometimes your heroine is so like you it sends chills into your spine. Other times, you hate your hero. Still others, you fall in love. It's a crazy creation process, and too worthwhile to ignore.