How To: Create Your Fantasy Hero/Heroine

5. Realism

Considering everything we just went through in the past three chapters. It all comes back to one thing; 

R E A L I S M

Which people can often forget; especially in a fantasy world where your hero may just be an all-mighty powerful wizard. There's nothing wrong with that. Just remember to make your character feel real. You want your readers to love this hero as much as you do, you want them to understand what they went through, what they are going through and what is yet to come. Here are six key points to realism. Three of them we have gone over already.

#1 Childhood/Family We discussed this in chapter 2: Who am I? Remember a person is heavily shaped and influenced by those surrounding them as they grew up.

#2 Hopes and Dreams This could be totally off-topic from your hero's quest. This could be something they have been longing to do for a long time; something personal. Something that shows that your hero lives a normal life, with normal hopes and dreams. For example (before Harry discovered who he truly was. This is just an example I came up with, don't shoot me if you don't think it's accurate), Harry hoped to find out more about his parents and why he was different from other children.

#3 Fears We just discussed this topic in the previous chapter. Giving your hero a fear makes them more relatable, it can be physical (heights, spiders, blood etc.) or abstract (loss, loneliness, being lost etc).

#4 Flaws So, this is similar to fears, but not quite. Being afraid of something doesn't make it a flaw in your character; it makes them a real character. Flaws are something that your character does wrong, something that makes them imperfect. Perhaps your hero did something terrible and is trying to make up for it. Perhaps your hero is selfish and is only trying to do what's best for themselves (at least until they get a slap in the face and realise it's everyone's life at risk; not just there's). Stop thinking about what makes your character a good hero. What makes them a bad hero?

#5 Strengths/Weaknesses Again, we discussed this in the previous chapter. Remember to think about external and internal, trivial or significant. Strengths should be balanced with weaknesses to make your hero seem like a real person. For example; if they're strong when in short-ranged combat (melee, fists, magic etc), consider their weakness being long-ranged combat (guns, bow and arrow, telepathy? etc).

#6 Beliefs and Morals How does your character see the world around them and how will this affect their acts of heroism? Do they belong to a religion, or practise a certain kind of magic? Have they been shown many sides to one story; or do they live according to biased folklore?

There is also one more important not when dealing with realism;

C H A N G E

Your hero is probably about the embark on the most important journey of their life. In fact, their life might just depend on it. They are about to go through all kinds of major life changes that they were not prepared for.

They are going to love and lose.

They will know what heartbreak really feels like, or what true happiness feels like.

They will befriend new people and perhaps be betrayed by those closest to them.

They will face their fears, crumble at their weaknesses then power through with their strengths.

With all this happening and more, your hero sure as hell isn't going to be the same person at the end of this journey. If they are; then what story do you have to tell?

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A/N: at the end of all the chapters, I am going to put a little exercise/question for you guys to do in the comments as a way for you to interact and really take something away from reading this guide. I will leave an answer regarding one of my own fantasy books for you to use as an example. Don't forget to vote and share this guide with whoever may need it!

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Exercise 4:

What is your hero/heroine's flaw?

My answer:

Reuben kept his past life as a Prince a secret from his friend in the fear that he would lose her