Is this a blooper reel?
Deny everything.
[NSFW language, as always]
Is this a vlog?
Will this be a regular thing?
I have no idea.
Why is the lip sync out?
Also, good question.
The lighting?
No, no, that was YouTube’s fault.
Female Superhero Films, or Where’s My Ms. Marvel Movie?
Adi Granov’s variant cover of Captain Marvel #1
Used under Fair Use
So, with this current glut of superhero movies, and recent box-office success of female-led action films like Brave and The Hunger Games, we’re bound to see the ladies of Marvel and DC leaping onto the big screen, right?
Not exactly.
Despite proving to Hollywood that audiences can cope with a female protagonist without their heads exploding at the very idea, and the popularity with which Black Widow and Catwoman have been received, there’s still no announcement of a solely superheroine movie.
I know, I hear you. There’s a ton of films in the works; what do you want, them to bring the entire comic canon to screen?
And I get that; you can’t make every film at once, these things cost money, etc. But Marvel announced four films post-Avengers; and I don’t think it’s too much to ask that maybe one was focused on a female superhero.
This isn’t to put a downer on the future films – I am psyched for Guardians of the Galaxy, a film I never thought we’d see, and I hope to see the Wasp starring alongside Hank Pym in Ant-Man. I’m even looking forward to the Superman reboot. But there is a growing female audience for this kind of stuff (not because the cast of The Avengers were extraordinarily pretty, but because women read comic books) and if they can identify with Captain America and Iron Man, then male fans can probably sit through a whole Wonder Woman flick.
The other questions, I hear you cry, is who? Who is there other than Wonder Woman who’d be suited to this role?
I asked myself this too; as the title suggests, my answer was Ms. Marvel, but I’ve put together a list of five possible candidates for female superhero movies.
Cover of Wonder Woman vol.3, #5 by Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson
Used under Fair Use
1. Wonder Woman
People have been waiting for Diana to hit the screen for years. Really, I don’t think I even have to justify this one. She’s flipping Wonder Woman. Get this kickass babe into our cinemas, DC – drag one of the projects out of Development Hell, or start a new one.
And if you’re worried about the ‘Amazonian princess’ being too cheesy? Don’t be. People loved Captain America, for God’s sake. If The Avengers taught us anything, it’s that audiences can simultaneously love Tony’s Stark hilarious cynicism, and Steve ‘I-don’t-like-bullies’ Roger’s sense of what’s right and wrong.
We’ve had the age of gritty, dark knight heroes. It’s time to bring back the Lasso of Truth. People will love it. (Also Wonder Woman doesn’t look nearly so silly now that she wears trousers, so, there’s that).
2. Spider-Woman
Far from just ‘a female Spider-Man’, Jessica Drew has such a varied backstory you could probably pick and choose several different movie ideas out of it. Just her initial origin story of learning to fit in when she’s suddenly been aged up to seventeen and hardly spent time with humans before could be a great teen film.
Add in all her dilemmas about working for HYDRA and you have a much more complicated character than ‘Spidey with boobs’.
3. Batgirl
There have been a few Batgirls over the years, and all of them could probably hold a film, but my choice has to be Barbara Gordon. She was a great Silver Age character and feminist icon, but you could also use a Batgirl film within DC’s relaunch, The New 52, looking at how Barbara copes with her PTSD and having recently recovered from her paralysis.
Which is not to say you couldn’t make a great movie with her as the Oracle. It’d take a lot of work, because she’s not exactly running around and kicking ass, but I think an investigation into how a disabled character exists in a superhero universe could be turned into an interesting movie.
4. Captain Marvel
Cover of Captain Marvel 1 by Mark D. Bright
Used under Fair Use
You know what we need even more than female superheroes? Black superheroes. War Machine’s fun, but there are rumours of Falcon and Black Panther turning up in later films, and no one wants a Luke Cage movie more than I do (seriously, you want a comedy? Forget Ant-Man, Luke Cage is all you need).
But what do we need even more than POC superheroes? WOC superheroes. That’s right, I’m talking about Monica Rambeau as Captain Marvel. It’s frightening how few black women we see in Hollywood, especially in a role like this, and this is a perfect opportunity to introduce Monica to the world.
And on a personal note, I think her superpowers are awesome and fairly uncommon. Your SFX team would probably have a blast.
5. Ms. Marvel
I couldn’t resist.
Her backstory and origin is a little tough, with all the alien conflict you’d have to introduce, and she’s flitted around quite a few of the Marvel superhero teams. Not to mention a lot of her more iconic superpowers are abilities she got as Binary…
Cover of Ms. Marvel vol.2, #1 by Frank Cho
Used under Fair Use
So Carol Danvers is mostly on this list for fun. Because she’s awesome. And out of all the women I’ve mentioned, she’s the one that most looks like she could actually beat you up. Seriously, look at those thighs.
Her character arc in the comics has kind of gone all over the place, and she’s really coming into her own recently as the new Captain Marvel; but I see no reason why a characterisation closer to the Ms. Marvel from Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes couldn’t be used for a film version instead. She’s certainly a fun, popular character from the cartoon series, a great role-model, and one tough cookie.
And those are just a few ideas. The ladies from the Justice League could do with a bit of love, and Batwoman is the perfect opportunity to start getting LGBT superheroes onto the big screen. I can’t be the only one who wants a Catwoman or Elektra film done right, and since The Avengers, who doesn’t want to see Black Widow and Hawkeye have their own buddy movie? (Come on, what happened in Budapest?)
Hope is on the horizon – DC do occasionally make noises about that so-called Wonder Woman film – and it’s been announced that Joss Whedon is doing a Marvel live-action TV series. There are rumours that, without the licensing laws that affect films, this TV series could feature Spiderman and X-Men characters as cast members – and it seems like a great time for Whedon to show off his skill at writing female characters by dragging a few lesser-known heroes back into the light.
Here’s hoping. (Also, I really recommend the related links this time; they’re all super interesting).
Related Links:
Nostalgia Chick’s ‘The Worst (And Least Awful) Female Superhero Movies‘ [VIDEO]
Moviebob’s The Big Picture ‘All The World Is Waiting‘ [VIDEO]
Pathetic Avengers Fangirl’s ‘Marvel Comic-Con Reaction‘
Pathetic Avengers Fangirl’s ‘Six Avengers I Want to See on Film (and One I Don’t)’
Pathetic Avengers Fangirl’s ‘Dear Marvel: More Women, Please?‘
The Escapist: ‘Joss Whedon Signs on for Avengers 2, Marvel TV Series‘
Mitch Recaps: Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 – Volume One
If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know I’ve been working on this baby for a while, hence the recent neglect on the blog.
Mitch Recaps is a vlog series I’ve been planning for a while, and I have tons of ideas to try out (I’d love any suggestions too though). Bubblegum Crisis is really more of an experiment whilst I get up and running – fiddling with equipment and review styles etc.
This was originally all video footage, but due to technical difficulties eveything got corrupted. Instead it’s told with screenshots – but I’ll see if I can fix this is later episodes.
Please let me know what you think, as I’m just starting out.
Thanks guys! You can also expect some more frequent blog updates from here on out. Except I promise that every time, so who knows?
AHHH, THE MONOMYTH.
IT IS A FASCINATING ACADEMIC PURSUIT; A JOURNEY INTO OUR CULTURAL HISTORY, TO THE TIES OF COMMUNICATION THAT BONDED OUR EARLY CIVILIZATIONS. IT EVEN EXPLAINS HOW OUR STORYTELLING ROOTS ARE DIRECTLY BORN FROM THAT SHARED HISTORY. YES, THE LESSONS AT THE CORE OF THE MONOMYTH ARE MANIFOLD, RICH, AND TEXTURED; A THOUSAND VERSIONS OF A HERO’S JOURNEY, ALL BOUND BY THE HUMAN CONDITION, ALL CRUCIAL TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHY WE TELL STORIES IN THE FIRST PLACE. SIMPLY PUT, THE HERO’S JOURNEY IS VITAL TO OUR HUMANITY.
AND NOW IT’S A TOTAL FUCKING CRUTCH.
A LOT LIKE HULK’S DISMISSAL OF 3 ACT STRUCTURE, THE PROBLEM WITH JOSEPH CAMPBELL’S THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES IS NOT IT’S LACK OF ACCURACY, BUT INSTEAD WHAT WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION IT PROVIDES. CHIEFLY, THE FACT THAT OUR SOCIETY HAS OVERTLY ADOPTED THE BOOK’S BREAKDOWN OF THE HERO…
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The Book Signing: How Did It Go?
The answer? Very well indeed.
I felt the people of Southampton were actually proud of Solent Uni, and us. And, in return, I felt proud of Ignite.
Watching it get tucked under people’s arms, carefully put into handbags, passed over the till at Waterstones; we waved goodbye to the copies as they found their way to their new homes. We hope everyone who picked up a copy will find something in the collection to enjoy.
Whilst friends and family came along to support us, plenty of members of the public wandered up to the table too. The vast majority of people who flicked through our display copies happily bought it and asked us all to sign them. (A few people tried to pay us for them, which was terribly sweet, but all the money goes to Waterstones and Solent University).
The result of this is that we sold out of Ignite‘s first print run. That means there are at least 100 copies sat on bookshelves round the country, which is pretty good going for a first-time indie-published title.
Both Waterstones stores in Southampton took some copies to put on their Recommended shelf, and we were their best-sellers of the day (possibly beaten by Fifty Shades of Grey, but we’re not miracle workers). For the record, Waterstones were fantastic throughout the entire event. Every member of staff made us feel welcome, and helped out in any way they could. Huge shoutout to them!
If you live in or around Southampton, I will be bringing our ISBN in the near future to October Books, the independent bookstore in Portswood; Southampton Central Library; and also my local library in Bitterne. If you know of any other independent bookstores in the area, or somewhere else that would display our book, please let me know at mitchkallan [at] gmail [dot] com.
Of course, the main way to purchase our book is still through Amazon, or as an ebook via the Kindle Store.
In other news, I’ve been publishing quite a bit over on Squidoo, if you’d like to check any of my articles out. New lenses include my advice on getting a beta reader (specifically aimed at fanfiction authors, but the idea is the same for any writer), our tips on geeky nights in, and my review of Neil Gaiman’s collection of short works Angels & Visitations.
Upcoming posts here on the blog will likely be a review of Tom Masters‘s epic poem Silence, which I’ve just finished, any more information on Ignite, and maybe some thoughts on pulp novels as I’ve been reading James Patterson‘s When the Wind Blows and The Lake House recently.
And finally, I have a LinkedIn profile here.
Spoiler Alert! Avoid reading this post if you haven’t seen The Avengers.
No really, look away!
O.k., let’s talk about The Avengers, the highest grossing movie so far this year, and the movie on track to potentially unseat James Cameron’s Avatar as highest grossing movie of all time. Specifically, I want to talk about the writing and Loki, the film’s key villain. More specifically, I want to explain how Joss Whedon managed to write the perfect Xanatos Gambit.
For those who don’t know or didn’t click the link above, a Xanatos Gambit (named for the villain Xanatos from Disney’s Gargoyles cartoon) is a plan that literally cannot fail because win or lose, the villain wins. This is one of those “I wanted you to beat me all along” scenarios, where defeating the villain somehow means the hero still loses. This isn’t changing your plans to compensate or getting lucky…
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Book Signing
Just a quick post to let you all know, we will be in the Southampton Waterstones, West Quay, signing copies of Ignite and generally chilling out with you guys. It’s on the 9th June, starting at 11am.
We would love to see as many of you as possible! If you live in the area, it would be great for you to come along. We’ll hang out and have loads of fun, and you can buy physical copies of the book without waiting for the pre-order/ebook release!
We have a limited number of books right now, because this is still our first print run. To ensure you get a copy, turn up as early as possible. If you arrive later and we have run out, we’ll be handing out information on preorders and the ebook version. And you’ll still get to see our lovely faces and chat – which is what you really wanted, isn’t it?
Hope to see you there!
Ignite
Oh, wow – is that an amazing new book cover? You bet.
Once upon a time, I was bored in class, so I doodled on my notebook and wrote a little story about a hole in the sky. I wrote a story about how it was dark and warm under the hole in the sky, and the children would play there when they wanted to get away from their parents. It was about two paragraphs long, and it was gibberish. There was a terrible drawing beside it of shattering glass falling down from a huge dome.
And then class ended, and I shut the notebook and completely forgot about it.
Years later, we had to write a short story, and I panicked because my ideas just seemed to have run out. Everything I tried to turn into short fiction just turned into this pulpy horrible mess.
I flicked back through my old notebooks desperately, and one line caught my eye in blobby ink: “No one knew how, or when, the sky had broken.”
And I still didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was something.
So I wrote this weird, twisty story, and it was a bit longer than two paragraphs, but it was still mostly gibberish. And everyone smiled at it politely, because it was the sort of thing that should have been good.
A visiting third-year squinted at it. He was trying to like it, and he just didn’t. He was trying to be polite, and he just wasn’t. It was the first time someone had torn something of mine apart properly, and I totally loved it.
“Make sure it keeps going, though.”
What? It was a nice experiment, but it had just fallen flat over on the page. Which was fine; I was happy to start something else.
“No, there’s a story somewhere. It’s just hidden under all this crap,” he said. (If you ever have a reviewer/editor/beta reader who isn’t prepared to talk to you like that; get a new one. Seriously.) “And there’s just so much crap. But it has to end. I really want it to end.”
I was feeling fairly exhausted by then, so I just nodded, and said I’d give it an end sometime. I’d keep it in a drawer or something, and work on it later.
“No. The next thing you have to do is give it an end,” he said. “Because it ends in this sweet but really tragic way, and I think that’s really good, and I think you can write it.”
What. What what. This was a nice story, about kids, and playing, and pesky grown-ups! It’d never seen tragedy in its life!
But he kept frowning at me in this serious way, and I remembered what being a kid had actually been like. It wasn’t happy or unhappy, but it was just as real and intense as being adult. Probably more. Everything mattered so much then, before hormones made you nonsensical and melodramatic. Everything about being a kid had been sweet and tragic, and this story didn’t have either.
I was too nervous to say anything at the time (which is how 90% of my anecdotes end). But I wrote the end. And then I went back, and wrote the beginning and the middle.
So now it’s called THE SKY SHARD. Lots of people like it a little, and a few people like it an awful lot (the old softies). And it’s in this freaking amazing indie-published anthology called Ignite, surrounded by some awesome work by some awesome people who I literally cannot wait to work with again in the future.
So if you think you’d like to read THE SKY SHARD, I think you should pre-order Ignite from Amazon.
But also, if you’re not into my story, I think you should pick up Ignite anyway. Because it’s fresh, and it’s awesome, and it’s wonderfully honest. Which is important.
Also, we have a front cover which is blisteringly cool, and I’ll tell you more about the artist (and everyone involved in this crazy indie endeavour) another time. So, you know. You should buy it for that too.
Yes, it will on ebook. No, I don’t know when. All the details will be on this blog as soon as I know anything. Rest assured that everyone involved is being bugged constantly to make this the coolest thing in the world.
Why I Hate Your Hero
This post contains swearing.
This will probably be the first of a series. There’s a lot of things I hate about heroes. So this shall be hesitantly titled:
The Teen Edition
This is a list of problems that crop up a lot – in both published and unpublished fiction. Some are just personal bugbears, most are just bad writing; all of them make me lose any sympathy I had for your protagonist, and thus, your story.
1. The Mirror
Oh, God, the mirror. Thank God for the mirror, huh? How else would I be able to get a list of your character’s facial features? Every single one. As if, just this morning, they have finally noticed their own avatar they’ve been using their whole lives for existing on Planet Earth. Gee, thanks, Mirror.
If it’s a girl, don’t forget to mention how she think she’s not exactly pretty – but she hears other people talking about how sexy she is all the time. Because, of course, if she admits that she does think she’s sexually attractive, that would make her a skank. You don’t want her to be a skank, do you?
Don’t stop at her raven locks, though. I need to know what she’s wearing! If this were the early 2000s, I’d be expecting Hot Topic – but luckily, time has moved on. It’s all corsets now! Some people say she’s a goth, but she doesn’t think so. Because labelling is dumb. And this pushes her boobs out. Which is awesome. But not too much because then she’d be a skank.
Speaking of her boobs – they’re pretty big. Which is amazing, considering she’s skinny as a rake. But also curvy. Yeah – curves in the right places, skinny, boobilicious. Totally like a real human being, and nothing at all like Barbie. Except those girls with huge tits. They are skanks.
Guys – you’re largely free of this step. Count yourselves lucky. However, even you can’t escape the next part…
2. Birthmarks – The Mirror Strikes Back
Also, tattoos, weird symbols, scars, etc…
Firstly, I get this. I do. This step is not bad of itself. It’s just handled horribly.
The hero is branded (no, not that kind of branded…). It’s a mythic thing, part of the hero’s journey. I can go with that. The hero is special. That’s why there’s a whole book about them.
Oddly-shaped scars a la Harry Potter, I can deal. Birth-marks in the shape of a perfect star/moon/fuck-knows-what which no one finds a bit odd? At least Harry’s scar was magical. And everyone kind of dealt with that. Because magic. If your character isn’t the Chosen One, and this is not some scar of an earlier event, stop it. There’s plenty of time later in the adventure to get scars. Heroes get cut up all the time (see: Frodo and That Cave Troll They Brought in Moria). Try something interesting.
More subtle versions of this trope are nice to see, though. For example, Garion, of The Belgariad fame, has a shiny-looking burn scar on one palm which he keeps covered in dirt and grime because hey, he grew up in a kitchen and probably touched something burning hot as a toddler, right? Wrong, this is a huge Chekhov’s Gun that will kick ass later (like, several books later) which at least I didn’t see coming.
Bonus points if they run their finger over said mark whilst examining it in the mirror. Even though they’ve had it all their lives. And have never once questioned it.
3. First-Person Perspective – Return of the Mirror
Of course, this description whilst the character stares gormlessly at themselves is all in first-person. It doesn’t have the side-effect of having them come across as narcissistic douchebags with nothing pressing to do this morning. And it definitely doesn’t look like you modelled the character on yourself- excuse me, your dream self.
Even with the best of intentions, it’s hard to shy away from this implication when using first-person perspective. And some teenagers are genuinely narcissistic, and you’re trying to get that across. I know. Just be self-aware, and you should get the balance right.
If you were looking for advice instead of a sarcastic rant; I tend to use another character’s perspective to describe my protagonist – using their impressions to help the reader form their own, before diving into the hero’s mind and learning about them from the inside too. This is decidedly shaky, as opening your novel with a character who is not your protagonist Does Not Always Work. Patience, grasshopper.
4. Look At All This Stuff!
Wow. Your character has loads of nice clothes (which, hopefully, you have lovingly described previously in front of that mirror). And that new phone they IM people on. And their own TV. And loads of games for the Xbox.
What’s that? Those are souvenirs from a trip to Disneyland?
Damn, and their house is so modern and spacious too. And the garden. They must love it here. I bet their parents have a pretty good income.
“No, shut up – my parents totally suck! They don’t do anything but invite snobby friends over and get drunk and have lots of sex, and they never do anything for me.”
Huh. My mistake.
5. “It’s not just my parents; everyone sucks!”
This is not Teen Angst. Teen Angst is totally acceptable (in, you know, measured doses) for this genre. Parents don’t understand them. They hate being the unpopular kid at school. Little siblings are the manifestation of the Devil. This is fine.
If your character bad-mouths people for, essentially, not being them – this becomes a problem. Something horrible happens to a guy at school? They don’t care because “He’s a jock who plays on the football team, so he’s probably a total jerk.” Um.
People try to be friends with them? “No. No one understands. How could they want to be my friend? I bet they’re just using me.“ I. What? Bonus points if your character is just paranoid; but none at all if they turn out to be right. Either way, I’m bored of this protagonist.
As you may have suspected from above, this trope in its worst incarnation falls on lady characters. That’s right – The Skank. A girl at school is popular. She has a boyfriend. Maybe several. She’s outwardly sexually attractive, and she knows it. Hey, even…promiscous.
Not only does our cleavage-touting corset not-goth of a main character find this repulsive in the female specimen; she finds it justification for said girl’s life getting screwed up. In pretty much every way. Including rape. I wish I was joking.
Usually, the Skank doesn’t even need to be a bully to our heroine (but it helps). Also, she’s stupid. Must be all the space in her brain getting squashed out by her massive skank breasts. Women who are loud, attractive and confident are Evil; girls who are quiet, monogamous, and less busty are Good (both Heroine and Best Friend, usually) but still attractive, just in a less ‘showy’ way. Girls who are flat-chested, plain, or fat don’t exist, or else they’re basically boys. Or rather, they’re basically unattractive boys – so why pay attention?
Bonus points if your hero and your skank act almost identically re: sexual activity; but one is considered great and empowering, and the other is considered slutty and lacking any dignity.
Wait…did I say points? I meant, bonus smacks around the head.
If Skank is skanky purely because she’s chasing hero’s Love Interest with her breasty, sexy ways, and hero knows she’d be right for him (and chases him with the same conviction, but without all that dirty, promiscuous business), then congratulations, you get all the bonus points and can NEVER WRITE AGAIN.
6. Kick the Dog / Save the Cat
Another thing the screenwriters will doubtless explain better in the comments below. Save the Cat is the moment early on when your protagonist does something nice. Or at least, something not douchey. Gives a homeless guy some money. Sticks up for the geeky kid at school. Helps his sister with his homework. Whatever.
It’s pretty well telegraphed – even people who don’t ‘know’ this part, know this part. They’ll feel it coming.
If your character misses this, if he strolls on by, he’s dead to me.
I am not exaggerating. This is where we go ‘Huh, he may be a jerk, but he’s good somewhere. I can relate to him long enough to keep going.’
Doesn’t matter how reprehensible he is before or after. Give us one moment.
Even worse than walking past saving the cat, is Kicking the Dog. Making your hero do something douchey straight off. Laughs at the fat kid. Trips someone up. harasses a young women. Whatever.
This is fine if he’s Jerk Hero who learns to change his ways. But be careful.
7. Orphan / Everyone Leaves In The End
Yeah, being an orphan probably sucks. Being orphaned since childhood probably sucks really, really hard. And it’s a forgivable trope. It’s not so much overused as just a staple food by now. It fixes problems: the hero can go have adventures with no limitations, less characters to flesh out, automatic woobie, no drive for hero to want to Go Back To How It Was Before. OK.
First off – the Dickensian Orphanage. I don’t know what they tell you about England – but it is not full of stern grey mansions waiting to deliver children into rainy misery. It is full of grey, mansions, and rain, though, so you’re half-right. To my knowledge, orphanages (or their modern-day equivalents) are no longer run by nasty ancient women who use the cane, they do not serve broth, and this is not Jane Eyre. Stop it.
Similarly, I don’t think they let you become a foster parent if you’re a neglectful fuckface who drinks a lot and beats kids and has several nasty fuckface children who are likely to bully Orphan. I’m sorry. Cinderella was a long time ago.
This stuff may well happen, but probably only occasionally, and definitely not enough to warrant every hero ever coming from this broken foster home, ‘nobody wants me’ background. It’s not a pet shop where the one drabby-looking kitten is left behind whilst its cute brothers and sisters get sold to nice couples.
If you’re writing historical fiction, of course, go right ahead. That shit was brutal.
“But wait – there was this one person who was the only foster parent to ever be nice to me. And I called them Mum/Dad, and they were so cool and gave me loads of stuff and taught me everything I know, but they died horribly and now I have to go back to the orphanage and…”
Urgggggggh…
“And because of this previous hurt, I have decided to trust no one! Even when it would make this story significantly easier. Because the plot demands it! And I’m wounded!
URGGGGGGGGH…
Also, as a side-note: Harry Potter. Dead parents, sucks. Nasty aunt and uncle, bullying cousins, cupboard under the stairs…yeah. He fulfills your poor little orphan.
Remember how he grew up to be a misanthropic little bitch and never let people help him and was so standoffish and cool?
Yeah. Me neither.
8. “Also, I can sing.”
Oh, fuck off. Unless this story is all about singing, and your character is a singer.
“I can sing so well it brings people to tears.“
No. No. Off you fuck.
9. “My life has always sucked. But TODAY, I will change it.”
Rule of Plot: Your opening sets up the situation your character is in. If things do not significantly change, your character will die, physically or spiritually. The story opens at a critical moment, even if your protagonist does not know it.
If your protagonist’s life has always been shitty, and today is equally shitty, and they’re the kind of person who does nothing to combat the shittiness, I find it hard to believe that this day, of all the others, they suddenly sit up and go “You know what? Now I will take life into my own hands!”
Wha? Where did that motivation come from? It takes a certain kind of person to be a hero. And that kind of person does not sit around for months/years before thinking ‘Gee, if only I changed my situation, I’d be a fulfilled human being.” Heroes can’t stand that. They have to fix things, they have to be active. They have a motive.
That sounds like a nasty chunk of re-writing, but never fear. This is simpler than you think. Today just has to be the shittiest day so far. They can snap. They can say ‘You know what? I just cannot fucking take this.’ The last thing they were holding onto crumbles underneath them. That’s all it takes for them to rise from Everyman to Your Hero.
But it has to be something. Today has to be different.
Don’t think all these above examples are limited to fan fiction; I have seen this stuff published. Published.
As always with these kinds of things – everything above has been done successfully, rules are made to be broken, these things aren’t bad themselves, yadda yadda. Just be aware before you stomp all over them.
When I get the chapter two, I want to be invested. I want to care. Make me love them.
What’s an early turn-off for you character-wise? Specifically teeny would be nice, but any genre.
Mitch K. Allan 
