- Honesty. Unless the con artist concerned is out to tackle someone worse than them. SeeGoing Postal by Terry Pratchett for more on this theme. I also think this novel has one of the best beginnings ever.
- Courage. Not going to get far without this quality, of course, but I also like to see moral courage (especially when all around the character concerned are falling apart. It takes guts to be different then).
- Compassion. Nobody's a hero in my book without this quality. Said hero/heroine has to be driven to act the way they are and compassion can be a very powerful motivator.
- A Sense of Humour. They're going to need it (as we all do to get through life).
- Adjusting well to reversals of fortune. Nothing goes right all the time for any hero/heroine so they must ensure they are not sunk completely when everything goes wrong. They have to be able to find a way out so the ability to adjust is crucial.
I've never been one for screaming "damsels in distress" and the like. I've always found this/them irritating in the extreme (which probably says a lot about me!). My early heroines were Jo from Little Women, Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds and Sarah Jane Smith from Doctor Who. (Sarah Jane could, in fairness, scream with the best of them but she always had a good reason to scream and she could fight her way out of a situation, either directly or with guile, so that was okay). So what traits am I looking for in a fairytale hero/heroine?
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AuthorI'm Allison Symes and I write novels, short stories as well as some scripts and poems. I love setting my work in my magical world, the Fairy Kingdom, and my favourite character is Eileen, who believes hypocrisy is something that happens to other people without caring that statement is hypocritical in itself! Eileen is huge fun to write for and about. Archives
September 2019
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