All good stories are about character. The job of a good storyteller is to create an emotional bond between those characters and the reader as they endure the conflict in the story. It’s a vicarious emotional experience where the reader experiences the hopes and fears of their hero or heroine. It’s a connection. We don’t need to necessarily like our character. For example Michael Corleone in the Godfather, or Walter White from Breaking bad. But we do need to empathise with them.

It’s not easy to write a heroic story. But it does require a putting your hero or heroine on a diet of pain, suffering, and injustice. And they need to learn from the experience.

Recently I watched a documentary or the recruitment of young men to the marine commandos. The recruitment process is gruelling in the extreme. After days of physical training over assault courses and under extreme conditions, the training the course ends, just when the recruits are suffering most, with gruelling 30 mile march against time. Only the most physically fit and determined compete the course. And it’s wonderful to see the pride of those young men as they receive their green berets.

The training is extreme because it is intended to build character, determination and camaraderie among the recruits. And it works. It’s only through their pain and suffering that their real character and determination emerges.

There is a parallel here with good story telling. It is only through the pain suffering of the hero/ heroine and how they respond that we see their true character in our story. Of course they don’t need to suffer the same physical challenges as those recruits, but they need to survive all the pain and suffering the story teller can throw at them.

So if you want to be a good story teller you have to be prepared to make your hero or heroine suffer. Whether it is emotional turmoil or more of a physical nature it doesn’t matter. Even superheroes are not exempt. And if that super hero suffers from a bad case of hubris, like Thor, then the pain should be even more extreme.

Do all stories require this does of pain and suffering. Perhaps not. There are the cosy mysteries and some romantic comedies where main character is not made to suffer unduly. But stories about heroism demand it.

What do you think?