With any hero there’s a character arc.  Whether he has to learn to be less selfish, or learn to believe in herself, I find that I connect with the hero when he or she must go through something and come out a better person.  Isn’t that our jobs?  To connect the reader to our hero?  And when they don’t the story is then called a tragedy.

There are supporting characters that are necessary.  Heroes tend to have a nemesis, possible love interest, straight man or woman, a sidekick, gap-inducing character, etc.  Chris suggests having at least two mirror characters.  One character that shows what the hero can and should become–giving, self-confidence–and another, maybe the bad guy, who shows the reader what would happen if the story was a tragedy.

I understand the purpose of mirrored characters, but I’d never heard of this before.  Have you?

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