Zorya...What's A hero?

Where have I been on this blog? I know March is almost over with and you have not seen a blog. I have a decent excuse…all the projects and paper work were due last week for my student teaching and since I increased the amount of hours I work at my job my free time was devoted to my schoolwork. Yeah so well here we are another blog. You ready? I am.
As you know I’m in this pretty awesome writing group. With screenwriting I’m struggling with many things. The one that bugs me the most is my main character. I don’t really know who I want her to be. That bothers me. I’m a hero freak. What is that? The explanation is coming hold on.
Explanation: Ever since I was a young boy I’ve had a hunger to know every hero on the face of the earth. Thinking back to my innocent days I remember first being exposed to Power Rangers at the age of 5. I was awe-struck. These regular looking group of teenagers could morph into these colorful rangers. They also had these cool zords they could ride in and combine to destroy evil. It had me for years. I don’t want to say that my “geekdom” began with Power Rangers but it did.
From that point on I became a fan of The Ninja Turtles, X-men, VR Troopers, Thundercats, Beast Wars Transformers, Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Justice League, and so much more. Have you figured out a trend? I like Super Powered Teams. I told one of my writing friends that I have this OCD thing where I have to buy things in pairs at the least. Whenever I go buy candy, I buy two packs, a shirt? No I buy two. Shoes? Two Pairs. Jeans Two Pairs. Action figures? Two of them. You get the picture. The same is true with my hero obsession. I can’t have just one I need a team.
While trying to create the most dynamic and iconoclastic protagonist I often get caught in webs (not from spider-man) because I have to figure out who they are and also their support team is and also who they are. I think about this a lot. It is a good and bad thing.
As I write this screenplay I have learned and heard from my group that I pretty much know one of my characters really well because his dialogue accurately reflects his character. As I write this blog, I have yet to figure out my Protagonist. She is a girl. When I see her I see Scarlet Johanssen as seen in Iron Man 2. I don’t know too much about her. Still trying to figure her out.
One of the things I have learned about creative writing is that you have total freedom to create this world but you also have to create the rules in order for this uncanny world to make sense. If you’re religious you’ll know that even God is limited (in a way) in regards to his creation(s). The laws that he has set up for us bind him. God loves us but he can’t ignore our sins. If he did he would no longer be holy. He would cease to exist because he violated the very essence of his being. To be holy means to be sinless. He can’t ignore our wrongs. He can’t overlook them. God cannot lie to us or himself. So when he says something will happen when we do something he has to go along with it. He can’t back out. Or forget what he has decreed.
Reason and science claim to disprove the existence of God but I like what Anselm (1033-1109) said about reason. Anselm taught that faith must precede reason but that reason could serve to illuminate faith. He said, “I believe so that I may know”. Reason is the servant of faith. The misuse of reason and science make “faith” nothing more than witchcraft or a bunch of “hokey-pokey”.
Okay so that was an historical tangent but forgive me. All I’m saying is that when God created the universe and he made the laws for the universe to work and make sense he limited himself. The same is true for writers. When they create this world they make the rules for it to make sense and work but they have to craft the story in sync with the rules or else the story falls apart. It’s stupid. It come across as not planned. It’s poorly written.
I have created my own world. I know the rules. Why can’t I figure out my protagonist? I will eventually, I really just need to brainstorm a bit more than I have. The more I get into this screenplay the more I realize that I must figure her out. If she is not in sync with the world or her actions and dialogue are out of sync with the character I have molded for her then my world has a “black hole”. This flawed and misunderstood character will turn my story inside out. The whole world may become sucked into a vortex of bad writing…If I violate my rules, my characters, and my world I cease to be it’s creator. I cease to be its “god”. It may even become “self-aware” (I, Robot? Neverending Story, and Inception all rolled into one????). This is a little extreme, but just like writers before me have crafted these heroes that we root for and love I want to do the same. I want to go beyond, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Mulan, Rocky, Superman, Batman, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Jake Sully, Dorothy (and her little dog), and even get close to one of the greatest heroes, Jesus Christ. The poster-child of agape love A God Hero the “Superman” of the Trinity and the Hercules of the Godhead.
Here is a quote from the greatest Wizard Albus Dumbledore, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
I like superheroes because of what they can do. I like the Jedi because they can use the force, Harry Potter because of his magic, Superman because of his strength, and Storm for her ability to control the weather. We remember our heroes because of what made them heroes. It was their choices and their actions. The choices make the hero/heroine not their abilities. I’m starting there for my protagonist. Time to brainstorm. Time to create.