I’ve been thinking about my next novel and getting ready to map out the plot for it over the next week. One of the tasks I have to do is determine just who my hero is. I know, that seems kind of obvious but in fact it’s not always so cut and dry. In Starstrikers I assumed that my hero was the leader of the special forces team – Centar Havic. But upon closer inspection you will notice that the only character who has a clear arc is the new girl – Tamia. She’s the real hero with a journey in the story.
In Tyrmia, my second SF novel set in the Starstrikers Universe, the hero is very obvious. In fact, I closely followed the template of the Hero’s Journey in that novel. When I read it, I see all the major plot points plain as day. But it was easy to do that for Tyrmia, because the story is almost a strait Fantasy.
In Starforgers, I’m attempting another ensemble piece with lots of secondary characters all wrapped up in multiple sub-plots. It’s typical Space Opera in every way, shape and form. But there still has to be a POV character whose story must follow the template and who must be changed by the events in the novel. For Starforgers the hero is Devon Ardel. She’s the Stellar Ranger captain featured in many of the short stories in Tales From Ocherva, Volume One, now available on the Kindle.
If you read her stories in that anthology, you will see that I’ve created an interesting hero, with flaws and strengths that make her fun to read about. In the new novel, I will add to her misery and her joys and she will have a defined character arc that will take her out of her realm of comfort and into an uncertain future.