Heroes vs. Non-heroes

Does your novel feature a great hero? Or is it simply a great story? Maybe you have both. I know it doesn’t take a great hero to make a great story. But it does take a great story to make a great book. For someone like me, it’s better if you do have both.

My first novel, KILLER OF KILLERS has a great hero and a great story. Trent Smith, after all is the greatest martial artist on the planet. He doesn’t see himself that way. But he is. And he uses his skill to avenge the innocents. He hates murderers. It really bothers him when murderers get away with their crimes. In KILLER OF KILLERS, anyone who murders and gets away with it better watch out for him. It’s to Trent’s advantage at the start of his journey that they don’t know about him yet. But in the sequel, KILLER EYES, they know by then to watch out for him, and the antagonist is doing just that.

It makes for an even greater hero, and Trent Smith is up to the task. After all, he’s the greatest martial artist on the planet. He’s a great hero.

But in THE VASE, there really isn’t a great hero. The main character is a simple Palestinian vase-maker named Muhsin Muhabi. He has a wife who left him, and a son who is all he has left in this world besides his pottery shop. He isn’t religious, and he doesn’t care about the politics that took the life of his first-born son. All he wants to do is provide for his surviving son and run his shop. Isn’t it weird that for people like Muhsin, who just want to mind their own business, there are others who take it upon themselves to interfere in their lives? But it’s true. It really does happen.

And it’s what happens to Muhsin. He didn’t do anything to anyone, but people are butting into his life and making what might have been an otherwise peaceful and fulfilling existence a tormented one instead. Just thinking about it makes me mad. If it wasn’t for that vase…