24 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Heroes”

  1. My heroas a kid was actually a band of heroes: the bridge crew of the Starship Enterprise in the original series: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov. They were all heroic explorers who were also a found family of loyal friends and were willing to sacrifice themselves for others.

  2. I think a lot of heroic characters play in the background of my mind as I think about stories and how my characters will act. As Dale mentioned, Star Trek TOS was awesome (and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is my all time favorite movie. Talk about sacrificing yourself for others–that ending gets me every time). I grew up in an era where TV was fortunate to have a lot of great programs. You had the Cartwrights riding the range for truth and justice. Marshall Matt Dillon, plus various police and detective shows. Lots of fodder to draw on.

    On a totally unrelated note, while driving to work on Wednesday, I was behind a car and the first 3 letters on their license plate was “HEA”. And if your brain went to the same place mine did when I read that, you must be a writer. LOL!!!! Happy Friday!

  3. I love Zorro as played by Guy Williams on the old Disney show (those were the days!), and then the Tyrone Power movie. I wanted to handle a sword of justice. My series character does that for me so, yes, I’m still influenced by my early hero.

  4. Batman. The Adam West Batman. I was four. West is still the best Batman. And that was before the I learned to enjoy the real genius of Kitt, Newmar, and Merriweather.

  5. My dad. He was gentle and sweet but clear and hard as a diamond when it came to what was right and wrong. He could always cut through to what was true. People didn’t try to lie to him but once. He didn’t say a word, but the truth would tumble out like they were under a spell. One of my earliest memories of him was seeing him on our church roof hammering shingles with the other men of the parish when Mom and I and the other ladies of the parish brought them lunch.

    I didn’t have him long (he died in his 40’s) but he informs my writing and my entire life.

    I also love Star Trek the original. Particularly Kirk and Scotty, though I love them all. The Trouble With Tribbles is something I would love to have written.

  6. My earliest memories of reading, other than at school, were The Hardy Boys mysteries and Nancy Drew mysteries. I read all the books in those series our local library had. Maybe those young heroes are part of the reason I enjoy writing for young people.

  7. Mulan. I’m sure she informs my writing because she very much shaped me as a kid. I do have a lot of family-oriented stuff in my writing, and the notion that being the biggest/strongest is not actually that important.

  8. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

    Started reading Dame Agatha when I was about 12.

    Not really sure if they creep into my writing, but I think they’re lurking behind the curtain somewhere.

  9. It’s hard to answer this question–too many possibilities and the differences between them totally subjective. So I’ll try to focus on what TV shows were a must-watch for me. Before there was Star Trek, there was Space Patrol: Buzz Corry, Cadet Happy, Tonga, and Carol, et al. My sister and I would come home from school and turn on the show ASAP. It came on soon after “Make Believe Ballroom,” with Betty White.

    But there was another IRL hero that we had to watch or listen to on radio: Hawthorne. Jim Hawthorne was an off-the-wall disk jockey/entertainer. He was approached to be the MC for a national TV show, but was held to his KLAC contract, locally. Steve Allen got the national show. Our poor dad got talked into taking us to see Hawthorne three times at the old KLAC studios.
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370418/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_1_nm_7_q_jim%2520hawthorne
    My best friend, a WWII vet, is also still a Hawthorne fan or “Hoganite.”

  12. My heroes as a kid tended to be from whatever book, comic, or TV show I’d read or seen most recently. When I grew older and worked in an immoral high tech corporation, my heroes became Mother Teresa, Muhammad Yunas (a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the father of microlending that provides poor entrepreneurs with access to loans), and Ursala K LeGuin, an SF writer who wasn’t afraid to put cultural norms under the microscope. My SF mystery series set in the near future features a character who fights for the poor and downtrodden against greedy corporations. She shares many of the same traits as my real-life heroes.

  14. I had to think about this for a long while. My first reaction was that I had no heroes as a kid. I guess it depends on how it’s defined. Three grandparents and a paternal aunt come to mind when I think of close-to-home heroes. Any and all music teachers took on a saintly glow. For the purpose of this thread, the first time I remember getting kudos for writing
    was a book report in fourth grade. I felt like I “faked” the nun out, because she loved it and made it an example for the class. Whether or not I did, she woke up something in me that has enjoyed putting thoughts down ever since. I couldn’t do math to save my soul, but I read like a maniac (I wasn’t what you call popular, haha, so I had plenty of time for it.) and adored any writing assignments. BTW, for the record, those guys in tights and capes never held any appeal to me. But I enjoyed reading the posts anyway.

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