Does Your Hero Have a Knothole by Gerri Brousseau

I’m sitting on lunch break at work wondering what to write about in my blog. While thinking, my gaze wandered up to the ceiling, which is comprised of pine boards. The boards all have knots in them, and some even have knotholes. I started thinking about the board as if it were a person, a character in one of my novels, perhaps even my hero. My hero is important to the story, just as the board is important to the ceiling. The board is straight and true and lends support to all the other boards that make up the ceiling, just as my hero lends support to the secondary characters.

The knots in the boards are considered by some to be imperfections, or flaws, and are usually darker in color. Some say knots and knotholes in a board weaken it, as it is a flaw, but their existence and imperfections also add to the character and give the wood a certain sense of beauty. Like the board, my hero will have imperfections as well. Perhaps he will have crooked teeth, a crooked smile, or a thin scar across his cheek bone. But not all his imperfections or flaws are always visible, but rather his dark side, or his flaws, gets revealed through the story.  Hopefully, like the lovely pine board in the ceiling above me, the hero’s strength will greatly overshadow the small areas of weakness. His passion and conviction will keep him straight and true, and he draws his strength from deep within. His character, which despite his flaws (knotholes), or perhaps because of them, will make him the powerful character we love. What “knotholes” does your favorite hero have?

 

Filed under: romance