The Seven Deadly Sins and Your Hero; Pride

Welcome to another edition of The Seven Deadly Sins and Your Hero. Today we look at Pride. You may wonder about pride as a sin. In fact, pride is a complex emotion according to Wikipedia. At the negative end, pride is a sense that 'I'm superior, better than the other guy.' In the positive sense, pride is the result of a good sense of ones self, not over indulged, simply positive self-esteem.

Shall we look at the negative?

If your character is proud, and/or carries themselves in a superior manner...nose in the air, barely acknowledging other characters than you will have a problem establishing this character as the hero. The Bible says, 'Pride goeth before a fall.' Keep that in mind. Your proud character must suffer a loss of some kind in order to see the error of  his or her ways. Or they must come face to face with a humbling experience, take a visit to a starving village in Africa or another 3rd world country. Or even here in the USA, in a downtown urban neighborhood where the jobless rate is above average and crime rules the streets. However you decide to handle this character flaw keep in mind, many readers will immediately have a negative reaction to your hero. This is because we all know one or more  proud and obnoxious individuals. Sometimes they are members of our family. You have your work cut out for you. My guess is that the change must begin before the end of Chapter One.

If your character is blessed with a good sense of self esteem and you want to enhance the readers understanding of this then your character is likely involved with some charity work or has nothing but encouraging words to say to others. I think this is just as difficult. Unless you add a conflict that threatens their well being you will end up with a two dimensional character and a weak story.

However you decide to use 'Pride" in your manuscript, it is a viable emotion that can be a challenge.

I hope this post was helpful.

PS: I'm looking for critique partners. If interested leave a comment with your email and we will chat.

Thanks,
Nancy


Pictures linked; Wikipedia.