This is important information, not only because I am a mark for all things Hardy, but because the story of Jeff Hardy is an excellent lesson in Character.
Humble Beginnings – everyone likes a hero they can identify with. The Hardy boys are from Cameron, North Carolina. You’ve never heard of it. No one has. I don’t even think it registers on most maps. They grew up redneck, blue-collar, and loving it. These were country boys with big dreams.
Sibling Rivalry - Jeff is the younger brother of Matt Hardy. Characters in the younger sibling position are good too, because there is a built-in adversarial relationship. Siblings, no matter how close, struggle to attain identity beyond their family role. Matt and Jeff used to be Tag Team partners, then split and eventually both became champs on different shows.
Your story might be two sisters, one of whom wants to be a princess, the other who finds herself the object of the Prince’s affection. It doesn’t matter what scenario you put them in, siblings will eventually have to compete, and then reconcile.
If not siblings, then your hero might have a best friend to struggle against. A straight story of Good Guy stranger versus Bad Guy stranger does very little for us, because it is less believable. Even in Stephen King monster stories, there is some link between the characters that goes all the way back to childhood. These are the strongest bonds, and the best for character development.
People’s Champ – not The Rock. Readers like a hero who is a hero. Who sticks up for what is right. We want a hero who is loyal, even if it’s to his own detriment. (Even anti-heroes have a code they live by, and are loyal to their own.) Jeff Hardy once jumped off a ladder, sacrificing his chance at the title, just so he could injure the guy who slept with his brother’s girlfriend. Yeah, that kind of loyalty.
Think about it. Jeff Hardy is still a southern boy, at heart. He’s a rock star to his fans, but he still likes to ride his motocross bikes and have watermelon fights with his friends. This makes for an endearing hero, someone who has two sides to their personality.
Perhaps your character is a guy who finds piles of cash secreted away in their dead father’s estate. Your character is a lawyer, and knows something is amiss. He should also be a regular guy, interested in dating, perhaps a good cook, or a running enthusiast. And he should have a brother who is a screw-up. (I have just given you the plot of John Grisham’s The Summons.) Although, it is Pat Conroy’s characters who are always good cooks.
A Hero Falls – Above all, we want a character that is believable. Human. Flawed. This is because we ourselves are flawed. On some level, a reader celebrates a hero’s fall from grace, because they are not falling. At the same time, if the story is well told, the reader has probably grown to love this character, and doesn’t want to see them fail. So there is that dynamic going on. Add to that the reader’s fundamental desire to see the hero rise from the ashes. This is the relationship between Reader and Protagonist. And it is
When Jeff Hardy was suspended for prescription painkiller use, the fans reacted. They love Jeff; they understand he throws himself down for us over and over again. Of course he’s getting hurt, of course he needs to take meds. Of course he may have been addicted to them. Thus is the tragic cycle of the hero, brought down by his own heroic actions.
That’s Shakespearean, baby.
So that is how Jeff Hardy is like Hamlet. Wait, was that my point?
Characters should be natural and bigger than life; they should be better than you and inherently flawed; they should rise to the stars, fall to the earth and then pick themselves up and start climbing again.
