Suzanne James

My friend Mirella was the first one who told me that Calum (from The Pledge) was modled after my husband. Not even I’d noticed it until she mentioned it. I always find it interesting how we create characters.

I read both her other novels. I liked Bloodstone Castle the best. The hero was very bold. I asked Mirella what she thought was most important in a hero.

I believe the #1 quality is honour - to always try to do the honourable thing and comport oneself with that always in mind.

This is one thing I’ve been chatting with a lot of people - honor. My son says it is defending your family and abiding by a warrior’s code.  There is a lot of things that go with honor, respect, doing no harm, being responsible. She said that the most honorable hero aspect in her husband is Honesty.

He will return to the store if the cashier over-paid him by a penny.

My son’s most honorable trait is that he treats all girls like they are special and worth protecting. I like that.  My son would return money to the store - so would my husband. We both chatted about this. We decided that if a man stopped to help someone in an accident.

a) would it be honorable to stop if he was alone?

b) would it be honorable if his family were in the car?

c) should he just phone it in?

Both Mirella and I picked c). and stay but make sure we couldn’t be ambushed. We figured that this would be honorable.

Yes. If you are alone, then go ahead and try to render help. But if there is a chance of risk to the family, then protect them first. If there are children in the car, you don’t want to risk having them witness some harm coming to the mother or father if they rendered help.It is a hard call to make. Should the rules for a family man be expected to risk himself in the same way an unmarried man would? It is something to consider. It depends on what it is. If it’s a car accident, the car could blow up and kill him. Or he could get sued for moving a victim and causing them further harm. It’s best to leave it to the experts. Every circumstance is different and so will the action required. It all depends on the circumstances.What is your view?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Writing Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.