My Hero Academia Class 2-A
To be clear, this is mostly about a main hero who is a student with a mentor. So, we’re not looking at general student characters, but those who are in the spotlight. They don’t even have to go to a school like Izuku Midoriya or Harry Potter. As long as they are learning, they are a student. Let’s get to it.
- Give your student weak areas. In other words, there will be some things that they simply aren’t good at even after learning the basics. Think of real people. Most have their strong subjects and their weak subjects. It’s rare, and very unbelievable, for a person to be a master at everything they learn. I believe that’s what people call a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. Try to avoid that by having them be average at something or even terrible.
- Show that they have some trouble learning things at first. While there are examples of the gifted student, a ‘speed of light’ learner tends to lead to a character who has no weak points. It also opens the door for them never making a mistake. If they’re so good at figuring out new subjects and skills then it’s hard to believe they will screw up even under pressure. They can work out of their difficulty, but it does help to show that they aren’t racing through their training.
- Training montages . . . Sure. Do it if you need the training to go over an extended period of time, but don’t want to take away from the adventure. Just remember to how the characters appear different and remain aware of the passage of time, especially if some were separated.
- The arrogant student has been done a lot. Readers do enjoy seeing characters learn humility and get dropped a few pegs. Yet, it doesn’t really have the same impact as it once did. At least, the arrogant student doesn’t hit the same way with people who have seen it time and time again. Try to come up with a variation. Maybe they develop arrogance during training or it isn’t to an extreme level. It could be associated with a specific skill too.
- Never be afraid to have a student ask a question. Having them follow their teacher’s orders blindly can hurt their identity. They lose a level of independence and individuality, which is needed for a main hero. You don’t have to give them an answer either. If you need them to follow orders then they need to be pushed into that mindset unless this is how they start. Going that route means you will need to have them grow out of this personality quirk.
- “I will do it my way!” Stop that. If the student could learn what they need their own way then they don’t need the teacher. Yes, they’ll earn respect or amazement, but it turns their teacher into an obstacle instead of an ally.
- Whatever a student learns, needs to come in handy down the road. You also need to make it clear what they’re learning. It’s very tempting to do a time skip and then have them reveal skills as needed. As long as you can justify them learning it, you can say they did it. This tactic can work once or twice, but you can’t do much more without making it clear that you’re just making it up as you go along.
Legends of Windemere 