Build My Hero (Grades 9-12) — Adventures Publishing House

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Story Design Studio

Who is your hero as a whole person?

A strong story hero is more than a name and a problem. Readers should understand what this person likes, where they spend time, who matters to them, what they are good at, and what they are carrying inside.

This worksheet helps students build a hero with a full life. The dilemma still matters, but the story becomes stronger when the hero feels real, specific, and grounded in relationships, routines, hopes, and worries.

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What does a balanced hero profile sound like?

Notice how this example includes everyday life, relationships, strengths, and a challenge.

Example: Nia is a tenth-grade student leader who writes poetry, plays club basketball, and spends most afternoons between school, work, and her aunt’s house. She is articulate, perceptive, and deeply loyal, yet she also carries anxiety about letting people down and being misunderstood. Her dilemma grows out of her real life: the same qualities that make her admirable also make the choice in front of her harder, more public, and more consequential.

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Create your hero profile

Answer the questions below. Together, your answers will become a chapter draft.

What is your hero’s name?

Who is your hero in terms of identity, background, personality, and social role?

What does your hero do for fun, release, or self-expression?

Where does your hero generally spend time, and what spaces shape them?

Who are the friends, family members, teammates, or communities influencing your hero?

What strengths, gifts, habits, or PeaceVerse superpowers define your hero?

What fears, contradictions, pressures, or vulnerabilities live beneath the surface?

What values, responsibilities, dreams, or loyalties matter most to your hero?

What dilemma or central challenge is your hero facing?

Why is this dilemma powerful enough to carry a story?

Write a short narrative introduction that presents your hero with specificity and voice.

Select traits, strengths, or PeaceVerse superpowers that fit your hero

Draft it

Hero chapter output

This section turns your answers into a chapter for your manuscript. Read it, revise it, and make it sound like your story voice.

Chapter Title: Building My Hero

My hero is .

This hero is .

For fun, this hero likes to .

This hero usually spends time in places like .

The people connected to this hero include .

This hero's strengths, traits, or PeaceVerse powers include and .

At the same time, this hero worries about .

What matters most to this hero is .

The dilemma this hero is facing is .

This challenge matters because it reveals .

Chapter paragraph draft: