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My theme for March on my blog is character. Lady A, last week gave you a glimpse of a few characters I am currently living with. You will meet them soon in my new releases this year.
When I think of heroes, I hear the song by Bonnie Tyler, I Need A
Hero (If you were a child of the 80’s you know
singing the chorus in your head. Sorry)
In romance, a lot of pressure is put on the lead male character of the story. He is the reason many of us pick up a book in the first place. To get lost in a story with a swoon-worthy hero. However, every hero cannot be all things to all readers. The perfect hero is a unicorn. He doesn’t exist, because readers of the Romance Genre are so diverse. We can, however, make male characters that are able to change and redeemed by the end.
HOW I CREATE MY HEROES:
Not that you will want to, but I am going to take you into my head and try to explain how I create my heroes for my different stories. Don’t worry, I cleaned up and dusted a bit, so it isn’t too scary. When I first get a story idea it may be in either my hero or heroine’s point of view. It doesn’t take me long to say “Ok, buddy who are you and why should you be the hero of this story?” My heroes are very strong and take-charge guys most of the time. They step into a room and expect to notoriety and listened to. But they are not perfect. My heroes have flaws and are broken. We all love a project, don’t we? I make sure there is a lot of conflict for them to have to muddle through. I try to make them uncomfortable more than they are comfortable. Sometimes they stop talking to me altogether for a while because of this.
I will search the internet for inspiration photos. Those photos become my character, like my last release, Visions of Pleasure. My inspiration was Jason Mamoa. I dare you not to see it if you read that book. For full transparency purposes, I need to tell you that I am partial to dark haired guys. If I try to change it up on the page, my heroes in my heart of heart all have thick dark locks, and are Gerard Butler. I am professional enough to know that won’t work every time.
When you talk heroes, you look at whether they are alpha or beta heroes. There may be other choices, but I sit somewhere in between these two. I wouldn’t call any of my heroes all alpha or all beta. I see alpha heroes being like Conan the Barbarian. All action, little talk, and no democracy to be found. I see a Beta hero like Bruce Banner (Hulk’s alter ego), the mild-mannered, soft-spoken professor who would be happier if everyone just got along. My heroes usually straddle the line a bit. As my writing evolves my heroes do become more broken, which leans them more in one direction or the other. The idea of being off balance and them striving to gain that balance back.
MY PERFECT HERO:
My perfect hero would the brooding type. He is strong and intelligent. My perfect hero knows when to jump in to save the day, but confident enough to step aside and let the heroine have her moment in the sun or even save him if the scene calls for it. My heroes must be willing to yield because my heroines are one strong group of ladies, more about them next week.
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ MY WORK, LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY HEROES:
Viscount Renwick (Devon) was my first hero, and you know what they say about your first? He holds a spot near and dear to my heart. This poor Lord has been raked across the coals. He originally thinks his wife is dead when his story begins. His Happily Ever After is definitely hard fought. Check out Dealing with the Viscount to see his story.
Earl of Breakerton (Clive to his intimates) is best friends with Devon and when his time came in An Heiress by Midnight, I was no easier on him. Clive feels he is overburdened with women in his life. He is the only male in his family with a gaggle of sisters and an interfering mother. But, he isn’t prepared for his heroine, who begins their story by almost cutting him down in a sword fight. He must learn humility before he gets his happily ever after.
Bastion Niall Dalais Guaire, 4th Count of Lugar de Sueño hails from Spain in Visions of PLeasure but is drawn to England on the request of his heroine. He would not go, but he has visions of them together and of him saving her and her family. What hero would resist that? When he gets there, he finds that as much as he has to save her, she is just the person to save his soul. (there may be a little magic in this one.)
I hope my readers enjoy my heroes as much as I do. I have a great job, I get to live with my heroes as I create their stories. What could be better? I would be nice if they could do the dishes every once in a while, or even a load of laundry, but hey there is still time.
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