Writing Tip of the Day-Heroes

A romance hero should be larger than life. This aspect can be represented by physical size and strength, but may also be indicated by superior intelligence, skill or acumen; past deeds of an epic nature; unsual background, or by comparisons to heroic gods and/or animal totems.

Writing Tip of the Day-Heroes

The stronger and more hard-edged you can make your hero, the more affecting his vulnerability to the heroine will become for readers. She will then represent his single soft spot, his ultimate Achilles heel.

"I know not how, but martial men are given to love; I think it is but as they are given to wine, for perils commonly ask to be paid in pleasures." ~Francis Bacon

Writing Tip of the Day-Heroes

Even the most consummate alpha male should be vulnerable to the heroine on some level. He should always deeply regret any physical or emotional pain he may have caused her and make full amends for it, even at the risk of personal loss, injury or death.

"There is nothing more dreadful to an author than neglect, compared with which reproach, hatred and opposition are names of happiness." ~Samuel Johnson

Writing Tip of the Day-Heroes

No matter how cynical or hardened the alpha hero may be, he must have an inner core of strongly held beliefs. His value system should not allow him to do a base deed, not even for a worthy cause.

"Depend upon it, no man was ever written down but by himself." ~Samuel Johnson

Writing Tip of the Day-Heroes

Though usually a man of broad sexual experience, the ultra Alpha hero has little knowledge of, or appreciation for, the more tender emotions. He must often learn the difference between lust and love.

"I do not write so much from the impulse of genius as to soothe the cares of love and to bewail life's unabating woe." ~Propertius

Writing Tip of the Day-Heroes

The Alpha hero is often hardened by his life experiences. He is among the "walking wounded" a scarred man who must work through his emotional losses and reconnect with his ability to feel close attachment to another human being.

"Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverence to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution."~Samuel Johnson

Writing Tip of the Day-Heroes

The primary romance hero is the Alpha Male. He is a dominate personality, one who knows and understands power. He may use it as a weapon to achieve his goal, even at the expense of the heroine. In general, the Alpha Male appeals more strongly to younger female readers.

"The only reward to be expected from the cultivation of literature is contempt if one fails and hatred if one succeeds."~Voltaire

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The romance heroine should always save herself at the climax of the story. She must make the decision, or provide the means, which allows ultimate victory over the person or thing preventing her from achieving her goal. Though the hero can play a vital role in the climax scene, he should not rescue the heroine like a maiden in distress. It's perfectly acceptable, however, for the heroine to rescue the hero!

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Learning your main characters with charts and questionnaires can be helpful, but most characters are actually created on the page. Every thought, comment and physical reaction adds to the impression gained by the reader. The best way to make a character "real" is to filter events through her/his perceptions, allowing the reader to watch the story unfold through the eyes of the point-of-view character.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The Character Questionnaire is a list of questions you create for your characters in order to map their internal life. It is, in effect, an interview in which you explore their ambitions, ideals, fears, dreams, regrets, losses and longings.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A Character Chart which lists the name, hair and eye color, interesting characteristics and external and internal goals of your characters is a useful reference. This information can be posted on a bulletin board or kept in a computer file for instant access.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The contemporary romance heroine who falls into bed with the hero too quickly or easily can appear TSTL (Too Stupid to Live) in this age of sexually transmitted diseases and daily scares about sexual predators. Though romances are built upon fantasy elements, normal rules of self-preservation must and should apply.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Some authors feel compelled to reject the traditional "good" heroine, giving their female protagonist every possible opposing characteristic. This may work if the purpose is to show character growth and redemption. The difficulty is in persuading the reader this contrary heroine is worth the time it takes to find out what becomes of her.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Every heroine should experience a desire, need or life-changing event which forces her to break free of the inertia that binds the average person, therefore instigating the change that will lead to her Happy Ever After.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A true heroine should never give up her belief in herself and her quest, but should forge ahead regardless of the odds. Eternal hope is what keeps all of us going.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Your heroine should have a strong value system. Her motives should never be self-serving. High ideals are the hallmark of worthwhile characters.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

To accept responsibility for the welfare of others is another characteristic of a strong heroine. Facing up to obligations is an admirable trait.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Giving your heroine a secret lust will add depth to her character. Most readers can empathize with unrequited longing for a person, place or thing of great worth.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A heroine should have some weakness that makes her vulnerable. People who are too sure of themselves can seem arrogant.

Correction

I should correct an error in my newsletter. The *brown* pelican is Louisiana's state bird, though a white pelican graces its flag and a bazillion license plates. I realized that about two seconds after I'd hit send. A reader also pointed out the error, which is a great thing. Makes me realize people not only read what I write, but actually pay attention!

March Newsletter

Greetings:

How to start this? I don't really know, since the dominant happening for the month just past was a family tragedy. It certainly impacted my work, however, so should perhaps be shared. On February 10, my son-in-law, Gerard Faucheux, died in an auto accident. He was returning to Lutcher, LA, westbound on Interstate 10, after taking his father to a doctor's appointment in New Orleans. The vehicle he was driving was rammed from behind, propelling it into the eastbound traffic lanes. He, his father and his mother were all killed instantly when struck by oncoming traffic.

Gerard had been a part of our family from age 17, when he began coming home with our daughter Kathy from LSMSA, Louisiana's school for accelerated high school students. He was highly intelligent, a talented musician and a truly good person who was more like a son than a son-in-law. He leaves behind four children, ages 21, 16, 15 and 12, as well as Kathy. The woman who rear-ended the vehicle has been charged with three counts of negligent homicide, two counts of hit-and-run (since she hit a second car then left the scene) and one count of reckless driving. She could go to prison for 15 years or more.

Some writers are able to write through events of this kind as a form of therapy, while others can't work at all. You probably won't be surprised to hear that I'm behind schedule for the rough draft of the book in progress. I finally got back into the story this past week, however, and have just over 60,000 words at present. The goal is 85-90,000 in rough draft with somewhere near 100,000 by the time the manuscript is polished. The deadline for the final draft is June 1.

About the only other thing I've done this past month is to complete an interview questionnaire sent by a writer with Writer's Digest magazine. The answers will be included in a "roundtable discussion" published in the 2011 edition of Novel and Short Story Writer's Market. A number of other interviews and blog essays have been posted on the web in honor of the February publication of TRIUMPH IN ARMS, the last book of my Masters at Arms series. I won't repeat the addresses here since I gave most of them last month, but they should show up on Google.

An odd note: Louisiana is called "The Pelican State," with the white pelican being our state bird, but our lake some 250 miles from the coast has always been too far north for them. Yet we've seen several this year, probably as a result of migration flows altered by the unusual El Nino weather pattern. Over 100 of these huge birds landed in the cove where our house sits this morning in company with a flock of black cormorants, an unforgettable sighting.

Meanwhile, this "winter that never ends" continues wet and cold for us, along with the occasional amazing snow shower. The narcissus and daffodils are blooming, regardless; the maple trees show red blossoms in the woods, and the weeping willows have a haze of green among their branches. Spring and joy will surely come again, one day.

Warmest wishes,
Jennifer