THE MAN OF OUR DREAMS: How to Create the Right Hero for your Story By: Alice Orr
APRIL, 2018
THE MAN OF OUR DREAMS: How to Create the Right Hero for your Story By: Alice Orr
Question: Who is the ideal hero for a romance novel in today’ s market? Answer: The attractive hero is intelligent, active, determined, decent, courageous, and of course sexy. Which is a good general answer, but we could use some specifics, please. So, here they are.
Intelligent. The hero with real reader appeal makes smart choices the reader can respect. Except maybe one time in the story when danger or heartbreak or some other extremity slips him up and he does something foolish. He plunges himself into trouble from which he will then have to extricate himself using, you guessed it, his intelligence.
An added Tip. The hero in a truly today story will often be helped in this extrication process by the heroine, much less often the other way around. Genre fiction has definitely caught up, and then some, with the gender revolution.
Active. This marketable hero makes
things happen in the story rather than just having things happen to him. He doesn’ t sit around waiting for the boom to fall. He has a plan and acts on it. When caught by surprise he again must extricate himself by using, you guessed it again, his intelligence.
His active nature also makes him the most interesting person in the story. Which means that when you have both a male and female hero in a story, as in a really-with-it heterosexual romance, you have the two most interesting people driving the action. Double thumbs up for that.
Determined. His motivation is strong and matched by a will that is even stronger. He decides what he must do, and then lets nothing keep him from doing it. Whatever obstacles may arise in his path, he forges on to triumph in the end.
Decent. Everybody’ s favorite hero is best loved for his goals and values. What he holds to be important and worthwhile, in some stories even worthwhile enough to die for, are the same values that most readers, or nearly all of us, embrace at the heart of the best that is in us.
Courageous. He faces challenges that are seriously ominous and threaten his safety, both physically and emotionally. He may wish to escape that danger, as anybody in their right mind would, but he stays the course because he knows he must do the right thing, whatever the cost. Without such challenges and the hero ' s heroic response to them, there is no story, not in this genre or any other, as I see it.
Sexy. Well, of course, we had that figured out from the start. These are love stories meant to appeal to the libido after all. Sexy does that for me. My guess is the same thing works for you. Which means it works for the reader as well.
End of story. And, most important, the beginning of your story’ s Man of Our Dreams. Who just happens to be the hero of your career fantasies too, and one very important key to making them come very true.
Biography:
Alice Orr is the author of sixteen novels, three novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript That Sells. A former book editor and literary agent, Alice now lives her dream as a full-time writer. She has two grown children and two perfect grandchildren and resides with her husband Jonathan in New York City.
Alice ‟ s latest book, A Time of Fear & Loving— Riverton Romantic Suspense Book Five, is available HERE. Website & Blog Facebook Twitter Amazon Author Page
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