Do you fall in love with your hero?

I write fantasy (though with a fair deal of romance), but when I saw the title of this thread on the main index page I was compelled to react. I'm male and I love most of my heroines. Rose, who I've posted many stories of, is such a nice, sensitive, selfless sweetheart, how could you not love her? Still gentle, almost innocent, after everything she's suffered and everyone she's killed. Meeting her, you wouldn't ever think she's slain thousands of enemies. Chrissy, not necessarily the smartest person around, but she's got enough spirit for a whole family. Gusto, gusto! Good thing for her that she's tough enough, that she can do with a little less between her ears... Brianna, even after her whole family was murdered, she was still the optimist between her and her husband. This simple country girl stood up to a pack of (literally) monstrous assassins in defense of her son, and managed to carry him down the road far enough to be rescued with a deep gut wound. Alicia, well, she's an arrogant, irresponsible, self-centered jerk. But even so, she can back up everything she says and then some; she's too damn cool to hate... what a rant lol. Yeah, I love my tough girls.

Edit: Sorry, Mildy, how could I forget ya? Well, I think of her more as a buddy than a possible love interest. Hey, she does suffer the same problem in her book, that no one seems to be willing to give romance with her a chance... except freakin' Achilles in the sequel (long story)! It takes a real man to handle women like these!

Susan Gable said:

LOL - COOL!

Borders putting you in romance is probably a very good thing - cause lots of people browse those shelves.

Susan G.

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However, I don't want them to take the book home and discover it's not a genre romance and swear at me, "WTF is this?" False expectation, you know?

So, it could work against me.

maestrowork said:

However, I don't want them to take the book home and discover it's not a genre romance and swear at me, "WTF is this?" False expectation, you know?

So, it could work against me.

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If they email you with complaints, tell them you don't decide where the bookstores shelf your book.

Does the story have a positive ending? If so, you're probably okay these days.

Susan G.

No comment. Read it! It does have a really cute author's picture in the back. I hope that sells books. LOL LOL LOL

maestrowork said:

I'm not in love with my heroes (Gawd, no) but definitely a few of my heroines -- I was insanely in love with Kate in The Pacific Between, and am currently in love with Grace (my WIP). For one thing, my protagonists are usually very flawed. What is really important is that my READERS fall in love with them. I've heard a few telling me that they did... that's really a great thing to hear, as a writer.

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well goddammit, Ray, you had me fooled! I thought you were in love with Lian!

(And ps, Susan. Do read Ray's book.)

See, Sharon, how I can separate the author from the character! Hee hee.

ETA: I didn't mean to kill the thread. Please continue on and pretend I don't exist.

Writing Jedi said:

While I adore my hero, I actually fell more in love with my villain! And I am not even attracted to "bad boys" normally.

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This happened to me, too! Good, I'm not alone.

I have never fallen in love with any of my heros, but if Blade Thorn from Right Here Waiting (a book that Amanda Baker and co-wrote together - we're still shopping it around and trying to find a publisher) was real, I'd fall in love with him.

Well...

The thing is, I really cared about the hero of my first novel, but with a (for the most part) sisterly affection. In my current WIP, which is more women's fiction than romance, the heroine has three men whom she meets and really falls for. The first one I am charmed by but am not in love with, the second I feel for but could never love romantically, and the third is based on my hopes for my future husband. The sad part is that if I follow the outline I'm working with at present this last guy never gets to appear in the actual book.

I wouldn't say I'm in love with my heroes in the sense of "I'd marry this guy if he was real"; as others have said, he's a fit for my heroine, not for me. And one of my pet peeves is Romance writers who write the same hero over and over (thinly disguised as a new guy), who is pretty obviously their own idealized love interest.

That said, if I don't have a crush on the hero, I can't write the romance-- just like if I don't want to be friends with the heroine, I can't write her story.

Um...YEAH!

I fall in love with my heroes. Each and every one. So far, I tend write heroes who are my type. Fortunately, my heroines all have a bit of me in them, so I know something about me could appeal to (perfectly flawed, sexy, intelligent) guys like my heroes. At least in my own mind!

RationalIdealist said:

the third is based on my hopes for my future husband. The sad part is that if I follow the outline I'm working with at present this last guy never gets to appear in the actual book.

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Maybe hopes-for-future-husband guy is destined for his own book?

I think it's just lust.

But will he still respect me in the morning?

When ANGEL WITH A RAY GUN got published, I sorta had a crush on my hero, Matt Greenlee. But I got fan/hate mail about him once the book released.

Letter 1: "Where has this guy BEEN all my life? He's perf! Did you model him on a real guy, and if you did, is he single, and if he is, can I have his phone number?"

Letter 2: "This male MC is the worst hero I have ever read. You need to pull this book, trash this Matt Greenlee slob, and rewrite him from scratch. I hated him like buckets."

Just goes to show, one woman's twuue lurrrve is another woman's hatred generator.

I love this thread.

And I love my antagonist, because even though he spends the first third of the novel thrashing his captive, my female main character, he's not really the bad guy.

To put that another way, I've seen some folks on this thread say that they've written their ideal love interest. Well, I wrote my ideal captor. Vicious, but possessive. Wicked smart, but not arrogant. Manipulative as all hell, demonstrated with gentleness after brutality, but somehow still trustworthy.

My readers love my main character; they root for her; they fight with her; they want to see her tear him down. ("Please tell me she boils him alive, or stabs him 43 times in the gut." "I can't wait until she destroys him.")

Then they start rooting for him, too, for there are worse bad guys in the story, and they are also after the girl. ("I want to believe she belongs to him." "Don't tear them apart, please.")

It's not a love story. It's not a romance.

But I would give him my soul if he was my captor.

CharlieLyons said:

Maybe hopes-for-future-husband guy is destined for his own book?

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His own real-life incarnation, hopefully.

I don't fall in love with my heroes. I just like watching them fall for each other.

I do a little bit, but usually they're not really my type.

Not really. I guess because my book isn't romantic. I actually want to spank my 12 year old MC's ass. Oh, wow, I just now seen this in the romance section after posted, sorry.

I wrote an erotica once, but it was more akin to more, no love there.

I like my characters, but I don't fall in love with them. I frequently have to be mean to them, after all.

So weird to see this thread resurface after eight years...

Marlys said:

So weird to see this thread resurface after eight years...

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Like a ghost to come back and haunt you, or like an old friend, holding your hand in the night?

I'm not going to fight a thread resurfacing. I missed this when it was first going.

I don't fall in love with my main characters. I love them in a sisterly, motherly kind of way. I've only ever fallen in love with one of the characters in my stories and he's been a side character is several stories. He's very stand back and let you do what you're going to do. If you mess up he'll be there to help, but he'll be snickering if you're not too hurt.

I've never thrown him in the spotlight and I think part of that is because I just can't seem to find the right character to mirror him. I've tried creating to partner for him. I tried both female and male characters, but there was always something about their personality that just screamed "He'll never deal with that for long."

Of course I fall in love with my characters. That 'love' keeps me writing, developping them and eventually wanting the others to fall in love with them. I love each and every single one of my characters, be they heroes, baddies or just less significant protagonists.
Now, about that romantic kind of love, I'd be a liar if I said I'm not liking my male characters since I tend to create them after the image of my boyfriend. I can't help it. D:

I used to, but not anymore. Now I prefer readers to love my hero.