Do you fall in love with your hero?

I sort of view my characters as my family, or maybe even my children so to say I love them, but I'm not ~in love~ with them, you know?

I think most romance writers (including myself) all love or have fallen in love with their lead men at some point.

Besides, you gotta love your imaginary man first before anyone else can

Guess I'm weird because although I like the heroes I've written, I wouldn't say I've "fallen" for them or even had a crush on them. Yes, they're all sweet and nice guys but none will ever come close to my husband for me!

I'm writing a YA where I'm not in love with my MMC, but I'm so PROUD of him. Just as if I'm his mother. haha. I puff up with pride when he does something good. Haha.

But in my normal (adult) works, yeah, I tend to have a little crush on my MMCs, but that's mostly because I tend to write them to have the qualities that I like in a guy. Like I can't stand books where a guy is a douche and all these women are fawning over him. Who wants a jerk in real life (well, for the most part)?

chompers said:

I'm writing a YA where I'm not in love with my MMC, but I'm so PROUD of him. Just as if I'm his mother. haha. I puff up with pride when he does something good. Haha.

But in my normal (adult) works, yeah, I tend to have a little crush on my MMCs...

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I'm the same on both the YA and adult guy characters front. It's nice to know I'm not as off the wall as I feared.

I'm attracted to Dhana, but I don't know if I could love her. She is quick to get angry and don't know how it would work out. I'm pretty easy going and she is offended easily. She is also a vegetarian and I'm not. I don't think she would care for that.

Both my current projects are m/m - and yeah, I'm madly in love with all four of the MCs.

I did.


But he rejected me. Twice!

JanDarby said:

I was going to say I'm weird, which I am, but at least this time I'm in good company (with Cathy C), b/c my heroes are right for my heroines, but wouldn't necessarily be right for me. So, no, I don't fall in love with my heroes, but my heroines do.

JD

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Me three.

I don't honestly know if I personally would fall in love with my heroes... but fall in lust, definitely maybe...

The one I'm writing currently is kind of a fit for how I am personally, so if I were to choose between the men I've written, Dmitri Marchetti would be my #1 pick!

Whew! I was beginning to worry. I was hearing love songs in Spanish every time I sat down to write. (Part of my background research.) My bad guy took over the whole story. He's mean, he's conniving, he's a crook, but he's smart and hot, to boot. And after he met my heroine, he had a change of heart--she loves him, and I do, too.

I fall in love/lust with every one of my heroes, can't be helped

Oh definitely, but the bastard doesn't want me. He's had his sights set on my other MC and won't be swayed
Now I just cheer for him (while I imagine other stuff I could be doing with him)

I fell in love with my heroine, but maybe more like you'd love a daughter. Try telling that to my wife, though. Okay, she's only a little jealous, actually.

Definitely agree with maestrowork about flawed characters being more attractive.

Hard to say whether I'm "in love" with the hero of my current piece. I definitely love him in that I empathize with him as an embodiment of some of my own biggest hang-ups and fears. Some of the scrapes he gets himself into make me cringe. Then again, I engineered him to fail. He's breakable.

Probably the best part has been writing a heroine who takes the time to get to know him, really getting under his skin. She ultimately surprised me by stepping up to the plate and rescuing him a few times; I hadn't foreseen that quality in her. Each time she sweeps in and saves him makes me do a little fist pump behind my laptop screen where no one can see.

More than being "in love" with them, I think I'm proud--that were they real, these are people I'd be glad to have in my life.


-Eric

I adore my dragon shifter hero.

I'm definitely infatuated at least! I figure I've got to feel about him the way I want my prospective readers to feel about him. In fact, when I started writing this (2 nights ago) after he popped into my head, I felt like I'd just started a new romance in real life. I've been walking on air!

Yes, most definitely. He has many of the qualities I love to see in men. But, he's most suited for my heroine, so I guess I will keep my hubby around.

No because he belongs with my heroine, she is the perfect girl for him. I love my characters like I love and care about my friends. My husband is the guy for me, of course I wouldn't mind if he had my hero's body but he still looks pretty good to me.

I am madly in love with all of my male MCs. Like, tossing and turning, sick to my stomach, can't sleep at night sort of love. It fuels my writing.

When I die and arrive at heaven, I'm convinced that all my male characters will all be waiting for me, and my God are we going to party.

Mine is based on my crush, so...
But the other way around, I'm also getting attached I've made him that typical hot mess I love so much. Wretched, wrecked, wicked, but awwww look he has a pet bunny! *ahem*
Recently had a guy over. Wasn't cutting it. Fantasized my hero into his place instead. Now that was a "date". Also, my actual crush apparently hating me and being so far away and all, my hero based on him is actually doing a fine job replacing him. After all, we rarely did talk. I was just drooling at his sight, is all. Am I a sad case? Yeah, I am LOL

NaeimGiladisLegacy said:

Recently had a guy over. Wasn't cutting it. Fantasized my hero into his place instead.

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Haha! Thank God it isn't only me! It's only recently that I've been involved with a nice man who compares to my heroes. All the guys before him... blecchhhh. lol
http://www.absolutewrite.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

No. I've liked plenty of my heroes, but I have never loved any of them

Anafel is me, or at least the physical manifestation of everything wrong inside me. He has felt twisted and weird most of his life, he's full of anger and insecurity, and he's kind of an asshole.* He is VERY like me in that he's always worried about doing The Right Thing and never feeling equal to the task. He fears always that he is a terrible person.

I got it worked out - he's my Id and my heroine Elen is my superego. With him it's all about redemption and with her it's all about identity. I'm with chelsea in that he is more suited for my heroine than for myself personally. He's totally sexy but this is not a guy I would ever hook up with. I love my characters unconditionally, more like children than lovers. With Fel I spend more time wanting to protect him than wanting to screw him.

*Note: I am not an asshole.

(I apologize if this post is off color for this forum? This is my first post and I tend to cuss like Salinger.)

Yeah, I'm guilty of growing attached to some of my male characters. It's particularly obvious when I'm brainstorming a new story and they keep popping up where they don't belong and I have to swat them away. ("Hey, get outta here! Not your turn!") As for falling "in love" with them...maybe. Or perhaps I've just been single for too long.