I’ve been having crap sleep at the moment, mainly due to my OCWD (obsessive compulsive writing disorder) and stressing about what I should have put in the ms that’s with M&B now. Usually I try to distract myself by thinking about my current wip instead but last night, I got to thinking about all my previous stories. These are ones that myself and a friend used to write and swap. They were romances that were written totally for ourselves, with no guidelines to follow or editors to worry about. Totally self indulgent but absolutely fabulous to write.
Anyway, I have to confess that I totally fell for the hero of the last of these romances. Absolutely and completely. I like a gorgeous, bad, self tortured hero (their redemption is so much more poignant) so I made him gorgeous, bad, and yes, I tortured the hell out of this poor guy. I put him through the emotional wringer. The worse his behaviour, the more self tortured he got and the better I liked him (yes, I am a sadist to my characters, the poor dears). Anyway, he got his HEA in the end but I have to admit that I was sad to finish writing about him. And I wish, wish, wish, I could put him in one of my M&Bs but sadly, he’s too mad, bad and dangerous to know for the guidelines (okay, so not mad but you know what I mean). Maybe one day I’ll polish that ms as a single title and sub to…somewhere. But until then it remains on my PC, my secret treat that I read when I need a dark hero fix. I should move on really, but I do find that parts of him creep into my Modern Heat heroes, every now and then…
So, what about anyone else? Got a favourite hero that you can’t forget?
Oh he sounds lovely. I’ve always gone for the bad boys myself – much more fun.
He was lovely and so cool to write. But sadly unsuited to category romance. Unless they there was a “bad boy contemporary romance” category – ooooh, I’d be a subscriber for sure!
I’d buy a book from that line.
🙂
Oh yes, bad boy contempory romance… Where do I sign up?!
Am totally hooked on my current hero. But I think that’s kind of OK. I mean, if you aren’t, how is anyone else going to be? What d’you reckon?
Rather worringly, I once found myself behaving like the heroine of my last attempt. OK, so it was after a couple of glasses of sherry, but I started flouncing and huffing all over the place (and I never flounce and huff). Poor husband didn’t know what on earth was going on…
And coincidentally have just heard the phrase ‘bad boy businessmen’ on TV. Now that’s something I never thought I’d hear on BBC2. Intriguing!
Good heavens, Lucy, what is the BBC coming to? 🙂 Perhaps I should be looking at their website.
Yes, loving your hero is important. I do love my Modern Heat heroes – particularly the one in the ms I’m polishing up now. And that’s because he’s got aspects of my archetypal bad boy in there. Mmmm, I’m thinking we should definitely suggest a new category…
Flouncing and huffing? I’ve been doing a lot of that myself lately, though my current heroine is not a flouncer. She’s a toe-tapper and an eye-roller. 🙂
Ooh I love a bad boy too and definitely slightly tortured. Saying that I like him to have a sweet side somewhere – ie, he loves his mum (but not a mummy’s boy) or gives his little sister a kitten (okay, I’m tired).
I love my playboy magician hero! Would love to rewrite that and submit it somewhere. He was one of those heroes (and story) that fell between the lines – not alpha enough but way too sexy for romance!
A magician hero? Rach, that sounds very intriguing!