condone that redundancy. Buy it. Devour it. Pre-order her July novel, "Delicious." Please offer Sherry your warmest "Where have you and your books been all my life" Bella buongiorno...From Sherry: When Michelle interviewed me for my feature story, she asked me a very interesting question: Who is your romance hero, dark, brooding bad boy, or white knight in shining armor?
In real life I adore a good man. I think of my husband as a wonderful example of a knight in shining armor. We've been married almost twelve years, and I am almost sure I've never seen him brood-he's too busy! He washes dishes, does laundry, cooks, holds down a high tech job, and is a great dad on top of it.
But while it's wonderful to be married to him, I never use him as a template for a hero. Why? Because romance requires conflict; a good romance requires intense conflict. And Dear Hubby is very good at not getting us into conflict.
Does that mean my romance hero is the dark, brooding bad boy? No. I don't much care for bad boys. The only reformed bad boy that I've ever seen in real life is Warren Beatty. Most other examples of bad boys go on to be unfaithful husbands, not exactly inspiring to a writer of love stories.
So who is my romance hero, then? As I told Michelle, I like to think of him as the dark knight in a sometimes rusty armor. The Crusades sucked. His butt is hating the saddle. And if he comes across one more damsel in distress, he is going to run her over himself.
Of course, I haven't written this particular hero yet. And I don't do medievals. But Sir Nameless here interests me. What happened on the Crusades that sucked so much? Why hasn't he found another line of work if he doesn't care to get on a horse again? And who is the damsel-not-in-distress who is going to make him want to spit polish his armor and win every tournament in sight for her?
In real life, short-comings in those around us tend to drive people nuts. But
in romance, character flaws are what drive a book. The greater the initial imperfections, the more meaningful and satisfying journey to that point where readers close a book not only believing in the author-supplied happy ending, but can imagine for themselves the wiser, better Sir Nameless as a loving husband and father who not only keeps the castle safe, but also occasionally picks up the broom and sweeps the rushes when all the servants are down with flu.
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