Pat here, churning through our enormous barrel of posts dating back to 2006!!! And thinking there ought to be a book in all these words. . .
Since my Muse is sulking and the WIP is starting to stink of rot, I thought maybe I could find inspiration in some of our early posts. What interested us twenty years ago? And amazingly, it’s still the same topics we ponder now. This blog came from a reader question about what makes a perfect hero–and my answer really hasn’t changed.
I have a lamentable memory for names and titles, but I can recall great characters all day long. I might not remember his name, but I remember the hero of a romance who appeared to be lazily lying about in a hammock drinking beer and rotting away, when he was actually sharply analyzing his life and what had happened to him and how to correct it. And proceeded to do so, with a great deal of humor. That hero made me laugh and cry.
There is Laura Kinsale’s hero from FLOWERS FROM THE STORM who suffers a stroke, transforming his tremendous arrogance and genius to incoherence. He’s reduced to accepting aid from a modest heroine he would never have noticed in his prior life, and when she helps him get his life back, he doesn’t return to his previous egotism but realizes she was more important than all the things he had previously loved. That one seared my heart.
But I think—for me—what makes a character most memorable is the immensity of the flaw he must overcome. The larger the flaw, and the more he/she has to suffer to overcome it, the more I admire them. Think of
Rochester’s tremendous pride and how he was brought down and suffered.
I obviously haven’t abandoned that theory. Captain Huntley, the hero stomping through my Wycliffe Manor Mysteries, starts out as a grumpy, lame, half-blind surveyor now unable to practice his career, prepared to fling himself off a ship, until he inherits a previously unknown, eccentric family and English estate. By the end of the first book, he realizes his family isn’t eccentric so much as highly intelligent and willing to do what it takes to make the world a better place, despite all the obstacles in their path. Well, maybe that’s a trifle eccentric. . . but the philosophy resonates with him. He realizes the opportunity he’s been given and is ready to join them on their journey.
Apparently I don’t need righteous things like honor or nobility to enjoy a character—I like flaws. Figures. But beneath the flaws, the character needs a strength and nobility to overcome their defects, so maybe there’s hope for me yet. I just have difficulty buying into perfect heroes. I think perfect heroes need to have suffered to have learned to make the choices that make them noble.
So maybe I’ve just found the answer to my current rotting opus.
How do you like your heroes? Besides hot, I mean. Do you want them perfect? Wounded? Flawed? Do they have to be beautiful? How about nerdy?
I’m with you, Pat–without struggle, there’s no story. I like torturing my aristocratic heroes in order to turn them into stronger, better men who are worthy of the heroines. It’s a rough process, but they thank me in the end!
LOL, yes, you manage to put your guys through heck and back, which makes such a lovely redemption story at the end!
Is this trip neccesary? 😊
I am afraid i am old school and traditional when it comes to heroes. In fact I was thinking about heroes and villains recently and came to the conclusion that I like my heroes to be heroes(not perfect, because no one is even in fiction). Everyone makes mistakes and has weaknesses, but I din’t like to dwell on them. I like my heeoes to be heroic and my villains rk be villanous. I like good to triumph over evil and the hero to get the girl and live HEA. now, that doesn’t mean there can’t be miscommunication, misconception, bad timing as long as it us cleared up at the end. I am not interested in angst or psychological problems(there js enough if that in real life, i don’t need it in my entertainment).
My favorite boooks are ines with a hero who is strong, honorable, has integrity, compassion, smart, capable and other similar qualities. I like my villains to be nasty, cruel, sneaky, dishonorabkple, arrogant, greedy and other less than asmirable qualities.
Some of my favorite heroes are the Scarlet Pimlernel, Rudilf Rassend(prisoner of Zenda)
Georgette Heyer’s heroes, the characters in Elswyth Thane’s Williamsburg novels, the Count if Monte ,Cristo, the three Musketeers, Laurence in Novak’s Temeraire series, the characters in Andre’s Wrexford and Sloan series, St Cyr in Harri’s mystery series and many others.
None of those heroes are perfect, but they have the qualities i mentioned in abundance and whike they may have flaws…..the author does not dwell on them ir give them a significant place in the story. And they are very real to me, not just words on the page.
They are what i wish and hope real people would be and sometimes are.
I love that line–what real people would be and sometimes are. Very true in so many ways!
Thank you so much for the shout-out, Jane. I’m honored to be in such august company. LOVE all the books you mentioned.
You are more than welcome! Hope you continue the series for a long long time!
A good author can convince me to love the hero, whatever his characteristics-arrogant, lighthearted, nerdy, brooding, wounded, dangerous, too handsome…I’ve enjoyed all of these different types of heroes.
we do need our variety!
I was trying to think how to answer this and on reading JaneA’s post I found myself agreeing with her! Once Georgette Heyer was mentioned, that was it! GH is my absolute favourite author. I love her heroes! She does characters so well. Even though her villains aren’t always all bad, the way she writes them makes you dislike them totally. Sometimes I like the hero to start off a little grumpy and determined not to do what’s expected of him and then change over the course of the story.
Great post!
Is thjs trip necessary? 😊
Oops…..my reply wenr to fhe wrong person…sorry about that!
Merci du compliment, Teresa! In total agreement about Heyer!
Conflict! Heyer does it fabulously well.
Oh indeed, my heroes have to have issues of some sort that they struggle with and overcome with the help of the heroine, of course, who has issues of her own. No, they don’t have to be gorgeous, but they need to be intelligent, and they MUST listen to the heroine! If the hero actually listens to women and pays attention he is a winner for me. I don’t like arrogant and I am not fond of brooding. Get over yourself, dude! He doesn’t have to have a “flaw” but there has to be something — a wound, money problem, lack of purpose, overcoming dysfunctional family — and there has to be an arc, whereby he and she both become better people in the end.
Beautifully said! It’s tough to write a brooding, arrogant hero but I love watching him fall.
I actually like a hero to be much like me, responding to difficult situations in ways that I imagine that I might – better not elaborate!
Heroines though are another matter – beautiful, intelligent, liking adventure and seductive. I find that the wenches creations are usually perfect for me!
I like good problem solvers of any gender. So yeah, let’s add problem-solving to the list.
I like heroes of all kinds, but the ones I like best exhibit kindness. Some examples ~ Cazaril from Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion and Maia from Addison’s The Goblin Emperor.
Thank you for a thought provoking post, Pat!