Old-school heroines

 Is there room left for an old-school heroine?

Good question. I suppose it depends, in part, on your definition of 'old-school'.

When I first discovered romance novels, I read mostly Harlequin stories. At that time, they all seemed to revolve around the young, virginal heroine and the older, gruff, and very experienced hero. Since they were mostly told in the heroine's point of view, the reader rarely knew what the hero was feeling or thinking -- our only clues came from the rather limited and naive perspective of the young heroine. She was usually wrong. ;)

Back then, it didn't matter that the heroine often needed the hero to save her; or that the biggest 'conflict' was often a silly misunderstanding; or that, at times, the hero seemed harsh, even to the point of being rather a bully, if not abusive. When I was thirteen, I didn't know any better. And apparently neither did a large portion of the romance readership.

Now we are more enlightened. When I think of the term 'old-school heroine', I think of those rather shy, sometimes pathetically inept but kind, untried heroines who always needed to be saved. In that respect, no, I don't feel they have much of a place in the romances of today. But they do still pop up from time to time, sadly enough. I've seen the trend, in particular, take a subtle shift in that direction when it comes to some Young Adult stories and a few adult romances. Nope, not mentioning any titles.

I have nothing against the hero riding into the rescue. I personally love the idea of letting the big, strong man take charge and deal with the messes of life while he protects those he loves. There are days when I wish the man in my life could deal with the hard stuff and let me be the pampered heroine back at the ranch. Sometimes he does; mostly, we share the load.

That said, I prefer to see and be a heroine who can stand by her man -- or at least watch his back when things get dicey. The women in my favorite stories don't have to be trained in martial arts or able to beat the bad guy (gal) in battle. But she can't be a wimp, either. She also can't be "too stupid to live" -- No, sweetie, don't go alone and unarmed into the basement where the serial killer is waiting. DUH!

In my fictional worlds, a heroine should be strong and tough, with a few edges of weakness about her. She can't be invincible because no one would relate well to her. And please, IF she has to go into that basement, give her a really good reason. If she has to rescue the hero, let her show a softer side when the time allows. But don't drop her into a fetal position when she and her man have a fight and are separated forever. Let her cry, sure. A good, hard cry is very therapeutic. Then pluck her up off her butt and get her moving again.

There are all kinds of heroines in the real world and in fiction. I suppose it's up to each of us what type we want to be; what type we want to read about. But humans are complex creatures -- we're rarely all one thing or another at all times. The best heroines will always be those with some depth.

Meg Allison
Indulge your senses...
http://www.megallisonauthor.com

Walking into a super-new world...

Continuing the month's theme of world-building, I thought I'd lay out where I got the idea for "Blaze of Glory" and the sequel, coming out in January from Samhain Publishing, "Heroes Without, Monsters Within".

As in, where did I get the idea to write about superheroes? Why superheroes?

Well, why not?

The original concept came to me late one night while watching television and pondering how silly certain reality shows were – basically how many of them were set up by the producers to generate excitement and ratings even if the actual people involved weren't doing certain things of their own volition. I like to point to wrestling as the most obvious example – while I have no doubt that some wrestling is legitimate and darned dangerous, there's no doubt in my mind that plenty of "episodes" are set up with good vs. bad with drama galore.

So my feeble mind wandered over to the stack of comic books my hubby collects. And by collects, I mean "fills every empty shelf in the house". Not that it's a bad thing – I've been a comic fan practically since birth, having learnt how to read from the newspaper comic strips – and marrying a man with the same love of comics was almost mandatory.

The kernel of an idea popped up as I looked over the volumes of comics on our shelves: What if all the battles were set ups? One of the most frustrating things as a fan is to read how this bad guy got put away and two issues later he's back to annoy the heroes with some new world domination plan.

But… what if it was all intentional? The jailbreak, the confrontation – what if it was all fixed from the start and orchestrated for the public?

My wee mind grabbed onto the idea like a bulldog onto a bone and we were off, constructing a world where superheroes and villains brawled without ever having any sort of final resolution, where civilians were never hurt and the bad guys mysteriously escaped almost every time.

Of course I had to find a reason why the supers would fight on cue and so forth – and what would create the crisis that would propel a B-list hero, Jo Tanis, out of her comfortable life as a performer into the front lines of a battle she was never meant to fight.

Toss in a new hot man in her life and his mysterious past and I had the warped new world of "Blaze of Glory". The sequel, "Heroes Without, Monsters Within" expand on that strange reality where the now-for-real heroes have to deal with the consequences of their actions and discover that there are real villains – and people can and will die now that the fights are real.

I'll admit it's a kick to create a new world – but it also comes with the responsibility to create new laws, new rules that must be followed or the reader will walk away. You can't just have things "happen", there's got to be some basis behind it. If you have magic, you need rules. You don't have to necessarily tell the reader the rules but they have to be there for your own use so that you don't end up contradicting yourself somewhere down the line. Same thing with superheroes – if you want them to have special powers you need to limit what they can and can't do otherwise you end up writing yourself into a corner you just can't get out of.

And when you throw in a man whose ability is just to be a walking four-leaf clover, well…

I hope I've accomplished this with the Blaze world and I hope you'll come along for more adventures in the superhero world of "Heroes Without, Monsters Within".

WisCon34

May 27th thru May 31st saw the 34th anniversary of WisCon, the World’s Leading Feminist Science Fiction Convention in Madison, Wisconsin. I had a blast! There are so many things to touch on that I’m forced to limit myself to a single panel at a time for inspiration over the course of the next few blog posts. Rather than rehashing the panels I’d like to throw out elements from them and continue the discussion here. The first panel up for discussion is Defining Heroism.

I almost missed this panel finding it’s location at the last minute and I’m surely glad I did. At it’s heart were two questions. What makes a hero? Is heroism determined externally or internally? We went thru several context and examples, agreeing that heroism is definitely determined externally by the reader/audience and that not every protagonist is necessarily a hero simply by being the protagonist. In romance especially I think this is forgotten as the term “hero of the story” is used as interchangeable with protagonist and main character. That said, we still seem to always want the protag to be that hero for us, changing and growing and saving the day by the last page. So then again, what’s a hero?

I offered that a hero is someone who when faced with a choice chooses the better option. Again, chooses the better option, because sometimes there simply is no good choice. But there must always be a choice. There is a difference between a heroic circumstance and a hero.

Think about the plane that was landed on the Hudson. Everyone speaks to how captain Sully “heroically landed the plane”, but this inaccurate. He didn’t have a choice in safely landing the plane, if he failed he died along with everyone else, so landing the plane was highly impressive and skilled but not heroic. When he then made sure all of his passengers got out on the wing, that no one was left behind and he chose to be the last one out rather than the first THEN captain Sully became a hero rather than the center of a heroic circumstance.

Often the gestures are not so grand as saving several lives. Sometimes the hero simply goes above and beyond for a single person, affecting a single life in a way that will touch every other life around them. Whether saving the world or simply learning to accept the love offered, a hero decides to step up and to the thing that must be done regardless of their personal feelings and position on the matter. The selfless act, even when it’s the only one that can be observed, is the act of the hero.

For my fellow writers, are all of your protagonists heroes? How do you determine if they are the hero? Have you ever purposely written one that was not the hero? Would you want to?

For the readers, are the heroes in you favorite stories clearly defined? Are there any books, shows or movies where you would argue if the protagonist is actually the hero? What is the one thing you need to see in your hero to make them a hero?

For both: Do you differentiate between hero and heroine as far as the criteria? Does the heroine just need to show up? Is “quiet heroism” more the domain of heroines than heroes? And in urban fantasy which is heavy on female pov, does she need to save the world to be on par with the boys?

Is That A Cape Or Are You Just Happy To See Me Ramble…Done

~X

No Regrets by John Callahan

So Sharon came to me a few days ago and said she had this blog post to write, but she was too busy what with the end of school, a deadline approaching and a vacation to plan. She asked if I could pretty please write it for her.

"Just tell your story," she said.

Yeah, right. I'm not the writer here, she is. 

Needless to say, I wasn't as on board as she would have liked. What the hell am I going to write about on a romance writer's blog? But she was pretty damn insistent and when she gets to begging, well, I'm toast. So here I am.  

I guess you'd like to know about me before I go spouting off. My name is John Callahan and my story is Redemption (by Sharon Cullen). You can buy it through Samhain Publishing.   

Sharon says that's not enough information, that people want to know more.   

Hell.   

Okay.  

Here's how it started. I live in a cabin I built with my own hands high in the Smokey Mountains. I'm a Sheriff for a small department that doesn't have a lot to do in the winter but gets our ass kicked in the summer because we have a lake that people like to visit. Catawba Lake. It's quiet, it's peaceful and it's just about as damn perfect as God could make it.  

Some people would say it's boring, and ten years ago I would have probably said the same thing. But a lot of shit can happen in ten years. And that got me to thinking about how life changes.   

What, you didn't think an outdoor guy like me could think deep thoughts? Just kidding. But I do and I can and there was a time in my life when all I had to my name were deep thoughts.  

I grew up in a loud household with a sister and a great mom and dad. At eighteen I knew I needed more and I knew if I stayed in the small town I grew up in that I would slowly fade away and become that dude who ran the local garage on the street corner. You know, the one who plays poker every Tuesday night and spends his weekends warming the barstool at the pub across the street. I didn't want that. I wanted excitement and adventure. I wanted to see the world.   

You can see where this is headed, can't you?  

I was a wet dream for an army recruiter and the second I stepped into the recruiting office, they were all over my ass like white on rice. I signed up, full of dreams of traveling and dodging bullets. Yeah, dodging bullets excited me just as much as the traveling.  

I'll spare you the details and just jump to my point (yes, I have a point). I dodged the bullets, I saw Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan and just about every continent there is to see. I made buddies that ended up being closer to me than my own family (if you want to read about one, read Luke's story. Next time, Luke, it's your ass writing this!). And I was recruited into the IATT which in laymen's terms is a secret anti-terrorist organization. 

On the government books we didn't exist. I didn't exist and neither did the men and women I worked with. It was cool. It was exciting. And I was doing things I'd never imagined.  

So how did I end up in a cabin in the mountains?  It all went to hell.   

When I was 18, my signature still wet on the recruitment papers, there were a few things I'd never imagined I would do:  

1. Be taken prisoner for three months in a third world country 

2.Have my government turn against me 

3.Fall in love with the most beautiful, courageous woman I've ever met.  

I learned that sometimes what you wish for and what you get can be totally different and at the same time exactly what you need.  

I went through some deep shit and when Hope met me, I was just minutes away from ending everything. Yet, looking back, I can't make myself regret my choices or my actions because every step I've taken has led me to where I am today--living in the most beautiful part of the country God created, with the most beautiful woman God could have given me.  

It's been one hell of a rough ride but I'd weather every bump again to have what I have now.  

If you want to read my story, you can find it here for electronic and here for print.

Gotta go. It's been real and, yeah, okay, it wasn't all that bad. But Luke, you're still doing the next post.

John

Much ado about nothing...

I'm struggling through book two of my paranormal series at the moment. Besides my own lack of confidence, life issues and plot-knots, there are other difficulties making it hard to write. One problem being that the hero of book three plays a small part in book two. He's a secondary now--one with major attitude--yet, while I'm working on this book, he's trying to dictate his story instead. I have a hard time writing two different projects at once. :\

(Men can be so difficult.)

My other problem is I have to figure out all the nuances of his character--and his talents/abilities, etc--so that they carry through from one story to the next. Personalities I can handle fairly well. Making up my own mythology isn't quite as easy. Plus, I have to make sure that whatever I write now is something I can live with for the long haul.

One particularly tricky aspect seems a bit...well, silly. But since the hero of book three is a shape-shifter, it is of utmost consequence to both him and the story itself. My conundrum is this: What to do with his clothes when he shifts?

The mere question brings to mind the old Incredible Hulk television show where the hero went through several shirts per episode. (Morphing muscles are hell on poly-cotton blends.)

Is that what I want for my hero? No, I can safely say I'd rather he have a modicum of control over his shifting. Much easier on the clothing budget--not to mention it adds to his innate heroic bent. Heroes must be in control. At least in some respects.

So then I have the option of him undressing every time he wants to morph. That could work. However, it also makes for other tricky and perhaps, funny, situations. Hmmmm, he really doesn't have a great sense of humor. Do I dare try it? Not sure. Also, he doesn't seem the type of man to take a moment and neatly fold everything into a small pile to be retrieved for future use.

I can also use another, less popular plot-device and have the clothing become part of his animal-persona. Yeah, I kind of like that one, except I wonder if it comes off as a cop-out?

I might even try the 'magical wardrobe' idea. However, that concept has been used by at least one of the more popular para-romance writers around. Would I seem like a copycat? :\

What to do? Any ideas? At the moment he's quite naked...and more than a little cold. ;)

LOVE AT FIRST SHOT, Fringe, and New Books!

Have you ever had something that rattled in the back of your head and just wouldn't go away? A character, an idea, a little nagging voice?

Most of the writers out there will raise their hand with a roll of the eyes. Of course we have! Well, one of those little nagging stories finally came out of the closet this week.

My Paranormal Romance Novella, LOVE AT FIRST SHOT, released from The Wild Rose Press on Wednesday. This spicy little number spent years smoldering in the back of my mind before I finally sat down and wrote it. TJ Jackson is a doctor who works hard when no one's looking, approaches the world with the type of enthusiasm usually reserved for small children, and believes there's no time like the present to have a little fun.

Emma Feltman takes the world entirely too seriously. Of course, when you're a master mage in training, very few people take you seriously no matter how innately powerful you might be. Since her latest relationship broke up because her lover was a cheating dog, she's been on a sexual hiatus. Unfortunately for everyone around her, the higher her frustration mounts, the more unpredictable her magic becomes.

Now, we learned in elementary science class that opposites attract as long as they're in the immediate vicinity. Ordinarily, these two would probably never be close enough to let the magnetics do the work. So, what brings them together? A dead werewolf, of course.

Here's the blurb:

What do a dead werewolf, a kidnapped coroner, and an inept witch have in common? LOVE AT FIRST SHOT. Emma Feltman is a master mage in training with one minor problem: sexual frustration has twisted her ordinarily powerful magic into an unpredictable force of chaos. Her current job assignment is the Supernatural Clean-up Crew.

When a werewolf is unlucky enough to get hit by a car, Emma's crew is sent in to retrieve the body. Dr. TJ Jackson happens to be the coroner on duty. When it's discovered his mind is immune to magic so they can't erase the incident from his memory, they do the next best thing. They take him with them.

Stashed in a cabin miles from anywhere, Emma and TJ start things off with a bang. Literally. But can a relationship built under extreme circumstances really work?

Interested? Click HERE to skip over to The Wild Rose Press bookstore to check the excerpt out.

Now, you may be wondering what Fringe has to do with the LOVE AT FIRST SHOT. Well, TJ and Emma have a decidedly personal connection to Thursday night television.

While TJ's character may have originated in my imagination, his face looks decidedly like Joshua Jackson all the way down to his signature quirky grin. And watching Fringe really brings TJ to life for me. Curiously enough, Emma's avatar face in my notebook was Emily Deschanel AKA Bones.

Last night, I curled up with a mug of hot tea and thoroughly enjoyed that HD TV I bought my husband for Christmas. *sigh*

Okay, let me pull my mind back on business. If you're looking for some weekend reading, I hope you give LOVE AT FIRST SHOT a glance. There's also another novella that released this week from Samhain that you might want to check out since we're talking about magnetic attraction: SERENGETI STORM by Vivi Andrews.

This is the second Serengeti Shifters book. We're all familiar with the "bad boy" books. But...how about a "Bad Girl" book? Vivi writes a powerful story of love and redemption in her return to the Serengeti world. I couldn't put this story down. Here's the blurb:

The bitch is back, and nothing gets in her way. Except her own heart...

Serengeti Shifters, Book 2

Shana Delray is hissing mad. The pride's Alpha has chosen a mate - and it's not her. Bred to be his consort, she's not going to let some runt of the litter take her destined place - no matter how much ass she has to kick in the process.

Her way back into the pride is Caleb Minor - her former lover, the Alpha's loyal enforcer...and the runt's brother. And if she has to go through Caleb to get what she wants, so be it. She'll do whatever it takes to pry the little usurper out of her way.

Caleb's familiarity with Shana's manipulative ways serves him well when he's assigned to keep the seething she-cat in line. A nearly impossible task, as he's forced to use his body - in more ways than one - to save her from herself. Now if only he can save his battered heart from the explosive desire that isn't as dormant as he'd thought.

Caleb's stronger now. Tougher and harder. And, to Shana's fury, he won't be used. The harder she pushes, the more she finds her heart yielding...and suddenly she wonders if she can somehow win back the man she spent a decade trying to destroy...

Interested? Click HERE to link over to My Bookstore and More for an excerpt.

Now, I'm off to do a little light reading of my own...unfortunately, my own work. :) It's print galley time for ANGELIC AVENGER!,

I NEED A HERO!

*cues Shrek music*


Seriously, don’t we all? But the question is: What makes a hero? Must he be tall? Have claws, paws, and teeth? Be darkly handsome and edgy? Is he the strong, supportive compliment to that spunky heroine or the take-charge alpha that steps in and sets the world to rights?

Or, here’s a twist – is he the geeky Charlie from Numbers with his own unique twist on how to use his attributes to win the day?

As a writer, the heroic elements of human nature fascinate me. We each bring something new to the discussion, but the truth is…while heroic archetypal elements remain the same, our own personal version of our hero filters into our work.

This is an ongoing discussion among me and my Cookie Monster friends. When I was single, I actually had a list of requirements – written and publicly debated by my friends – about what the perfect man was. But doesn’t every single woman?

One of my friends has a height requirement and freely admits that while she has dated men shorter than her ideal and liked them well enough, it’s hard for her to see an “ever after.” For her, it’s a deal breaker. Being a writer herself, she also admits that while she doesn’t necessarily base her heroes on her personal ideal, they always seem to come out tall.

It made me start thinking…

As writers, how many of us do that? Those few elements of our personal ideal that we just can’t shake? One of the things that is consistent in my own fictional heroes is that yes, they are tall (and no, my husband is not) and they all have the strong supportive streaks. My heroes take charge when it’s needed, but they generally compliment the heroine.

Does that make me a control freak? Do I cast myself as the heroine in my books? Well, maybe if it means I get to fantasize about the hero a little…

What about you? What makes YOUR personal hero?