If you’re an avid romance junkie like me, you know heroes
come in many yummy delicious packages. We all have our favorites. Mine is the darkly
sexy brooder - dear Lord, be still my heart. Seriously. Even as a teenager, my
ideal had dark hair and a five o’clock shadow. In fact, the only poster I ever
put on my wall was this life-sized pic of Clark Gable.
Who’s your daddy, baby? Mmm mmmm. So hot.
That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the other types. I
mean, who among us can resist the charming and playful blond? And hey, a mature
hero with a smooth skull can be incredibly sexy. (I know this first hand. Mr. C.
has been follicly challenged for years.) Then there is the hulking Scot whose auburn waves bring sighs to many. While I love a man with a little fire in his hair, I avoid them for my own stories. My youngest son is a handsome, six-foot-four ginger and the idea of imagining certain sexy scenarios with a red headed hero is....
Well, you understand. *shudder*
My baby boy also has a full beard which, for some reason, is
currently a wildly popular look that does nothing for me - other than make me
think of the Smith Brothers – and that makes me cough.
(If you’re old enough to
understand this reference, you probably agree a mature hero with a smooth
skull is a total HOTTIE!)
As an author, my heroes are each distinct in my mind and on
the page. I tend to lean toward the dark-haired type like Jake, Max, and Sam,
but if you ask Tuck and Wyatt, the two remaining hotties from my Players series,
they’ll no doubt tell you it’s true that blonds have more fun. As a reader,
however, it doesn’t really matter what the author’s description tells me when
it comes to the hero. The moment I become engrossed in a story, my mind
provides its own picture of my current book boyfriend. Surprise, surprise. He
inevitably resembles a certain dreamy movie star of old.
What about you? What type is your favorite and does your
mind rewrite his image in your head to match your ideal?
When Mac isn’t imagining scenarios for her non-red-headed
heroes, she’s providing happily-ever-afters for her lucky heroines like Sophie Taylor, heroine of Mac's RONE Award winning
10 comments:
I am so with you, Mac, on the tall, dark and face-shadowed type...and with Mr. Gable. (Right now I'm reliving every one of my favorite Rhett-Scarlett scenes from GWTW.) However, my own hubby (a/k/a TPM) is tall and blond, as is my all-time fan crush Toby Keith. Both hubby and Toby have blue eyes that get a certain twinkle...(smiling to myself right now). And when watching Outlander, I only have eyes for Jaime of the wavy red locks. He also is tall with that certain look in the eyes. AND I couldn't agree more about any hero-type who reminds me of my adult sons. Double shudder here. That's the main reason I don't enjoy covers with the half-naked men. I keep imagining them as some woman's son! LOL! Fun topic, Mac. Thanks for the smiles!
I remember once, standing rink side with another mom. We were drooling over the instructor teaching our young hockey players when it suddenly hit me. That could be my son one day. Yeah, shame on me. LOL My heroes come in all shapes and sizes too!
My heroes all tend to be fairly tall, at least 6 feet. Other than that, I've done all sorts of coloring combos. But with 20+ heroes and counting, it's hard to find variations. I've never done bald. My husband is a redhead, or used to be before the gray started taking over. No sons to flip out about. Listening to you ladies, I think I'm happy about that! Fun post, Mac!
OMG, Mac! I had a poster of Clark Gable on my wall as a teenager, too!! I'm pretty open as to the fictional heroes I like to read. The ones I write are all tall, and most are dark--although the hero of my current book is blond, a la Tom Hiddleston. I'm OK with a little scruff, but I HATE beards. I hope the current fashion fades soon. It's probably a good thing I only have a daughter. LOL
I'm in the mountains so my responses will be sparse, but I'm glad to know I'm not alone in my quirky needs for a Hero.
Great topic, Mac. My heroes are more beta than alpha, even though I'm married to an alpha. They are always over six feet tall (my husband is 6 ft. 5 inches). I'm tall-5 ft 10-so I do like my heroes with height...and I make my heroines tall as well. I like my heroes to be bright, funny, ruggedly handsome and broad shouldered...with some flaws they're working on-and could use help with whether they are aware of it or not :-)
Yep, tall and dark is my preference. As is my Mr. H. But my current wip hero is a blond. Not sure how that happened. About the son thing. Ewwww! I have two of them, and although they are ‘heroic’ in their own way, I can’t imagine them as heroes. Thankfully. Enjoy the mountains!
I like my heroes tall, dark, and handsome, too. All my heroes fall into that category except one. In the sci-fi romance I should be writing by now (still working on the current wip), the hero is short, wiry, with red/auburn hair. The heroine is tall and usually wears heeled boots. It will be interesting to write their story.
Attraction is a strange thing, isn't it--why one person goes for dark and brooding, and the next for blond. But I guess that's what makes the world go round. I design my heroes in all shades but their heart is what matters most.
I also love the tall, dark heroes. And, oh my, Rhett.... I don't think I've ever written a blond hero. I also am not a fan of beards. Great post!
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