Loving Our Bad Boys by Betsy Ashton

Why is it that we fall in love with our bad boys? I don't mean in real life, although that was true once for me when I fell in love with a budding rock star, until he became a star and lost his way in the drug scene.

I mean, why do we like our bad boys in our books? I ask that because I have never written a story about a bad boy. My Mad Max series has strong male figures, but Max's boyfriend can't be confused with a bad boy. Johnny Medina is a decent guy who loves Max. Period.

My serial killer is the closest to a bad ass dude as I've written, yet she is a female bad ass dude. I didn't fall in love with her, but I became entranced by her story. After all, she has a "storied" career of what she sees as righteous kills. Her fans find themselves rooting for her, even as she struggles with her own psychological mysteries. She doesn't know how she would be defined in the DSM and frankly doesn't care.

So, why do I want to write about a bad boy? Because they look so deliciously entertaining. Years ago, I wrote a romance which I never sent out. It doesn't fit the genre model. The characters are both around forty. One is married; one wears a wedding band, but her marital status is unclear. When they fall in love, the conflict intensifies along with the heat. He's married; she might be. Is he a bad boy for being married and loving a potentially married woman? So far, he's the baddest dude I've tried to write.

I read about bad boys all the time. I love thrillers and suspense stories. My fictional heroes range from Jack Reacher to Mitch Rapp to Jack Bauer to Mr. Reese in the old Person of Interest television show. They kill. They're good at it. Very good. They are sexy in a dangerous sort of way. They kill people who need killing. They hide in plain sight.

Oh, hell. That Thing in Eyes Without A Face is a female version of all them with a dash of Dexter. I guess I can write about a bad ass. Bad ass dudettes need equal billing.

What do you think?

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Betsy Ashton is the author of the Mad Max Mystery series. Her stand-alone serial killer novel, EYES WITHOUT A FACE, is a departure from her normal fare.

Rhett Butler was the Start of it All

The bad boy in romance, the kiss that made us all sigh and the shocking language at the end. Rhett Butler started it all, or so it seems. I'm sure there were other heroes before him who were just as rapscallion or beguiling with a pair of lips or quick to toss out a cuss word. But none had the enduring style of handsome Rhett. 

He was just the bee's knees, wasn't he? He taught some writers there was appeal and value in the bad boy image, especially if he returned to town with a touch of gold in his heart and a chunk of it in his bank account.

Ole Brett got us away from the staid, proper heroes. Thank goodness. I love a devilish hero with a sexy-as-all-get-out smile. Makes my toes curl just thinking about it. My Calvin has a smile like that. He's no bad boy, by any means, but he's got that heart-melting smile that goes so well with his heart of gold.

Let's talk about the kiss, shall we? You know which one I mean. The one where Rhett puts his hand behind Scarlet's neck and leans her back and lays one powerful lip-lock on her. Sigh. As a writer of romance, every story has to have that first kiss...and it has to be fantastic, breath-taking and memorable. So, I ask you, how many ways are there to describe two pairs of lips connecting? I struggle with every one to make it different from the previous. I sure wish I had Rhett to whisper in my ear to give me a few tips--and a shiver or two.

Probably the most famous words of a movie are his. Sure there are others. "E.T., phone home." The orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally, where the older lady in the restaurant quips, "I'll have what she's having." But Rhett's, "Frankly, Scarlet, I don't give a damn," lives on. 

Yup, in many ways, he was the start of a lot of things. Long live Rhett Butler.

Read more about Vonnie at www.vonniedavis.com