Who Is Your Fantasy Hero?

It's the month the world turns it's mind and it's heart to romance. We of course, get to celebrate it every day! And one of the most fun things whether you be single, dating, engaged or married is that for a few hours each day you can get lost with a fantasy hero within the pages of a romance novel...

So - any old excuse me - let's talk MEN.

Romance hero's are a breed unto themselves and have a depth and layering that we seldom find in more mainstream novels. How many times have you read a thriller or a murder/mystery or a Sci-Fi or something else and felt a sense of disappointment that the characters hadn't been rounded the way you'd like them to have been? In a romance we really get to the heart of the character - no pun intended.

He's not just eye candy. Which is the common misconception the critics would like us to believe. Oh no. This guy may look good enough to make us smile like an idiot were we ever to meet him, but he has to have an inner strength, an integrity, an honourable streak a mile wide, a sense of humour and STILL have that vulnerability that makes us fall a little in love with him as we read his story...

We don't ask for much do we???

And then of course there's intelligence and charm and confidence and perseverance and probably a good dose of patience...

Now fitting all of that plus a good deal more into a 50-60,000 word book while fleshing out the heroine's personality and including a little thing called a story at the same time is no mean feat. Yet I have read so many incredible heroes in my day that I can't help but have favourites who have stuck with me. Lori Foster's Gabe, Ally Blake's Sebastian, Rhonda Nelson's Jamie, Kate Walker's Vito, Alyssa Day's Conlan.... the list could go on and on. And that's before I even touch on the subject of actors or singers or sports personalities I've done double takes at.

At the end of the day it's all a very personal choice, isn't it? And I think any author who says they don't add a little of that personal preference to their heroes is fibbing just an ikkle bit. With me there are several criteria - tall is non-negotiable. A sense of humour essential. The ability to step up to the plate when needed vital. Hair colour, eye colour and the like I'm flexible on. But every single darn one of them will have a need in them for the heroine, that even when fought against - just can't be denied...

Do you have a particular hero in a romance novel who stayed in your mind long after you closed the cover? One that just made you come over all warm and fuzzy? What was it about him that made you smile for so long?

One of the beauties of being a writer is you can take all the basic ingredients, go a searchin for a suitable *look* and then create a brand shiny new hero from scratch at least a coupla times a year... Now me - I take the look very seriously. I even have a collection of pics for *hero inspiration* that I keep in a Hero Database on my website to - erm - help other writers OF COURSE! If I'm trawling around the net or watching a film or I see a guy in a magazine that just shouts hero material to me then I Google him immediately, find a few pics I like the tone of (for added inspiration) and then I squirrel them away in my files... It's a tough part of the job, granted. But I like to think I'm admirably dedicated to my craft...

So if you had a particular actor or musician or sportstar you adored in real life and you knew the author had the way he looked in mind when she created a hero on the page would it influence you? Would it add an extra dimension to the fictional guy for you? Would you visualize your real life hero or simply allow yourself to fall for the fictional one?

I have to say when it comes to a hero on the page, in the same way that the cover art can either help or hinder the image I have of him on my mind, knowing what the author had in her mind can either help or hinder. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE to see how they thought he'd look. But at the end of the day heroes like the ones I listed earlier have stuck with me because of the characterization and that little bit of personal perception I brought to it. I think it's the same for every hero. Take away the cover art and have thirty people read the same book and I guarantee you they'd all have very different ideas of who he might look like in real life.

So does cover art effect your reading enjoyment? Will a good one add to your reading experience? Will a bad one take something away from it for you?

Because many's an author has been known to complain bitterly about how their hero turned out on the cover. Thing is how exactly does the poor marketing department get inside the head of so many authors and see exactly what they saw? If they had to pay all the actors/musicians/sportstars we had in mind then the books would end up costing a small fortune! But then we are also known to dance will glee when they get it right. Like my February Harlequin Romance release for instance. For my hero, Kane Healey I had but one photograph that launched my imagination. It involved one of the ones here - with the actor dressed in dark clothes looking back over his shoulder. In that picture I saw a world of possibilitites. I saw a hero with secrets and regrets. A hero who could find great happiness with a woman he should never have let go if he would just take time to get to know her in the here and now...Heck I even dressed Kane the same way in several scenes!

And when the cover came, I was ecstatic. It was more than close enough to what I had in mind. My fantasy guy was there for all the world to see. And considering how much the cover has been plastered around the universe with the Mills & Boon Centenary I can't begin to tell you how happy I am about that!!! But then maybe I worry too much? Because I constantly worry about things like having the right career for him, the right name, the right levels of strength and vulnerability... it's a world of angst in my house.

So I ask you - who is your fantasy hero? Is he alpha male - beta? Is he in need of redemption, capable of rescuing the heroine, all the more endearing because of his vulnerability? Is it simply all about the looks? Or is it the complete package that matter? Who would be your perfect fantasy guy this Valentine's Day?

I'll pick a winner in a week from the comments for a copy of Her One And Only Valentine (still waiting to hear from the winner of my last book from my last Blog on here btw so if they don't come forwards I'll pick another one at the end of the month)

In the meantime if you want to learn more about my books or my writing life then please do drop by my Website or my Blog. And HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY for tomorrow!!!