Characters possibly getting non-standard and OTT. HELP!
So I’ve finished what I’d aimed to do today – 5 character profiles. One of which involves a pretty creepy villain who can honestly be described as a predatory stalker.
Which leads me to conduct a mini debate in my head over a couple of things.
- I have Christians in my romance novel, but I’m not writing an inspirational romance.
In all honesty, I don’t see why Christians – or any other religion, for that matter – should be left out of romance novels as if religion didn’t exist in Lurve Land. 1 in 3 people the world over are Christians; 85% of the world believes in some kind of religion. And yes, art, as the imitater of life, should be able to talk about sex and romance AND Christianity. Christians can be passionate, too.Problem is, I don’t think most publishers want to talk about Christian romances and all the angst about being in love with a non-believer. And yet it’s one of the most common forms of forbidden love in the world.
- I have a predatory stalker, as mentioned above.
And suddenly, my book seems OTT to me. It’s supposed to be light and fluffy and fun… and I have a villain that is, frankly, creepy. He is part of the subplot involving 2 of my minor characters… but the fact remains that I have a creepy villain who is psychologically disturbed. And I’m lacking the guts right now to go through with it. Even though I want to indulge my darker side.
So. If I were to not have a predatory stalker villain, can someone please devise a way for my subplot hero to save his woman in a grand, heroic gesture? That also involves, preferably, a punch-up?
Or do predatory stalkers happen more often in romance novels than I realise?
Anyone? 2M2Z3UTSJPA9
English accents: audio references
Trying to “hear” the accents of one of my minor (but crucial) characters, and chanced upon IDEA – or the International Dialects of English Archive. And what a brilliant idea it is!
I found exactly what I was looking for (examples of an East Sussex accent). Would other countries do the same! Australia could very well do with something like this, I reckon.
What makes a rake a rake? (A hoe?)
Trying to give my rake more of a backstory, even if I won’t be covering his past in detail.
Came across “The Character Therapist” blog that helped give some ideas. Specifically,
With true womanizers (who try to get women in bed), as well as your tamer Christian fiction counterpart, low self-esteem is an important part of why they do what they do. There is a certain amount of attention and power and control that being a womanizer brings a man, and these emotions would come into play regardless of what happens after the dates are over.
To really make your hero believable, my advice is to work in some backstory about him being a late bloomer (not nearly as attractive as he’s portrayed now) and really give him solid motivations for being with these women so it doesn’t read contrived. Just answer the question: What needs of his are being met? And then, by the end of the book (or by the end of my therapy sessions with someone like this), I would hope he’s meeting those needs in a healthier way to give him a nice, round character arc.
Also, this sounds like someone’s personal experience:
Mother’s who are emotionally weak, distant or unavailable raise sons like this. Mothers who destroy and banish the boy’s father from their lives create this dynamic, along with borderline personality disordered women who go through men like underwear, and have no concern for how their men regard or treat their sons. IF the men that come in and out of their lives devalue or abuse these boys at all, and are left to do it with no protection or defense from mom, leave these boys to grow up hating and resenting women, so their nasty. unacceptable behaviors are taken out on the women in their lives, receiving what they feel their mothers deserve.
And then there’s WiseGeek, who says
A habitual womanizer may have serious issues with women in general, which can be the hidden motivation behind the seduction and ultimate rejection process. A womanizer is often a male chauvinist who views women as inferiors or manipulators who somehow deserve to be played by an aggressive male. A womanizer may be so concerned about rejection that he makes sure he remains in complete control of every relationship he enters, no matter how superficial or fleeting. Some relationship experts suggest that a habitual womanizer may be reenacting a painful break-up experience every time he picks up a new “conquest.”
I have no idea what sob back story to attach to my rake, but I do like the idea of giving him a mother who is superficial, gorgeous and manipulative. She could be a real nasty piece of work. Yet another juicy character I can really sink my teeth into. Hmmm….
