The Nature of Heroes (Part 1)

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I spooked my editor yesterday. We’d been batting emails back and forth about the book-in-production (A MURDER AMONG FRIENDS) as well as the book-in-process (CLUES IN THE CLAY). I told her CLUES had stalled a bit because I hadn’t totally fallen in love with my hero yet.

That, for me, is a necessity to finish a book and keep it flowing. I have to LIKE my heroine, enjoy her company, want her as a friend. But I must have a deeper connection with my hero; I have to be a little bit in love with him. Or a lot (depending on the man in question). Otherwise, I can’t really make it believable that SHE is falling in love with him.

Because he’s mostly my creation (if you want to know more about that “mostly” part, read the extended entry), I already know everything about him–his flaws and joys, his heartaches and triumphs. But the chemistry has to be there. Otherwise, I’ll be spending all that intimate head time on someone I don’t really care about.

I even care about my villains, but that’s another post for another day.

So I told her I’d finally FOUND HIM! My perfect hero for CLUES! And I sent her this:

She was not thrilled.

I did tell her (quickly, I might add) that I was joking. And I sent her the real picture, along with a description (also in the extended entry).

There’s a backstory here as to why I did that….

…she recently made me significantly tone down the final confrontation between my hero (Fletcher) and the villain of MURDER. The comment had come back from her copyeditor that Fletcher’s actions “weren’t really heroic.” This was not a happy moment for me. I’d ALREADY toned him down from what I wanted, and to pull back further made me respond rather unkindly about wimpy heroes and people who’d obviously been married far too long.

Yes, I was catty. Hissingly, spittingly catty. I didn’t truly mean it; I just get annoyed when my heroes are messed with. Edit my plot, my grammar, my structure. Tread carefully with my characters, however. I’m as protective of them as I am my best friends.

But it did get me thinking about the nature of heroes . . . which is actually something I’ve been doing a lot….

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My hero is from the deep South, with a redneck background and a doctorate in art history–which isn’t really as weird as you might think. I know more than a couple of these guys. To be honest, one of my favorite hero types is the “educated redneck.” This passage is from within my heroine’s head, as she’s musing about her new friend…

“The accent certainly caught her off guard. It was not the nasal hillbilly twang that a lot of folks around here thought of as a Southern accent, but the slow, easy-spoken combination of Alabama flatwoods and Louisiana bayou still occasionally left folks thinking that Mason wasn

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