Writerly Ways
Jul. 21st, 2013 03:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessRomance. While I’m not a huge romance writer, it is, by nature, in at least some of my work. However, what I do not now, nor have I ever understood the appeal of the alpha male dickhead hero. This jerk has been on hand for decades of Harlequin romances. We all know him. He sweeps in, saves the girl from all bad things including thinking for herself, because why would she have any needs outside of him? It’s part of the formula and I have to ask why?
I have known many alpha males. They are not a romantic figure to me. They are the reason I never married because as the slightest hint of it, I run like a thief after the alarm’s gone off. I may write an alpha male or two but not because I particularly like him. I’m not sure I’ve made him the hero. Oddly enough, I see less of this in gay erotic (yaoi aside. Oh he’s taken to the nth degree in Yaoi which I why I read so very little of it) novels. Or maybe I’ve just been lucky there, since let’s face it, I don’t read a lot of romances.
The reasons for this is that alpha male. I’ve known people who truly want to be published as a romance author and who can blame them? It’s a hugely popular genre. I’ve seen comments they’ve gotten when they try to write the nice guy as the romantic lead. They’ve been shot down. No one wants a nice guy. I have no idea why not. I’d be thrilled to be going out with a laid back nice guy.
I know there’s been a lot written in psychology about the ‘bad boy’ fantasy a lot of women have. Sometimes bad boy is synonymous with alpha male but not always. Han Solo, for instance, straddles the line. He’s a bit of a bad boy and alpha male but he does listen. It helps that Leia would probably wear his balls on a necklace if he tried to pull too much of the alpha male crap on her.
My question, the one that made Athens’s own Dr. Who Boy laugh, is can you write a romance without the alpha male douchebag?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ozma914 weighed in on that with a somewhat disheartening bit of news. He has written both the good guy and alpha male romance protagonist and guess who sold best? Yeah, alpha male. Sigh.
This question becomes even more pointed when you look at YA romances. What happens if you try to write the good guy and show young women there are better choices than a male who is going to try and rule every aspect of your life? (an even more important question, can you write a successful YA that does NOT have a romance subplot?) I guess I’ll find out if I ever successfully market my YA novel Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron Killian is not an alpha male and the poor fool is trying to woo a werewolf.
The book that got me thinking about this was Cassandra Clare’s The Clockwork Angel (more on that later). Tessa is a young girl, mid-1800s, confronted with two men, the sweet and gentle Jem and then there is Will. He’s such an alpha male dickhead he goes beyond douchebag. I need to borrowhavocmangawip’s word ‘douche canoe’ to cover how had he is. Is there any doubt who Tessa is drawn to? I found that so frustrating. It says that it’s okay to be with someone who belittles you constantly, no not okay, its desirable to want that man. It disturbs me.
Who are you drawn to and why?
And speaking of Clare, I went to review this book on Goodreads and came across something even more disturbing. Clare has been guilty of plagiarism in her fanfic days and many are accusing her of reworking Harry Potter fanfic into her wildly successful Mortal Instrument series. I have very conflicted feelings about reworking fanfic into original fanfic. I see plenty of people doing it. I suppose if it’s reworked enough it’s okay. Certainly I’ve used personal dynamics from fanfic (my own) in some of my work but when it’s recognizable as the fanfic it came from? Someone in my publishing house got blasted for it. We all know that 50 Shades of Gray is Twilight fanfic but at least it wasn’t plagiarized. You can Google Clare and find the plagiarism scandal and her own ‘so what’ attitude toward her actions.
Why am I bringing this up? Because I have to say I’m SO tired of lazy and cheating authors getting to the top. Rip off Twilight, make millions, get a movie deal (and seriously how can 50 shades be a movie outside of porn?). Snatch up Harry Potter fanfic, make millions, get a movie deal (it’ll be out soon). I know so many good authors with good stories who can’t get a toe in the door and/or their self-publishing hasn’t gone as well at 50 Shades. I know it’s pointless to be bitter. I can’t help it. Sometimes it just feels good to whine about it.
yearly word count -
camp nano -
I have known many alpha males. They are not a romantic figure to me. They are the reason I never married because as the slightest hint of it, I run like a thief after the alarm’s gone off. I may write an alpha male or two but not because I particularly like him. I’m not sure I’ve made him the hero. Oddly enough, I see less of this in gay erotic (yaoi aside. Oh he’s taken to the nth degree in Yaoi which I why I read so very little of it) novels. Or maybe I’ve just been lucky there, since let’s face it, I don’t read a lot of romances.
The reasons for this is that alpha male. I’ve known people who truly want to be published as a romance author and who can blame them? It’s a hugely popular genre. I’ve seen comments they’ve gotten when they try to write the nice guy as the romantic lead. They’ve been shot down. No one wants a nice guy. I have no idea why not. I’d be thrilled to be going out with a laid back nice guy.
I know there’s been a lot written in psychology about the ‘bad boy’ fantasy a lot of women have. Sometimes bad boy is synonymous with alpha male but not always. Han Solo, for instance, straddles the line. He’s a bit of a bad boy and alpha male but he does listen. It helps that Leia would probably wear his balls on a necklace if he tried to pull too much of the alpha male crap on her.
My question, the one that made Athens’s own Dr. Who Boy laugh, is can you write a romance without the alpha male douchebag?
ozma914 weighed in on that with a somewhat disheartening bit of news. He has written both the good guy and alpha male romance protagonist and guess who sold best? Yeah, alpha male. Sigh.This question becomes even more pointed when you look at YA romances. What happens if you try to write the good guy and show young women there are better choices than a male who is going to try and rule every aspect of your life? (an even more important question, can you write a successful YA that does NOT have a romance subplot?) I guess I’ll find out if I ever successfully market my YA novel Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron Killian is not an alpha male and the poor fool is trying to woo a werewolf.
The book that got me thinking about this was Cassandra Clare’s The Clockwork Angel (more on that later). Tessa is a young girl, mid-1800s, confronted with two men, the sweet and gentle Jem and then there is Will. He’s such an alpha male dickhead he goes beyond douchebag. I need to borrow
havocmangawip’s word ‘douche canoe’ to cover how had he is. Is there any doubt who Tessa is drawn to? I found that so frustrating. It says that it’s okay to be with someone who belittles you constantly, no not okay, its desirable to want that man. It disturbs me.Who are you drawn to and why?
And speaking of Clare, I went to review this book on Goodreads and came across something even more disturbing. Clare has been guilty of plagiarism in her fanfic days and many are accusing her of reworking Harry Potter fanfic into her wildly successful Mortal Instrument series. I have very conflicted feelings about reworking fanfic into original fanfic. I see plenty of people doing it. I suppose if it’s reworked enough it’s okay. Certainly I’ve used personal dynamics from fanfic (my own) in some of my work but when it’s recognizable as the fanfic it came from? Someone in my publishing house got blasted for it. We all know that 50 Shades of Gray is Twilight fanfic but at least it wasn’t plagiarized. You can Google Clare and find the plagiarism scandal and her own ‘so what’ attitude toward her actions.
Why am I bringing this up? Because I have to say I’m SO tired of lazy and cheating authors getting to the top. Rip off Twilight, make millions, get a movie deal (and seriously how can 50 shades be a movie outside of porn?). Snatch up Harry Potter fanfic, make millions, get a movie deal (it’ll be out soon). I know so many good authors with good stories who can’t get a toe in the door and/or their self-publishing hasn’t gone as well at 50 Shades. I know it’s pointless to be bitter. I can’t help it. Sometimes it just feels good to whine about it.
yearly word count -
87271 / 125000
(69.82%)
(69.82%)
camp nano -
14088 / 15000
(93.92%)
(93.92%)
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Date: 2013-07-21 09:45 pm (UTC)The key word being "respect." That's the element that seems to be missing from the alpha-male romance crap you're complaining about. Too many writers don't seem able to convey that sense of respect a strong man _should_ have for a strong woman, or they write it crudely and clumsily so it comes off as unearned (by either or both parties), or they miss it altogether. When your alpha male is forced to forge an alliance that turns to love, that's exciting. When your heroine falls all over an alpha male who continues to treat her disrespectfully, that's a turn-off. It's also verging on S/M, which, sorry, isn't romantic.
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Date: 2013-07-22 01:25 am (UTC)Respect is so often missing. I come away from many of these thinking that the women are merely chattal.
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Date: 2013-07-22 03:04 am (UTC)and yes that is annoying. I saw that a lot in BtVS
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Date: 2013-07-21 11:50 pm (UTC)This is such a fantastic line it is now forever stamped into my memory. :D
I’m SO tired of lazy and cheating authors getting to the top.
I agree with you. It's terrible how blatant this is and people still get away with it.
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Date: 2013-07-22 03:01 am (UTC)and it just keeps getting worse. It makes me wonder why bother
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Date: 2013-07-22 03:14 am (UTC)Unfortunately what they don't realize is that Rhett was not actually an "Alpha Male douchebag." He was bitter, he was snide, he was often rude, but he was not a bad sort at heart. He was a man colored by his time and his place, and you get a strong idea that Mitchell had his backstory written completley but she NEVER TOLD US EVERYTHING. He knew what could have made Scarlett happy and she wasn't having any of it. In the end, he realized his mistake and walked out. No reader of romance can bear that ending, so they "fix it" so their "Rhett" stays.
I could never get a strong handle on my "hero" character so my "romances" ended up being urban fantasy. Clearly Sean Patrick is no romance hero; I just could never write a guy who was that irredeemable and still get the girl -- plus, the toughest part I have always had with romances that follow in that formula is the "convenient misunderstanding," where the hero and heroine think they know some "fact" about the other which is not true and the reader KNOWS it's not true and there are always contrived events to make sure neither learn the truth -- this was lifted wholesale from GWtW, where it works because Mitchell set up a heroine who couldn't communicate with ANYONE, much less herself.
I've read extremely few Romances where the "convenient misunderstanding" didn't make me want to scream with fury.
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Date: 2013-07-22 03:33 am (UTC)I agree Sean Patrick isn't a romance hero which is why I had suggested looking at UF markets.
the convenient misunderstanding does make me want to scream. Frankly too much of the drama of many TV shows hinges on that too (BtVS, AtS I'm looking at you two)
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Date: 2013-07-22 05:04 pm (UTC)I know what you mean about it being on television, but it doesn't annoy me nearly as much there, perhaps because a misunderstanding for twenty minutes of show is easier to deal with than for 300 pages of prose...
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Date: 2013-07-22 10:58 pm (UTC)You have a point there. I dislike it in TV because it's a cheap way to generate drama
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Date: 2013-07-23 03:15 am (UTC)I think Gothic romances are also to be blamed. Ooooo, Heathcliff! Bleah.
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Date: 2013-07-22 06:45 am (UTC)I've told this story a few times already, so you might've heard it, but a few months ago, I started reading a historical romance/mystery. There's a male character introduced in the first few pages who is basically a roguish guy who drives fast cars -- but in one of his first scenes, he accidentally knocks over an old lady's fruit stand with his fast car and immediately stops and helps her pick up her fruit. And he's nice to the heroine.
And I thought, "Wow. I LIKE him! You keep this one, Miss Heroine!"
... aaaaand then, a chapter later, the ACTUAL love interest was introduced, which is signposted notably because he's a complete dick to the heroine and everyone else. I flipped to the back cover and yep, the guy I liked is the murder victim.
And, just, no. Back to the library with you, book.
I have to admit that I've enjoyed a few variations on the alpha-male trope over the years, usually the more cerebral take on the trope (okay, I read Jane Eyre at an impressionable age and developed a fondness for smart, sarcastic assholes) but I am SO COMPLETELY OVER "romantic" heroes whose main defining feature is "jerk". I want the guy who helps old ladies, instead.
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Date: 2013-07-23 01:55 am (UTC)I don't blame you. I'm tired of the dickheads winning. I don't mind a smart/sarcastic guy so long as he does nice things too
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Date: 2013-07-22 09:10 am (UTC)but, to answer your question, I think it boils down to romanticizing the primitive desire for forceful sex - that (supposidely) only a true alpha male can deliver.
silvrethorn nails it, but... can a man who respects you really nail you to the wall? can he scare and upset you in all the right ways?
from what I've seen, the people that read the very typical romance schlock want exactly that kind of danger lurking in their hero. "Oh no, he may slap her hard, throw her down and fuck her brains out right there in the jungle!" *tingle tingle*
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Date: 2013-07-23 01:43 am (UTC)but I agree with you and silvrethorn and wildrider
I <3 Nerds
Date: 2013-07-23 03:19 am (UTC)There's a reason my sister gave me a "Soft Kitty" sleep shirt and panties that say "I Love Nerds" for my birthday.
Re: I <3 Nerds
Date: 2013-07-23 04:26 am (UTC)hahaha fun
Re: I <3 Nerds
Date: 2013-07-23 04:36 am (UTC)Re: I <3 Nerds
Date: 2013-07-23 04:51 am (UTC)Re: I <3 Nerds
Date: 2013-07-23 04:53 am (UTC)Re: I <3 Nerds
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