Hot Summer Heroes Blog Hop

Thanks for stopping by our blog. Today we're talking about hot men. How we choose the hero in our books.  What makes them hot?  And what type of man makes us melt?

How do we choose those hot heroes for our books? It all depends on the characteristics they must have to make them hot. Not to mention make us fall in love with them. 

Since there are two of us, you can bet we’ll have two different opinions. Until...it comes time flesh out our hero to a T. We begin with the usual questions. Should he be a good six feet tall with broad powerful shoulders, glossy, black hair just a little bit too long? Eyes, dark, smoldering, appearing as if they could read your mind? And when he speaks your name he has the slightest hint of an accent?

Or, do we want him with sun-bleached hair falling forward into his eyes as he removes his Stetson? Maybe he wears faded jeans and a blue shirt, also faded, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows showing off muscular forearms built from working the ranch every day, just enough to tease you into wondering what the rest of him would be like if he removed the shirt entirely. Yep, either of these guys can get our hearts fluttering.

Which guy will win?  It all depends on the character we are writing about. We first study his background, like what part of the country he comes from, his ancestry, his job. With these important facts decided upon, we then begin fleshing out the man himself.

For example, Lance, from our book, Death Unseen, needed to be half Native American, live in New Mexico, and be a Navajo Tribal Policeman. With those requirements, we did our research and came up with this guy who, when Carly first meets, describes him in her view point.

            Masculine wasn't the only word to describe the man standing inside Two
            Moons' front door. Carly's mind refused to formulate what those particular
            words were at the moment.  She had difficulty enough taking in his chiseled nutmeg
            features, let alone his long hair, black as pitch, gathered at the nape and bound
            with a red yard.

A few paragraphs later, Carly adds:

Though she couldn’t see the color of his eyes through the sunglasses he wore, she ventured a guess they were dark and sharp as a hawk’s—not about to miss a thing. His jean jacket fit his body snugly. The faded shade of blue was a perfect combination with the prominent large turquoise red and coral and silver belt buckle attached to a unique hand-carved leather belt.

Can you picture Lance?

Once our hero’s background has been established, we dive deeper into his character. We go down our list of important hero traits.

How can he be solid in his beliefs, but not domineering? Will he respect the heroine’s opinions? Can he be self-confident, but not a jerk? If in the beginning of the story, he doesn’t admit when he’s wrong, what causes him to finally open up and share? How successful must he be? There are many ways to be a success. It doesn’t necessarily have to be only with money.

How can our hero be smart, both book and street wise? He has to be interesting because who wants one who will bore us to death?

And forget the completely silent type of guy, one who never opens up when hurting. We are women. We NEED to sympathize and understand.  Continually keeping us guessing may send us down the wrong path, and when we find out we’re wrong, we’ll be pissed.

There are other important traits we look at, but those can come at a later time.  

And, of course, the most important trait of all is the one that follows.

Because we, Tia and Dani, adhere to the true nuance of romance, in the end we want a sensitive man who loves kids, dogs, cats, and once in a while a neurotic parrot. We also want a man who’s not afraid of the kitchen, and doesn’t mind helping around the house.

Yes, it’s true. We want a perfect mixture of an alpha and beta man.  Give us him and we’ll be forever his.

 

Please leave a comment on our blog for a chance to win a copy of Death Unseen by Tia Dani

And this is a blog hop.  Runs August 13th thru the 19th.

http://www.hdthomson.com/hot-summer-heroes-blog-hop/

Grand Prize $100.00 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Winner to be selected by our lovely hosts, Caris Roane and H. D. Thomson from all who add comments on this hop. Join in the fun. Good luck!

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