The “Perfect” Hero

Oh, my God am I tired of the “perfect” man in romance books. Ok. First off there are many – MANY – romance writers who do not fall into this trope and to them I say, “thank you”. But there are also MANY who willfully embrace this “perfect” hero. There’s also the asshole, misogynistic hero that I hate as well. This hero came into popularity in the 70’s and 80’s and has NO place in modern romance or in the real world.

Secondly I would like to again point out I write romance and my heroes are pretty damned perfect in my eyes; as long as that perfect includes some physical imperfections, emotional scars -lots of emotional scars – and some personality flaws they have to work through. They are also not always the BEST at everything. It’s important for every writer, no matter what genre, to sculpt a character that is well rounded and real (even if they are angels, demons or Other). That means they will fail sometimes, the will piss off the heroine and sometimes the reader. They will make mistakes and overall not be an unrealistic He-Man without a single imperfection.

NOTE: a single manly scar does not count as an imperfection people!

Third: Now this is what I mean about the “perfect” hero and why it’s so annoying to me: He’s always an alpha male. ALWAYS. He’s never a strong Beta or anything else. He’s always the leader of his people, the prince, the king, the boss, the CEO. He’s always wealthy, successful and most of the times a spoiled dick who “knows what he wants”. He’s always the most desirable man to all women and his sexual prowess is never questioned and his confidence never shaken. He’s always freaking tall and a body builder without having made any effort. He’s always the smartest and strongest. And here’s where “perfect” turns into misogynist: he always takes that massive Confidence and bull dozes his way over our dainty “perfect”, virginal heroine. In many cases he pushes her into sex before she is ready because he’s the “experienced “ older lover and “knows what she wants” before she does. No buddy you don’t know what she wants, you basically guilted, bullied and raped an innocent woman. – Sorry, sorry, went on a tangent right then.

I’m so tired of that alpha male entitled bullshit in books, especially in the romance genre. And thankfully, I’m starting to see some writers who are discarding that stereotypical “perfect” guy for more realistic men. It’s still a mainstay in many genres across the board. You see it in movies and TV shows as well. I want to see real heroes – I know these are fantasy and therefore will always have an unreality to them – but I want to see real, flawed heroes that I WANT to fall in love with.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have a six foot plus gorgeous Demi-god for a hero. But mess him up a little. Give him some insecurities so we see that a lot of his bravado is from the very real and human emotion of doubt and uncertainty. Do you know why we love the “bad boy” in our fiction? Because he has room to evolve into a better being. You bring me Lucifer and show me just the hint of honor inside of him and I will root for him every day. Because it makes him real.

Two authors who I feel do a very good job of humanizing their heroes are Sherrilyn Kenyon and Suzanne Brockmann. Sherrilyn Kenyon always gives her heroes deep emotional traumas that they have to overcome by the end of their story. They evolve and smooth away those sharp edges. No matter how powerful or beautiful they are, they are imperfect and have to grow to reach their happy ever after. Suzanne Brockmann writes romantic military thrillers, about Navy SEALs and other branches of the military. Her heroes are the Alpha of the Alpha and yet she manages to humanize them. To give them flaws, to shake their confidence and evolve them.

I’m tired of cardboard cut outs of heroes that have hot bodies and money. Give me a real man. Throw some age on him, add some emotional scars. He doesn’t have to be stronger than everyone else, make him just fight harder for what he wants. Make him respect the heroine and earn his place in her heart. Please, give him a few flaws and an evolutionary story arc.

And fourth: my heroes are perfect to me. They are my fantasies, some of which I’d definitely do (wink wink). All of them I love. They have their flaws and imperfections and they are hot to me.

Mordecai is powerful, all brute strength and ferocious. He’s also annoyingly stubborn, and only physically beautiful to who AG who can look past the harshness of his features to the warmth in his eyes. He’s not the leader, but a good second in command. He’s strong enough to take what he wants but for AG he’ll ask. He loves dogs and dislikes humans.

Gideon is a little goodie-two-shoes, too obedient to authority and doesn’t always think for himself. He’s absolutely gorgeous but he lets his fear of failure keep him from what he really wants and from true happiness.

Shatter is a traumatized, wounded animal. Abandoned, abused, bringing him to happy ever after is a journey away.

Nomad is an asshole. He’s rude, crude and makes me swear a LOT when I write about him. He’s stubborn, opinionated and loyal as hell. He has no qualms about killing someone but will fight to protect what is his and for those he calls friend. He’s got a lot of rough edges he needs to polish away.

Errant is under six foot and a demon; Talis is in denial and afraid; Micah is suicidal and lost; L is spoiled and a bully, but also filled with love and longing to be accepted; Sham…well Sham is bat-shit crazy and that’s a lot to explain in a single sentence. My point is they are all imperfect and perfect. They are as real as I can make them.

And that is what I want to see. I want characters to be more than the hangers an adventure is draped over. I want to see hurt and anger, flaws and failure before they reach happy ever after.
Until next time,
L