30 October 2011

To Beard or Not to Beard


When a story pops into my head I start to visualize the characters who will play out the leads.  Sometimes this is easy and sometimes I pull my hair out very slowly trying to figure out the hero and heroine.  For instance, in my book A Silver Lining, I had a woman who wasn’t nice, whose abrupt manner and off-putting tongue needed someone to perfectly foil her rapier retorts.  Luckily, Tristan came along to not only rescue Heather but to rescue my deadline.

“Heather looked up, and up, past a cast-wrapped leg, over a large silver belt buckle, and into the darkest eyes she had ever seen. The rest of the face wasn’t bad as well, and Heather felt her heart flip-flop. High cheekbones, tanned face, handsome beyond belief.”

I realized about my third books that, unconsciously, I tended to write the same male character again and again and again.  I was using the image of a man I found attractive in every story so I had to step back and reevaluate all my heroes.  Even though I don’t particularly like chest hair that doesn’t mean my readers don’t either.  And just because I love blue eyed men doesn’t mean every hero out there has to have baby blues.

“Penny blinked and snapped her gaze to his. She instantly saw the annoyance in his royal blue eyes fade into concern.”

And yet up until the explosion of ebook publishing and the erotica romance genre coming to life, there weren’t that many ethnic heroes out there.  And now as I’ve grown more mature I realize my taste has evolved in what I find sexy.  My heroes have become somewhat less…vanilla, for lack of a better word.  Now I find so many new characters clawing at my mind, demanding their stories be told. 


 ***Happy Halloween!  To win a copy of any of my ebooks in PDF version, simply leave a comment about if you like beards or not!  One winner chosen at random and announced Tuesday (make sure to leave your email if possible)!  Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the blogs on the blog hop at http://dreabecraft.com/events-2/****

7 comments:

  1. No beards for me please, I like to look at the outline of the strong jaw, very sexy!!

    Less vanilla is good, gotta have an assortment of flavors, vanilla is a might bland for my taste!!

    Thanks for the chance at your giveaway!


    mnjcarter@charter.net

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  2. I could go either way, but if they do have a beard, it can't be bushy ;) just a nice shadowy type, makes 'em look a little rugged! Thanks for being part of the Blog Hop...

    Eva
    evitap67(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. I love beards. My husband has had beard for ummm, errrr, well let's just say a long time. I love to rub my hands on it. Now for a hero in a book, I'd say a beard would have to fit his character. Maybe just a small little goatee type would be sexy.
    luvfuzzzeeefaces@yahoo.com

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  4. Clean shaven or scruffy for me. There are very few that I like with a beard. If they do have one, it has to be nice & trim. Thanks for the giveaway! Gloria

    geschumann at live dot com

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  5. Honestly, I could go either way. As long as the guy isn't going for the world's longest beard contest, it's all good!

    Thanks!
    rae.gwendy(at)gmail(dot)com

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  6. I like a beard as long as it's not the scraggly mountain man kind. It should be well groomed, just long enough to feel ticklish when rubbing against me, not like sandpaper. What I really though is a mustache.

    drainbamaged.gyzmo at gmail.com

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  7. Happy Halloween! I like a shadowy type of beard. I dont like long ones. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
    shadowluvs2read(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete