Alpha Males

Today my local chapter Chesapeake Romance Writers had their annual conference. Jane Porter was the guest speaker and she gave a great workshop on Alpha heroes, complete with film clips from my all-time favorite movies. I love Gladiator, Last of the Mohicans, and films complete with a warrior hero.

It’s interesting that women love to read about alpha males, but we’d kill them if they actually lived in our own homes. Can’t you just imagine it?

Last of the Mohicans: No matter what! Just stay alive! I will find you!!
Wife: Yeah, well let’s try finding our way to our destination Mr.-won’t-stop-to-ask-for-directions…
(I mean, come on. In real life, our husbands might WANT to find us, but without mapquest or a navigation system….um…right.)

Then, too, there’s the hero who’s torn between wanting to save his woman and the villain demanding information that would compromise national security. :batman: My husband has already informed me that if it’s a choice between country and wife, I’m on my own. I’d better start toting my 9mm, because I’ll have to save my own hiney. But, he has reassured me that once I’m dead, the villain is going DOWN. Yes, put that on my grave, honey, why don’t you? If you want someone to cook dinner and change your daughter’s diapers, you’d better find a way to protect me from the bad guys.

But truly, I love reading and writing alpha heroes. I love a man who will slice the villain to ribbons and come off the battlefield, home to the heroine (and hopefully a bath!). I love the fantasy of a guy who will literally throw himself in front of a bus for me. I don’t want to read about everyday heroes who mow the lawn and repair the sink, even though I’m married to one and I love him dearly.

In a romance novel, I want larger-than-life, Calgon-take-me-away heroes. That’s the most fun about writing, I think. You can create anything you want.

Even a hero who voluntarily changes diapers and cleans the house. Now that’s romantic fantasy!