The Paranormal Hero: The Quintessential Alpha Male

Before we get started, since everyone is posting their book covers, lets post mine. I don’t have a release date yet, but it’s called Her Wolf: The Westervelt Wolves Book 1 and it will be available at some point from Liquid Silver Books . They have a great catalog of books that I suggest you check out if you’ve not been there. (I have sold other books but I have no book covers for them yet, as soon as I do…and all of you authors know how I’m nervously waiting for them…I’ll post them here.)

So, having gotten that out of the way, I decided today to talk (write) about the Paranormal Hero, our Alpha male. To give credit where credit is due, this idea stems from a conversation I was having via e-mail today with the extremely talented author Sandra Sookoo . So thank you giving me the idea for this post, Sandi, otherwise I’m not sure what I would have written today.

Anyhow, one of the things a reader should be able to count on when reading a Paranormal Romance is that the hero will be of the Alpha Male variety. If you’re writing a romance, and I’m still relatively new to this so if you have a different opinion please tell me, I am completely willing to admit to being wrong, you want your reader to fall in love with the couple. There needs to be chemistry, mistrust, betrayals, misunderstandings, and ultimately a Happy Ever After that leaves everyone feeling satisfied. Some people would argue that there also needs to be sex but this is not something I’m going to discuss today. I think we’ll leave that for Annie Nicholas, Rae Lori, J. Hali Steele. They are much better on that topic than I am.

In the contemporary genre, sometimes you can get away with having a less than dominating man as the hero. Our heroine can be a highly successful, genius in her own right with a child she has no father for, and fall in love with the subtle, gentle dentist down the street who is happy to watch her shine.

This is true also in the historical. Our heroine is so abused from the terrible destruction of World War I that she falls in love with the almost blind American soldier who has come over and really just wants to spend the rest of his days growing grapes on her family’s vineyard and it is his gentle soul that attracts her.

Actually I wish I could write these stories. I would love to read them. I’m half-obsessed with historical romances at the moment (Must be the fact that I’m watching The Tudors religiously on Show Time.) But every time I sit down to try to write something, someone ends up having supernatural powers. I have therefore accepted that my creative bug is drawn to the weird and mythical and I’m leaving it at that.
But the Paranormal hero is not a gentle soul. Maybe he has one under layers of violence and mysticism but it is not so obvious at the start. Let’s face it, do we want to see a Wolf acting like a Mouse? No. Part of what makes it interesting to read about Werewolves, Shifters, Vampires, Dragons, Ghosts, and any other being you can imagine is the very danger associated with them. Let’s face it, the Vampire might drink your blood and accidently/on purpose kill you.
It’s the fact that we write them, and read about them, and they are so on the edge, so close to losing control but don’t (or maybe do but that’s a topic for another day) that makes them so fascinating to read about.

I don’t think you can write a Paranormal Hero that isn’t a true Alpha Male, otherwise he doesn’t seem to fit the genre. In real life, we don’t want our men telling us what to do all the time (god help them if they try) but in the world of the Paranormal that’s what we love about them.

There is an exception to this statement and it comes in some of the Vampire novels, and to be honest, it is why I read a very select few Vampire novels at this point. Sometimes a Vampire hero can spend half the book (or more) lamenting. You know the kind: “Oh dark night, why was I called to thee? Where is the light to my very dark soul who will bring back the sun to my never ending darkness?” Some people love this but when I read it, I feel like screaming ‘gag me with a stick please.’ But this is a personal preference and in all truth those vamps are still Alpha males as they talk their women into becoming the Undead by the end of the book.

I hope you’re all well. Do you have a favorite Alpha male? Do you like the Vampires who lament? All opinions are most wanted.

Best,

RR