I’ve noticed a growing trend.
I like bad men.
Not just the guys with tough exteriors with gentle hearts. I have a growing fascination with anti-heros that are worse. Recently, I’ve read stories with them doing drugs, womanizing, killing, and even cheating. I wasn’t crazy with the cheating but not enough to stop reading apparently. Would I chase one in reality? No. But here I am routing for the heroine who does.
I’ve created a similar anti-hero in Tane, my Nosferatu pain in the ass in Bait and returning in Catch. I love writing him. He does all the things I wish I had the courage to say and do. But he so refined in comparison to the Nosferatu I met in my head this week. Lucius is an ass kicking, drug abusing, bored warrior. I enjoyed creating a scenario where he encounters a female of his race in heat.
A couple weeks ago I did read something that gave me pause. It’s nice to know that I do have limits. The hero raped a whore as a religious sacrifice. Not my cup of tea. She enjoyed it and he didn’t beat her or anything but I got dizzy. LOL
Do you like bad heros? Why?
Where do you draw the line?
I’m at LSB blog today as well. Come check out Book 2 of The Angler series: Catch.
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6 comments:
lol, Annie, as long as they have one redeeming quality somewhere in the story--I love 'em--I'm so forgiving! *sigh*
I love my bad guys, but then I'm married to a bad guy who has a history but he does have redeeming qualities... **grins**
But if I think of the guys I love the most, they're the ones who grab life by the balls, who don't give a flying hoot what other people think, who give mundania the middle finger.
My heroes are all anti-heroes. They are drug dealers, strip club owners, black magicians, shock-rocker musicians...
They're just so much more fun to write but I do draw the line with rape, bestiality, incest, paedophilia. I do want to get published and, besides, I get major squick-factor about those topics and don't wish to inflict it on my readers, let alone me or my editor, since I'm the one who has to work through a novel umpteen times before it is published.
Who doesn't love a cocky bad boy every now and again????? I do need them to grow a heart at some point though. I'm a romantic...what can I say? :)
In A Bitch Named Karma, my main character is super sassy. She says what's on her mind, which is sometimes crude. She does what she wants and lets no one walk on her. She is my alter ego and I loved writing her!
I am strictly a reader, I don't write anything other than a bit of ramblings on my blog. Interestingly, boredom with the typical "hero" is why I read M/M and Yaoi almost exclusively these days.
I belong to several readers groups where a good percentage of readers want everything sweet and cookie cutter...ick. >.<
I would LOVE to see more anti-heros in stories.
While I get that publishers don't want to see rapes for fear of alienating the masses, I would love to see a bit more forced consent. For example, Hot Cargo starts out with what I would consider an anti-hero, then partway into the story he backs off and everything changes. The old "he's not REALLY that bad" struck again.
Yawn...
Sassy
J. I think we share similar tastes in heros.
Nerine, I married a bad boy with a good heart too. Though he does make me pull my hair at times. LOL
Stephanie, I love a good kick ass heroine.
Sassy, I agree about the cookie cutter thing. I'm very, very picky reader. If I can guess the end or if the characters are too predictable I have to toss the book. Have.you tried out Loose I'd books? I hear they are suppose to be off the beaten path. I haven't had a chance to try any yet.
J. I think we share similar tastes in heros.
Nerine, I married a bad boy with a good heart too. Though he does make me pull my hair at times. LOL
Stephanie, I love a good kick ass heroine.
Sassy, I agree about the cookie cutter thing. I'm very, very picky reader. If I can guess the end or if the characters are too predictable I have to toss the book. Have.you tried out Loose I'd books? I hear they are suppose to be off the beaten path. I haven't had a chance to try any yet.
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