In my upcoming book, HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME HOT, (which hits the shelves on April 24th! Less than three weeks! Whoohoo!) the heroine has been Satan’s right hand for the last two hundred years. Although most of what she’s had to do for Satan is done off screen, there are allusions that she’s been forced to torture, kill and do other hellish and normally undeemable activities for the boss she hates. Although she has a good heart and has been fighting against him since day one, the fact still remains that she works for Satan and has done alot of pretty heinous things for him.
When I sat down to write Becca’s story, I was worried about how I was going to make a character with her background sympathetic. Though most of what she’d done for Satan was only alluded to, she’d still done it. Repeatedly. For centuries. I knew it. She knew it. The hero knew it. And even the reader knows it.
So, how do you make someone like that loveable? She wasn’t insane while she was doing it, she wasn’t being tortured, no one was holding the fate of her elderly mother over her head. She did it because that’s what she was born to do.
In order to make Becca likeable, I had to work hard to show that she was a good person, that she tried to do what she could to manage Satan’s tendencies and protect the world from him, and to show that she didn’t like what she had to do (without making her whiny or pathetic). I front loaded the book with that kind of insight before I let the reader into her darker history. By the time I finished my sixteenth draft, I felt that I’d nailed it. Everyone was going to fall in love with Becca just as much as the hero does.
Then I got my ARCs and guess what teaser is in the front matter? The hero’s reaction when he first meets the infamous Becca, Satan’s right hand:
“Without the red glow, [her eyes] were green and lovely. Far more feminine than he would have expected from a woman who tortured innocents for pleasure, and emasculated grown men just to hear them scream.”
That’s what prospective readers are going to see when they’re browing the bookshelves. Of course, the actual teaser is sexy and playful, but are those words going to jump off the page and overwhelm the rest of the message? Is that too dark? Are there some lines a main character just can’t cross?
I feel that I redeemed Becca in the book, and that she’s likeable from the start, but will some people never even give her a chance? Time will tell.
But this whole line of thinking leads me to the question of whether there professions or backstory that you would find unforgivable in a hero or heroine? One you just couldn’t get past? I feel that in the world of the paranormal, far more is acceptable, but how far is too far? And how dark of a past do you like? Is it different for the heroes and the heroines?
Alexis Morgan comments:
Boy, that’s a tough one to think about. I have to say that for me, it’s often not what the hero/heroine did in the past, but how they feel about it and what they’ve done since that matters. Redemption is a powerful theme in our genre, and one of my favorites. I often think that it isn’t the reader who has to forgive what a character has done. The story is far more powerful if the hero finally learns to forgive himself, pulls together the tattered remains of his soul and honor, and then moves on with his life.
April 4, 2007 at 8:37 am. Permalink.
May comments:
I get the impression that the threshold might be different for heroes and heroines, especially in romance.
Just my two cents, because how often do you see a heroine with a truly horrific past? I mean, in today’s world, a courtesan heroine? Eh.
I’ll give anything a try. My current heroine was a mass murderer at one point–though I don’t write romance–so clearly I don’t shy away from anything.
I certainly agree when you say that it’s different in paranormals. People expect to see something different, so they are more willing to suspend belief for something they might ordinarily refuse to read. Have a pal who refuses to read polyamory/group sex unless it’s in paras/fantasy, for instance.
Great post, Stephanie!
April 4, 2007 at 8:51 am. Permalink.
Amie Stuart comments:
I agree with Alexis…Redemption is huge! And I don’t know about new readers but folks who are familiar with Becca would, I think, have an idea of what to expect. Most importantly, I think presentation is the key. It’s HOW you tell the story that matters, regardless of backstory. Again not sure how this will work with new readers, but readers who know your voice and are familiar with the series (raising hand excitedly like dorky fangirl!) would, I think, be more open.
Did I help at all?
April 4, 2007 at 9:31 am. Permalink.
Chey McCray comments:
I love Becca, and as one of her/your fans, she could do anything. LOL. I love those two lines! As far as redemption, I bet you do a damn fine job of it. There are those heroes/heroines who have done such dark things in their past, but we can forgive them if they do something so totally redeeming like saving the life of a child, seeing their internal wounds and *why* they did what they did. In Becca’s case on the why, I think that’s reason enough. Now I have to read the book. :-)
April 4, 2007 at 9:42 am. Permalink.
Wednesday Web Wanderer « Milady Insanity pingbacks:
[…] Stephanie Rowe asks The Midnight Hour, How far is too far? […]
April 4, 2007 at 10:25 am. Permalink.
Michelle Rowen comments:
Well, the book did get a 4-1/2 star Top Pick from Romantic Times (plug, plug) so it sounds like you succeeded!
Besides, some people deserve to be tortured. As long as Becca tortured the right ones I have no problem with it. ;-)
April 4, 2007 at 10:52 am. Permalink.
Rebecca comments:
Well if the book world can have heros that have done horrible things but all is forgiven when the right woman comes along - why not not equal time for a heroine with a past and the right man?
April 4, 2007 at 6:59 pm. Permalink.
danette comments:
I love Becca too,after reading a little more about her in the last book, she grew on me. I’m glad shes getting her story, Its going to be fun seeing who her hero is.
Hugs, Danette
April 4, 2007 at 7:16 pm. Permalink.
Erica Ridley comments:
By the time I finished my sixteenth draft, I felt that I’d nailed it.
Aargh, 16! Say it ain’t so! My current WIP has a hero who’s a demon. Still on the first draft, so we’ll see how many it takes me so he’s likable up front.
Opening scene alludes to an act of violence that my CP thinks hero should perpetrate. While it would be fitting with his character (he is, after all, a demon) like you, I kinda felt like I needed to give the reader a chance to like him before I showed too much of his bad side. So maybe he *did* shove somebody in front of a bus (see! I told you it wasn’t nice!) but as long as that doesn’t come out until, say, the heroine’s black moment (or whenever she learns he’s a demon) then maybe reader will go with it.
It is a redemption story in some ways. (Of course, my luck mirrors yours, and if it were published the bus scene would no doubt be the one excerpted in the front of the book. *g)
April 5, 2007 at 8:53 am. Permalink.
Robin Smith comments:
I don’t think there is a point of no return. As Christians we are taught that there is no sin so great that God can not forgive. I feel as long as we can wotk a conscience into a character that they cam eventually be forgiven. Maybe by doing good instead or feeling guilty because of what they did.
Robin Smith
April 5, 2007 at 3:48 pm. Permalink.
meardaba comments:
I think as long as she stays away from kicking puppies, kittens, and children, she’ll be forgiven for anything. It is fiction, afterall.
I’m going hunting for this book asap, by the way. I love the covers of your books, too!
April 6, 2007 at 10:54 am. Permalink.