IT'S RAINING MEN: TAKE TWO!!! (Such a deal!!!!)

NEWS FLASH!!!

Today is "inspirational day" at Barbara Vey's Birthday Bash

blog party

Beyond Her Book...

Now I'm TRUSTING you with that live link above.

Oh, yeah, it's hot, hot hot!!! And I want you to mosey

on over there, but then...

COME BACK HERE!!!

Pretty please. With sugar and spice. And sprinkles.

Cause I'll miss you THIS much if I don't see you. And that's all I'm sayin'...

Also: There is a mistake in this blog. One hint:

word usage.

The first one to find it gets a little extra treat in the mail from Ruthy...

This is my penance for making the same mistake in a dedication, thereby reminding us

that, like a Hollywood parent naming their child, I should NOT BE ALLOWED to write my own

dedications.

Because I keep messing them up.

So last month we played here and chatted about the release
of Reunited Hearts, the 4-STAR rated first novel of my new
"Men of Allegany County" series.

You can buy it HERE right now, and save us both a lot of hemming and hawing, because it really is a delightful book. Great story. All my faves: Tortured hero. Penitent heroine, finding her way. Great kids. And DOGS.... Don't ya' just love dogs??? And how about this cover:

AND THIS JUST IN!!!!!

If you skip over and buy it NOW, E-harlequin has a troupe of fairies waiting to sprinkle happy dust around your front door, ensuring that all visitors to your home for the next 72 hours are pixilated.

I might be kidding about that.

And we talked about THE GUYS . Because, why wouldn't we???

I mean, duh. We're romance writers and readers. Heroes are a necessary part of the package, right?

Of course right!

And since most of us live in the real world of husbands, dads, fathers, brothers, buds...

We get that we write fiction, right? I mean, let's dish: Does your significant other act like the heroes you write or read about OR...

Is he normal?

Because most of us don't want to read normal. At least not fully normal. We want normal but UPGRADED.

At no extra cost, of course. Like the sweet inclusive package on a Jaguar vs. a Ford Focus. (Although I LOVE Mike Rowe in those Ford commercials, I mean: YUM. REALLY. TRULY.)

Selling cars or doing America's dirtiest jobs, Mike Rowe is rough-and-tumble packaged but totally appealing.

So how do you develop a hero that people want to read about? And that seems real? How do you add to that dimension?

Let's dissect Trent Michaels.

(Because Trent was busy setting up military contracts for Walker Electronics, Patrick Dempsey kindly stepped in for a photo op because he looks a LOT like Trent Michaels.)

I needed a military guy, a West Point guy for the story line to work for me because in my world you need a REALLY GOOD REASON to have a secret baby. Self-sacrifice, however misguided, is a good reason.

(Note: I do know young single mothers who should have NEVER TOLD THEIR SECRET, but... sigh... another blog, another day....but just between us, what are some of these gals thinking????)

But back to Trent: His dream: The army military academy at West Point

WHY???? Why is that so all-fired important because as Melissa points out to me with a rolling pin, I can't just SAY IT'S IMPORTANT. I have to show it. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I've asked, Harlequin isn't going to pack a CD with my books that explains why my characters do what they do.

Sigh...

So, why is it important? Here's where we layer:

Trent was dumped by his parents as a 4 year old boy. Left for trash along an Interstate.

His little brother Clay was dumped two counties east and died of hypothermia.

GUILT....

Why wasn't he good enough for his parents to want him? And why didn't they dump them together so he could have helped Clay?

Guilt layers are VERY GOOD FORWARD THRUST ENGINES.

Use them. Abuse them. Guilt plays havoc with our reasoning and emotion, it touches buttons you didn't even know you had, and if you've got 'em:

Readers have 'em.

This is why mothers use guilt often and well.

We excell at instilling guilt in our erstwhile children because it works.

Trent was literally raised by the folks of Jamison.

Five churches surround this little park, "Park Circle"" in real life.

They took him to heart.

Great foster family.

News reports sharing his progress as he grew, the "Little Boy Lost".

So he's a town spectacle in some ways, a little different, always on display.

That's an awkward way to grow up. Who wants to be in the limelight constantly?
ADD IN:

Type A personality: Driven to excel.

In Trent's head, he wants to be the best if his parents ever come back. Partly to make them proud.

Partly to make them see how foolish they were to give him up.

Cast-off kids carry a lot of baggage. Writers make that baggage work for them.

Derek Jeter was NOT a cast-off child, I just needed a Jeter fix.

Totally delish, right? Susan Langley makes strudel for The Edge, my fctional restaurant. Recipe is HERE.

Trent's parents were scumbags. We know this because what other kind of person dumps kids? So Trent could go two ways: Angry and resentful, fighting his way through life, and that works well for internal and external conflicts!

OR....

Seeking honor. Wanting to go the other way, the opposite direction. Make people proud.

I went that way with Trent because it couples with his West Point dream, AND...

it feeds into Alyssa's reasoning for not telling him about the pregnancy.

West Point cadets cannot be married or responsible for a child.

And let's toss in desire here: Not romantic desire (that will happen on its own) but the desire to be loved. The desire to have a family. Be part of a family. While Trent had a nice foster family that helped raise him,

internally he wants the real deal: A family of his own.

And now he finds out he was denied that very thing by the woman he thought he loved.

Ouch.

So he's worked hard to overcome his shoddy beginnings.
He's honorable. Brave. Industrious. Caring. Generous. But flawed because he knows his beauty
is skin deep, that his heart and soul are that of a lost boy, a cast-out child.

I love that Trent comes to see that life and love go deeper than the obvious. And that people make mistakes and move on.

And that he gets to be happy. I really, really wanted this guys happy.

So jump in today and tell me about a hero you're working on or with. Tell me what works. What doesn't.
Do you need help?

Ask. I've got the 'no fee' sign up in the window, so it's freebie day! ;)
Want to brainstorm? Fill us in on the problem, let us help.
I like characters that jump off the page and grip you by the throat because they're the guy next door.
Your aunt.. Your sister. Your old friend from school. So that's what I strive for, not over the top
(that just annoys me) but a good, solid, believable person who needs a little love.

I've got five copies in the hopper, five new editions of REUNITED HEARTS, ready to go to five
delightful or not-so-delightful commenters.
Jump in. Coffee's on.
Breakfast is Belgian waffles, Pennsylvania Dutch sausage, home fries, biscuits and gravy, and eggs.
Let's talk guys. Romance. Writing. Layering.
While we eat, because I'm starved!