Tips for Making the Alpha Hero Lovable

Janet here. I think of alpha heroes as masculine, courageous, aggressive, even dangerous. They tend to avoid showing emotion and are good at what they do.   

If asked, Widow Carly Richards, the heroine of The Bounty Hunter’s Redemption, January 2016, would describe hero Nate Sergeant as a gun-toting, hard-nosed killer. And she’d be right. Nate’s an alpha male, not surprising considering his occupation. He's taken actions he’s not proud of and now he’s putting Carly and her young son’s livelihood and home at risk, which is why Carly sees Nate as more villain than hero. 

The goal of every romance novel is for the hero and heroine to fall in love by the book's end. Carly’s not about to love a man who’s a threat. And neither are readers. My job as the writer was to dig beneath the surface of this man and show his good qualities. 

I used the five following ways to reveal who Nate really is below his tough exterior in the book's opening and to make him more lovable in Carly's eyes. Hope these tips help you write your Alpha heroes.  

Show his vulnerability:

During their first meeting, Carly faints. Nate reacts like a duck out of water, especially when he must comfort her distraught son. Hopefully the reader sees his concern, senses his helplessness, and cares after this first hint at his wounds.

Then she wobbled, as if the starch had gone out of her. In one slow motion she crumpled, limp as a ragdoll.

Alpha males are aggressive, determined.

Nate caught her before she hit the floor. With the pale woman in his arms, his mind zipped back and remembered another woman.

“Mama!”

Nate’s head snapped up, his vision cleared.

Eyes wide with fear, the son ran toward them. “Is she dead?” he said.

Rachel was dead. Not this woman.

Poor tyke had lost his pa and now must believe he’d lost his mother, too. “Your ma’s fine. She’s fainted, that’s all.”

“What’s fainted?”

“It’s like falling asleep.” Nate forced a reassuring smile. “She’ll wake up soon.”

Beside Nate, the little boy settled on his haunches and patted his mother’s arm. “Mama, are you tired?”

Nate removed his hat and fanned the widow’s face. Smelling salts would bring her around. Not something Nate carried in his line of work.

He brushed a tendril of hair off the widow’s pale cheek. Under his fingertips, her skin was soft as silk.

The click of a clock’s pendulum echoed in the silence. With each passing tick, the boy’s bravado crumbled. “Mama, wake up! Please!” he said, tears spilling down his face.

In way over his head, Nate groped for words. He’d never been around children. How could he comfort this one?

Nate wants to help Carly's frightened son

The widow groaned, rolling her head from side to side.

Her son gazed up at him, panic sparking in his eyes. “Something’s wrong with my mama. Help her! Please, mister!”

“I’ll help her, I promise.” As soon as the words left his lips, Nate knew he’d made a hasty promise to stop the boy’s pleading. A promise he couldn’t keep.

From the snippet of this scene, the reader can see Nate wants to help Henry. But even as I want readers to start seeing he's not as bad as readers may have been thinking, I make sure that his introspection doesn't defuse the trouble. Story is conflict. Don't eliminate the trouble too soon.

Show that others—family/friend/children/pets—don’t find him frightening:

Nate and his sister Anna love one another totally. But their relationship isn’t enough to soften the hero in the readers’ eyes. After all, even villains care about someone. But as Carly gets to know and admire Nate’s sister, she realizes a good woman like Anna wouldn’t admire Nate unless he possessed some redeeming qualities. Carly's son is also enamored with Nate and has no fear of the man. This awareness comforts Carly, but it's also a conflict since she doesn't want to like the man who threatens her future. 

Show him as protector, coming to the rescue:

Blake Snyder wrote the craft book Save the Cat! He defines the term this way: “Save the cat is the scene where the hero does something—like saving a cat—that defines who he is and makes us like him.” A hero saves the cat when he does something heroic for a child, animal or less fortunate person, as Nate does in the following excerpt.

She rose, catching a glimpse of her son, dangling his feet in the water, as Nate ambled along the bank nearby. When had a man helped supervise her son? Looked out for his welfare? Nate cared about Henry. Listened to him. Taught him to do simple tasks and to treat women well. Her heart stuttered in her chest. Nate would make a good father. Something Henry needed badly.

The Alpha Cat .

“Spot any frogs, Henry?” Nate said.

“Yep. I scared `em and they jumped in.”

Nate chuckled then the laugh stopped. “Henry, don’t move.”

The authority and urgency in Nate’s voice raised the hair on Carly’s nape. Heart pounding in her chest, she gathered her skirts and ran toward the creek.

An ominous click. A blast of gunfire.

Henry’s wail ripped through her, squeezing the air from Carly’s lungs. Please, Lord, my son!

Carly watched as Nate scooped up her son. Henry threw his arms around Nate’s neck, whimpering against his chest.

“Is he hurt?” Carly shoved the words past the lump wedged in her throat.

Nate met her gaze. “He’s fine, Carly. Scared, is all.”

As his words sunk in, Carly’s legs wobbled and she wilted to the ground.

“I’m sorry for scaring you, Henry. A water moccasin was slithering toward your bare feet.”

“Is he dead?” Henry released the hold on Nate’s neck and leaned toward the creek, peering in the water.

Sure is. Want to see?”

“Yes!” Henry wiggled down. “Come see, Mama.”

Nate followed Henry’s gaze then set Henry on a rock. “Stay put,” he said.

He strode up the bank to Carly. “You okay?”

"I am now.”

"For a minute there I thought you’d fainted.”

“Now what would make you think that?” She forced a wobbly grin. “Just because I fainted on you once before doesn’t mean I will at every provocation.”

He chuckled, took her hand and helped her to her feet and down the slope.

Within minutes Nate had found a twig and retrieved the brown, poisonous, now-lifeless snake, and dropped it at the edge of the bank.

Henry inched toward it, his expression rapt, clearly fascinated.

At the sight of that long, thick body, Carly shivered. Her gaze locked with Nate’s. “Thank you for saving my son.”

“I’m just thankful my aim was good.”

She bit her lip. “I was…wrong about carrying a gun.”

“Not all varmints walk on two legs, Carly.”

Show his wounds:

I used flashbacks, his thoughts and dialogue to reveal his wounds and regrets, the burdens he carries. Often these things bring on more pain and guilt. Those wounds motivate his actions. The excerpt that follows is from the scene that inspired the cover.

Henry gave a nod then threw his right leg over the saddle. As he dismounted, his boot snagged in the stirrup and he tumbled, letting out a shriek, his arms pin-wheeling.

Whinnying and tossing her head, the mare sidestepped.

“Whoa,” Nate said, swooping in and scooping up the boy.

Henry wrapped his arms around Nate’s neck, burrowing into his chest. Nate didn’t see 

Henry’s big brown eyes or seven-year-old frame. He saw Anna crumpled in the road. The horse’s back hoof coming down. The horrifying, sickening crack. Anna’s cries. In those few seconds, his sister’s life forever changed.

“Nate? You okay?”

Carly was looking at him with a mixture of confusion and gratitude in her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

As Henry clung to his neck, a strong desire seized Nate. To protect the boy, to make sure nothing ever harmed Henry as it had Anna. “You’re okay,” Nate murmured against Henry’s ear.

“You seemed in a daze for a minute there,” Carly said. “What happened?”

“Nothing. I’m…just relieved Henry didn’t get hurt.” Nate put the boy on his feet and knelt in front of him. “It’s good to be confident, but carelessness can get you injured. You got in a hurry dismounting.”

Tears sprang into Henry’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Nate gave the boy’s too big hat a tug. “No damage done. Just remember to move slow and easy around a horse. So you won’t get hurt.”

Henry looked up at him. “Did a horse hurt you?”

“No,” Nate said. “But a horse hurt someone I cared about.”

“Who?” Henry asked in the direct way of a child. A child who didn’t know the painful scar a simple question could open.

Nate could feel Carly watching him, no doubt recalling he’d caused Anna’s limp. Nate couldn’t tell Henry the truth, the one person in Nate’s life who thought Nate could do no wrong.

Show his good traits:

Nate is patient and gentle with Carly’s son, teaching him to help with small chores, which boosts Henry’s confidence.

“Would you put the screws we aren’t using in there, Henry?” Nate said, pointing to the open box.

Henry’s fingers fumbled in an attempt to hurry and several screws fell to the floor. His gaze flew to Nate’s, alarm wide in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to drop `em.”

Had Max struck his son? “We men have trouble holding on to small objects.” Nate searched the floor. “There’s one.”

As Nate gathered the rest, the lad darted under the table, coming up with a smile and his hand fisted. In seconds he’d climbed onto the chair and tucked them inside.

While Nate watched, Henry rose on his knees and poked the tip of the screwdriver into the notch. His face scrunched with effort, Henry turned the handle with a grunt. With each twist, the fastener settled deeper.

“Did you see me do it, Mama? All by myself!” Henry crowed.

“I sure did. I’m proud of you.”

Henry pivoted on the chair, facing Nate, his expression uncertain. Then he flung his arms around Nate’s chest and burrowed into him.

Nate tucked the boy into an awkward hug. “Thanks for your help, buddy.”

Carly’s brow furrowed. “Time for bed, Henry,” she said in a no-nonsense tone.

Nate gently pried off Henry’s arms and smiled down at him. “A wise man listens to his mother.”

Henry gave a nod and then trailed after Carly, looking back with a nameless plea in his eyes Nate couldn’t handle.

Hopefully these examples will give you ideas for how to soften your alpha heroes. But we don't want to allow them to fall in love too quickly: So end or follow an attraction scene with escalating conflict between them. That push-pull that makes a romance novel so much fun to read.

I brought scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits with honey and apple butter. Have you found other ways to soften alpha heroes? If so, please share your tip. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of The Bounty Hunter's Redemption. Which is on pre-order now.

Harlequin has put 10,000 of their series digital eBooks on sale through November 17. If you're missing any of Glynna's, Tina's, Ruthy's, Audra's, Debby's, Missy's or my back list, this is an opportunity to get them at a great price!