Sunday, March 31, 2019

Building A Hero @Liz Flaherty #RomanceGems

I am a pieces and parts person. When I first got interested in writing books, I was ten. My heroines all looked and acted like Trixie Belden, but my heroes had Tim Considine’s hair and Ricky Nelson’s eyes. They danced like Chubby Checker and sang like most any guy who ever walked across the sand in a beach movie. When they talked, they stared right into the heroine’s eyes like Michael Landon on Bonanza, and they kissed like…well, I really didn’t know—I’d never been kissed.

One of my favorites—even then I liked old movies—was Gordon MacRae, and my heroes often ended up with open Irish faces. I’d imagine them singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" at every whipstitch. I wrote and wept and wished I was Shirley Jones. (Except that she was David Cassidy’s stepmother and since we were about the same age and he was seriously cute, I couldn’t have felt motherly about him.)

But you know what happens. I grew up. I married my own hero and had a family and now we have seven grandkids and I don’t know where the time went, but I’m still creating heroes from pieces and parts.

If they’re veterans, they’re quiet ones like my husband, with scars inside and memories they don’t pull out very often. They play their guitars the way he does and look at the heroine the way he still—thank you, God—looks at me. They are tall like my oldest son and built like my youngest son and have my son-in-law’s laugh that will make you happy no matter how mad you want to be. They are irreverent and funny like my old boss and completely loyal like a couple of my brothers and my husband’s best friend. They speak with Sam Elliott’s voice and walk like the four Irishmen in my favorite commercial of all time http://adage.com/article/creativity-pick-of-the-day/tullamore-dew-short-film-tells-beautiful-tale-lost-friend/245279/. Their hair and the color of their eyes are…well, whatever they end up being, because they never matter to me. I don’t mention them often—that way, the reader can make them look however they want them to. I want the hero, after all, to be theirs.

I spend an unconscionable amount of time on Facebook. Yesterday I clicked on a link to Hugh Jackman singing “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8avt6iqAsLc It was, oh, inspiring, to say the least. I do believe my next hero will have an Aussie accent. Hard to do if he’s born in Small Town, Mid-America, but there must be a way.

There you have, whether you wanted it or not, the recipe for Liz Flaherty heroes simply because her post was at the end of the month and she couldn’t think of anything else to write. Now tell us where you find the men you write but we all love.


25 comments:

  1. OMG We are sisters from another mister!! I loveloveloved TRIXIE BELDON and never missed a Sunday night BONANZA episode! Great post!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When you mentioned Michale Landon I could see him staring into their eyes. Carousel! Loved Gordon McCrea in those musicals. What a show to make you cry. You certainly know how to write a hero. Thanks for making me want to read about one right now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad to have grown up when I did--not that there's anything wrong with heroes now--but I so love the ones from the "old days."

      Delete
  3. I love this sooo much. Especially the hart about your husband, I can relate 💞 Now I'm in the mood to watch some classic movies! Actually, I'm always on the mood for classics!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wrote a heroine who owns a vintage clothing shop that specializes in Hollywood vintage. She’d wear Mitzi Gaynor’s skirts or Marilyn’s blouses and do her platinum blonde hair like it was 1955. LOL the hero looked like Tyrone Power (and was related somehow). There was an underlying love of movies and classic looks running through the whole series. You should try to find a way to incorporate some of your love of the classic era of movies into a book Liz...it’s a blast.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Trixie Belden!!!! Read them all! And that was kind of the beginning of my love of romance. After all Trixie had her best friend Jim. Wonder if that had anything to do with my marrying a Jim. I love watching classic movies and tv shows also! Such great entertainment!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always wished there'd been a final epilogue to Trixie, where Trixie ended up with Jim, Honey with Brian, and Diana with Dan. Not sure who would have gotten Mart... I didn't read the later ones, but I loved Trixie--we were adolescents together and I got a lot of comfort from her.

      Delete
  6. I love feisty heroines, or damsels in distress that come into their own by the end of the book, but the one thing that brings the entire book together for me is the development of the hero. You can have a great heroine, a kick-ass story, but if your hero is weak emotionally, the book just sits there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heroes are much more complicated for me than the heroines, because I can't identify with them. A heroine, I can say, yeah, been there--not so with the guys. I'm more inclined to think, yeah, pain in the ass. :-)

      Delete
  7. I like to find great men in the pages of the books I read. thanks for all you,
    debby236 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. You've mentioned all great actors and actresses! I like them all. Gordon McRae was my mom's favorite. I just watched the clip of Hugh Jackman singing Oh What A Beautiful Morning. I didnt know he could sing! Thanks for sharing!

    crossnstitch2 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must admit, though, that U-Tube is an unfortunate addiction. I spend way too much time "researching" that way.

      Delete
  9. I am a huge fan of the stars of yester-year. They live on.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hugh Jackman doing anything can save your day! And the part about your own hero was sooooo cute! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. harperyn [at] outlook [dot] com writes:
    You could make that character like Nicole Kidman, where she was born in Hawaii but her parents were Australian (on temporary visas). Yes, I had to go look that up. :P which would explain his Aussie accent (perhaps from visiting relatives every summer, or just going back there on exchange)?

    *swoon*. Lots of handsome fellas down under including Chris Helmsworth. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd love to go and visit, too...you know, research. :-)

      Delete
  12. Liz, I thoroughly enjoyed your post. It showcases why you're such a superb writer. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

Due to the high volume of Spam comments, we are forced to install Comment Moderation and Word Verification. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.