My favourite heroes are not the easy kind. They aren't golden boys who get everything handed to them. My tastes in heroes run a bit dark. I'll admit that. I love a story with a tortured hero (I don't mean physically but there should be something that hardens him). Something unique that draws my attention. The most unique hero on tv right now is Dexter, a serial killer. Movies- I'll consider Severus Snape from Harry Potter here because I've always liked his character and although he's not the hero hero per say, he's still in my opinion one because of everything he's gone through. X-men: Wolverine. Supernatural: both Sam and Dean play a good tortured hero- one who has been to Hell and dealt with the horrors there, and the other who has to deal with being addicted to demon blood. Being addicted...brings me to House. How could one forget him?
They aren't neccessarily classical heroes... that knight in shining armor but they are more interesting because of all that they've gone through. And I really would not say no to being saved by Dean or Sam... just sayin'.
I was watching Dexter the other day and wondering why exactly he's so compelling. I mean, he kills people. Granted, bad people but still. It's bloody and cold and... some of his lines are just chilling. If I met someone like him on the street you bet that I'd turn tail and run. But on screen it doesn't take away from my liking him. Yes he kills. Yes, he doesn't feel. But he grows and changes and those transformations are fun to watch.
This doesn't mean I don't like the classical hero. I'd rank Ramses from the Anita Peabody here. Same with Roarke in the JD Robb, In Death series. Yes, they've gone through so much to get to where they are, but they are still a classical hero. This doesn't take anything from their appeal however and they are examples of those who don't need that twist to be compelling.
I don't necessarily think it's the Bad Boy Syndrome either. I could do without that kind of attitude. So what about you? What kind of hero do you like? And what does it take to chase you away from a "hero"? When does a character cross the line from hero into villain or jerk?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Thursday Thirteen
Monday the 14th is Excerpt Monday so I hope you don't mind a bit of pimping. This thursday 13 I want to talk a bit about EM.
1. Showcase your writing. EM is a great opportunity to:
2. Share with other writers.
3. Get new readership. Last month alone we had 40 participants. This doesn't include those who don't participate but are simply readers.
4. Network and get traffic to your blog/site.
5. Have a burning question about whether something works? Ask! I'm sure readers would be more than willing to tell you what they think.
6. Who can do EM? Anyone. Are you pubbed? Unpubbed? Aspiring? Do you have a new release coming out? Want to try out something new to get a feel of how your readers will take this change? Seriously, anyone can do this. We accept all ratings. We simply ask that you give us the rating of your entire site since we do have some PG writers out there and we wouldn't want their readership going to a NC17 by mistake. This is mostly why we rate the whole site, and not just the excerpt. Excerpts may be PG but if you have other posts or even images that aren't... it safest to rate the whole site for everyone.
7. What can you post? Anything. Fiction. Poetry. Be creative but the main thing is that you have fun. Seriously.
8. How long do you need to post? Really it doesn't matter. We've had people post a paragraph whereas others have put up pages. It all depends on how much you want to share with readers.
9. We've streamlined it to make it more user friendly. Like anything, things take time to learn and buld and figure out. There are learning curves to everything and this is no exception. We've stumbled a bit along the way but we're determined because Bria and I love this concept.
10. Soon to come we plan on showcasing our regular authors, hosting themed weeks, and a page for serial reads etc.
11. What do we need to set you up? Your penname, genre, site rating and the specific link where your excerpt will be posted. Excerpts should be posted 8:30am EST. Bria and I will then be going through links to make sure they are working and fix those that aren't. At 9:00 am EST Excerpt Monday goes live to readers.
12. Want to read a success story? Check out Jeannie Lin's story about her first participation in EM in which she received a particularly exciting comment from a stranger about her excerpt.
13. If you're interested and want to join us this month, please visit our site by clicking on the banner and checking out our guidelines.
1. Showcase your writing. EM is a great opportunity to:
2. Share with other writers.
3. Get new readership. Last month alone we had 40 participants. This doesn't include those who don't participate but are simply readers.
4. Network and get traffic to your blog/site.
5. Have a burning question about whether something works? Ask! I'm sure readers would be more than willing to tell you what they think.
6. Who can do EM? Anyone. Are you pubbed? Unpubbed? Aspiring? Do you have a new release coming out? Want to try out something new to get a feel of how your readers will take this change? Seriously, anyone can do this. We accept all ratings. We simply ask that you give us the rating of your entire site since we do have some PG writers out there and we wouldn't want their readership going to a NC17 by mistake. This is mostly why we rate the whole site, and not just the excerpt. Excerpts may be PG but if you have other posts or even images that aren't... it safest to rate the whole site for everyone.
7. What can you post? Anything. Fiction. Poetry. Be creative but the main thing is that you have fun. Seriously.
8. How long do you need to post? Really it doesn't matter. We've had people post a paragraph whereas others have put up pages. It all depends on how much you want to share with readers.
9. We've streamlined it to make it more user friendly. Like anything, things take time to learn and buld and figure out. There are learning curves to everything and this is no exception. We've stumbled a bit along the way but we're determined because Bria and I love this concept.
10. Soon to come we plan on showcasing our regular authors, hosting themed weeks, and a page for serial reads etc.
11. What do we need to set you up? Your penname, genre, site rating and the specific link where your excerpt will be posted. Excerpts should be posted 8:30am EST. Bria and I will then be going through links to make sure they are working and fix those that aren't. At 9:00 am EST Excerpt Monday goes live to readers.
12. Want to read a success story? Check out Jeannie Lin's story about her first participation in EM in which she received a particularly exciting comment from a stranger about her excerpt.
13. If you're interested and want to join us this month, please visit our site by clicking on the banner and checking out our guidelines.
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