{"id":5136,"date":"2010-11-05T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2010-11-05T04:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theseasonforromance.com\/wordpress\/?p=5136"},"modified":"2010-11-05T00:00:36","modified_gmt":"2010-11-05T04:00:36","slug":"hero-to-torture-or-not-to-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/05\/hero-to-torture-or-not-to-torture\/","title":{"rendered":"Hero: To Torture or Not to Torture"},"content":{"rendered":"

To Torture Your Hero, or Not to Torture, That is the Question.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As a writer, I enjoy torturing my main characters.<\/p>\n

You might be saying to yourself right now, \u201cDid she just say she enjoys<\/em><\/strong> torturing her heroes?\u201d \u201cYou betcha,\u201d I answer.\u00a0 Of course, I do not mean torture in the physical sense.\u00a0 I’m referring to what Dictionary.com defines as — \u201cto give mental anguish to\u201d.<\/p>\n

In every romance novel, the hero and heroine must each have a goal, motivation and conflict (GMC).\u00a0 In the romance genre, there are both internal and external GMC.\u00a0What\u00a0I’m referring to\u00a0is the “internal” world of the characters; their internal motivation and conflict.\u00a0 This is the\u00a0emotional aspect of the characters, and it involves the development of the romantic relationship between the hero and heroine.\u00a0 If the main characters have no internal conflict, i. e., emotional baggage to contend with, there is no challenge to the romance, and thus\u00a0a shallow\u00a0story.<\/p>\n

The basic premise of a solid love story is: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back.\u00a0 Without the conflict of the boy losing the girl, and his motivation to win her back, he has no goal. \u00a0The\u00a0story would instead be reduced down to simply: boy meets girl, boy wins girl. Who cares to read such a shallow story?<\/p>\n

So, in order for main characters to have an emotionally satisfying happily ever after, character growth or change must occur.\u00a0 In my opinion, the more emotionally tortured\u00a0the main\u00a0characters are, the more difficult it is for growth to occur within them. \u00a0But when they overcome that, and their change finally does happen, the resolution of their romantic conflict\u00a0feels so much more emotionally satisfying.<\/p>\n

Okay, I emotionally torture my hero and heroine.\u00a0 What does this say about me as a person?\u00a0 Am I a warped individual for taking pride in doing this? \u00a0Am I sick\u00a0for giving them\u00a0tormented pasts,\u00a0be it\u00a0from the death of a loved one, an act of betrayal, a traumatic accident, or some sort of abuse? I think not.\u00a0 \u00a0Actually, in real life, I consider myself to be a compassionate and\u00a0caring person. \u00a0One who empathizes with people less fortunate. \u00a0But this is fiction.<\/p>\n

I hear\u00a0some authors say, “Oh, I\u00a0don’t like to inflict harm\u00a0on my characters…I’m too emotionally invested in them.”\u00a0 And I totally understand that viewpoint because as a writer, once you’ve lived and breathed, cared for and nurtured your main characters for many months, they become very real to you, and you love them.\u00a0 And in real life,\u00a0no one\u00a0enjoys inflicting pain on the people\u00a0they love, unless they’re a sociopath.\u00a0 But fictional characters are not real.\u00a0 So as a writer, we do what is necessary to create great conflict and characters. \u00a0We might even relish in\u00a0giving our characters painful pasts, which lead to\u00a0deep-seeded fears and weaknesses. \u00a0And we do it\u00a0because we\u00a0know they will ultimately overcome these things. \u00a0They must, in order to achieve a happily ever after.<\/p>\n

For example, in the following scene in Vow of Deception<\/em><\/strong>, King Edward has sent Rand to Ayleston Castle to escort Rose to court so she can marry one of Edward\u2019s knights.\u00a0 But Rand has been sworn to silence regarding the reason for his task.\u00a0 In this scene, I reveal a hint of the\u00a0 emotional scars Rose and Rand carry, which each must come to terms with in the course of the story to achieve their happily ever after.:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rose jerked awake.\u00a0 Panic beat like the wings of a bird inside her chest.\u00a0 Her mouth was open, a scream deep in the back of her throat.\u00a0 But no sound escaped.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that she could not scream, but she knew better than to voice her discontent.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Rose blinked, but the solid blanket of darkness surrounding her did not lessen.\u00a0 She crawled across the soft mattress, gripped the velvet bed curtain, and yanked it aside.\u00a0 A glimmer of moonlight from her open shutters illuminated the disheveled sheets and coverlet of her canopy bed.\u00a0 Her medical books were on her table too.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

A sigh of relief escaped her.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

It was only a nightmare.\u00a0 She was safe in her own bed.\u00a0 Alone.\u00a0 Taking deep breaths, she willed her fear to recede.\u00a0 With her husband dead nigh onto three years, her degradation and humiliation at his hands was a thing of the past.\u00a0 But deep inside, she knew she would never be the innocent, na\u00efve, happy young woman she was when she married Bertram.\u00a0 Her heart was a hard cold lump\u2014she was a frigid woman who despised a man\u2019s touch. . . . . . . . . . <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

An instinctual sensation tugged at her soul, drawing her into the adjoining chamber.\u00a0 A small bed, a chest, and a stool were the only furniture in the room.\u00a0 No one could enter her son\u2019s chamber unless first coming through her bedchamber.\u00a0 Next to the small bed in the corner, Jason\u2019s nurse and fierce protector lay curled up on a pallet snoring loudly.\u00a0 Rose quietly approached the foot of the bed and stared down at her sweet, innocent son.\u00a0 He lay on his side facing her, with his thumb stuck in his pursed lips and his other dimpled hand clutching a curly lock of light blond hair.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Her heart seized with love, and she could not keep a huge smile from forming on her lips.\u00a0 It was a side of herself she revealed to only a few people.\u00a0 Though she adored her son, she took care never to indulge in sentimental excess.\u00a0 She controlled her inappropriate passions behind a stoic manner befitting a widow.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Jason\u2019s cherub lips drew down, and he kicked off his quilt.\u00a0\u00a0 Rose pulled it back up under his chin, kissed his warm temple.\u00a0 She trembled with a sudden urge to grab her son and escape into the night.\u00a0 But her maternal instinct was stronger.\u00a0 Jason would be the one to suffer\u2014loss of his inheritance, his title, and all the privileges it accompanied. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Did she have the right to steal it from him because of her fears, her insecurities, her cowardice? <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Rose started at a loud bang that echoed from her chamber.\u00a0 She left Jason and went in the other room.\u00a0 The door rattled on its hinges.\u00a0 The sound of a deep voice, a soft giggle drew her curiosity.\u00a0 Rose opened the chamber door and peeked out. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Near a lit torch, Rand trapped Lisbeth up against the wall, his face pillowed between her indecently exposed plump breasts.\u00a0 The maid\u2019s hose-clad thigh curled around Rand\u2019s hip like a coiled serpent, pulling him flush against her, seeking to devour him inside her. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Rose inhaled sharply in surprise.\u00a0 A quiver of repulsion raced through her.\u00a0 The man was an incorrigible lecher.\u00a0 As far as she knew, Lady Elena was his current mistress, or was when Rose was at court a couple of months ago.\u00a0 Apparently not content with Elena, Rand had to debauch Rose\u2019s castle servants too.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Rand glanced up just then, and stared, gaze glittering.\u00a0 He winked at her, a wolfish grin on his face.\u00a0 Flashing him a look of contempt, Rose pulled back and slammed the door shut. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Her gaze blurred as she stared at the oaken door.\u00a0 She regretted ever . . . \u00a0Rose shook her head.\u00a0 The past was unalterable; she could only learn from her mistakes and never repeat them.\u00a0 Not that she had any desire to repeat them.\u00a0 Rubbing her arms, she turned and stared at her rumpled bed.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

She should get some more rest before the long trip on the morrow.\u00a0 But she could not bear the separation from Jason, so she went to his chamber, crawled into bed beside him, and wrapped her arms around his sweet-smelling form. <\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

When the oaken door to Rose\u2019s chamber slammed shut, Rand jerked.\u00a0 His vision blurred with too much drink, yet the fog of desire dissipated with the rapidity born of . . . what?\u00a0\u00a0 Shame?\u00a0 Embarrassment?\u00a0 Certainly not, Rand assured himself.\u00a0 A man had a right to indulge his baser instincts when a comely maid showed an interest in his manly attributes. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet, his rock-hard shaft shriveled beneath his braies. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Lisbeth reached out and palmed him with her hand, with dismal results.\u00a0 Rand drew back and patted her derriere, winking.\u00a0 \u201cToo much drink, sweet.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Lisbeth huffed and, tugging up her bodice, she flounced away and down the stairwell.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

He refused to acknowledge the real culprit of his shrunken cock: guilt.\u00a0 It niggled at the edges of his drink-induced haze as he recalled the fiery determination that sparked in Rose\u2019s gaze when she\u2019d declared her aversion to marrying again.\u00a0 It\u2019d been nigh on four years since he\u2019d beheld such passion blazing in her eyes, albeit for a different purpose altogether.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a clear indication of the fear she bore, and he was leading her down the path of her affliction without any warning.\u00a0 But there was naught he could do to change the outcome.\u00a0 Rand groaned and leaned his forehead against his forearm, which he braced against the rough wall.\u00a0 He was torn between the duty he owed his king, and the loyalty he owed Rose for their past friendship and what they\u2019d once meant to each other.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

He could offer for her instead\u2014the thought slipped unbidden from the recesses of his sluggish mind.\u00a0\u00a0 Rand jerked back and stared at the flickering torch. <\/em>Jesu.\u00a0 He must have drunk more than he thought.\u00a0 Rose would abhor marrying him as much as anyone else.\u00a0 Probably even more so considering the heated parting they\u2019d had several years ago, which she pretended never occurred. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Even if Rose would agree to marry Rand, he\u2019d never inflict himself upon the lady he admired above all others.\u00a0 She deserved a man who was not haunted by the demons of his past failures. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

As he stared at the torch flame, images flashed before his eyes.\u00a0 His body jolted as he felt the burning beam fall on his back, felt the searing pain scorch his skin.\u00a0 Trapped, he stared wide-eyed in horror as his mother ran, flames engulfing her.\u00a0 The stench of burning flesh filled his nostrils, while his mother\u2019s agonized screams echoed in his ears, damning him.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/object>God, would the nightmare never cease.\u00a0 He jammed the heels of his hands painfully into his eyes to dispel the grotesque image of his mother\u2019s charred body.\u00a0 But he could never escape the guilt he lived with every day, for it was his fault that she had died in the stable fire.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

His sister was dead, too, because he\u2019d let her drown to save himself. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Rand had even failed to protect Alex from being abducted in the Holy Land after they\u2019d sworn an oath to protect each other as comrades in arms. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyone he loved was cursed to suffer abominably.\u00a0 For that reason, he could never marry Rose and risk growing emotionally attached to her. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Golan was not an ogre.\u00a0 Rand was sure once Rose married Golan she would come to see there were good men who would not wield their superior strength as a weapon over their wives.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Rand stumbled to his bedchamber door, shoved it open, and collapsed onto the bed fully dressed.\u00a0 Unable to sleep, he stared unseeing up at the canopy.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

***<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In summary, all of what I have stated above does not mean I only<\/strong><\/em> believe in stories with a deep, dark conflict, or that they are necessarily\u00a0superior to the more lighthearted and funny romance stories that are often popular.\u00a0 I enjoy reading these kinds of stories too.\u00a0\u00a0But for some reason, I tend to respond and connect to a good, dramatic tear-jerker more often. I suppose it all comes down to your mood at the time of selection. Do you want to read a romance novel that makes you laugh, or makes you cry?\u00a0 If you’re lucky, perhaps you’ll get a satisfying dose of both.<\/p>\n

Giveaway Alert!\u00a0 Two winners. First prize:<\/span> an autograph copy of Vow of Seduction<\/span><\/a> and Vow of Deception<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Second prize:<\/span> autographed copy of Vow of Deception<\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To Torture Your Hero, or Not to Torture, That is the Question. As a writer, I enjoy torturing my main characters. 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