Monday, January 10, 2011

This Week's Special Guest - Jana Richards

This week we welcome Jana Richards, as she celebrates her new release FLAWLESS, a historical romantic suspense and talks about "The Male Perspective" in romance writing.

Jana Richards has tried her hand at many writing projects over the years, from magazine articles and short stories to paranormal suspense and romantic comedy. She loves to create characters with a sense of humor, but also a serious side. She believes there's nothing more interesting then peeling back the layers of a character to see what makes them tick.


When not writing up a storm, working at her day job as an Office Administrator, or dealing with ever present mountains of laundry, Jana can be found on the local golf course pursuing her newest hobby.

Jana lives in Western Canada with her husband Warren, along with two university aged daughters and a highly spoiled Pug/Terrier cross named Lou.

WEBSITE *** BLOG *** FACEBOOK *** MYSPACE


The Male Perspective by Jana Richards

As a woman writer, I often wonder if I’m getting my male characters “right”. Romances are overwhelmingly written by women. Are the men in our stories too in touch with their feelings to be real? Are we representing men the way they are or the way we’d like them to be? Here are some of my thoughts about things to consider when constructing male characters.

What did you Say? Dialogue is one area where our male and female characters often differ. Women tend to be more verbal, using conversation to talk about their feelings and vent emotions. Men may feel their emotions as keenly as women, but they likely will not talk about them as much.

Vanessa Grant, in her book, “Writing Romance”, talks about a problem in one of her romance novels, “Pacific Disturbance”. In it, her male character makes a long speech to the heroine, thanking her for her work. In “Writing Romance”, Vanessa says she later regretted that speech because it was more like something a woman would say. A man would say “You’re doing a great job.” Short and sweet.

I feel, therefore I am. Most men won’t show their feelings or talk about them as much as women, no matter how strong their emotions. They will likely keep feelings bottled up inside, and often the only sign that they feel anything is through their body language. A clenched jaw or a fisted hand might be the only clue that your male character feels anger. Crossed arms may signal his annoyance and hostility. “The Definitive Book of Body Language” by Allan and Barbara Pease, is a great resource for authors. It helps to decipher what gestures, facial expressions and body positions really mean.

When the alpha male does show his emotions, it’s usually a spectacular display. One of my favorite scenes of an alpha male losing control is in Suzanne Brockman’s “Breaking Point”. Max has been in love with Gina for a long time, but has pushed her away because he believes that not only is he too old for her, he’s no good for her. When Gina is reported dead, Max reacts stoically, barely showing any emotion. But when he and a fellow FBI agent go to the morgue to identify her body, they discover that the body is not Gina’s. Max is totally overcome with emotion and relief, and simply falls to his knees, all his feelings totally on display.

Are you really going to wear that? Women tend to be more conscious of their appearance then men, and women are often more critical of their own appearance then men are. Unless he’s feeling self-conscious or insecure for some reason, a man wouldn’t think very much about what he’s wearing. He would, however, notice what the heroine is wearing, especially if she looks particularly sexy. But he probably couldn’t tell her what she’s wearing. Most men, especially Alpha men, wouldn’t be familiar with different types of women’s fashion. If your hero, in his internal monologue, begins thinking about the heroines’ cornflower blue slip dress with spaghetti straps, and fitted bodice designed by Versace, it may not ring true. More likely, he’d be thinking about the short, sexy blue dress that hugged all her curves and showed off acres of creamy bare skin.

Talk dirty to me. Men think more about sex then women do. It’s probably a given that your hero is going to have one or two carnal thoughts about the heroine. Your hero will likely make up his mind quite quickly about the desirability of the heroine as a sexual partner.

A woman may express her love through words or gestures. Men tend to express their love through sex. A partner making love to him is the ultimate affirmation of love for many men.

Me Tarzan, you Jane. Men like to think of themselves as heroes, as protectors and breadwinners. If a woman comes to a man with a problem, he’ll try to “fix” it for her, even if all she really wants to do is talk. Above all, men like to be thought of as useful.

Perhaps the best way to write a good male perspective is to read works written by men. Also, you might want to ask male friends or family to read parts of your book to see if your male characters ring true.

These sweeping generalizations don’t necessarily apply to all men or all male characters. While we want to make our male characters believable, we have to keep in mind that our mostly female readership may not want “real life”, but perhaps an idealized life. Romance heroes are men as women would like them to be.

What do you do to give your male characters the ring of truth? Do you agree that the romance hero represents men the way women would like them to be?

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WIN - Leave a comment or question for Jana this week at the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut and your name goes in the hat for a free download of her brand new book - FLAWLESS! Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are this week's winner - good luck!

26 comments:

  1. SUPER CONGRATS !

    reginamayr@att.net

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  2. Thanks Regina! "Flawless is now available at The Wild Rose Press. I hope you'll give it a try!

    Jana

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  3. Good morning Jana and welcome to the Tiki Hut!!!

    Loved your post. Can you tell us a bit about the books you have available and what you're currently working on?

    Looking forward to learning more about you!

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  4. Great post, Jana! Getting men "right" is something we all struggle with, but one of my favorite things about writing romance is that I can make my heroes say or do whatever I want. When does that happen in real life? Hooray for fantasy!
    Alison

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  5. Great Post Jana!
    Super Congrats on the release of "Flawless"!! Looks and sounds like a really good read cant wait to get my hands on a copy of it!

    Sandy B.
    sandyevebutler@yahoo.com

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  6. Hi Author Island!
    I have 4 full length novels available and with the release of "Flawless" I now have 2 novellas. I like a wide range of books to read and to write. "Seeing Things" is a romantic suspense about a psychic who "sees" the abduction of a small child. "Her Best Man" is a contemporary romantic comedy about a girl who gets dumped at the altar and then ends up with the best man on her "honeymoon" getaway. "A Long Way from Eden" is a contemporary romance about how secrets and lies threaten to ruin the budding romance, and the lives, of Meg and Zane and their families. In "Till September", Hannah fights to save her family farm and the small community she's lived in all her life. She falls in love with the one man who threatens to take it all away from her. "Burning Love" is a light-hearted contemporary romance about an unlikely couple brought together by two meddling angels in Heaven's Relationship Division. "Flawless" is my first historical romantic suspense. It's set during WWII in occupied France. A jewel thief, with the help of a beautiful Resistance fighter, must steal a priceless blue diamond from the Nazis. To read blurbs and excerpts, please go to my website at www.janarichards.net

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  7. Hi Allison,
    You bring up a good point. Women readers of our books want an idealized version of men. That's what makes romance so great! At the same time we have to make our men feel like real men or they simply won't be believable.

    Thanks for stopping by!
    Jana

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  8. Thanks Sandy! I appreciate the good wishes.

    Jana

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  9. I can't wait to read Flawless. Keep up the good work, Jana. There is nothing like having a hero who is totally all man...but I think in romance that means a balance between what is fact and what women want. There is a reason we read romance novels...an escape from reality :)

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  10. I'm actually married to a man who not only is in touch with his feelings, but is able to express them. When I met him I was surprised at how well he knew how to "speak woman"...he was amused at how quickly I wanted to hit the sheets, like a man! I guess we were made for each other! But that's why the male characters I write can be more verbal...I know men like that. Good choice for a blog...something to think about.

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  11. I always love to read about male POV. Most of my friends growing up were guys, but that doesn't mean I have a clue how to write them! Ack! It's hard sometimes to let them be who they are as characters and let things evolve organically without superimposing. Thanks for some points to ponder.
    -Emily
    hendrickson_emily(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  12. Enjoyed your post a lot. I like writing the male POV. Hopefully, I'm getting it right. LOL

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  13. You make some great points. Many ring truth. As a male romance author, I find myself in the opposite dilemma. Trying not to inject too much truthful male persona into my male leads. The reason being is, that the genre is for women primarily and they want to enjoy a fantasy. They don't want the average man. Here's a link to a point-counterpoint I did with author Tess MacKall on the top of men and women, from a humorous standpoint. Your readers here might get a kick out of it.

    http://threewickedwriters.blogspot.com/2010/11/dueling-banjos-or-venus-vs-mars.html

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  14. Because men say so little, I find myself writing more for them than they would "really" say. But is that fiction?
    Liz Arnold
    Message to Love
    The Wild Rose Press

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  15. JANA--good points, every one. Other than the first thing I learned when an editor told me "your ms reads like a textbook," (science background), the other was "Men don't talk like that or do this." Oh, and the advice was sound, and I think I've learned my lesson fairly well.
    In one ms, my hero cooked scrambled eggs with Feta cheese. Crituque partner almost choked.
    "No," she said, "a man might cook eggs, but he doesn't know a thing about Feta cheese!" I replied that my son did (he was married, had three boys, and loved to cook.)Her answer was, "Well, your hero doesn't!"

    One of my writer friends had her hero saying, "Your cat is gorgeous. His hair is a marvelous shade of silver." I said, as my crit partner did, "Your hero has a gun in his pocket--he is not going to talk like that." But this author was hardheaded and left it in. I never knew what happened with that.
    Men's dialogue and their actions is one thing I watch for in novels.
    Good job, Jana! You know your men. Celia

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  16. Rhonda, you're so right. There has to be a balance between "real" male behavior and what our women readers want to read. The romance genre is definitely an escape from reality.

    Thanks for commenting!
    Jana

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  17. Fiona, you're lucky to have a husband who is so in touch with his feelings. My dh hates the touchy/feely stuff. :)

    All male characters can't be painted with the same brush, just as you can't generalize that all real men act the same way. I think that if you wanted to give a male character some features that are a little unusual for the average male hero in a romance novel, you should give them a good reason for being that way. For instance, a guy who knows a lot about cooking perhaps is a chef in his day job, or maybe he was the oldest of several children and had to do all the cooking. Or maybe a guy who seems to know a lot about women's clothing grew up in a house of women. It's like anything our characters do; there has to be a good reason for it.

    Jana

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  18. Emily, thanks for your comment. It is hard to create good believable male characters that readers love. I have a tendency to make my male characters a little too nice sometimes, but I'm trying to break out of my box. One of these days I'll get the hang of writing a real bad boy!

    Jana

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  19. Hi Diane. I enjoy writing male characters too. It's fun to see the world from a different perspective. Whether I always get it right, I'm not sure, but I certainly enjoy trying!

    Jana

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  20. Hey Brindle, it's great to hear from a male romance writer. Yes, the books are a form of escape and fantasy, and thank heavens for that! The real world, and sometimes real relationships, sometimes aren't so nice. Women want to immerse themselves in a world where men pick up their underwear, and treat them like princesses.

    Brindle, I noticed you made a hockey reference in your blog. Are you from north of the border?

    Jana

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  21. Liz, I think you can make your male characters say anything you want - within reason. As long as you make their dialogue true to who they are, anything goes!

    Jana

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  22. Celia, I had to laugh when I read your post. Maybe if you set your hero up as quite the cook, or gave him some good reason for knowing how to cook eggs with feta cheese, it might have flown with your critique partner. Pretty funny. I hope your crit partner recovered!

    I think I would have had a hard time with the writer who wrote about the hero's reaction to the cat, too. Most guys, especially ones portrayed as alpha males (gun in his pocket and all)would say something like "Nice cat". You could show him petting the cat and obviously enjoying it, which would be a nice contrast to the alpha male attitude, but I don't think I'd buy the long speech either. Sounds too much like a woman.

    Jana

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  23. Great post! Do male romance writers ask themselves the same questions?
    debby236 at att dot net

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  24. Hi Debby. I think the really good male authors do think about how they portray women, or if they don't, they should. Have you ever read "The Number One Ladies Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith? His female characters are wonderful, and so real. He seems to really 'get' women.

    Thanks for stopping by!
    Jana

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  25. Hi Jana! I love your posts. Each one is well thought out and so relevant.

    My b/f was a Marine when I met him and then a U.S. Marshal -- he's still in federal law enforcement. I was quite surprised at how vocal he COULD get and he did know more about women's fashion than I did. He's very sensitive around people he cares about.

    I have read a few male romance writers and find a lot of the dialogue for both characters can get choppy. It makes sense that comes from their own not into saying too much. That said, my female attorneys at work cut to the chase -- I get what they want in the first few words. The males.............they can ramble for HOURS till I tell them I think I got it, but could they confirm in an email. I suspect their rambling is laying out their case and could be talking to anyone.

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  26. An excellent, well-written post. I'm slowly learning to make my men ring true. Their thought and speech patterns are certainly different from ours. Write on!

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