I am so pleased to introduce you all to Zanna. Without any further ado I'll let her take over from here-
What
Makes A Hero?
When asked what makes a book they have read
linger in the memory, many people will say the characters.
Creating characters that we can all
identify with and care about is a fun and challenging part of writing a book.
When it comes to writing the ‘hero’ or the lead male character in a novel it’s
essential to conjure up a guy we will like, be rooting for, care about and, ok,
quite probably fancy a bit as well!
So, what makes the ideal hero in a novel?
Opinions, quite naturally, vary depending on who you ask. Some readers might
opt for alpha males – strong, determined, driven, hugely successful, maybe a
little arrogant, macho, a leader, brave, powerful, too handsome for his own
good.
Others –myself included – prefer the beta
male. He’s the charming, handsome boy-next-door, more considerate than the
alpha of the species, he’s also playful, fun, good company, in some ways more
‘real’ than the alpha.
Does he need to have pots of money? Where
does your hero have to come on the financial meter? Doing ok for himself,
wealthy, pots of money, millionaire, billionaire?
Do you opt for him to be a sharp dresser,
needing him to be suave and sophisticated, clothed in designer suits and dinner
jackets? Do you prefer him to be a bit more rough-around-the-edges, sporting
the timeless classic of jeans and white shirt combo?
What about looks? The tall, dark and
handsome description is considered something of a cliché but the fact remains
that these four words do create the ideal visual of a great hero for many
women; for me, I would say just add a bit of stubble to the tall, dark and
handsome mix and then you have the perfect hero to grace the pages of any
novel.
Tanned and blonde could be the right
substitute for tall, dark and handsome for many females. Does he need to be
tall though? Can he wear glasses? Does he have to be perfectly toned with
six-pack stomach or bulging biceps?
When it comes to profession does it matter
what the hero does? Over the years I have read books where the hero has been
everything from an ex con artist to a prince, from a struggling painter to
policeman, pilot, race car driver, actor, musician, builder, architect,
landscape gardener, writer, hotelier, dog trainer, store manager, worked in an
office.
In my recently released novel How Do You Spell Love? Kat is focussed
on trying to get over the end of her relationship with Nathan when she meets Alex who is an architect and building site project
manager (tall, closely cropped light brown hair, stubble – think of the actor
Paul Walker!) and Summer is trying to get her relationship with Rob back on
track when she meets Tom who is a
planning officer for the local council (sorry but I’m going to use the tall,
dark and handsome cliché here! Think of the actor James Lafferty). For several
reasons Kat shouldn’t be with Alex, and Summer shouldn’t be with Tom – but they
are drawn to each other and start to wonder if maybe life is about to get even
more complicated.
So, now, it’s over to you - what would you
look for from a hero in a book you were reading? What are your requirements re
looks, job and personality? Do you prefer the alpha or beta male?
Zanna Mackenzie is the author of How Do You Spell Love,
Book
blurb:
Make A Wish…
Kat can’t help wishing there was more to
life than this. What happened to her dream job? What happened with Nathan?
Summer is wondering where her life is going
too… battling the developers of a controversial housing estate and working out
why boyfriend Rob is increasingly distant.
When the developers win the battle and move
into town everyone’s life is turned upside down.
Kat meets building site project manager
Alex. She enjoys his company far too much, even though he’s on the town’s most
hated list.
Summer meets Tom who has plenty of
relationship troubles of his own, so things could get really complicated.
Soon everyone is keeping secrets, lives
change and hearts are broken. Is everything falling apart, or does life just
work in mysterious ways…
Main
buy links for book:
*Crooked Cat Publishing
*Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Do-You-Spell-Love/dp/1908910771/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361800360&sr=8-2
*Amazon USA
Book
extract:
How
Do You Spell Love?
Kat pushed the last of the cottage cheese
and shrimp sandwiches into the cool box and slammed the van door shut. As if
her life wasn’t enough of a disaster zone as it was – no money, lousy job,
losing Nathan, having to move back home to live with her parents – now this had
to go and happen. Plus, of course, it didn’t help that today she was feeling
shattered after spending half the night chanting some ridiculous protection
spell in the middle of the allotments with Summer.
Cringing as a van full of builders stopped
at the nearby traffic lights, Kat braced herself for the inevitable. After the
standard-issue wolf whistles had drifted across from their van, next came the
leered, “Wouldn’t argue with that, love!” as one of them nodded towards her sparkling
clean van, parked neatly at the curb. The words “A Bit of Crumpet on the Road”
emblazoned down the side in deep purple, glittery lettering. Not for the first
time Kat cursed her boss Janice for calling her bakery-cum-deli that name.
Kat sighed, well it certainly drew comments
from the public and from their customers, not always welcome ones, but as
Janice was always keen to point out, any kind of publicity and attention was,
in her eyes, good publicity and attention.
Pulling her navy and white striped apron
more tightly around her T-shirt and shorts, Kat ignored the builders and
climbed into her van to begin that morning’s deliveries. As she indicated to
pull out into the busy street in Luisborough, she mulled over the bad news –
that she was to add the controversial Netherton Meadows housing development to
her daily sandwich round.
Netherton Meadows. Yippee. If Summer found
out, she’d surely be ostracised for fraternising with the environmental enemy.
This was a development that pretty much everyone in Luisborough had fought
against for getting on towards a year. It had been the focus of STW campaigns.
It went against everything that Kat believed in environmental-wise. Everyone
hated the Netherton Meadows developers. Except, it seemed, Janice, who was
perfectly happy to, in her words, ‘supply yummy builders with yummy
sandwiches.’
Lost in thought, Kat just managed to spot
the approaching traffic lights had turned to red and hastily slammed a foot on
the brake. The van lurched to a halt and several boxes of crisps and one of the
cool boxes in the back tipped over. Damn. It was shaping up to be one of those
days.
Two hours later Kat had visited all her
usual drops, was extremely hot and bothered, and could put off going to
Netherton Meadows no longer.
Driving through the assorted vans,
machinery and portacabins Kat parked next to a building marked as being the
Site Office and hit the button on the dashboard. Tinkling chimes filled the air
as Kat climbed from the driver’s seat and made to open the back doors of the
vehicle. It was embarrassing enough that the van had the company name in large
lettering along its side but, just to make sure that it received maximum
exposure – and achieved maximum embarrassment – Janice had had some irritating
chimes fitted to the vehicle too. Kat was under strict instructions to sound
the chimes when she called at all of the sites where people came out to the
van; such as they were about to at Netherton Meadows.
A man came down the steps of the office
with a grin on his face and walked towards her. “Hi, you must be Kat.” He
wedged a clipboard under his left arm and offered a hand to shake. “I’m Alex.
Project manager for the site.”
“Hi,” mumbled Kat, spotting a group of
hard-hat-clad builders advancing towards her with hungry expressions on their
faces.
“Right, lads,” Alex turned towards the men.
“This is Kat and she’s very kindly agreed to venture onto this site to bring
you all your lunch. Don’t give her any hassle, OK?”
The men laughed and then nodded. “Sure,
Alex. You’re the boss.”
Fifteen minutes later it seemed that all of
the team at the development had made their sandwich, crisp and drink selections
and sloped off to devour them in the sunshine. Only one of the builders, a
portly man who must have been twenty years Kat’s senior, had pushed the
boundaries a little, despite Alex’s earlier warning. As he’d selected a smoked
salmon and cream cheese roll – a choice that had surprised Kat somewhat, having
pegged him as a ham and cheese kind of guy – he’d asked Kat if she’d fancy joining
him for a drink sometime. She’d politely declined his offer, saying that she
had a boyfriend. No need to tell him that, technically, she and Nathan were no
longer an item. No need to tell him why either.
------------------
Author
bio:
Zanna Mackenzie lives in the UK with her
husband, 4 dogs, a vegetable patch that’s home to far too many weeds and an
ever expanding library of books waiting to be read.
Being a freelance writer and editor of
business publications is her ‘day job’ but, at every opportunity, she can be
found scribbling down notes on scenes for whatever novel she’s working on. She
loves it when the characters in her novels take on minds of their own and start
deviating from the original plot!
Formerly a travel agent and therapist (she
has qualifications in clinical aromatherapy, crystal healing, naturopathic
nutrition and herbalism) she loves walking the dogs and gardening – that’s when
she’s not writing or reading!
Zanna has written two novels, The Love Programme
(Astraea Press) and How Do You Spell Love? (Crooked Cat Publishing) and both
were published in early 2013.
Follow
Links:
Find out more about Zanna at:
Twitter: @ZannaMacKenzie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/zanna. mackenzie
Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zanna-Mackenzie/e/B00BKY1A18/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Thanks for inviting me to 'guest' on your blog Carey - much appreciated!
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