HEROS

In most romance novels, the heroes are these near perfect men, at least physically. They are usually tall, well built (muscular), good hair, nice eyes, cute buns, decent face, generally incredibly good looking. The woman, of course, are equally beautiful. The covers of romance novels, if they have people on them, usually show this.

Ok. What I find most interesting when I think about this topic is that men are more visual than women. Yes, that is a generalization, but it's true to a point. Men are usually attracted to a woman because of the way she looks. Woman, see a man that is good looking and wonder if they have the personality to go with the good looks. Women will fall for a guy based on what he says and what he does. I'm sure this is true for men, but I think it takes them a lot longer to get past the "she's hot" or not phase. And of course, I'm still talking about the early stages of the mating rituals.

One of the key elements for me when it comes to my heroes are flawed personalities. I think everyone is slightly damaged. We all have baggage we bring into relationships. I think there is something inherently sexy about an individual who is not perfect. Who has flaws. Bad habits. Skewed thinking. It's not so much that I want to save them, or fix them. Can't do that. But I think true love happens only when two people accept each other for exactly who and what they all. The good and bad. The pretty and the ugly. Inside and out.