One Heck of a Hero

George Clooney & friend

As I’ve been working through a new novella, I’ve been giving lots of thought to what makes a hero, particularly a romantic hero. Beefcakes abs are not enough, nor is a great face (though both certainly help!) Whenever I’ve seen real guys of the too-polished, too pretty, too-gym sculpted variety, my knee-jerk reaction is too think “self-absorbed” or “trying too hard.” And not necessarily open to a relationship with a woman.

And don’t get me started on obnoxiously-alpha heroes. I find them as overbearing in a book as I do in real life… unless the author touches on this tendency with humor (an eye-rolling heroine’s good) or shows him working through the problem. Because extreme possessiveness and overprotectiveness are early warnings of an abuser, not someone I’d count on sharing an HEA with.

Instead, I like a guy strong enough to take charge, gentle enough to comfort a lost child, and unaffected enough that he’d scoff at the idea of greasing up his abs and posing. A hero who can laugh at himself and make his woman laugh, too, but one you know will always be at your side when the going gets tough… even if it personally costs him.

I guess this must be why I married a Houston firefighter. (I couldn’t get him to flex a muscle and pose, so Mr. Clooney was kind enough to substitute.) It’s also why, for the hero of my new release, Beneath Bone Lake, I chose Sam McCoy, a convicted hacker willing to trade his freedom for a chance to save the heroine’s missing four-year-old daughter.

Because there’s just something about a guy who rushes into burning buildings while anybody else would run out…

So tell me, what does it for you in a hero? What qualities will make you follow a man anywhere?