The day after HEA

Your book is done.The hero and heroine ride off into the sunset, then what?

The day after HEA (happily ever after).

In the movie Sleepless in Seattle Sam and Greg remark about An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, “that’s a chick flick,” when it is actually a romance. They then waxed ecstatic over The Dirty Dozen which brought them to tears.

A guy pursues a gal for marriage with flowers, chocolates, and sweet nothings and then after the wedding it’s football and poker with the boys. Somehow, they forgot (partially) their romantic side.

Here it is. I’m going to say it. Who’s the type of guy who is most likely to forget romance? Alpha heroes. What proof do I have, you may ask. Hang in there, but if it is true, if I make my case, then those alpha romance we write need a little tweaking.

First, consider what men read romance, what men enjoy rom-coms like Sleepless or romances like An Affair to Remember. I’ll add what men write romance genres.

1.       Creative types (include some scientists and engineers).

2.       Artists, including architects and all those who works with and appreciate beauty.

3.       Renaissance men.

4.       Intellectuals, writers (lovers of words, their beauty, and what they can do), & philosophers.

5.       16% of men read romance novels and they’re probably from the four categories above.

I’ll suggest two things. The men above (and I probably missed some) are not the type to scoff at their wife’s choice of books or movies, no they’d watch with. And alphas are not likely to be in this group nor would they sit through a rom-com unless they were trying to please their wife. “Yeah, honey. Good movie. No really. I especially like the part…”

Why? Because the alpha male is quite often about competition, winning, to be kind, being the best at something. Of course, there is crossover between the men above and alphas and herein is how you save your manuscript. Give your alpha a romantic ‘flaw.’ They cry watching An Affair to Remember for instance, lol. Show him as more than the handsome star quarterback who has any woman and maybe many women before he settles down. Perhaps he paints (not houses), maybe he’s a patron of the arts, perhaps creates a beautiful building or improves the environment with a breakthrough technology.

I know I haven’t proven my point to QED but I have built a mountain of evidence to the point that you can draw a conclusion.

Does this mean write beta? No. Just remember that some real men have qualities that made them attractive to the heroine in the first place.

In Sleepless in Seattle Sam, for all his teasing about An Affair to Remember with his buddy (peer pressure), says to the radio doctor that his deceased wife made everything better, she was magic... To his son he said your mom could peel an apple in one fluid motion. By the way, Sam (Tom Hanks) played an architect.

This blog was originally about the male POV in its many manifestations and alternative ways to look at the subject until new ideas became harder to come by. This post, however captures what I try to do with my blog.