Does an Alpha Hero like Strong Willed Women?

Some called them kick ass heroines, when they’re spies, detectives, military.

Some say they know what they want and how to get it. These women are successful in business but are they successful in matters of the heart?

The younger you ask the guy, the more likely he picture his future unknown mate as a nurturing, affectionate, loving, kind soul, gorgeous and sexy (naturally), totally dedicated to loving him (toss in—makes him laugh). Someone he could have and hold, love and protect. Nothing wrong with that. This preconception stems partially from stereotypes with a dose of insecurity typical to a boy turning man. He enters a confusing world of adult responsibility and the propagation of the species.

My Renaissance man can be alpha, beta or gamma but always knows a good woman when he meets one. He’ll shuck off his immature ideas of the ideal woman when he gets to know her. Perhaps she’ll save him from financial ruin, rescue him from terrorists; teach him the value of love. It doesn’t matter. A real hero has no fear of who is boss in any given situation, in fact, he thanks God he found her, because they make a great team and he finally understands the true meaning and can feel, love.

Last night, Hallmark premiered, Valentine Ever After, starring, Autumn Reeser, Vanessa Matsui and Eric Johnson. In the movie, the writer adeptly explores these concepts and how they change people. (30 second promo)

 

Writer's Handbook

Last night on the Hallmark premier of Dater’s Handbook, the writer or writers painted themselves into a corner. Meghan Markle played the heroine. She is dating two men using techniques prescribed in a doctor’s bestseller on dating. One of the men left a note when he left her that the dog knocked over to the floor. Her sister said, quoting from the dating book, that the lack of a note (etiquette) was a deal breaker.
Shortly after the sister scene, she rejects by phone the suiter. We are left wondering if the lack of a note caused the breakup.
As a guy and a writer, this bothered me, especially when the note was never mentioned again. In spite of it, I enjoyed the movie. It also bothered me because the note was lying on the floor of her home and to think it wouldn’t have been picked up day after day is absurd. Every house cleaner, if she had one, knows not to throw away personal notes. No, the dog would not have eaten the paper note. That would be a case of dog ex-machina.
As a guy (and this blog is about guys and the way they think and act), we want to identify with the hero, to see him validated, not settled for. Many thoughtful men in the hero’s shoes would want to understand what caused the rejection so that he may set the record straight or know how to improve. None of that happened. Yes, the hero was happy-go-lucky. And yes, the conversation probably would occur off camera.
I know time is valuable in a two hour movie, but 20 seconds could have been invested in her waving the note and saying she had made a mistake, not only because the note went missing for a while but because she was following the book’s advice and made some mistakes.
You may say, that I as a writer am over analyzing this. Nop. My wife brought it up. She reads romances voraciously and knows when something is missing.

All that being said, Hallmark is putting out premier after premier, still (and it is so wrong) employing all white people in the leads, but still enjoyable and almost always impeccably written.
Promo for Dater's Handbook, 2016:

 

A love poem for writers? 2/14/2013

A love poem by Mark O'Brien

No-one in Particular

Let me touch you with my words.
For my hands lie limp as empty
gloves.
Let my words stroke your hair,
Slide down your back and tickle
your belly.
For my hands, light and free-flying
as bricks,
Ignore my wishes and stubbornly
refuse to carry out my quietest
desires.
Let my words enter your mind,
bearing torches.
Admit them willingly into your
being
So they may caress you gently
within.

This poem, “Love Poem for No-one in Particular”, was written by Mark O’Brien. Mark was born in 1949 in the USA, and six years later contracted polio. Through his determination, humour and honesty, he became an influential activist and a powerful writer, until his death in 1999. He is now most known as the inspiration behind the recent film starring John Hawkes and Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”.

My blog's commentary on the above: I found something in these words that could be taken to heart by anybody who writes romance or uses love as a writerly tool.

We pound out black marks on a white background, trying through words to communicate love.
We picture our heroine's or hero's hair, back, belly, but the author and reader can't touch their imagination.
We transmit our quietest desires by letting our words create life.
We light a torch that becomes real to so many seeking love, inspiration or the satisfaction that comes from reading a great story.
We ask our readers to journey with us, to let our words gently caress their being.

The following is a short scene from the movie, "The Sessions," 2012.
 

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY