BY ELIZABETH GILLILAND
A few weeks ago on the X blog I wrote about the art of writing strong female characters. Just to show that fair is fair, I’ve decided that today we need to discuss the art of writing a compelling leading man.
In a conversation with a group of friends a few months ago, as the majority of us were women, the topic naturally turned to attractive male celebrities. Shockingly, we spent very little time discussing their intelligence, their charitable contributions, or their ability to speak any foreign languages. Instead, the focus was all on the way they looked, how hunky they were, how particularly good they looked in that one photo shoot when they were wearing that damp white t-shirt, etc.
The token male in the group listened in silence before finally pointing out that if the tables had been turned and it was a group of men talking about a woman that way, we would all probably be deeply offended.
That idea has stuck with me. There’s quite a bit written about the double-standard of how men are usually less likely to read a book written by a woman with a main character who is female, and while I’m not condoning that trend, if you look at it from this scope, I can kind of understand. Sometimes in the way we write our male characters, we are excluding men from the conversation.
That isn’t to say that all women write men as cartoonish hunks with big muscles and a love of poetry and baby animals. There are plenty of nuanced, complicated male leads. And of course, we all know those male authors who write stories with ludicrous female characters who are only there to be sexy and reinforce the main character’s ego.
But if I don’t like to read those kinds of books, why should a man want to read the same thing but in reverse—where no matter how awkward and unappealing the main character, the perfect specimen of the opposite gender finds them inexplicably attractive and devotes lavish, completely unrealistic attention on them and generally behaves in a way that no member of either sex ever would?
Oy vey.
So in keeping that in mind, the next time that you sit down to write your male love interest, here are some tropes and clichés that you might want to avoid—or at least, flesh out a little so your character feels like a real person.
- The bad boy with the heart of gold. He’s dangerous, but not too dangerous, and as soon as the nice girl enters his life he spurns all advances from other females and becomes fixated solely on becoming a better man for her.
Look, I like a good bad boy as much as the next girl, but we have to go back to the drawing board with this one, ladies. It’s been done so many times that you really have to work to find ways to make it new and interesting.
- The rich guy with a disposable income who is cultured, intelligent, sophisticated, kind, and who for some reason is desperately in love with the girl who keeps falling down the stairs and can belch the alphabet.
Ask yourself, if you take away this guy’s income, is he still appealing?
The nice guy who is practically perfect in every way… but never gets the girl.
I feel bad for these guys, I really do. Let’s rethink this nice guy stereotype, people. Nice doesn’t have to mean boring. Nice can be quirky or awkward or shy or endearing. Let the nice guy have a chance for a change!
- The guy who says everything right, as if it’s scripted out of the world’s best movie (even when he’s put on the spot), and never makes mistakes (or at least not ones that can’t be easily explained away) and who’s entire world revolves around the main character and who knows from the moment he sees her that she’s the one and never gives up once in pursuing her . . . *le sigh*
Again, I get it, we’re writing our fantasy. But this is the equivalent of if they decided to redo Anne of Green Gables and cast Megan Fox as Anne Shirley and expected us to be okay with it. That may be someone’s fantasy, but there is no semblance of reality in that choice whatsoever.
Sure, mix in a little fantasy here and there. Maybe your male lead gives one really good heartfelt speech near the end, for example. But part of what makes a real-life guy actually endearing is that he’s nervous and unsure and doesn’t always say or do the right thing, but when he does it really means something. Much more than a muscle-y, smooth-talking Casanova who can do no wrong.
So when it comes to writing non-cringe-worthy lead guys, I guess my advice is to keep it real. He doesn’t have to be the perfect guy for everybody, just for your leading lady—who, chances are, isn’t perfect, either.
What are some stereotypes of the fantasy guy that I’ve missed? Men, in particular, what are the ones that make you put down a book and not want to pick it up again?
Author, editor, and story coach Elizabeth Gilliand currently does her fantasizing from the literature doctural program at Louisiana State University. Her most recent project. Her most recent project, Accidental Apprentice by Anika Arrington, is slated for release October 4, 2014.