March 29, 2007
Hero Redemption
Okay originally I was going to blog about awarding UWPs (Useless Whore Points) - which will have to wait - because I had an idea for this week’s blog post that actually deals with writing. :smile:
So. I was talking with Ames the other night via email and asked her how I redeem my hero because he’s a hit man. And she suggested that maybe he has to save the life of the heroine.
Right.
But. He saves her life in the first book, so for the second book, I can’t really have him saving her life all the time. That just gets old and makes the heroine look like a total wimpy sniveling annoying brat. Right?
So. I got to thinking about what the actual story was for book 2. It’s not that he’s a hit man anymore, I think. It’s how she’s dealing with the fact that he IS the hit man who killed her parents and now that she’s stuck with him, she is starting to have feelings for him. Not to mention grex (that’s great sex in shorthand and a total habit because when Best Good Friend and I talk about grex in work email, we have to make it something that Big Brother won’t flag. But I digress…).
So! I’m thinking the second book is about her internal conflict and how she comes to terms with the fact that yes, he is a hit man. And yes, he killed her parents. But deep down, he’s a good man who got pulled into a profession he hadn’t really ever intended on entering and now he’s sort of turned over a new leaf. Love of a good woman and all that horseshit. Not to mention that fabulous grex they’re having.
:hump:
Anyway. Tell me, dear readers (and writers), what do you think makes a bad guy turn good? Besides all that good woman stuff. And further, what makes a woman really want that bad guy? Aside from the whole bad guy image thingy.



man, I knew I should have stayed in that psych class… dunno. I don’t know if “turn good” is the right terminolgy… maybe sees the error of his ways and straightens up. He has to hate himself for doing it, so it’s that point when he can’t look himself in the mirror anymore that he makes the “change”
don’t know if that helps at ALL…
It’s that the heroine seeing something in him that is redeemable. Something, that although he doesn’t see in himself, she does. But not because he really loves fluffy bunnies or that he kills the guy who kicked the puppy. Maybe it’s the fact that he wants so badly to not have killed her parents so that she’ll love him, because how DO you fall in love with someone who killed your parents? Maybe he’s got a secret ~something he does to make him feel better about his profession. Not giving to a charity though, too obvious. Something that seems small- he always gives waitresses an extra dollar for every person he’s killed.
It’s the really insignificant details that show he’s struggling. And that’s why he’s redeemable, because he struggles with who he is.
See now I don’t know if I go for the whole “error of his ways/redeaming him” thing because really how much to folks really change?
But I totally buy into that one redeemable characteristic that Eva Gale mentioned. I had to do this with Betty in OIABM. I had so many contest judges tell me what a slut she was and what a bitch she was because she’s a very ‘in your face’ character and I think it’s that one soft/vulnerable thing the other protag and the readers can see that can tip the scales.
what do you think makes a bad guy turn good? Besides all that good woman stuff…
The love of a good man?
I’ve a hitman sorta-hero (sorta-hero because I’m not sure that they have a HEA…it is not a romance if you’re a romance nazi).
I don’t think it has to do with love of a good woman. It’s more that he loves a good woman, and wants to become better for her. It is what he wants. It’s internal, not external.
Haven’t figured out how to redeem my sorta-hero. Truth is, I don’t really like him, but my character
does.
Raine!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RAINE!! LOL!!
Hey how come none of my smilies worked.
Thanks everyone for weighing in. This should be a veeeeery interesting book, eh?