Rosalie Lario

(*I love this guy, don’t you?*)

Three Steps to A Highly Hot Hero was a workshop presented at the RWA 2010 Conference by Rhonda Nelson, Kira Sinclair and Vicki Lewis Thompson.  The three authors discuss the steps to be taken in writing a hero that a reader can fall in love with.  Below are some of the points they discussed:

• Your Hero should be hot:  No brainer, huh?  The hero should be physically attractive, especially to the heroine.  She should inherently trust him, and her attraction to him overrides any feelings of reluctance on her part to enter into a relationship.
• He should be intelligent:  Nobody wants someone who can’t think his way out of a paper bag (and that’s the truth)!
• He should be strong, physically and emotionally:  This is a big one, for obvious reasons.  The heroine should be able to depend on him, both emotionally and physically.  Not to say that she’ll need or want to depend on him, but she should be able to. 
• He should be honest and noble:  Sometimes honesty is much more difficult than telling a lie, but a hero always abides by his sense of honor, even if it’s the harder thing to do.
• He should be confident but not arrogant:  And yes, admittedly there is a fine line between the two.
• He should be generous:  Especially with his heroine.  Generous with money, and with his time.
• He should be a protector:  Protector of the innocent, protector of others, protector of his heroine.
• He should be romantic:  Or at least try.

So basically, think “Knight in Shining Armor”, because that’s what he will be to the heroine.

Listening to the authors go over this list of character traits for heroes, I must say that I generally agree.  Even if you are writing a strong heroine (and they’re great), you still want a strong hero. 

But…

That’s not say your characters shouldn’t have flaws.  Giving them flaws makes them three-dimensional and relatable.  Flaws also give characters the ability to grow throughout the book.

This workshop contains a great overview of heroes, and I recommend it to anyone who needs a little help hero-building.  Remember, you can purchase individual downloads of these workshops from RWA.

So, what do you think?  Do you agree that a modern-day hero should have all of the above traits?  Any other qualities you think a hero should have that are not on this list?

I will be continuing the RWA 2010 Blog Series throughout the month of October.  Below is a list of upcoming blogs in this series.  If you are interested in guest blogging on any of these topics, please let me know!

Rosalie

Welcome to my mini-blog series discussing things I learned at the RWA 2010 National Convention.  I’d like to start off with discussion of the Queryfest workshop, because it was one of the most helpful workshops I attended.

Queryfest featured five top agents: Scott Eagan, Jessica Faust, Miriam Kriss, Paige Wheeler, and Christine Witthohn.  The gist of the workshop was that brave authors submitted real queries and the agents discussed what worked for them and what didn’t.

The main points I came away with:

• Your Title, Genre, and Word Count should go up front:

I’d heard and always assumed that the best way to start off the query is with your hook, since the whole point of a query is to get the agent interested in the manuscript right away.  But the agents in this panel pointed out that they need to know the genre and word count to get a sense of what the pitch is about, as well as to identify potential lines to place it with.   Knowing that a manuscript is a YA urban fantasy will immediately get the agent in the right frame of mind to read your pitch.  I suspect that putting this info on top isn’t absolutely necessary, since a few of the agents mentioned that they’ll just skip down to find it if it’s not listed right on top.  But then, why not put it right on top, if it’s the first thing the agent wants to read?  Makes their life just a little bit easier…

• Include comparable titles with your query:

I’ve gotten this tip before, but didn’t really understand its importance until Queryfest.  Agents like to know where you see yourself in the market.  If they are going to invest the time to read your 400+ page manuscript, they want to know what it’s like.  Also, what type of audience do you feel it would appeal to?  Including comparables shows the agent that you are aware of the market and your manuscript’s place in it.

• Perfect your hook:  

Your hook is the most important part of the query.  It should provide the agent with an idea of the storyline without recapping the entire book.  A query is not a one-page synopsis.  The whole point of the query is to get the agent to want to read more.  I know that I lost interest when queries went on more than 3 or 4 paragraphs.  I can’t imagine how an agent, who we all know is supremely busy, would feel about it.  Get in, hook ‘em, show ‘em your voice, and get out.  Your query should give the agent a feel for the manuscript.  If it’s humorous, then inject some humor into the query.  But make sure the tone of your query matches the tone of your manuscript, or the agent is likely to feel cheated!

• Include some information on why you chose this agent:

This was another surprise for me.  Honestly, I figured agents would rather have a shorter query than listen to you suck up to them.  But what they really do enjoy is when you have a specific reason for thinking they might be a good fit for you.  It could be that you read their blog and like it, or that you heard them speak at RWA and were impressed (I know I’ve got a few agents at the top of my list because of what I heard them say at the convention), or even that you know they have a particular fondness for the type of fiction you write.  Whatever it is, it shows them that you did more than just pick their name from a list.  If you did just pick their name from a list, why not do a little research on their website to make sure they sound like a good match?  Then you can include in your query that you read their website.

On a personal note, as soon as I returned from the convention, I incorporated much of what I learned into my query, then sent it out.  Well, it must have worked, because I got offers from two e-publishers.  My first story will be published by Ellora’s Cave early next year.

So, what do you think?  Did you come away with the same things I did?  Anything else you learned?

I will be continuing the RWA 2010 Blog Series throughout the month of October.  Below is a list of upcoming blogs in this series.  If you are interested in guest blogging on any of these topics, please let me know!

Remember, you can purchase individual downloads of these workshops from RWA.  I certainly recommend them.

Rosalie

Even though I attended the RWA Convention in Orlando this year, I purchased the RWA CDs so that I could listen to the workshops I missed.  I’ve been listening to them all week, and boy am I glad I got them!

But then I started thinking about all others who missed workshops or couldn’t attend the convention this year.  So…

I’ve decided to do a little RWA 2010 Conference Blog Series outlining key concepts I came away with in a few of the workshops. 

Obviously, with approximately 130 workshops, it would be a huge undertaking to blog about all of the workshops (which was what I initially thought of doing).  I have decided to pick 12 of them, focusing on Craft. 

I would love to have guest bloggers to provide posts on some of these workshops.  They could be detailed posts or they could be short snippets outlining just one main concept. 

Remember, you would only be sharing what you took away from the workshop, not the specifics of the workshop itself!

Below is a tentative calendar of blog posts.  I’m aiming for a start date of September 27, 2010, and I’ll start off discussing Queryfest.  Please let me know if you are interested in blogging on one of the other workshops.  Your posts would include a promotional blurb with links back to your site. 

If you would like to guest blog on a workshop not included above (information on publishers would be helpful), please let me know and I’ll add you to the roster.

Even if you choose not to guest blog (but I hope you do!), please visit periodically to leave comments regarding each of the workshop blog posts.  I’d love to get others’ opinions on what they personally took away from the workshops.

Happy writing!

Rosalie