Ongoing Free Read

He gave me no time to reply or discuss the matter further. His arm clasped my elbow and he steered me out towards the car, almost pushing me into the passenger seat.

“Malcolm!”

My plea fell onto deaf ears. He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine, backing out of the driveway in a screech of tires.

I heard the click of the central locking activated and a small tremor of fear rushed through me. I wouldn’t have considered jumping out of a car that went at nearly ninety in suburbia – I wasn’t insane – but to know he blocked the way out made me uneasy.

We reached the police station all too soon and there he was again, opening my door and clasping my elbow. In we went into the big, stone-walled building.

From previous experience, I knew this statement business would take ages. How did I know? Because I was the one who had bailed my sister out of jail not so long ago. Sage had assaulted her husband and there was no way I would allow our parents to know she was a bully in her house. Sage Martin – she went by her husband’s name; easier to carry than Sage Tempest, especially when one knew how easily she blew a fuse or two – was the kind of person who could brew a typhoon in a teacup.

But, it seemed things went differently in West Haven where the rich and the rags were concerned. In the blink of an eye, the officers had taken Malcolm’s statement and mine as well, settled as we were in a comfy, well-heated room with warm mugs of coffee. A far cry from the full afternoon and night I had spent when Sage had been here.

It was dark however when we emerged. Malcolm took one look at the lit parking lot and he said, “I’ll take you home.”

It would be pointless to try to wheedle out and say I’d call a cab. So I acquiesced and we found ourselves in the Mercedes again, on the way to my apartment.

I gave Malcolm the address and he stopped the car in front of my brownstone building. I noticed his gaze scanning the area through the windshield.

For once, I was grateful I lived in the posh south-western section of town. Mind you, I didn’t own the place. I shared it with the owner, a wealthy heiress by the name of Stacey Walton. Like many young girls in her situation, she had come to the agency to look for an apartment in town as the gift for her eighteenth birthday. Nothing suited her, and throughout the weeks we worked together to find her a place, friendship developed between us. We weren’t bosom buddies, but we got along well. Now here comes this huge apartment on the market. It was actually two individual residences merged together. The owner wanted to get rid of it before his assets were valued for his divorced proceedings.

Stacey is the kind of girl who loses all reason the minute she hears the word ‘deal’. ‘Sales’ or ‘discount’ worked just as well too, getting her pen poised on her chequebook before she even realized what she was buying. So Stacey ends up with this huge place, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world, asks me if I’d like to be her roommate.

She also cited a paltry sum as rent, and I didn’t think twice before jumping on the offer. The money I saved every month could afford me one such place in five years.

“I’ll walk you to your door,” Malcolm said, bringing me back to the here and now.

“Oh, no need to. You must be exhausted. I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

“I insist,” he added and he exited the car to come open my door.

I wasn’t about to fight. Time spent with him was still what it was – time spent with him. I wasn’t going to spit on that.

We walked to the elevator and stepped into the carriage. The air was heavy and thick around us. I risked a glance at his profile and noted the tense set of his jaw. Fatigue was etched on his features, and my heart went out to him.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” I found myself asking on the threshold of my door.

He rubbed his hand over the nape of his neck. “Wouldn’t say no.”

“Come in,” I said as I pushed the door open and he followed me inside. “The living room is this way,” I said with a sweep of my hand while I headed to the kitchen.

I blanked all thoughts from my mind as I made coffee. No way would I think about the hunk who was probably draped over my sofa right now.

With the two steaming cups in my hand, I walked into the living room and nearly stopped in my tracks.

Malcolm wasn’t sprawled on the sofa but he stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window at the far end of the room. He had shed his jacket and tie, and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled to his elbows.

I had never seen a more breathtaking, masculine sight.

He turned and walked to me, taking one cup from my hand.

“Thanks,” he said in a husky whisper. “Come sit down,” he added. His green eyes held me captive and like a hypnotized creature, I went where his gaze indicated.

We sat there side by side, sipping our coffee in silence.

“We didn’t get any work done,” I ventured to say when the thought crossed my mind.

“Tomorrow,” he replied.

“Won’t we lag?”

“No.” He took a sip of his coffee before he looked at me. “What do you know about Waltner?”

“Not much,” I replied.

This got us talking about the project. Before we realized, a good deal of time had passed. Malcolm threw a glance at his watch at one point and suddenly said, “Aren’t you hungry?”

Come to think of it, my stomach was hurting.

“Let’s have dinner,” he suggested.

Dinner? With him? Alone? How had I gotten so lucky?

“How does pizza sound?” he asked.

I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Not many men would’ve suggested this so nonchalantly, and he impressed me with his quiet confidence. This wasn’t a man who felt he needed to dazzle and belittle people around him.

“Pizza sounds great,” I replied.

He took out his cell phone. “What would you like?”

He even asked me what I wanted? Who was this? The perfect man? “Pepperoni, with lots of cheese?”

He smiled, and it wreaked havoc in my heart. “A woman after my own heart,” he said, further sending me down the road to la-la-land.

I walked on air and breathed bliss in as we sat there talking about work. When the delivery came, we sat down on the floor with the boxes between us.

But bliss doesn’t last, does it? The doorbell rang, shattering the cocoon-like world we were ensconced in.

Who could it be? I stood and walked to the door. Throwing a quick glance at the peephole, I gasped.

What was he doing here?

“Prue, open the door,” Des said from the other side.

I swung the panel open. There he stood, looking at me with concern on his face.

He threw his arms around me. “Oh Prue, I was so worried.”

Worried? What on earth was going on?

“Are you okay?” he said as he released me.

“She’s fine, Chambers,” Malcolm’s cold voice said behind me.

Des froze, his gaze going from me to Malcolm and back again. He probably took in Malcolm’s casual attire, the kind a man wore in a house where he was completely at ease.

Anger flared on Des’s face.

“What’s he doing at your place at nine in the evening?” he spat out.

To be continued in a fortnight…

A man of substance

A hero...

The word itself is enough to send our hearts aflutter.

He is a worthy man, a handsome man (though he needs not be picture perfect), he is an honorable man. He is someone we can easily fall in love with.

In short, he is a man of substance...

But what does this entail when you're writing your hero? How do you bring substance to this persona?

Throughout this month we have brought you tips and tricks about how to create a hero, how to shape him, how to mold him to your story's specifics.

Today I'll go over them again, and add a few little hints too.

First, know who he is - what is he supposed to do in this story?

What sort of story is it? Dimensions of the hero explained how you need a 'different' man for every genre.

Then you go into how he is - archetypes come in handy here, to keep you in line when shaping him.

Next, you start fleshing him - physical appearance, among others, comes here. You can work off a picture/movie star/celebrity/your own man, whatever, as long as you know he has sandy hair when the story starts and he doesn't end up with hair like a raven's wings by the end.

You also decide whether your hero is a caveman or a metrosexual, or where along those 2 extremes he fits in. Depending on this definition, you'll know how he dresses (from Gap or from the runway shows of Armani, with a little bit of Prada thrown in), how he carries himself (is he blissfully unaware that he's got a hip movement to die for, or is he elaborately conscious that everywhere he walks is akin to a runway ramp?), what sort of lifestyle he has (stale pizza and beer at his place or the latest order from the hippest sushi bar in town?)

While I admit the metrosexual doesn't win my vote of favor, he can have his redeeming traits - up to you to make him lovable if you are using him (think David Beckham in an underwear ad).

Attitudes and values will also play in. What has made him who he is? Get yourself a well-compiled file on his backstory, and be sure to find his impact moment, which will define him for a lifetime.

And, if you are writing a romance, figure out how this man loves. I'm not talking only bedroom theatrics (though you do need to know how he fares and acts in the bedroom - room for lots of writer fantasies here *wink*). What does this man do when he loves a woman? Bring her flowers? What sort of flowers? Roses? Are they all of the same color or does he choose one flower by every color in the bouquets he brings? Does he bring a bouquet or a single flower?

Always, always, ask yourself questions. The hero is a man YOU need to fall in love with first. Treat him as any man you meet in real life - if this bloke captured your attention, what would you do? How do you think of him? Imagine you are sixteen again and start imagining your life with him, what it will be like, what he will be like.

Do this for this imaginary man, and you will end up creating a 'real' man that jumps off the page and grasps your reader's heart.

That's your aim - to make him memorable.

You have the tools. You have the knowledge. Use it.

As always, I welcome your comments! How do you go about creating your hero?

Aasiyah Qamar - Cultural romantic fiction, with a twist
With stories set amidst the rainbow nation of Mauritius, a multicultural island in the Southern Indian Ocean, author Aasiyah Qamar brings you tales of today's young women battling life on all fronts and finding love where they least expect it. Indo-Mauritian culture wants to stifle them in traditions, customs and antiquated morals while the world is opening its arms of modernity and globalisation. Where do these women belong? And more importantly, with whom?Find out more about her first release, The Other Side, here.

With Love, From Ms. Blush

Hello to you all wonderful, beautiful people!

A world of heroes... A world without those special men... A world where fiction and reality hover close to each other, with a thin line separating them...

This has been our topic for the month of February. And for the last week of the month, we'll pretty much be rounding up our discussion and views on the elusive ideal hero.

Catch T.J. on Tuesday to get her full scope on this man.

On Thursday, Aasiyah/Nolwynn will bring you her overall take on heroes - who is he, and what is he made up of?

Little aspects such as naming your hero and where to parachute him (what sort of hero for what sort of story) - this is what you need to look forward to in the coming days.

And, on Friday, Prudence Tempest will be back again. Remember, in our last instalment, she came face to face with the hunky Malcolm's slightly loony future ex-wife. What will Malcolm do now in the aftermath of this disagreeable encounter?

Tune in on Friday for the latest instalment of our online free read.

Don't forget - This February, we at Royal Blush are sending the hormones flying high.

This February, we're taking you on a quest:

Searching for The Perfect Hero...

The best of us for the best of you, that's our promise as we deliver the full flush of romance.

From now till later, enjoy!

With love, from Ms. Blush

Dimensions of the hero

Last week I spoke about the cultural hero, and what makes him and breaks him too in many cases.

This made think of another issue pertinent to heroes - the many dimensions involved in this word.

What am I getting at? Well, look at it this way.

What makes a hero?

In a mystery, he's the hero if he solves the puzzle.

In romance, he's the hero because he is a worthy man the heroine needs to fall in love with.

In fantasy, he's the leader, the one going for the quest.

In sci-fi, he is the commander.

All these men are heroes, but they are heroes in their own right.

Why? Because of the many dimensions of the hero.

We won't argue that there is a basic thing that makes a character a hero. He is inherently good, he gets the job done, he is worthy. Yes to all these.

But you cannot take this 'lumping' of characteristics, drop it in your ms and expect to have a hero.

This is where the archetypes play in (T.J's posts - archetypes, Creating a hero using archetypes, Back to basics: What breaks a hero) and where personalizing comes into play (Diana's post).

So now you've created a distinguishable hero for your ms. Good. Are you done yet? No.

A hero is 'different' for every genre. He 'looks like' something, 'acts' like something, 'thinks' like something depending on the genre of your story.

Let's take, for example, a mystery hero. A bloke you would've found in a Sidney Sheldon novel, for instance.

Looks - he can be gorgeous, average, non-descript. Every way he is, there is not much detail about his looks. You have a general idea but not a very clear picture. The hero here can be 'the kind of handsome man who has every woman sighing when he enters a room." We gather that he is handsome, but we don't know if he looks like Clive Owen, Daniel Craig, or Patrick Dempsey.

Behaviour - a mystery hero in a Sheldon book is often a man who isn't in the spotlight. He doesn't need to spotlight. He exists on a side fringe where you would probably not notice him without a second glance, and that too when you know what you're looking for.

Thinking - he is rational, logical, able to make deductions and has a terrific gut instinct. He needs all this to unravel the mystery.

Now, let's look at a romance hero.

Looks - he is usually handsome, and the more detail you give about his appearance, the better. Reading a romance, we know if he is tall or not so tall; dark or blond; square-jawed or not; well-shaved or sports a stubble; wears suits or jeans and a flannel shirt; whether his nose looks like Pierce Brosnan's nose or whether his voice resembles that of a crooner.

The reasoning here is - women need to fall in love with him. You cannot exactly fall in love with a man who could easily be mistaken with a hundred others in a crowd.

Behaviour - he is always honorable. He can be logical, rational, impulsive, headstrong, stubborn. He can do whatever he wants, as long as he can be redeemed/excused. He can be a show-off with a big heart, or he can be the loner who lives like a recluse. He is also a man who stands out of the crowd through his actions.

Thinking - he has the heroine's interest at heart. He wants to do right and do good. His motives are always pure. He can be a little warped (say he smokes like a chimney), but it's his heart that matters.

Am I saying that mystery heroes cannot make good romance heroes? No, and no for vice versa as well.

The point is, the same man has to be portrayed differently depending on the genre you are writing.

It's just like for an actor. The same actor can play 2 very different parts, but he will not be alike in the two movies. Think of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. Same man, right? I'll leave it up to you to decide.

As always, I'd love to get your comments.

Aasiyah Qamar - Cultural romantic fiction, with a twist
With stories set amidst the rainbow nation of Mauritius, a multicultural island in the Southern Indian Ocean, author Aasiyah Qamar brings you tales of today's young women battling life on all fronts and finding love where they least expect it. Indo-Mauritian culture wants to stifle them in traditions, customs and antiquated morals while the world is opening its arms of modernity and globalisation. Where do these women belong? And more importantly, with whom?Find out more about her first release, The Other Side, here.

Stereotypes: Written and otherwise

"The dark alpha type..."

"The smarmy blonde villain..."

"Onyx eyes of passion and immortality..."

Stereotypes. In writing, they are everywhere. In our heroes, heroines and our villains. Even in the sub-characters.

But how do you know what kind of character to use? How do you decide how they look? How they act? Talk?

I might be a minority here, but I can't use real people as the inspiration for my characters. They usually come to me as their own people. Dark, light, short, tall. Rather than using (as an example) the expected norm such as all vampires are dark and brooding, I like to know a little bit about where they come from. Such as with Diego in The Eternal Kiss. He's a Spaniard. A warrior. A fighter. He's dark, fierce, commanding, but not because he's a vampire. Because of the man he was before he became a vampire. Those lessons piled on top of his condition make him doubly hard on the outside-or so it seems.

So how often do we use stererotypes? Considering the above, without knowing about the character, he sounds like several of the same vein (no pun intended) that we've all read. Alpha, dark, brooding, mysterious, a tad dominant.

Believe it or not, those traits belong as much to that character as to my own husband, although he's not quite so mysterious these days. Stereotypes are found in written fiction-but they are found just as much in real life. The mold of every character we write began as a kernal of some teeny bit of intriguing information and it was then layered like a delicate truffle dessert. Each layer bringing a new surprise, a new facet of that character.

Some authors know all those layers before they start to write. Some *cofmecof* don't. So while characters can and are often a shadow of a recognizable stereotype, they are just as likely a version of some person in real life. Which is where knowing real life habits, accents, quirks and interests (back to Z's post) can make a character come alive.  And no matter how that one character came to be, we all want him to be "alive" for the story.

So the next book you read, or write, think about the characters. Think about people you know that share the same traits. Personalize the character and they will always be alive, and memorable.

Add water, stir, voila - a hero

Continuing on with the 'back to basics' is the topic of this post.

There are certain aspects of the archetypes that cannot be denied, but what happens when you veer away from them.

The answer is it depends. When we look at the archetypes, we don't necessarily see a fully fleshed hero. That's not uncommon. The archetypes are extremely lineal. It's pretty hard to see a character who is always the Chief or always the Loner. First and foremost, some heroes can turn jerk-esque if we writer their archetype to an unnerving degree. Who wants to get with a Chief who is always a chief. Not many women.

This is where character blending comes in. Instead of having just one archetype, you have different aspects of archetypes.

Primary – The Chief
Secondary – The Swashbuckler
Tertiary – The Charmer

The mix is as follows --

Since the Hero is a Chief most of the time, he'll be a decisive alpha male. Going against the Eight Archetypes as discussed earlier, I find that most real life Chiefs are also extremely logical or logistical. (See how the blending is beginning).

The Swashbuckler always works well with a Chief Archetype. Blend him in and you have a faithful and logical captain who is always on the go. These are the main heroes found in Quests or Outer Space Adventures.

The Charmer. Captain Kirk was a Charmer. Except for the archetype says a charmer isn't reliable. Mix him with the above and he will be.

Always feed the main archetype with the secondary and tertiary traits. Find a moment to let the underlying traits shine, it makes the hero appear more real.

This doesn't mean the hero will be invincible. Every character has to have at least one flaw. Normally the archetypes can help you there. Don't go the cliché path. This has gotten old and tiresome. Instead think of how what we see as a benefit in an archetype can actually be a deterrent.

Don't go too far with Archetypes is always a good rule to follow. Get the character moving and working for you, but keep them on a short leash. In the end, know your hero. This always helps the process.

So tell me, do you think the archetypes are outdated, overused, or just plain stupid? Which do you prefer? A blended character or a firm archetypal hero?

Until next week – cheers and happy writing,

T.J.

With Love From Ms. Blush

Hello to you all wonderful, beautiful people!

What's a world without heroes? A pretty dreary perspective, wouldn't you say?

Or would it be a blessing in disguise?

How do we reconcile to the idea that heroes are not exactly the men we meet day in, day out in our regular existence, and vice versa? Can reality meet the imaginary? Can we as writers build this bridge to connect these two perspectives?

Last week we shifted our focus to this aspect.

Angela Guillaume posted about the worthy hero, and what makes him 'real'.

Aasiyah/Nolwynn gave us more about the cultural hero, what makes and (mostly) breaks him in the world of fiction.

T.J. Killian gave us an insider peek into the basics of writing a hero.

This week, we continue in this same vein.

Catch T.J. again as she tells us more about the basics of the hero - but this time, what makes him as opposed to what breaks him.

Diana Castilleja will chime in about her view on this whole topic. Catch her on Wednesday.

Aasiyah/Nolwynn will go into the many dimensions of the hero - is there one 'template' for every story?

Don't forget - This February, we at Royal Blush are sending the hormones flying high.

This February, we're taking you on a quest:

Searching for The Perfect Hero...

The best of us for the best of you, that's our promise as we deliver the full flush of romance.

From now till later, enjoy!

With love, from Ms. Blush