Old and Tired Character Careers

Lorreign

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So on my book, I'm toying with the career my hero has. He does well, since he is in like the top 40 most eligible bachelors or something like that, but what is his career? Does he own his own company? Was it inherited? Is he the bastard son of a European prince? lol. My first thought was that he owns a record label and the story is set in Nashville. But I haven't done any research yet so it isn't solid. I've never seen that done before though...but certainly it would be more refreshing than the multi-millionaire greek business tycoon? lol. What do you think, what are the most used careers for the heros?

What about the heroine? She's certainly easier I guess since most of the time, she ends up being happy homemaker cause he can provide more than enough to support whatever family they might have. Teacher, librarian, owns a bookstore that has been in the family for generations...a writer! lol. I can't think of the more used careers for heroines since mostly what I read is historicals where women didn't have jobs XD. So far my heroine works in a local library while she's going to school part-time to be a teacher. Easy enough I guess. I'm still refining the details. But what are the most used careers for the heroines?

And finally, does the career being used too much really affect the book overall? Sure if you look at ALL books as a whole, it is a bit unrealistic that there are THAT many billionaires with their own companies in the world, but who really looks at it that way? lol. I think I could deal with another European billionaire as long as the rest of the book was good. I dunno, what do you think?

I start too many topics XD. I'm sorry, I am just brimming with the need to discuss stuff like this. Perhaps I shall browse through the old topics and see what I can collect that way.
 

AndiB

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To play the devil's advocate...why does she have to be the happy homemaker? Why can't he become Mr. Mom. For that matter why do they have to be wealthy? Couldn't he be as believable as a fireman, police officer, ambulance driver (guess I'm in a true hero frame of mind today), or a helicopter pilot for the local TV news station?

Why can't she be the CFO, CPA, or the owner of the local ice cream shop?

Just my little two cents and my goodness I'm getting ideas over the ice cream shop thing.
 

Lorreign

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I think for the most part, or well, I assume for some part, that women want to be carried away. I think there is some small part in all of us (well, maybe not all) that wants to be dominated. A secret desire, maybe. They might often read romances that follow a similar pattern, like cinderella stories, etc. If the tables were reversed, to me, it just doesn't seem as right. Not that it would be wrong, but I dunno, imagine a Duchess or whatever who falls in love with a pick pocket thief (who doesn't turn out to be a true prince or king or other high title, just a street urchin). To me, if the female were the dominating role, it just wouldn't appeal to me. Simply because I don't want to dominate, I want to be dominated.

The best equation is when both are equal. Where one isn't dirt poor and one filthy rich, but rather both living comfortably, if even one better than the other.

That is just my opinion and my tastes, but everyone is different. Part of it I guess is that I WANT to be a happy homemaker who stays at home and takes care of the kids and cleans and writes when she can.
 

veinglory

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A lot of woman may want to be dominated or to fantasise about this. But those of us who don't, even as a fantasy, have a hell of a time finding romance to read and are often implicitly told either we aren;t romance readers or aren't even really women. I want romance with submissive males. The romance books I have found in this area, well, it is less than 10. But there is a difference between the subordinate-fantasising 'type' and being female. I also think blurbs should indicate subordination so I can avoid it rather than giving it as the ubiquitous norm.

As for careers, they should be intergral. A marine who cries when she chips her nail, a reporter who runs around all day without producing copy, a squeamish veterinarian who isn't busy all day dosing and operating etc--these annoy me. Career women (and men) should be shown doing their career and what is shown should be accurate.
 

Cathy C

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And see, that's exactly why I can't stand to read a lot of the Regencies or historicals. I can't imagine wanting to be taken care of, nor bonding with a guy who'd want to take care of me. So, I tend to create "equals who don't really need each other, but love each other." That tends to make our books appeal more to the urban fantasy reader than the romance readers. Because I think that you're right and some women really DO long to be taken care of--and whether that comes down to mean "dominated" I'll leave to individual discretion. ;)
 

Lorreign

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lol I don't mean dominated as in the female has no will of her own. It seems hard to put into words. Like, they are both equal to each other, but the male is usually the stronger of the two, the shoulder, but he's got a sensitive side too. It is easier to write contemporary where it is realistic that both would hold upstanding roles and one isn't higher than the other by gender or position.

Now, I have read some BAD books that do put the female as some brainless twit and those do annoy me. Where is her fire? Or sometimes they give her TOO much fire and she doesn't want to compromise with the hero at all (how does a relationship work like that?).

I think if the hero is made to be outstandingly rich, the heroine has to have some pull of her own that makes her just as important, if just to the hero. And vice versa. Cause sometimes what you need isn't wealth, but something else. Like maybe they own that building that you need to demolish to build your theatre? etc.

Equality is best, but I think it would be OK if the scales were tipped just a LITTLE bit, but more than that and you are in the danger zone.

Oh dear, weren't we supposed to be talking about overused CAREERS of characters? LOL.
 

AndiB

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Call me crazy but I don't see fireman, cops, or helicopter pilots as submissive men by any means. Not normally wealthy by any means but certainly not exactly submissive. I happen to be married to a computer program who defies all stereotypes when it comes to dominance because he is certainly no mild mannered geek.

My point was that we often limit our character's career options by stereotyping them.

BTW there are MANY romantically/sexually submissive people who have high-demand/high-power careers. The ability to be submissive when not in the corporate world provides a sense balance in their lives.
 

veinglory

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I know what you meant, it just bothers me. In fact swapping hero/heroine in your description what match what I am looking for. Having not found it I write and read gay romance instead. The romance genre in general does a *very* poor job of realising the alpha-male-averse reader even exists. But we do. So far books where the female is stronger or at least a true equal are all but impossible to find outside of BDSM which is not my thing.

What sort of careers were you considering--you left that pretty open?
 

Lorreign

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To me, firemen and cops aren't uncommon roles that men will play in books in my reading experience, especially cops (though secret agents are probably MORE common, but same kind of idea...kind of.). But the stereotype in them I guess is that the author usually makes them men. Firemen especially since a lot of the volunteer fire departments around here don't allow women to join (talk about sexist! lol).

If I'm reading contemporary, I don't want the heroine to be totally indepted to the hero, that I will admit. Like I read this novella once where the heroine was the hero's mistress and at the beginning, he gave her a choice to either stay on as his secretary or be his mistress. Of course she chose mistress. To me that screams that she had no self-worth, but her reasoning was that it was the only way she could be with him boo-hoo. And of course, he wasn't the PDA type of guy either. To me, it would have been more interesting for her to defy him and be his secretary and have the sexual tension of those close quarters just explode around them until they couldn't avoid it anymore.

Veinglory - I was just wondering what you guys thought were overused careers in books. Oh by the way, have you ever read Poppy Z. Brite? I've never read her, but I've been told she does a lot of the gay romance too. I want to read her books but my library doesn't have any of them.
 
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veinglory

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I think the careers need to support whatever basic plot you have in mind. Most people spend enough time at work that it will need to be the right frame for them meeting and their conflict.

Careers I am tired of include male: cop, 'businessman', lawyer, cowboy and female: lawyer, reporter, veterinarian, psychologist. Nothing, however, bothers me more than people seeming to have all the money in the world with no real explanation of where they get it or have careers but spend no apparent time doing them.
 

Lorreign

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Nothing, however, bothers me more than people seeming to have all the money in the world with no real explanation of where they get it or have careers but spend no apparent time doing them.

Oh I totally agree on that one! And usually with scenarios like that, the hero takes off weeks for vacation or decides to blow off the office to take the heroine out to lunch...I would think that if you got in the position to be in that position, you aren't the family man who is home by 5 everyday. The only way I would think that could be decently explained is if it is old family wealth, but even then it is quite unrealistic.
 

Cathy C

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Now, something I WOULD buy is for the hero (or, even better--the HEROINE) to have done something really, really smart--like buy a whole bunch of penny stock in Google because he really did think it would hit big, and then he cashed in. Or he founded something like YouTube or Ebay as a lark/to fill a personal need and it took off, or is even the next Ron Popiel. Then he has plenty of money, and plenty of time and isn't sure quite what to do with either one. :)
 

Lorreign

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an Internet mogul, yeah that sounds possible. LOL What if you wrote a romance with Tom of myspace as the hero. Of course you couldn't, but the thought is amusing.
 

clara bow

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IMHO, I don't think it matters what career you choose. Choose what's exciting for you to write (and however much research you can stand doing). It all comes down to execution. You can refresh any type of of-used character career--or be lazy and do a retread. I don't question the author's choice of career for the characters unless it's done incompetently.
 

Sonarbabe

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Personally, if I never read another romance where the heroine writes romances it will be too soon. This seems especially prevalent in erotic romance.

Erm, my heroine writes romance in my upcoming story. :eek: FWIW, she has a raging case of writer's block.
 

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Whatever careers you pick, you're going to be doing a lot of research on it and a lot of writing about it.
Why not pick two careers that interest you, or that you know something about already?

If you actually NEED to make your hero one of the top 100 rich bachelors in the country, it limits you.
If you just need him to be rich and self-confident and powerful, you have a lot more freedom.

So maybe approach it ...

"What kind of job would the hero I'm thinking about seek out?"
"What job works well to create story conflict with the heroine?"
"What job gives them the best chance of a HEA?"
"What job has elements I can pick out and use in the story?"

Then, when you have that profession picked, figure out a way to make somebody in the job reasonably rich.

So maybe your ichthyologist does undersea treasure hunting on the side, with tremendous success.
Maybe your artist in glass sells them for $8000 a shot.
Maybe your building contractor did some wise investment in land.
Maybe your archeologist wrote a best selling popularization.


Can I add one thought on women's work?

Lots of our readers are stuck in dull jobs.
They like to see women doing interesting work or important work because they wish their work were interesting and impotant.

Because they work, they want to know that working is valuable.
But they know the real payoff is home and family, which is why they read Romance, after all.

So HEA works if it's centered around home and family. Works fine.
You can also leave the door open to a future career HEA if you want, without much investment.
 

jodiodi

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One reason I write paranormal and fantasy means I don't have to worry much about jobs. My heroine in my fantasy was a student and when she got to where she was supposed to go, she was pretty much equal to the hero--she became a warrior.

In the ones I'm writing set in contemporary times, my heroines have work from home jobs that make pretty good money for them. one is a free-lance reporter. Another is an archivist hired to organize and catalogue the collections of a deceased explorer. There's a home-based medical transcriptionist and the other is a consultant.

The heroes have all been otherworldly except for the fantasy one. He's a warrior prince.

As a reader, I don't really care about the mundane day-to-day details. I want to read something exciting and different. I know all about paying bills and working and having my car repaired and such. I don't particularly want to be dominated, but I like the 'Cinderella' fantasy sometimes. I like having them be equals, but I like the idea of knowing someone will take care of me if I need it. Knowing he's got my back. That's how my heroes and heroines interact, usually. The heroes support the heroines and let them stand on their own, but are there for them when they need them and vice versa.

I don't like submissive men. I have no respect for them and so I don't like to read about them. I like a man who can give me a challenge both in real life and in the books I read. If i've got to take care of a man, he's useless to me. I have my own issues and don't need some needy guy.

But that's just my opinion.
 

Josie

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Veinglory mentions the profession of a "cop" or "agent" for the hero....I'm tired of that one...why so many cops and agents? Aren't those occupations get worn thin?

Cheers :)
 
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Lorreign

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cop isn't so bad, at least it is something that is attainable by the average joe.

I once read a book where the hero was a retired (I think he resigned or something) cop who wrote suspense thrillers. That was an interesting choice I'd say, you go Sandra Brown! lol.
 

jodiodi

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There are plenty of attainable occupations: Nurse, teacher, soldier, check-out clerk at a supermarket, stocker at Wal-Mart, farmer, chef, student, insurance adjuster, vet, radiology tech, car salesperson ... the list goes on forever. Unless the occupation is key to the plot, you can pick any one you like.
 

Cathy C

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I tried to make a hero a manager of WalMart (although I called it "QualMart," an up and coming competitor.) Our editor said no and so did several others we tried to sell the idea to. Seems that normal "dull" jobs won't sell to the majority of readers. I think it goes back something a reader once said about the heroine in our first book, who was too "real" with mental health issues and a low self-esteem. The reader said something to the effect of, "I want to read about people who have BETTER lives than me. That's how I escape FROM my life. If I want to know about someone with an average, cr*ppy life, all I have to do is look out my window in any direction." :ROFL:
 

Susan Gable

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I sort of like the role reversals, with the men being the more nurtering, etc.

I've had heroes who were: an architect, a psychologist, a computer guru who ran his own programming company, and a hero who was the Chief Engineer at a tv station. :)

Hereos in process include a social worker who runs an adoption agency, a zoo Director, a war correspondent, a chef, and...that's all I can think off the top of my head. <G>

Realistic, totally not glam jobs.

Susan G.
 

pepperlandgirl

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I just want to add my two cents. I'm tired of romance novels that don't seem interested in allowing the woman to have her own life and career. I mean hell, our heroine's career, and the importance of it in her life, played a major role in our recent Samhain release, and it was such a departure that Mrs. Giggles commented on it specifically when she reviewed the title.

Women are capable of being something other than librarians and teachers.

I hope my husband didn't expect me to be the "happy little home-maker" when he married me. If so, he's probably gravely disappointed. He cooks the meals, does the laundry, and makes sure we don't live in squalor. I write books, go to school full time, teach writing courses, and work another part-time job.