Old and Tired Character Careers

Stacia Kane · Aug 19, 2007

My heroines: hematologist, sales clerk, Yoga instructor, accountant, private detective/bounty hunter, sales/product manager for a distillery, therapist...um...

My heroes, though, tend to unfailingly be wealthy businessmen, mostly because they're also paranormal creatures and so have had years to amass empires. One (of my non-para guys) was a teacher, and one worked in advertising...

Sonarbabe · Aug 19, 2007

Susan Gable said:
LOL. Ummmm...I seem to recall taking you to task on her career, too. <G>

Sorry, Sonarbabe.

Yeah, I know you did. LOL. It's okay, though. In my current one, I'm doing a spin on the boss/secretary scenario. He's the CEO of a department store in NYC and she's his personal assistant. Of course she has tons of business skills that she'll be utilizing in the next couple of chapters while getting through his thick melon that yes, she does love him--even if he does like to pretend he's a jerk.

HoosierCowgirl · Aug 19, 2007

My heroines have been ... a dairy farm manager; a therapeutic riding instructor; a banker; an ER nurse; a writer; a fabric artist; and in my historical projects, weaver, mid-wife, farmer's daughter running the show while the men-folk are fighting the War Between The States ..

Heroes have been ... a large-animal veterinarian who hates working on horses; a horse shoer; farmer; policeman who's thinking of quitting and becoming a farmer; a train engineer; utility lineman; and historically, several Civil War soldiers; farmers; school teachers; a frontier doctor; a weaver; and the owner-operator of a grist mill.

Do you think these guys sound too blue-collar? I can't help it if they do -- most guys look better in work clothes

author_martina · Aug 20, 2007

I think it's not a matter of attainable or realistic, what's important is how you create the characters and what they do. For me reading romance is escapism so I am much more interested in how excited I get about the characters and their story than what job title you give them.

kimb68 · Aug 21, 2007

Um, my heroine works as an AIDS project assistant at a social marketing firm and by the end of the book is considering heading off to grad school for a Masters in public health. My hero is a former partner in a buyout firm, currently a corporate negotiator, and by the end of the book is unemployed and broke.

For the record, I really detest all these marginal, low-paying jobs that women seem to have in romance: caretaker, horse trainer (or anything having to do with animals), struggling small business owner, secretary, librarian, matchmaker. Occasionally, you get a high-powered executive, but she's inevitably an irrational, emotional wreck.

As for the heroes, don't get me started on NAVY Seals. It's like Dukes in regencies. They must outnumber their real-world counterparts at least 1,000 to 1.

Of course, a good writer can make even these tired cliches work...

Crinklish · Aug 21, 2007

Going way, way back to Lorreign's original question, she mentioned considering making her hero a music mogul, because she hadn't seen much of that. The prevailing wisdom is that, strangely enough, rock stars (or country stars, in this case) don't sell, in the same way that as a rule, sports stars don't sell. That said, Susan Elizabeth Phillips might beg to differ

. But if you're free to pick any career you want, I'd recommend playing it safe and not choosing the music world, because as an editor, I'd consider that a hurdle to overcome, rather than an asset.

Lorreign · Aug 21, 2007

I decided against that cause I have no idea how to research it and make it believable. What about owning an apple orchard or a wine vineyard? And he refused to live in the house on the land because it deserves a family, something he can't give it. lol.

Crinklish · Aug 21, 2007

I think seeing a job like vintner from the inside would be cool--there certainly have been stories set in that world before (there's an old Lisa Jackson Harlequin, among others), but I think there's plenty of room for updating. I'm not as sold on the "house needs a family" part, but that could be simply because I am cynical and black of heart.

Susan Gable · Aug 21, 2007

I think the problem with the "glamor" jobs - rock star, sports star, etc. -- is that it's hard to buy into the HEA fantasy. We see these guys in real life, most of the time they're crashing and burning their lives.

So women (who constitute the majority of our audience) have a hard time buying into a HEA for one of these guys.

Also, there's the fact that many women who are sports widows turn toward our novels to get away from the reason the guy in their life is ignoring them.

Not saying these are MY opinions, just that I've heard all of this tossed around before in discussions about careers.

Susan G.

AndiB · Aug 21, 2007

I think that's another problem I have. I see a lot of characters in jobs that require 80+ hours a week of work and yet they have all this free time in which to fall in love. It doesn't jive well with me. But that's just me. I want them to be believable and everyone can't be an oil tycoon or independently wealthy. If there were as many as I find in romance novels I would have met one by now (I've certainly read about enough).

StoryG27 · Aug 21, 2007

AndiB said:
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.

Me too, well sort of. I am married to an Army soldier and a sniper at that! Talk about stereo-types. And he is the sweetest most nurturing man you could ever know. He's exceptionally smart and light hearted. He is in no way submissive, but neither am I. There really doesn't have to be a submissive person in the mix as long as neither one is overbearing.

I don't mind if the hero and heroine have typical careers, as long as they don't conform to the stereo-types. When I'm reading a story, I like to be surprised and entertained. It is very hard to surprise or entertain a reader if the character is a stereo-type.

ZannaPerry · Aug 21, 2007

Well, I have my hero switching from a negotiator to a fighter (boxer.) And my heroine...well, she pretty much is great all around and money comes easy for her. No, she is not a hooker, whore, or stripper. She's just......can't describe her just yet.

You see, I would love to make my hero something to do with the FBI or being a spy, but it wouldn't really fit well in my story. And hero cops are used over so many times.

job · Aug 21, 2007

kimb68 said:
, I really detest all these marginal, low-paying jobs that women seem to have in romance: caretaker, horse trainer (or anything having to do with animals), struggling small business owner, secretary, librarian, matchmaker....

I'm with you in re secretary.
(Edited to amend that -- some secretarial jobs are intriguing. I used to work in overseas places where the secretaries were at least bilingual and earned twice as much as the 'junior executives'.)

The rest of them sound like interesting jobs that just don't pay well.

Isn't there something to be said for doing what you love, and not worrying about money?
(Jo, looking wryly at the royalty checks ...)

Susan Gable · Aug 21, 2007

Regarding Matchmakers -- there is a cool new tv show about a matchmaker in Buffalo, NY, and she is just a PIP! Man, she calls 'em like she sees 'em, and I really like her a lot. She'd make a great character, let me tell you.

Susan G.

Marian Perera · Aug 22, 2007

I would love to read a romance where the heroine was a scientist - someone who was intelligent, genuinely loved research and who didn't think she was plain or frumpy because she had to tie back her hair, put a lab coat on or wear glasses/goggles. If there was a sex scene in the laboratory, that would be even hotter (maybe they could start the big centrifuge spinning and make out on that). Of course, I'll probably end up writing this myself.

job · Aug 22, 2007

Queen of Swords said:
I would love to read a romance where the heroine was a scientist

Nobody's Baby But Mine. SEP. Lovely book.

rihannsu · Aug 23, 2007

I've gone on a tear recently and had my heroines entrepreneurs or artists. I think I'm playing out my fantasy of self- employment through my characters.

loathlylady · Aug 24, 2007

Lorreign said:
What if you wrote a romance with Tom of myspace as the hero. Of course you couldn't, but the thought is amusing.

Oh my god, that made me laugh and laugh. What popped into my head was a terrible, terrible parody of romances:

"But, Tom," she typed furiously into the instant messenger window, "why must you be everybody's friend? What about me? Why am I not in your Top 8?"

"DarkeChylde83, my love," he typed back tenderly, "if you cannot understand my need to unite and inform the peoples of Myspace, then there can be no future for us. I am like the wind and must caress the cheeks of the world, impartially and without question."

AndiB said:
I think that's another problem I have. I see a lot of characters in jobs that require 80+ hours a week of work and yet they have all this free time in which to fall in love.

That's not just a problem with white-collar jobs in romances. I'm thinking specifically about Westerns, where the cowboys have been driving several hundred longhorns down the trail, from dawn to dusk, and the hero still has the energy to lure the heroine to a nearby stream and throw her into the arms of bliss. Er, what? She doesn't have traildust in all her nooks and crannies? He isn't thinking about eating some beans and crawling gratefully into his bedroll? Nope, they're gonna knock boots two or three times beneath a willow.

My favorite contemporary portrayal of a working lug is in a novel that I can't remember the name of (His Brother's Wife? His Brother's Keeper? Something like one of those), where the hero is a western Canadian cattle rancher. He gives a little speech towards the end about how being married to him isn't going to be easy because he comes home smelling bad and dog-tired, and sometimes he falls asleep in the bathtub. The part about falling asleep in the bathtub really clinched the character for me -- I grew up on a farm, and I can't even count the number of times I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and had to pound on the door because my dad had fallen asleep in the tub again.

I think there's room in the world of romance for more blue-collar-ish jobs. Not everybody has to be a mogul or a Greek prince or a Scottish laird. Gimme a guy from Maine who catches lobsters or a helicopter mechanic or a pharmacist.

Susan Gable · Aug 24, 2007

loathlylady said:
I think there's room in the world of romance for more blue-collar-ish jobs. Not everybody has to be a mogul or a Greek prince or a Scottish laird. Gimme a guy from Maine who catches lobsters or a helicopter mechanic or a pharmacist.

Yeah!

I have a friend who wrote a novel with a scientist hero -- he wrote the heroine a Newtonian love letter. ("I was a stationary object until you acted upon me..." LOL. Something like that, anyway.)

Susan G.

Manat · Aug 24, 2007

Cathy C said:
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.

Maybe not, but one of my favorite super jerk movie heros was Ash from the Evil Dead series.

Shop Smart. Shop S Mart

Judith

http://www.Judithjamesauthor.com

Manat · Aug 24, 2007

Just thinking a bit more about heros and Lost came to mind. The obvious guy, hunky do right Dr. Jack, really annoyed me. I have to say I much preferred Sawyer and Sayid, though I don't know how a con man or an ex army torturer would work in a romance novel.

loathlylady · Aug 28, 2007

Susan Gable said:
Yeah!

I have a friend who wrote a novel with a scientist hero -- he wrote the heroine a Newtonian love letter. ("I was a stationary object until you acted upon me..." LOL. Something like that, anyway.)

Susan G.

Ah, man, that would be an amazing love letter. Far preferable to stealing from Shakespeare -- how many times has the sun risen in that balcony, now?

readitnweep · Mar 22, 2012

job said:
If you actually NEED to make your hero one of the top 100 rich bachelors in the country, it limits you.

Very true - and, as a reader, I look for stories where the main characters aren't on top of the universe. Successful in their profession or calling- yes. The richest man on earth? No. Wise input that the globe-trotting billionaire may limit you.

They like to see women doing interesting work or important work because they wish their work were interesting and impotant...

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.

I choose to concentrate on different things once I had kids, so my life is far from glitz and glamour, BUT I run from stories where the heroine is any of the following: a model, actress, reporter, fashion buyer. I may miss some good stories that include these professions effectively, but I've read so many stories that do not that I avoid them, perhaps unfairly so.

I do find heroines who have started their own businesses interesting, showing the challenges of doing so and how she overcomes them. I far prefer charactes I can relate to those I can't, but I guess I'm in the minority there.

Mr Flibble · Mar 22, 2012

Manat said:
I don't know how a con man or an ex army torturer would work in a romance novel.

I've had a mass murderer a suicidal junkie, a murderous pirate and a mute viking as LIs. Oh and a misogynist woman 'lover'

It IS possible. It's more working out why this man needs to love/be loved. And why this chick is the right chick.,

So one MC is X

What makes other MC the antidote to that? Why do they fit? This is the question we all need to answer in romance fiction - what hole in X's life/soul does Y fit?

oooh I came over all deep there. I may have to lie down.

Lil · Mar 22, 2012

It's probably a good thing to remember that there are always new readers who have never before encountered the arrogant Greek billionaire, the jaded rake. the shy wallflower who only needed a red dress, etc.

Everything is new for some reader. And sometimes, striving for something new tumbles over into the ridiculous.

Old and Tired Character Careers

Stacia Kane

Girl Detective

Sonarbabe

Working In A Coal Mine...

HoosierCowgirl

author_martina

kimb68

Crinklish

Lorreign

Crinklish

Susan Gable

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales

AndiB

StoryG27

Miss Behave

ZannaPerry

^ Just Me & a Sharpie

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

Susan Gable

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales

Marian Perera

starting over

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

rihannsu

Mrs. Bruce Wayne

loathlylady

Susan Gable

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales

Manat

Manat

loathlylady

readitnweep

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Lil