Another ? about odball characters

EllenG · Feb 15, 2006

Well oddball for lack of a better word. In my book, The Silver Wheel, which I had been submitting to agents as a paranormal romance novel, the main character uses drugs and has dealings with a prostitute in the first chapter. There are reasons and I hope that I made them clear. Of course, one has to read past page 11 to find these reasons. The character is complex but sympathetic. A friend, who normally likes her characters black or white, said she saw him as a good guy.
An agent asked to see my first 3 chapters. She wrote back that although she liked the style and plot, my main character was not sympathetic enough. I assume she meant not sympathetic enough for a romance novel. If I was calling this a paranormal novel would I still encounter this problem? I hate to ask this, but do books that are thought to be aimed at women, have to have very sympathetic male protagonists? Was it the drugs? I am now writing a more conventional romance novel. I assume I can have the male lead cheat and lie, but not use drugs? Or do I have this all wrong?
Btw I wound up self-publishing the Silver Wheel, which was a huge mistake. I am now getting my rights back.
Ellen

fallenangelwriter · Feb 15, 2006

Ellen- if you actually self-published your book, ther ear eno rights ot get back. you own them.

I assume you used some kind of vanity publisher. not the same thing at all.

EllenG · Feb 15, 2006

oddball characters

fallenangelwriter said:
Ellen- if you actually self-published your book, ther ear eno rights ot get back. you own them.

I assume you used some kind of vanity publisher. not the same thing at all.[/
QUOTE]

Call them what you wish. You pay them, they publish your book and you are supposed to get agreed-upon royalties from whatever sales outlets they offer. In my case I was ripped off. That really wasn't the point of my post, but FWIW, they are called POD.
Anyone care to comment on the character questions?

Sassenach · Feb 15, 2006

You're making a number of mistakes. An agent calling a hero 'unsympathetic' can mean everything or nothing. It may simply be a way to blow you off.

It also looks as if you're considering a sympathetic character as somehow weak or boring.

Have you targeted a particular publisher or line? Many of them provide fairly specific guidelines about what or what won't be considered. 'Conventional romance novel' doesn't really mean anything.

Simon Woodhouse · Feb 15, 2006

This seems like a question of knowing your target audience. I've read in a few different places that it's important to have some sort of idea about who your book is aimed at. Out of the three novels I've written (first one due for publication later this year), I've found it easier to picture who they're not aimed at rather than who they are.

I think you're better off writing the book the way you want it, and then when it comes to submitting it you'll start to get an idea of what sort of market will take it just from the rejection letters you get. The agent who commented about the character not being sympathetic enough, do you know what sort of books they usually represent?

EllenG · Feb 15, 2006

oddball characters

Yeah, I can either just write the book I want to, which actually I did already. Or I can write a romance novel that fits specific guidelines. Or do both. Thanks to both of you for your input. I think I need to ask a question in the romance genre board. That agent represented romance and 'womens' fiction'.

Cathy C · Feb 15, 2006

This is something we (my co-author and I) get a lot of email about. Our first (and second) paranormal romances features a Mafia hitman as the hero (who's also a werewolf.) He's not a warm and fuzzy character. He never redeems to become a good guy. But the reader gets to know him and LIKE him almost immediately in order to get a buy-in. In other words, either your hero's voice has to be unique enough, and likeable enough, to stand up to the drug use and prostitute immediately, or you'll lose a romance reader. He can use drugs. He can lie or cheat, but something about the HEROINE has to stop him cold from the outset. He needs to NOT want to lie to her or cheat on her, pretty much from the get-go. He might not even understand why he treats her differently, but he does.

Romance readers are reading to escape from real life. They want and EXPECT an HEA (Happily Ever After.) So if you DO shove real life in the book, you'd better have a pretty good excuse and make the romance overcome it.

Hope that helps!

Akuma · Feb 15, 2006

By a 'sympathetic' character, are you guys meaning that romance novels need a character who is sympatheitic or a character that makes the audience sympathetic to him/her?

Stupid question but I want the clarity.

Cathy C · Feb 15, 2006

Sort of both, Akuma, depending on how you're asking the question.

1. A hero and heroine must be able to feel emotions. Therefore they have the ABILITY to be sympathetic to another's plight (even if they aren't always.)

2. A hero and heroine must resonate with a reader, so that the reader wants the hero and heroine to succeed in the plot. This makes the character sympathetic.

Is this clear enough, or did I muddy it even further?

EllenG · Feb 15, 2006

oddball characters

Thanks Cathy. I feel I did make him interesting enough for a reader to stay with, but maybe I misjudged that. Also he is faithful in his way to the heroine, it is a telepathic relationship at first, only becoming physical later on. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

reph · Feb 15, 2006

WARNING: MOVIE SPOILER HEREIN

If you haven't seen Brokeback Mountain and you might still go, skip this post, which uses an incident from the film as an example.

Late in the film, Jack hires a male prostitute. Even later, the dialogue suggests that he's done this several times. Normally, I'd think less of a character of either sex who went to prostitutes of either sex, but in Brokeback it didn't bother me, except insofar as it affected his relationship with Ennis. By the time it happened, Jack was already established as a sympathetic character.

I think if you want readers to like your character, it's safer to put his shady behaviors toward the end of the book, not at the beginning, where they're forming an impression of him. And there should be character-related reasons for what he does (Jack was a tortured soul). Of course, there may be story-related reasons for not having him lapse that far into the story.

Akuma · Feb 15, 2006

I got it, Cathy. Thanks!

EllenG · Feb 16, 2006

oddball characters

Reph, These are good points. Yes, I can see why weak or wrong behavior might be hard to justify late in the story. But in this movie it apparently worked. Actually in my case, the prostitute and the drug scenes both are told in a flashback, supposedly having happened even before the story begins. I thought I was setting the mood of desperation- but who knows.

Thanks, Ellen

Another ? about odball characters

EllenG

fallenangelwriter

EllenG

Sassenach

5 W's & an H

Simon Woodhouse

EllenG

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

Akuma

Rare Writer Pokemon

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

EllenG

reph

Fig of authority

Akuma

Rare Writer Pokemon

EllenG