Byronic Hero

...A staple character in any gothic tale worth its salt, right?  *Sigh* I kinda got over the Byronic Hero in the 8th grade. Who really wants the bipolar, angsty white dude who acts like a total flaming asshole to everybody? More troubling, the "feminist" white women who are destined to become his sexual/romantic "conquests" are somehow (in the eyes of literary scholars) setting gender-positive messages by enduring his self-centered crap? Yes, I'm looking at you, Brontë sisters.  

Honestly I don't get it. But since my zombie erotica will be a southern gothic, I have to get this Byronic Hero thing down. Let's be clear. I've NEVER been attracted to this sort of personality. And I'm having a ridiculous time writing my Byronic Hero (or anti-hero/villain) in the "breathless, dreamy, sparkly" style of traditional gothic-romanticism. 

I literally had to start the story from scratch. I was writing my Byronic Hero more like...well...a psychopathic serial killer/rapist and less like the "Misunderstood Bad Boy" crap-o-la. I guess it is because I know Byronic Heroes do not EXIST outside the pages of romance-gothic novels. In real life, Byronic Heroes are mentally ill, abusive, serial killers, drug-addicts, pedophiles, con artists, and or rapists. And there's NOTHING sexy about that is there? 

I threw up in my mouth a little. Seriously. Then I deleted more than 10K words and decided to start over. This story is, perhaps, the HARDEST fucking thing I've ever attempted to write. I'm annoyed but determined to finish all 50K words of this novella. So help me gawd. This will be the BEST zombie civil war erotica on the market! *sobs quietly* Over and out. 

Smexxxy Friday (Manuel Ferrara)

Manuel Ferrara is a French porn star. And um...I kinda stalk him. On twitter. On porn sites (skip to 3:54) On blogs. And yeah...I'm totally blushing right now. And also grinning like a frickin' idiot. Everyone has their favorite porn star, right? Manny is mine. 

What I like most about Manuel Ferrara? His primal savagery. He fucks girls like some sort of beast...but he kisses them while he does it and gives them prolonged eye contact. It's what I call "fucking gently." When I watch him, I feel as if he's genuinely trying to make the woman orgasm. I don't feel like he's "working" for a shoot. And he has a cute French accent and he has a funny sense of humor and he's won dozens of porn awards...and um...he has LOTS of female fans. Apparently. *snort*

I'm not going to write much more...honestly my cheeks are flushed and I giggle each time I glance at the photo. So let's just end it here call it a day, eh? I don't usually have this electric thunderbolt reaction to men, but when I do it's like...ooooowaaaaah. *bites lips* Mmmmmmmmmm... *unwholesome thoughts flit through VC's head* 

Alpha Male Villains

Ahhh...the quintessential "alpha male" antagonist. Does it get any better than Gaston from Beauty and the Beast? Creating an evil (authentic) villain can be just as challenging as characterizing your main character! At the moment, I am having serious problems with one of the villains in my novel! Agggh! It's easy to make your villain a dick. It's much harder to humanize him so his motivations seem authentic.



So what is an "alpha male" exactly? And why do alpha males make such good bad guys?


Alpha males aren't necessarily "evil" but they do have character traits that often twist them into unsympathetic characters. "Alpha" types are assertive, aggressive, self-absorbed, confident, proactive, and tend to put themselves in leadership roles. These traits can be good (and even necessary) in some situations, but in most interpersonal situations, not so much. True alpha males are rare. They should make up less than 15% of the general population. In the wild, the strongest alpha usually wins the right to mate with the female and pass his genetic line. Likewise, in human settings, the alpha male usually puts himself at the top of the social hierarchy (CEOs, politicians, military generals, etc.)


If you're dealing with an alpha male, he will try to assert his "dominance" over you.  An unwilling main character who refuses to follow his rules can create the perfect conflict scenario. This is why alpha males make excellent antagonists in fiction. However, whenever you're creating a villain (alpha or not) you've got to give him realistic motivations. He can't just be evil for the sake of being evil. 


I love to HATE my villains. A truly convincing bad guy can become my favorite character! If your readers love to hate your villain, they will root for your main character. And often they'll turn the pages just to see how the villain "get's it" in the end. So with that said, who is YOUR favorite fictionary villain? And is he an alpha male?