Do Readers Love Your Hero?

Incredibly Deep Hole

Yes. 

My dog dug this Incredibly. Deep. Hole. 

Grandma and Grandpa had just left after visiting for a few days. Do you think he was upset?

Hey everyone. Dora here, and when I posted this picture on Facebook, a friend who works at the fire station with my hubby asked if I planned to cover the hole before "the chief" got home.

What? Why would I do that?

Bruiser the puppy

Hubby, aka "the chief", enjoys the antics of his baby, and if you lived through this cutie's puppy stage, you might understand. As a pup, Bruiser loved to swim in our pool. Once, when our older son fell asleep with the sliding door open, Bruiser went swimming, dragging along my hubby's, er...undergarments. He's a bit mischievous, (OK, a lot) so digging a hole that deep clearly wasn't an issue. 

But my friend's comment made me think about...

Perceptions of a hero.

"How could I possibly make that connection," you ask. 

"What correlation does a hole have with a hero?"

Not the hole necessarily, but how different people perceive the same person. 

At the fire station, hubby may be the chief, but at home, he's my husband, my sweetheart, my best friend and life partner. My hero.

While he may be gruff and authoritative at work, at home, he's cuddly and kind, helpful and considerate, devoted and loving. While the community sees him as a public figure, someone who often must reject their building plan, or as a manager, the final decision maker on discipline or firing, I see a man devoted to God and family.


As a writer, I must create heroes that readers admire or like. 
Although my hero may be gruff on the job or around others, he must have redeeming value to the heroine, and ultimately, to my readers. 

How do I do that? Let me show you by giving you an inkling of why I perceive my hubby differently than others might:

• He immerses himself in the Word every morning.
• When one of our sons call with a problem, he drops everything to listen and works together for a solution.
• He rides along with me on all my library presentations (and believe me when I say that's a bunch!) to offer moral support and a helping hand.
• When our grandson spends the night and wakes crying, hubby's the first one out of bed to comfort the Little Man. When I finally stumble into his bedroom, Little Man's already cradled in hubby's loving arms.
• When our cat stranded herself in a tree, hubby dragged out the ladder to rescue her. At midnight.
• Hubby could go to lunch with the guys, but he chooses to share lunch with me. And  sometimes he jots "I love you" on the receipt so I'll see it later.
• On a recent day trip for business, hubby invited me to ride along. He could have just driven himself, but he wanted to share the day with me.

Do you get the idea? 

Your hero may be unlikable to some people, but show him being nice and sweet to your heroine, and your readers are sure to fall for him, too.

How do you perceive your hero?

If your hero is gruff, how do you make him lovable?

Journey's Embrace
by Dora Hiers

After an injury forces Deputy U.S. Marshal Sage Michaelson off duty, he heads to his hometown with two things on his mind: recuperating and reevaluating, but Sage can’t refuse his best friend’s plea to keep a protective eye on his little sister after someone ransacks her house. But Delaney’s not so little anymore—and definitely not the young “Dane” Sage remembers.

Flight Medic Delaney Hunt has loved Sage forever. But, he’s all about control and order while she embraces life and takes risks. As much as the idea appeals to her, she doesn’t need Sage looking over her shoulder. But when things go wrong and she finds herself hanging by her fingertips, who does she call to rescue her?

Will Delaney ever be the woman Sage wants by his side? Can Sage learn to live by grace, recognizing that God is in control? Can they overcome their fears to embrace life together?

My Everyday Valentine by Susan Tuttle

Valentines may be passed, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still talk about love, right? I was lucky enough to marry my BFF fifteen years ago. We’ve known each other for twenty-five years, but we were “just friends” for a good ten before realizing somewhere along the way we’d fallen in love. How lucky are we?

Now, when you’ve known someone that long, sometimes you think you know everything about them. You can almost fall into a rut. After we married, we had kids and settled into a nice pattern. When the kids reached school age, we decided we were going to homeschool. Things moved along nice and steadily. Hubby worked, I stayed home with the kids, and all our responsibilities naturally rolled into those categories. Which meant, laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning, cooking…etc. were all mine. Along with schooling the kids. And I happily made our house into a home.

Then God called me back to writing.

Oh. I’d always wrote, it seemed as natural as breathing. But God was calling me into the ministry of writing and pushing me to devote more time to it. To seriously pursue it.

Now, with no agent, no book contracts, and only the whisper of God urging me forward, how was I to explain that to Hubby?

Luckily God paired me with the right man.

Because if you’re a writer, you know that there can be days or weeks where laundry doesn’t get done, the cupboards run bare (McD’s and pizza nights become the norm), and the house is destroyed. That’s been the biggest change for both of us—redefining our roles. It’s an act in constant progress, but we seem to be doing it. And over the past two years as I’ve learned to balance this calling and our home life, Hubby has supported me. Through every step, with no concrete outcome achieved, Hubby has been nothing but encouraging, prayerful, helpful…excited for me. Even when he comes home to a messy house or receives another call to pick up take-out.

And that is beyond lucky, that is blessed. That is love. Our lives have changed, and he’s changed along with them, learning to navigate this road with me and encouraging my dreams—even helping me to attain them. They are never too large, never too inconvenient, and never too far out of reach for him to push me towards them.

He’s my biggest support system.

He’s my everyday Valentine.

Now, it's your turn. 

Does your loved one encourage and support your writing?

How do you balance your writing and home life?

Dora here. Recently, Susan signed with Linda Glaz of the Hartline Literary Agency. 
Congratulations, Susan! That's definitely a "concrete outcome!"

Susan Tuttle is a homeschooling mom of three who is crazy about coffee, dark chocolate, and words—both reading and writing them. Combine that love of words with her passion for leading women to a life-changing encounter with Christ, and you’ll find her crafting Inspirational Contemporary Romance stories laced with humor, love, and healing transformations. When not cheering on her Ironman hubby, chasing the family dog, or tackling complex math problems to teach her kids (yes, even the second grader), you can catch Susan at her blog, Steps.

When You Marry a Novelist By Patty Froese

My husband thought he knew what he was getting into when he married a writer. He knew I wrote. He loved that I'd been published, but I don't think he had a perfect grasp on what that would mean on a daily basis. I think he thought it would be... prettier. More quill pens and less hammering out a chapter outline before having had a shower.

He thought that I'd happily work another job, and write in the time that was free after working a day job, after spending time with him and before getting a decent night's sleep. What he didn't count on was how much I hated my day jobs, and how much I needed to write, even more than I needed sleep.

He thought that once I got my first book published, it would be an easy life of cashing royalty checks. Nine books later, I still giggle a bit at that one!

He thought I wrote about things entirely fictitious... but when you live with a writer, you run the risk of being included in her work, even subconsciously!

He thought writing was my hobby. He was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Getting the balance can be a bit of a ride for any relationship, but once we did, my husband started to appreciate the benefits of having a full time writer wife. (Yes, I quit the hated day jobs.)

1. I'm here all day, so when he gets home, a meal is on the table and I'm thrilled to see him. (Writing all day doesn't provide a lot of social contact.)

2. When people ask him what his wife does, he gets to brag a little. "No, really. She's a novelist."

3. I'm at home, so I can take care of our son and do all those mom-things that make for a sweet childhood. (Granted, my son will also have plenty of memories of me saying, "Mommy has to write, sweetheart. Go play now.")

4. Whenever he needs to write out something for work, he has an excellent editor on hand to smooth it all out and give it a little pizzazz.

5. I'm happy. Deeply happy. And I know that I'm able to stay home and write full time because he supports me--that gratitude can only mean good things for him!

A great relationship is when both people get to pursue their dreams, and we have that kind of marriage. I'm lucky!

Marriage isn't always rose petals, and sometimes it takes a good amount of work. My newest novel, Legally Wed, is about two marriages--one that was supposed to be perfect, and one that was supposed to be over. Neither marriage ends up being what the partners expect!

But that's life. Marriage is generally a surprise, no matter how prepared you think you are!

When Rich McConaughey comes back to town, divorce papers in hand, he's in for more than he bargained for. Lisa Young, the woman he was married to for six months, hasn't changed a bit. His mother has though... she's gone from matronly to meow, and his father has taken off with the secretary. Does anything last anymore? 

Lisa Young feels chained to the hardware store her family has run for generations. How can she tell her father that she hates the family business? When Rich walks back into her store asking her to finalize a divorce she thought was behind her, she thinks that the answer is to sign on the dotted line and move on. Except, Rich isn't making it so easy... and God has other plans.

For better or for worse, when you're legally wed, things can get complicated.  Buy link

Meet Patty Froese 

I am an inspirational fiction writer with a husband, a child, a quirky sense of humor and a passion for what I do. Give me a pot of tea and some peace and quiet, and I can give you a novel. I’ll also give you blog posts, hilarious internet jokes, pictures of my ridiculously intelligent rabbit and other random things that keep me busy.

You can join the chaos and fun of novel writing by following my daily posts. Come, comment, let me know you’re there. Who said writing has to be solitary?

http://pattyfroese.com/

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