My heroes tend to be Betas. Even in Alpha bodies (Ha!) and my favorite heroine at the moment (she’s actually secondary just now, but clambering to be more) is rather “Spock-ish.”

Very intellectual and therefore above such emotional things as needing a man you don’t *actually* need (basically a caricature of my adolescent self).

I’m probably not cut out for genre-romance, but it’s entertaining me for the present.

I too loved Julie Garwood. But now when I read her, I want to rewrite! Headhopping, cliches, historical faux pas. In a way, it saddens me because I loved the books so much at one point.

The hero of my new WIP has an Alpha position in life but definitely carries Beta characteristics. I like to mix it up that way.

Heroine is resilient and stubborn, but gentle in demeanor. She is…oh, no…a teacher, and not a shop teacher. But he’s drawn to her ethereal quality laid over her strength, or the strength laid over the ethereal in her…we’ll see which charcteristic takes over. Maybe each in their own time and place.

My biggest challenge is the flaws in the heroine. I think romances always carry some quality of “fairy tale”, and I mean that as an avid lover of all things romantic and with utmost respect for the genre. When I pick up women’s fic or literary, I expect lots of foibles and pitfalls. A romance? I want the dream…I know it’s not all complete realism. So it’s that balance of not writing the “Mary Sue” protag, but yet not giving her so many dents and dings that the “fairy tale” quality is gone.

I just keep chipping away at the flaws. It has helped me to let other characters be annoyed, frustrated, angry or disappointed with my protag. I’ve found–and I hope I’m right–that even a small flaw, if it irritates other characters, takes the “Mary Sue” out of the protag.

Hard stuff, this writing. I’m getting dinged up some myself…but I just keep plugging away…

I’ve got a new romance percolating upstairs, 1760′s in a country that I made up a few years ago. Hero is the crown prince, who’s in hiding to save his life, and heroine is the daughter of the man who is hiding him. His father is based loosely on Peter the Great in the fact that he’s a very unusual ruler and wants his country to progress. He always made sure his son was around and learning all the things he needed to know to be an effective, kind ruler to his people. He’s got a lot of hands-on knowledge of how things work and isn’t afraid to get dirty.

My heroines are never the strong-willed bitchy type, so she’s more laid back, acutely aware of the differences in their upbringings and social classes and has a low opinion of the crown prince for allowing himself to be placed in this position. She also expects him to be the type of rich person who is waited on hand and foot, so she starts falling for him when he proves to her he’s not that kind of person. She also LOVES the typical womanly pursuits of the time and is a very accomplished seamstress and embroiderer. She loves creating things with needle and thread.

As far as types go, I do love the “Rich Man, Poor Girl” plots. The play of the different thought patterns and expectations of the H&H fascinates me.

You make an interesting point when you say, “In inspirational romance, we’re so scared of giving our characters any kind of flaws, sins, or pasts that they come across as perfect, sanctimonious prigs. ” This is one problem that I, and many aspiring writers I know, have with inspirational fiction. However, I wonder whether this is in part because of the stringent guidelines put forth by publishers and the CBA, and less because of what authors truly want to write.

If I refer to my first novel then I’d have to say that my hero was a beta type, if I’ve got the definition of that correct. He’s a missionary who has taught at a boarding school in Ethiopia for years. But at the time of my novel, he just returns to Southern Ontario to establish a foundation on his newly inherited farm before returning to Ethiopia to take over the upcoming head-master postion promised to him. So he does have ambition, but he also has a good heart and a past that still haunts him–the reason he ran to Ethiopia in the first place.

The heroine is a business woman, a self-employed accountant, widow with three daughters and about to take over a small accounting firm if she can prove that she can handle the job. By mixing her desire to succeed in her job with her devotion to her family, I’ve tried to blend the professional steriotype as well as the “Mom” steriotype. Whether I’ve accomplished that or not, that’s up to the readers to decide.

As far as recognizing steriotypes in what I’ve been reading lately. No, I can’t say that anything has really popped out that has bothered me or turned me off a novel due to steriotyping. But I’ve been known to find something good in pretty much anything I read lately. The publishing houses are picking and choosing to my liking, I guess!