Getting your swoon on...

I have to admit, I've got zero excuses for being a day late on my post. And I mean zero. I just got distracted by my website overhaul, opening my Tumblr, trying to figure out what the heck to do with Instagram (still confused, so if you have any tips, now's the time), and generally bumming around the internet watching comedy sketches.

However, I'm here now, and I'm going to talk about getting your swoon on. Or, more specifically, learning how to. I'll be 100% honest, swooning is not my gig. It's been something I've had trouble with for a long time, but it's something I'm learning one slow bit at a time. So, to that end, I thought I'd give you the top three tips I've learned so far. Hopefully, you'll get some use out of them, like I did when I got them.

1) Figure out what your main character values in a person. If you're going to have them fall head over heels, then it helps for the reader to see one or two of these qualities in the potential love interest. Those qualities can be hidden at first in some books, and revealed as the plot progresses, but there should be some indications sown in throughout the novel.

2) Make your love interest worth it. We all connect to different people for different reasons. However, if I said I was looking for dark hair, dark eyes, and someone loyal...well, that could be a lot of different, generic someones. So while that might be my first stepping stone, I'm looking for more. You know what attracted me to my husband-to-be when we met? On our first date, he very honestly said, "I'm divorced, have 3 kids, and they come first." I fell there and then (not that I told him that until a long time later!). Why? Funny thing is, I never wanted kids. Still don't. But family is the most important thing to me. And for someone to be that frank and honest with someone who might just turn and walk away? That is what caught me. The fact that he's also kind and loyal add to this. But it's the other things, too...the way he agrees for us to foster dogs, even though he finds the smell and hair hard to abide. The way he supports me working from home. The way he goes out of his way to do the little things that matter to me...turning up with a mini-cake just because he knows I feel crappy. These are the things you learn about a person over time. So make your MC learn these things about your love interest over time, and your reader will buy into them, hook, line, and sinker.

3) Make your characters interesting! In fiction, characters need to be dynamic, imperfect, entertaining, devilish, loyal, larger than life, down to earth... Now, you don't need to make them have all these qualities. But what you do need to do is make sure that you give them something to stand out from the pack.

So, I hope this helps. And if you're interested in more of my blog posts, you can check out my blog, too.

My Top Ten YA Heroes / Love Interests

My Top Ten YA Heroes / Love Interests

As our theme this month is heroes, I thought I’d indulge in one of my favourite past times – thinking about fictional men. So, here’s my top ten heroes/love interests from YA. You might notice most of these are from SFF novels, so I apologise for the lack of genre diversity, but it’s the genre of which I read the most. Also, anyone who knows me knows that Snape will forever be my favourite male character invented, so for purposes of giving other characters a chance, I’ve left him off this list.  (Snape, my love – “Always.”)

Let me know if you agree with my list or not in the comments below, and add your own favourites!

10. Raffe - Angelfall - Susan Ee

A personal favourite, Raffe is on his own mission in Angelfall and doesn’t become so completely eclipsed by his love for the main character that he forgets his own agenda. He’s strong but not invincible, and has no objections to Penryn saving him once in a while. Go get them wings, Raffe!

9. Jack – Blood Red Road – Moira Young

Although at first introduction it may seem at first that Jack has popped up to provide the romance element of Blood Red Road, by the end of the novel Moira Young has made it clear Jack has his own path, which doesn’t necessarily follow the same of that of our main character. He resists a system which very possibly could treat him well because of his morals, which is a great hero quality.

8. Peeta – The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Ah Peeta, I still remember falling in love with him for the first time during Hunger Games, and somehow even the thought of him covered in cake icing hiding in a ravine was cute (not so much in the film though eh?) His thoughtful, caring nature was so out of place in that cruel world that he became an unlikely hero. His love for Katniss is a quiet, unassuming love, and doesn’t try to dominate to book. Ten out of ten points for Peeta the perseverer.

7. Jace - The Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Clare

OK, so Jace is typically good looking and with sculpted cheekbones and great mouth, but everyone knows it’s not physical looks which make a hero. Jace has a troubled past and a hard relationship with his father, making him more than just a 2D love interest. He’s powerful, strategic and his wit is as sharp as dem face bones.

6. Simon – Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

Simon is the perfect way to invert the Chosen One trope. All his life he’s been hailed as the hero to save all others, but Simon feels like a failure most of the time. Despite that, and all this unsolicited responsibility heaped at his feet, he keeps going - that makes a true hero to me. Add to that a killer sense of humour and a riveting romance, and Simon more than deserves his place on this list.

5.  Micah – Pantomime – Laura Lam

I don’t want to say too much about Micah in case I give away any spoilers, but they are talented, clever and totally motivated by clear goals. The character development in Pantomime is sublime and really takes the reader alongside the hero’s journey.

4. Otieno – Shadows on the Moon - Zoe Marriott

Shadows on the Moon is one of my favourite books. It shows that heroes and heroines come via all personality types, and don’t have to be unflinchingly brave or with all the right answers and actions. Otieno is not just a loyal, long-lasting love interest, he has also had to deal with his own tumultuous past and an uncertain future. He supports the main character but doesn’t try to take over her story or alter her quest. I’d love to read a book just about him!

3. Valek - Poison Study – Maria V. Snyder

First of all – Valek has a beard! Yey for love interests with beards! Secondly, Valek again has his own agenda and moral compass that exists outside of his love for Yelena (can you notice the common theme here?). The fact that Yelena knows his loyalty to the Commander will always come first makes him more than your standard do-anything-for-my-love love interest. He also can climb down buildings like a spider in a black catsuit – awesome.

2. Jaz – Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Cunning. Clever. Deadly. This is one guy you don’t want to be on the wrong side off, and that makes me want to be on the right side of him. (Minds out of the gutter, please.) His backstory is poignant and you can realistically see why he is the way he is today. He also cares about those who are in his inner circle, despite not trusting anyone. Jaz is a brilliant example of a complex character who can want and chase after conflicting ideals.

1. Akiva – Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor

Akiva has all the assets I would list as a MUST HAVE if I were to place an ad in the lonely-hearts column.

a)       A killer backstory

b)      Undying, loyal love

c)       Complicated familial relationships

d)      Can fly

e)      Made mistakes but wants to rectify them

Seriously, Akiva makes a brilliant hero. As lots of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series is from his POV, he is as important as the main character to bring us through the action, and subsequently we really get into his head. His story is mesmerizing, and I love a character who has their own family and friends to deal with, instead of living in isolation as a love interest to the main character.