Monday, February 13, 2012

The Hero Moment

I'm currently in final edits of Book 3 in the Yellowstone Romance Series. The book is titled Yellowstone Awakening, and I am hoping to get it released around the first of March.
After soaring through Book 2, Yellowstone Redemption (I had my first draft written in six weeks), I was surprised that Book 3 was giving me a lot of problems. What had started out as an easy concept for the story turned into problem after problem for me, so much so that I put the ms away completely for two months and began work on Book 4!
My main problem centered around a concept I call the "hero moment", or his "superman moment." I define this as an act by the hero that shows his true colors, and really makes him shine, and is a defining moment that shapes his character. It could be saving the heroine from peril, or some other feat that he himself didn't know he was capable of.
Daniel Osborne had two heroic standout moments in Yellowstone Heart Song. Chase Russell had one immense hero moment in Yellowstone Redemption that would shape his character from that point forward, and then several more in later parts of the book. He was such a flawed character at the beginning, he needed monumental feats in order to grow. None of his hero moments, by the way, had anything to do with saving the heroine. It had to do with him learning about himself.
While writing Book 3, I realized early on that I didn't really have the same kind of "stand out" hero moment for my new leading man. I asked myself repeatedly, what defines him as a hero? In the end, he "saves" the heroine and gains a personal victory for a cause he strongly believes in - not with brawn, but using his brain, but I didn't have that one monumental moment for him. Will the story be lacking because of it? I don't know. I guess my readers will have to be the judge of that.

1 comment:

  1. Similar story with my series. Soared through book one and halfway through book two-then suddenly I realized some rewriting and a twist in the story was in order. I like your 'superman moment' concept. :)

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