It's that day again

It wouldn't be the 12th October if I didn't post the traditional -

To wish Mr Hugh (in a towel) Jackman, inspiration for so many heroes in so many books over the years, a very happy 42nd birthday.





<- This picture inspired the work on creating a hero at my workshop in Halifax at the weekend. And this --> is just . . . inspiring

I'm totally sure that Anne McAllister will also have posted a selection of inspirational images as well to mark today - after all, she is the person who stole my original version of H-I-AT when we were together in Australia.

And if it's Hugh's birthday, then I need to wish a very happy birthday to Lacey too. You're in great company Lacey!

It's Hugh's Day and blogging around

It's October 12th and that has traditionally become Hugh's Day on my blog and over on Anne McAllister's blog too.

Hugh Michael Jackman was born 12 October 196. And coincidentally today is the Canadian Thanksgiving Day - well, I know a lot of romance writers who'll be giving thanks in a whole different way for today and the hours of inspiration that have resulted from it!

I'm desperately busy with a late dreadline thanks to the flu - but as a picture paints a thousand words then here's a couple of pages for you:

Happy Birthday Hugh

There will be more words later as I've been invited to join the fabulous Writers at Play to celebrate the Presents EXTRA publication of my October release Kept For Her Baby. So later to day there will be a long interview with me and a chat about that over at Writers at Play blog.

See you there.

Hmm - come to think of it, the hero on the fabulous cover of Kept for Her Baby looks remarkably like one H Jackamn - don't you think?

All About Alphas 3 - the challenge

Several of you have written to say that you are concerned about writing an alpha who appears to be either too soft or too tough.

Jill is worried that the men she has as examples are ". . . more your laid back, take life as it comes sort of guys, which I love."

Rach would "really like your thoughts on getting the Alpha character somewhere between too 'ferocious' and just too damn 'nice'.

and Monique says just: "I don't want him to be horrid."

I'll come back to this but for now I want to say something that I feel is important. And that is that when you are writing a romance, you are writing a story with a short, intense focus on a particular time in your characters' lives.

A time of crisis.

A time of challenge

You are not writing a day to day, plod along, matter of fact time but a time when things come to a head, when crises develop, when questions have to be asked, problems faced, mistakes acknowledged, challenges faced and dealt with once and for all. And those are uncomfortable, difficult, complicated times. The times we would all try to avoid if we could.

But in a romance, if your hero and heroine are to be able to sort things out, resolve the conflicts between them - and conflict is a whole different Q&A - then they need to go through this difficult time, this crisis and then reach a final catharsis which has the reader believing that they can go forward into a happy ever after future together.

Let me try to illustrate this. And seeing as our archetypal hero is Hugh Jackman, who better to illustrate it?

Last night I watched an TV interview with Hugh Jackman. Lovely man. Tall dark, incredibly handsome, incredibly fit and toned, talented, successful . . . A perfect alpha hero. He has to have to alpha characteristics of drive, commitment, dedication, self assurance, determination . . . to get where he is. It's not just talent but the way he uses it.

He was also articulate, intelligent, charming, witty. So some would say there was the Gamma hero - and I'd have to agree. No reason why an Alpha can't have Beta characteristics.

Clearly a family man, caring about his children. He gave of himself to the interview and was a delight to watch. Beta characteristics there? Again no reason why not. no man - no person is soley and totally just one thing.

But he was in a relaxed and comfortable situation. And he was on public show.

Now imagine that after that interview this man went away from the TV studios, back to his home or hotel suite and met with someone who challenged him totally. Someone who - he believed - threatened his sense of right and wrong, his code of honour. Someone who maybe threatened his family, those children he cared about. Someone who threw him emotionally right off balance with feeling that he just didn't expect, didn't want, didn't like. Someone who emotionally put him with his back against the wall so that - whether right or wrong - he felt that he needed to sort things out, to take up the challenge that was thrown at him, and deal with it.

I can well believe that the person who set off those feelings in him would see a very different man from the one laughing on the sofa on the TV set.

And then later what if he discovered that his inital beliefs about that situation had been wrong all the way along - and he'd made some really bad mistakes?

Uncomfortable. Difficult. Possibly dangerous. You bet.

That's the sort of situation, the conflict, that your hero ends up in. That's the man whose story you are telling. The man who is reacting to a crises and to what he feels needs to be done to sort it out.

nd because you pitch him against a heroine who throws him totally off balance because he experiences feelings for her that he has never known before. And possibly because he feels that she is completely the wrong person to feel those emotions about, then his reactions - good or bad - are even more intense, even more heightened. He's in asituation that is out of his comfort zone, where the way he's lived up to know, the coping techniques he's used, the things that have worked in the past, no longer work. He's dealing with diferent sorts of dangers - emotional dangers - the ones that can break hearts.

It's like the old-fashioned knights who lived by a strong code of honour and didn't go round trampling people under their horses' hooves, or lopping heads off will-nilly - but when someone challenged them - literally 'throwing down the gauntlet' - then that was a different matter.

And the heroine is the one who throws down that - emotional - gauntlet. He's not like this with everyone else. Probably not with anyone else - just her.

(c) Kate Walker

To illustrate this, I'm going to use a quote that the wonderful Michelle Reid brought to my attention -(Thanks so much Michelle!) that sums it up beautifully

“His passions ran at gale-force turbulence with her. Everywhere else in his life
control and restraint ruled the roost. He was punctual, tidy, organised,
immaculate in appearance. He carried enormous responsibility. He was a rock for
his dependent and less able brothers and sisters to lean upon. He was in every
other field a strong, principled and honourable man, worthy of respect. She was
the fatal flaw that rocked him dangerously off balance.”

The Veranchetti Marriage Lynne Graham 1989

Heroes - the basics (Specially for Liz Fielding)

Ok, so in order to start off a discussion All About Alphas, I need to define why there is such a term as 'The Alpha Hero' so that we know the base from whiche we're starting. When I was at university, one lecturer was always drumming into us the phrase 'define your terms' and so I think we need this introduction.

We also need it because LIz Fielding has put in a special request for it! And as Liz has so kindly made a contribution to the upcoming discussion, then who am I to deny her?

Plus - well it gives me a chance to use one of my favourite 'inspirations' - namely one Hugh Jackman. And any excuse . . .

All right, when talking about heroes, some writers (and actually I'm not one of them for reasons that should become apparent as this discussion goes on) define different types of heroes with different letters of the Greek alphabet - which is where the word Alpha ( ie A - the first) comes from. They tend to define 3 types of hero - Alpha. Beta, Gamma.

And those heroes are defined - in general terms - this way:

Alpha = Tough, brooding, strong, powerful, proactive, larger than life

Beta = Sensitive, emotional, tender, romantic
Gamma = Sexy, playful, charming, irreverent, with a bit of toughness, and a tender side.

If you want to look at this the Kate Walker way (and the way Liz wanted me to repeat) you can take examples from three very different films - all starring one man -

HUGH JACKMAN -

Alpha Hugh - X-Men.

LOGAN aka Wolverine

OK, forget the silly hairdo and the fact that he needs a really good manicure. With Logan what you get is a kick-ass, tough, brawling, intense, brooding, gorgeous, sexy, seductive-as-heck good guy. Definitely Alpha. You wouldn’t catch Logan “sharing his feelings” or shedding a tear. You wouldn’t ask him to do anything girly. He's definitely pro-active, out to make things hapen, get them sorted. Yet he has a vulnerable spot, he has emotions though he tries to keep them buried. If you have a copy of the DVD with the extras, watch Hugh Jackman's screen test – see the change from nice guy to danger. It's in the eyes, in the way he holds his body - but he's not a danger to the woman he's with. Just dangerous in the pent-up power he has. Dangerous to the bad guys too.

Beta Hugh -Kate & Leopold.

LEOPOLD- a very proper, elegant, respectful and sexy aristocrat. A man who is reserved, yet emotionally accessible, who is exceedingly polite, keeping his passions below the surface. He can befriend a woman. His charm pushes him toward Gamma, but his reserve and gentleness speak of Beta. He's a man a woman would love to have in real life. He’ll never hurt her. She’ll be able to be 100% sure of him, as she never could with his brooding Alpha—or too-sexy Gamma—counterparts.

But don't be deceived into thinking that the Beta man is any sort of a wuss. Or that he can't stand up for himself or defend his own. Leopold comes to his heroine's rescuse when she needs him and he's more than prepared to stand up to Kate's boss with calm dignity but steely purpose. If the Beta is challenged there are Alpha traits just there below the surface. Because, be honest - every man has a touch of the Alpha in him, when he needs to use it. It comes out when he needs to meet a challenge. And the strength of the challenge defines the strength of his response.

Gamma Hugh - Someone Like You

EDDIE - an irreverent, sexy, playful cad. Wildly successful with women because of his self-confidence, charm, wit and looks. He didn’t need to be tough or larger than life to have boatloads of appeal. A flash of his wicked grin, the sparkle in his eyes, Not brooding, tough or aggressive like the Alphas often are. But not gentle, nurturing and emotional like the Betas can be.

And here again, the Gamma can have both the Alpha and the Beta in him - and being an Alpha or Beta doesn't deny the elements of charm and flirtatiousness of a Gamma hero.

Which is one of the reasons why I don't totally subscribe to these Alpha, Beta, Gamma descriptions. Every man has elements of all three in him and every hero does too.

OK - let's slightly reword that - every well-written hero does too.

Because that is one of the problems when it comes to writing Alphas - it's there in the question that Rachel asked in the comments section to my original All About Alphas post - the problem that means she is told that her hero:

'has a tendency to frighten the reader off with his ferocity and is also in danger of being negated for his 'alphaness'(the very quality that readers come to the books for)

What I want to show in this discussion - and thanks to some of the wonderful authors who've responded to my request for contributions, I have little doubt that I will be able to do that - is that 'Alpha' is a multi-faceted image, a creation with different tones and colours for each line - each style - each book. And to stick only to one particular, narrow image of this hero is to lose so much that can 'flesh out' a character, make him even more appealing while still preserving those potent Alpha qualities that make him such a challenge.

And that challenge is part of what creates the conflict in thebook.

Because, to quote two great but very different writers on this subject:

Given that conflict is a requirement of all good fiction, especially good genre fiction, and given that the conflict must arise out of the primary focus of the story, it is understandable that in a romance novel conflict must exist between the hero and heroine.
Jayne Ann Krentz

The strong, domineering hero of the romance novel has long been the subject of criticism. What critics don’t realize is that the hero’s task in the book is to present a suitable challenge to the heroine. His strength is a measure of her power for it is she who must conquer him.

Every good romance heroine must have a hero who is worthy of her

Robyn Donald

Tomorrow I'll show you how Mills & Boon define the way that the Alpha hero appears in every single one of their lines.

Happy Birthday Hugh!

I've been a bit slack on the blogging front recently - I've had one of those 'when did I ever have the time to write' weeks since I sent the latest book to my editor.

But I have to blog today to mark the birthday of the inspiration that is Hugh Jackman.

12th October 1968 is the date that Hugh Michael Jackman was born and as the recent annual Hugh Jackman Fest on the Pink Heart Society, and the following report on the Legend that is Hugh-in-a-towel that followed, shows this is an auspicious and important date in the catalogue of inspirations to many many romance novelists the world over.

So Happy Birthday Hugh - and thank you for all those wonderful ideas! And as Anne McAllister says, if a picture paints a thousand words then I can go about my even more busy day today secure in the knowledge that I have 4000 brilliant words on my blog at least!

And it will have brightened the day for many visitors today too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGH!

H-I-A-T or That Man Again

OK so here's a day when I expect my blog hits counter to spike wonderfully. A day like the Pink Heart Society Hugh Jackman Tour day. A day when women of taste all over the world come to visit my blog - and my friends' - because of the legend that is

HUGH IN A TOWEL

Over on the PHS blog, Anne McAllister has written a post about the Legend of Hugh in A Towel, recalling the days when she and I used underhand means to win the largest possible audiences for our talks at the Australian and New Zealand Romance Writers' Conferences.

Our secret weapon was Hugh-in-a-towel projected life-size - on occasions more than lifesize (some of the audience are still recovering) on a screen at the front of the room. Since then the legend of H-I-A-T has grown and is now known worldwide, for reasons Anne has explained brilliantly.

There were other pics of Mr Jackman on display, at least at the RW NZ conference where I was talking about Alpha Heroes. I needed illustrations for the Alpha (guess who - or should that be Guess Hugh?) but I also needed, for comparison, the Beta Hero - ->

And I needed an example of the Gamma Hero

<--

But H-I-A-T was the one that everyone talked about afterwards.

Well, perhaps not everyone. I do remember one lady coming to me after my talk (I think this was the one on the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance - see, H-I-A-T is adaptable, he can be used to illustrate any point and I believe he was - all 12 of them. Well, maybe not the Heroine one . . .) Anyway, this lady came up to me afterwards and gave me a little note. It read 'I don't like your round-shouldered hero. He looks as if he has psychological problems'

Ah well, you can't please everyone - even with H-I-A-T.

On her blog, Anne remembers the Journalist from Christchurch (the one who, for the record, described me as having a barmaid's bosom! I have given it back to the barmaid since then). This man was so sure he had unearthed a cynical conspiracy to brainwash and delude poor gullible women (barmaid's bosoms - gullible women - can you see the level at which this guy saw the female sex?) Why was he so sure that we intelligent - he allowed that we were intelligent - cynical types were out to delude these women out of their money?

Because we told them the terrible lie that tall, dark, gorgeous men were devastatin

gly attractive - and we put up pics of H-I-A-T to prove it.

Shocking! You really needed to be brainwashed before you could think that - didn't you?

You poor, gullible women who enjoy category romance.

Well, deluded or not, gullible and brain-washed or whatever, the legend of H-I-A-T has grown so much that now, whenever I give a talk or a workshop - or any sort of an event - no one believes that it is a Kate Walker event without the guest appearance of H-I-A-T.

So much so that the writers' weekend at which I celebrated my 50th title had to have H-I-A-T right there too. I have illustrated this point with a photo of H-I-A-T with the lovely Julie Cohen because the truth is that I owe the original inspiration for H-I-A-T to Julie who found him as a special treat for me during her Writing The Sexy Bits talk at the RNA Conference in 2004 after which I took him off on his world tour to Australia and New Zealand.

And if you think that H-I-A-T at Auckland or Sydney was wonderful - just imagine H-I-A-T together with Julie's other aids of chocolate and strawberries.

Chocolate, strawberries - H-I-A-T. . .

And people keep asking what do women want?

Top Ten Books and Winners - and more

I have a lot of bits and pieces to post today so let's get started

Sid thanks everyone who sent him birthday wishes. He has celebrated his birthday by enjoying cat crunchies and picking winners:

So the very last, final prize for the Great Big Blog Party Caerleon Special goes to Kimberly L

Kimberly please send me your snail mail address and copy of Jane Wenham-Jones' Perfect Alibis will be on its way to you. More winners in a moment.

Next piece of important news - Anne McAllister has had a total revamp of her website and the wonderful new look is up now. The new look is to celebrate the publication of Anne's latest book The Boss's Wife for a Week which is out now in the UK and in October in Presents. I'm lucky enough to have my own copy already on my TBR mountain - all I need it a little extra time and no deadline to be able to read it. (Now where have I heard that before?)

Other important new - the Pink Heart Society birthday celebrations will be going on all month so keep an eye on their blog to find out what's going on. There's a whole lot of wonderful things lined up for your entertainment and delight and fabulous prizes to be won. Things start in fine form - in very, very, very fine form - with the annual (well it is now) Hugh Jackman Tour 2007 . You'll need to check out the PHS blog again for the details but just in case anyone else tries to jump the gun here then let me get in early and stake my claim.

No matter what others - who call themselves my friend - people with brand spanking new websites - may claim - Hugh in a towel is mine. I just let her borrow him every now and then.

Still on the topic of PHS, I have to apologise to Jenna who came over here hotfoot to see the famous pink shoes that I was wearing all day to celebrate the Birthday - and life had swamped me so I didn't get around to posting a pic of them. So - just for Jenna - here are the perfect pink shoes ---->

What next?

Oh yes - I have the final results of the

TOP TEN KATE WALKER NOVELS

as voted for by the readers. Actually, this is the Top Twenty.

Out of interest I've put the results from the last time I did this (2004) in brackets alongside so you can see that some books have held their places . Someof course weren't around then

A Sicilian Husband (The Twelve Month Mistress)
The Italian's Forced Bride (Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife)
The Sicilian's Wife (A Sicilian Husband)
Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride (The Sicilian's Wife)
The Antonakos Marriage (Wife for a Day)
The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife (Desert Affair)
Wife For A Day (Their Secret Baby)
Desert Affair (Bound by Blackmail)
12 Month Mistress (The Christmas Baby's Gift)
The Hostage Bride (The Groom's Revenge)
Bound By Blackmail (The Hired Husband)
At The Sheikh's Command (The Hostage Bride)
Fiancee By Mistake (Constantine's Revenge)
The Married Mistress (His Miracle Baby)
Leap in the Dark (The Married Mistress)
The Christmas Baby's Gift (Her Secret Bridegroom)
Their Secret Baby (Saturday's Bride)
Constantine's Revenge (The Unexpected Child)
Rafael's Love- Child (Game of Hazard)
The Hired Husband (Give and Take)

(Looking at this list, all I can say is there must be something about those Sicilians. Even though it's only just published, The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge came in a #21 this time, just missing this list by a vote.)

Dis also picked the final set of winners from the voters and the lucky winners are:

Jean M from Broomfield Colorado
Lily D from Canada
Donna Howard from Van Buren Arizona
Peggy Q
Gail H from Junction Kentucky

I'll be emailing the winners but if you spot your name here then please send me your postal address so I can organise your prize for you

Birthday blog Part 2

Thank you to everyone for the birthday greetings . I've had a lovely day. Lots of cards, afternoon tea, and some lovely gifts.

I've discovered that even when not pointed in the direction of something and told 'That is what I would like for my birthday' the BM can still find something very special as a present.

And now I'm going to share a bottle of wine with the BM, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Well, OK 2 of them are on the DVD that the Offspring gave me . . . I'm so dedicated to this job I'm even doing research on my birthday!!

And as it's my birthday and I can have what I like - and because I've been so so good and not eaten any cake - here's a little icing on the cake that you can share with me. What better excuse - not that I need an excuse - for

Hugh in a towel