Today is Veteran’s Day and I want to thank the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. In real life and in fiction, they are the guardians of all we value.
Romance authors love to populate our books with military characters. Honor, duty, strength, and service; whether we’re writing about a historical knight or a modern Navy SEAL, our servicemen are the perfect role models for our romantic heroes.
As the daughter of a career Air Force officer, I expected to find writing military heroes easy. In reality the opposite is true. I've written two novels with soldier-heroes and both times I swore I would never write another.
In my books, the soldiers are always silent, stoic, and steadfast. Invariably, my critique partners return my manuscripts with the following comments scribbled throughout: “He needs to say something here.” “Why doesn’t he respond?” “I feel like I can’t get inside your hero’s head.” And on the rare occasion when the hero is pushed to the limit and finally does shout out: “You might want to censure that language. It’s a bit rough.”
I would chalk this up to my own bad writing, except no one says this about my other characters. It took me a while to understand why I struggle to write military heroes, but now it’s clear.
I can’t write romantic military heroes because I write them too true to life. There’s not a lot of that swash-buckling bravado that looks so good on the silver screen. No, my military heroes are loyal and diligent, quietly working behind the scenes, doing whatever it takes to get the job done without a lot of chatter, without worrying about their own emotional states, without counting the sacrifices they’ve made.
A lot like our real-life military heroes.
A lot like my dad.
So Happy Veteran’s Day, Mom and Dad, to you and all the other unsung heroes. Please forgive us romance writers for adding loud music and panache to our tales of your brave deeds. No matter how hard we try, our paper characters will never match up to America’s real-life heroes.
In my books, the soldiers are always silent, stoic, and steadfast. Invariably, my critique partners return my manuscripts with the following comments scribbled throughout: “He needs to say something here.” “Why doesn’t he respond?” “I feel like I can’t get inside your hero’s head.” And on the rare occasion when the hero is pushed to the limit and finally does shout out: “You might want to censure that language. It’s a bit rough.”
I would chalk this up to my own bad writing, except no one says this about my other characters. It took me a while to understand why I struggle to write military heroes, but now it’s clear.I can’t write romantic military heroes because I write them too true to life. There’s not a lot of that swash-buckling bravado that looks so good on the silver screen. No, my military heroes are loyal and diligent, quietly working behind the scenes, doing whatever it takes to get the job done without a lot of chatter, without worrying about their own emotional states, without counting the sacrifices they’ve made.
A lot like our real-life military heroes.
A lot like my dad.
I would love to hear about the inspiration for your military characters. Where do you get ideas for your military heroes and what tricks do you use to make writing them easier? (And yes, the pictures are all of my mom and dad circa 1950.)
