Romancing Your Story

Crafting the Hero – Part VI

July 23, 2018

Nobody’s perfect, right? True. Neither can your romantic hero – or your heroine, for that matter – be perfect. When crafting the hero, choose a character flaw to craft that will irritate your heroine to the point where in order to love him, she’ll have to overlook it. #amwriting #almostanauthor #donnalhsmith #CraftingTheRomanticHero Share on X

Pursuing Character Flaws

Tovah is our romantic heroine. She is a Jewish rabbi in a contemporary synagogue. Her main character flaw is her temper. Let’s review, and see how we can craft both her and Judah into our romantic leads.

Tovah

Personality: Rejection, stutters when she gets nervous. Kind of shy, yet when she’s comfortable around someone, she can be witty and happy-go-lucky. She’s considerate and kind, but she’s got a temper, too.

Judah

Personality: Outgoing and friendly. He’ll be able to draw Tovah out of her shell. He’s somewhat laid back, which will help cool her off when she loses her temper. He’s self-confident, which will help her overcome her nervousness, and eventually, her stutter.

What kind of flaw can we give Judah? There are many options, but let’s just consider a couple. I consulted The Negative Trait Thesaurus by Ackerman and Puglisi. You can find more information about that book here.

Superstitious—Maybe Judah’s parents were sticklers to the Torah. Everytime he passed a doorpost, though most don’t have a mezuzah, yet he still wants to kiss his fingers, then touch a doorframe.

OR
Forgetful—He forgets a date, her birthday, when their first date was, when and where they met.

The story could revolve around why the hero is forgetful. What causes it? It can’t be that he’s not interested, because he is. Maybe he just be disorganized, or so busy, he loses track of time…or possibly he has something… Share on X

BIO

Donna L.H. Smith is a Kansas prairie girl transplanted to Lancaster County, PA. She is a graduate of Christian Writer’s Guild Craftsman program and holds two college degrees in mass communications. Her husband is a wonderful man named Kirby, to whom she’s been married for thirty years. She’s been a freelance journalist, and a radio reporter. She blogs, reviews books, speaks at workshops and retreats and although she is at an age where many begin slowing down, she wouldn’t think of it. Recently, she took on the role of Assistant Managing Editor of Almost an Author.com, and serves as ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Mid-Atlantic Zone Director. She is also a member of AWSA’s Protégé program (Advanced Writers & Speaker’s Association). Her first novel, Meghan’s Choice, was a 2018 Selah Finalist.

WEBSITE: http://donnalhsmith.com & www.almostanauthor.com

FACEBOOK: Donna L.H. Smith––Stories Are My Passion

TWITTER: @donnalhsmith @A3writers

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1 Comment

  • Reply Tisha Martin July 23, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Loved these suggestions, Donna! Thanks for sharing! In my WWII historical fiction, I gave my heroine a flaw that the hero would have to overlook in order to choose to love her. Does that work?

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