Why the hero is attracted to the heroine?
The DH, my fierce beta reader, had hammered me with this one particular question: “What made the hero attracted to the heroine?”
He had been a loyal beta reader and critic to my MS for quite sometime. Every time he critiqued the characters or the plot, it always stung; it was enough to retaliate by not cooking him a meal for a day. Mweh, I wished he could write his own novel to see how difficult it is to write fiction.
“Oh, I know that. The chemistry thing,” I said. “She’s pretty and funny.”
His eyebrows lowered giving me that salted fish look. “Oh, no, no. That’s not enough.” He wagged his finger at me. “Think again. What makes the hero attracted to the heroine? I haven’t seen it yet.”
I pondered his question for a minute or two, and then took a long sigh. “Actually.” I looked at him with furrowed brows. “I don’t really know.”
“Really?” he said. “You need to find out. Otherwise the attraction between them seems too contrived.”
I hated him so much for making me work hard on my WIP. But I can’t deny the truth behind his remark. As a writer, I strive to improve the MS and yet, it’s pissing me off when I can’t find an answer to a simple question like this.
If you write your novel with a major romantic element, you probably have no problem finding the answer why the hero falls in love with the heroine. Good for you.
However, if you’re as clueless as me, at least you don’t feel alone as misery needs company. Clearly, I don’t know enough about the hero. I’ve spent too much time developing the heroine’s characteristics, I overlooked why the hero’s attracted to her.
Determined to find the elusive, I sweated over the hero’s profile even more and dwelt extensively upon developing his background.
Then, aha! I think I finally found the answer. The heroine completes her! Sheesh… why didn’t I think about it earlier? Prodding deeper into the hero’s psyche, I found out the heroine’s “going against the grain” attitude is something he’s missing in his life. He was surrounded by family members with a “fear of failure” mentality, and he finds the heroine’s gutsy attitude is refreshing.
As for the reason the heroine is attracted to the hero–he completes her in so many ways. He will remind her if she recklessly ventures too far into the danger zone without any planning.
Happy with my findings, I told the DH. “The heroine fulfills his emotional emptiness,” I said triumphantly. “She’s his life’s missing puzzle.”
“What’s it again?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. The question eventually had vanished from his mind since it was like about three months when he last critiqued the MS. “You’ve asked me about the reason why the hero is attracted to the heroine, remember?”
His eyes widened. “Oh yeah, that’s make sense. I like it.”
Well, finally I got a nod of approval from my stingiest beta reader. It feels sweet to get the answer I’ve been looking for. And when I think about it, the answer was actually in the novel all along. I just didn’t know how to extract it and put it into words–until I ventured deep into the hero’s background.
That’s it. How easy is that? The attraction between the hero and heroine must be credible and genuine. The reader could easily detect a false attraction if it’s seems forced, so make it natural so it’s authentic.
Happy writing.
