Faceless Hero

I’ve been trying to work on a short story at Bria’s instigation. I’ve got a basic plot line and some conflict thrown in. I know what the hero and heroine were like as kids, but now that they’ve grown up, I barely know them any more.

I have a general idea of how they’ve changed since childhood, but I don’t have a sense of who they are. I’ve never considered myself as someone who needed visual models to base a character upon, but this pair isn’t coming out into the light for me. I don’t know if all the concentration on craft this week is scaring them off (or me), or what, but it’s frustrating.

I decided to surf around for a while today looking at some man candy, cause, really, it doesn’t hurt to look right? Anyway, I was struck by how young some of the models looked. Really, I know I’m getting older, but the little boy lost look just doesn’t do it for me. I need some muscles, some touseled hair, and yeah… a five o’clock shadow doesn’t hurt to prove the guy can actually grow some facial hair and likely isn’t jail bait.

So from there, I started looking for Regency portraits and even Hollywood’s interpretations of the Regency Gentleman. If you thought styles and aesthetics have changed rapidly in just the past 50 to 60 years or so, there’s nothing so eye-opening as looking back 200 years. Granted we have far more modern conveniences to rely upon, but the fellow at the top was one of the few that caught my eye. I definitely like my historical romances with a healthy dose of fantasy thrown in.

Maybe I’m just putting off making any decisions because that would mean I’m getting closer to the point where I have to sit down and writ this thing. I probably just need a swift kick in the behind as it can only be 8k max at the most for the anthology call. Since I can’t seem to come up with names for them either, maybe I’ll just type OUR_HERO and OUR_HEROINE again and hope something comes sooner or later. (Yeah, that’s why I still have a Lord SO_N_SO in one of my manuscripts. I’m just scared if I give him a name, he’ll want his story told too! Bria’s already hounding me for, his heroine, Daphne’s story.)

Maybe if I go dig around in the conflicts and the story events it’ll become clearer who these people are for me. Wish me luck!