ALPHA vs. BETA HEROES

After a comment from a reader--I do read them all--I decided to write an extra blog this week about heroes.  The wounded ones are sometimes difficult to deal with!  But I find writing about a man who can grow and change is so satisfying.

In FOREVER AFTER, my hero has a background that included a contentious childhood divorce.  His mother cared about appearances.  His father really wanted him.  Seth eventually found a way to live with his dad.  But the whole situation led him to become a lawyer, fighting for men's rights to father their children.  He doesn't have a high opinion of women...until he meets Darcy.

Is Seth likeable in the first half of the novel?  I don't have perspective on this.  As his creator, I saw the qualities of integrity and fairness I instilled in him from the first page.  The heroine who is unconventional--she is a garage mechanic--leads him on a journey not only to find himself again, but to find forgiveness.  By the last page I think the reader is convinced the that this is a man who will love for a lifetime...for forever after.

So my question to writers is--Is a wounded hero marketable?  And I'd like to ask my readers--Would you rather read about a wounded hero or one who just needs a nudge in the right direction to figure out how to love?

I don't think this is as much a question of alpha vs. beta as it is a question of how much a reader likes to see a hero change in the course of a book.

Discussion and comments are welcome.


© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

FOREVER AFTER by Karen Rose Smith

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Strong Sprouts, Gardening As Therapy, Week 8

What's blooming in our garden now

I am a writer.  So I see the world through those glasses.  After I write a rough draft, I have to edit.  Editing can take weeks and is so important to the whole creative process.  I see this phase, week 8, of raising flowers in our garden as an editing process.

Every morning and evening, I check the plants to make certain their soil is moist.  I continue to thin as more than one sprout might pop up in a peat pot.  Something really interesting happened with that this week.  This is the first year I've grown impatiens and I thought they might be hard to grow.  I had thinned a few and sometimes I just drop those "extras" into the tray that collects extra water from the pots.  Well, the next morning a few of those impatiens baby sprouts were still alive and well!  I'd pulled dirt with the sprout and they were laying in a low puddle of water.  Since they'd so vigorously survived, I replanted each one in a peat pot.  Three days later, they are still growing strong.  Sometimes these tender plants are heartier than we give them credit for.

Also during this time, I'm filling in pots with more soil.  One reason I water from the bottom and spritz on the top is so the soil doesn't erode.  Now the sprouting plants are growing taller and need more support.  As soon as they grow three to four leaves, I will transplant them into the next size pot.  Tomatoes might go through this process three times.  I save quart size yogurt containers and poke holes in the bottom and sides as well as using plastic pots I've collected over the years.

The earliest petunias are already larger than those that I usually buy at the garden center.  Each has plenty of room for the roots to elongate and spread.  I'm looking forward to them budding.  The two blue plants definitely haven't grown as well and do not look healthy.  They are miniscule compared to the purple and yellow plants.  Some seeds just don't germinate to their hoped potential.  I had a 75-80 percent grow rate on the purple and yellow seeds.

The geraniums are starting to form their third leaves.  The "Violet," "Elite Pink," and "Apple Blossom" varieties have pushed up the best.  The "Ice Rose" hybrid doesn't seem to be germinating as well but it could merely be slower.   Below I've included a 16 oz. water bottle in the photo to give size perspective.  The petunia is the tallest.  In front of that is a Marianna's Peace tomato and to the left is an "Apple Blossom" geranium.

With the heirloom tomatoes, Marianna's Peace and Carmello are the first and hardiest to spring up.  I've planted others in stages and will give you reports on them as they grow.  My husband is already counting how many neighbors we can give plants to!

Until next week...

© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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TRANSPLANTING, Week 6

On errands this week, I stopped for planting supplies.  But the day was so sunny and springlike that I decided to go to Pier I since I still hadn't used a Christmas gift card.  I wanted something special.  To my delight I found this adorable blue and brown-swirled cat planter.  It will look great filled with flowers on the porch or patio.  Since the petunias I started six weeks ago are growing high and strong and I planted geranium seeds this week, those are two likely candidates.

In Pennsylvania in March we usually have frost-filled night and windy days.  This year is different!  The hyacinths and daffodils are already blooming, forsythia is budding.  But what will happen if we get a cold spell?  We will see.

For week 6, let's discuss "transplanting."  Think about what moving encompasses for us.  We have to shed lots of older baggage, pack everything up and start over in a new environment.  It's not easy to adjust.  We try to take along familiar belongings and then we settle in slowly.  This isn't much different for plants.

First of all, those petunias I raised in trays--I won't do that again--needed attention.  After thinning them, I was still concerned their roots would tangle or not have enough depth to grow properly.  The first petunias I started in peat pots were ready for a roomier home in bigger peat pots.  But I wasn't sure the tender shoots in trays that hadn't grown as quickly would survive the move.  I'm happy to say that they have.  After moistening, I scooped them out, one by one, trying not to disturb the roots and set them in a readied peat pot.

When I transplant from a smaller peat pot to a larger one, I make sure the soil is moist so it clumps and doesn't fall apart as much.  I carefully peel off at least two sides and the bottom, using the other two sides to stabilize and not disturb the plant.  Then in a prepared new pot with ground moistened and a depression in the center, I carefully plop in the smaller plant, stabilize with more ground around it and gently water from the far side, not directly on the plant.

I've moved the larger sprouts I transplanted from a tray directly on the heated pad under a grow lamp to a heated pad with a rack under a grow lamp.  This will slow them down a bit until they're ready for the next transition.

I'm hopeful I'll have enough petunias for our whole patio garden, pots and border.  Yes, I'm still nurturing that one blue petunia. 

Till next week when we find out if the geraniums have begun to grow.

© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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True Blue Flowers and Heroes

Part of my garden is blue with delphiniums, a Blue-girl rose bush, blue pansies and bluebells. Blue is my favorite color. A picture in a flower catalog last fall caught my attention—a Beatrix Stanley orchid iris. I've bought flowers before that were supposed to be blue but turned out to be lavender or purple. But when the Beatrix Stanley iris orchid bloomed last week (an early bloomer), it was true blue! I began thinking about that description, and since I was developing a new book at that time, my heroes came to mind.
When I consider a hero for one of my plotlines, I give him a painful background, a rugged, sexy appearance, a career he is passionate about and a heroine who can not only catch his eye, but keep it for a lifetime. The men I create are never perfect. They do have flaws. But I lay the groundwork for one character trait that never changes—these men are true blue. They are loyal, full of integrity and have always stepped up to protect and defend. When they accept the vulnerability of loving, they become real heroes—true blue and steadfast husbands for the rest of their lives.