Sheila has just finished her most recent book and I was lucky enough to beta read it, and I’ve fallen in love with her main character. Jimmy Deel is not the “book cover” definition of attractive, but he is kind, honorable, and loyal and I love him and his flaws. I love him because he’s so freaking complex in only 300 pages or so! I feel like I understand him. I worry about him. In short, I want to replicate this in all my future books!
Sheila’s villain is also amazing because she understands people and motivations and creates three dimensional characters that I absolutely worry about and hate to leave when I finish the book.
And her story made me think about having flawed heroes who aren’t nice…but are kind. In romance, we call them the Grumpy hero.
Jordan Green described the difference between nice and kind best with his post on Twitter years ago:
Niceness is saying ‘I’m so sorry you’re cold,’ while kindness may be ‘Ugh, you’ve said that five times, here’s a sweater!’ Kindness is addressing the need, regardless of tone.
Jordan Green
Consider a flawed character who is kind, but not necessarily nice. What if they’re the villain? What if they’re the guy you can count on to help you change a tire or get off the side of the mountain but you’d never see them again. They’re a problem fixer. They might also be a killer. That’s a complex character and something to think about…We all have reasons (motivations) for choosing to help or not help, and they aren’t always logical. Dig into your character to find out the why. Find their baggage. Make them complex. Your readers will thank you for it!
Paul Newman’s character in Nobody’s Fool is an excellent example of a flawed hero who is kind, but not necessarily nice. This is one of my favorite movies, and for me it’s got a similar vibe to It’s a Wonderful Life, because his character, while believing he’s a “loner” is woven into the fabric of the community. He doesn’t want to be dependable, needed, or even thought of as nice. He’s not nice, but he’s absolutely kind and helpful.
It’s a great film. I downloaded it from Amazon. It has an AMAZING cast, and is so well done. I can’t recommend it enough.
Intensive Genre Workshops 