Based on last weeks blog, here’s my new list of Regency heroes (in no particular order):
(from my list)
Soldiers
Dukes
Rakes
Corinthians
Impoverished Lords
(from my brilliant blog readers and Elena)
Thieves/Highwaymen
Professor (bookish hero)
Unexpected Heir
Beau (stylish, clever, witty)
Rogue (makes his own rules)
Carla Kelly’s Beta heroes (as katie called them, in a class all their own)
Wellington (courtesy of the Wellington-obsessed Kristine Hughes of Number One London)
Beastly Hero (wounded man, angry at the world)
Any additions?
When I craft a hero, I don’t always know what type he will be. For my upcoming A Lady of Notoriety (read an excerpt here), I had already come up with the hero, Hugh Westleigh, for book one in the Masquerade Club series, A Reputation for Notoriety. In that book Hugh was a hot-head younger brother tending toward seeing the world in black and white. I was not thinking of him as a hero of book three, because, at that time, I thought I was writing a two book series.
Then I had the idea of a book for the heroine, the “lady” of the title–Lady Faville, the sort-of villainess of A Marriage of Notoriety.
I’m writing another series, this time about three sisters whose situation is very similar to the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility, but their scandalous solutions are quite different than the Dashwoods. This time the story ideas start with the heroines and I simply must come up with heroes who match them. This hero of book one seems to be an unexpected heir/rogue/beastly hero.
Next week I’m going to tackle Regency Heroine archetypes. Put your thinking caps on!
Hero of Book 2:
Rags-to-riches. Unexpected heir of impoverished estate already employed by East India Company retains his job until he can earn a proper windfall that will support assorted female relatives. After his return, the Windfall also makes him a “hunted man” among Society Matrons… until he finds Heroine in an unexpected place!
Love your list and I am looking forward to all of these books from you, O Divine One!
I think I might be the only one who’s developing a plotline where the hero is a vicar–a younger son of a lord who’s been coerced into a career in the Church (as he’s not the heir and has no desire for the military).
As for heroines… I’m really looking forward to your list. Perchance it contain any bluestockings?