The Artist's Eye

Heroes, especially alpha males in genre romance, are gorgeous. Or compelling. Or something that sets them apart from the everyday.

Why?

I have a simple reason. Consider a desert. I'm picking Baja California because there's a good set of pictures halfway down the page that shows the dry desert and the same desert in full bloom. How can you see it?

I can think of three ways. You can travel to California and see it in person. It's WYSIWYG, wizzy-wig or What You See Is What You Get. Chances are pretty good you'll get sand, cactus and scrub, dry dry dry.

Or you can view a map of the area. This will give you roads and names of features. Nice, bite-sized, and has the advantage of being more portable. Also the map maker can choose what features to include.

The third way is with a picture or painting. This is the most flexible of all, especially the painting. You can choose what to include and what to exclude. You can paint the desert as is or in full bloom, even though that may only happen once a decade. You can show a deeper truth, the beauty that only exists for a moment.

If you brought one of those three into your home, which would it be? I'd pick the desert in bloom. Because frankly I've got enough dry grass of my own :)

So when I read a novel, I want something different than real, everyday life. If I wanted everyday life I could just live it. If I want to make sense of everyday life, I could read a non-fiction self-help book. But if I want to relive the moment I fell in love with my husband, that belly-punch of the first time I saw him, well then I read a romance novel. What about you?