A few days ago I opened a paranormal romance and encountered an alpha hero. This isn’t a rare occurrence, alpha heroes are popular in romance (and urban fantasy), but made me wonder what the attraction is to the alpha hero. Or rather the attraction to an alpha hero who exhibits extreme alpha behavior.
For those unfamiliar with an alpha hero, a brief definition: “According to Jayne Ann Krentz in her groundbreaking Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, the “alpha males” can be described as “tough, hard-edged, tormented heroes. . . These are the heroes who made Harlequin famous. These are the heroes feminist critics despise” (page 132).” Taken from All About Romance.
And with that explanation a part of me can understand the attraction. We all want to be with—or rather, tame—the bad boy (or bad girl). We want the intensity of their emotion and desire fully focused on us and know that they WANT us because of who we are (yes, capital want). Their sense of danger and their brooding moods are exciting, tantalizing, and through the safety of the printed word we can savor the experience.
As well, we all want to see the damaged, sensitive inside of a hero who faces danger with a snarl of confidence, and we all want to see that hero heal (usually through his interaction with the heroine). Because if he can be hurting on the inside and still able to bravely carry on in the face of great adversity we can, too. And if he is worthy of healing and love, so are we.
At least, that’s how I understand the desire to read about alpha heroes. Which, now that I think about it, is probably my personal definition of alpha hero. Everyone seems to have their own take on what an alpha hero is.
The alpha hero that I sometimes encounter which confuses me, is the hero who’s so completely obsessed with his attraction for the heroine that he doesn’t respect or listen to her.
I am not alone in my confusion regarding the alpha hero or even how an alpha hero is defined. Robin at Romancing The Blog posed the same question in her post In Search of the Alpha Hero, asking her readers about their perfect alpha hero and the traits he possess back in 2009.
Candy at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, asked it in her post On Alpha Heroes in 2007.
The romance community has been discussing the topic for a long time and it doesn’t seem there will be a consensus. Of course, because writing is a creative form and everyone has different likes and dislikes consensus isn’t necessary. What I like, you might not. However, from a commercial writer’s perspective I think it’s important to understand and tap that attraction … now if I could only figure out what it is.
On an interesting note, from the perspective of three editors, while the heroine in romance and urban fantasy books has undergone significant changes (from meek to kick-ass), the hero has predominately remained the same. Check out Melissa Ann Singer’s interview Editorial Roundtable: Paranormal Romance Heroines and Heroes for thoughts on this from Deb Werksman, Editorial Manager, Sourcebooks, Monique Patterson, Senior Editor, St. Martin’s Press, and Alicia Condon, Editorial Director, Brava.
What are you thoughts in alpha heroes? Do you have a favorite and what traits does he have that makes you love him?
Hm. I can’t help but look at this from the psychological perspective. Do readers define an alpha male by what turns them (personally) on? If so, are the women who like their heroes pushy and obsessive the same ones who have aversive rape fantasies? Or is this too simplistic?
I’m not sure. I’d be interested in reading any formal psychological studies on the topic if there are any.