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Bad Boys and Anti-heroes

I have to apologize for something upfront:

My romantic lead is not a vampire.

He's also not a werewolf. I could tell you what he is, but I think that would ruin some of the fun of my book, Moonshine. But I can tell you who he is, and something interesting I've noticed about modern paranormal romance.

Like plenty of women, I love (reading about) bad boys. I preferred Spike to Angel, Damian to Stefan, and (if you want to go really far back) Mr. Rochester to St. John. Bad boys are a venerable romantic tradition, particularly when they are set up against "good" romantic foils. Vampire fiction is filled with bad boys--after all, most of the time being a vampire puts you on the wrong side of all kinds of taboos.

But perhaps as a reaction against the vampire bad boy trope, or perhaps for some other reason, I've noticed that a lot of popular paranormal romances these days star men who are essentially good. Now, they probably have a dark past and a lot of personal angst, but they're still noble, honorable to a fault and fighting on the side of justice. Edward in Twilight, Bill in the Sookie Stackhouse books and Vayl in the Jaz Parks series (by Jennifer Rardin) are all examples of this more recent trend in noble heroes.

Here's another confession: my romantic lead is not a very good person.

He could be, but he has grown up with a lot of power and privilege, and he's never had much use for empathy. He makes up for it (I hope) with wit, humor and a willingness to admit fault, but he gets his hands pretty dirty in the process. Given how many readers seem to love noble heroes, I started wondering why I like mine to be a little more frayed at the edges.

Ever since I read Wuthering Heights and developed a treacherous love for Heathcliff ("He kills puppies!" my sister always says when I bring this up), I've liked a little anti- with my hero. Probably my favorite series of all time (unfortunately not paranormal, though it is historical fiction) is the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett. Lymond is a dark character who does many, many questionable things. Sometimes for a twisted, ultimate good and sometimes just because he can. I spent six books in love with this man, so I suppose it's unavoidable that I would write darker traits into my own romantic leads.

Part of my love for this trope must be because it lends itself to a redemption arc. I would never have enjoyed Spike half as much as I did without the huge progression of his character between seasons two and six. On the other hand, I think getting a soul ruined him, so there's a dangerous line between anti-heroes striving for good and, well, achieving it.

Also, I confess that I find unremitting goodness kind of boring. Even if I can't exactly admire an anti-hero, I tend to be won over by his charisma and charm and willingness to break the rules--even, sometimes, good ones.

In my case, I enjoyed writing my anti-hero even more because my heroine is precisely his opposite: a crusader for progressive causes, she hasn't met a social injustice she won't fight against. She struggles not to see the world in shades of gray, which makes her interactions with my bad boy fraught, to say the least.

So if you're like me and don't always like your heroes filled with goodness and light, check out Moonshine (you can read the first chapter here) and tell me what you think!


Moonshine description:

Imagining vampires at the heart of the social struggles of 1920s, Moonshine blends a tempestuous romance with dramatic historical fiction, populated by a lively mythology inhabiting the gritty New York City streets Zephyr Hollis is an underfed, overzealous social activist who teaches night school to the underprivileged of the Lower East Side. Strapped for cash, Zephyr agrees to help a student, the mysterious Amir, who proposes she use her charity worker cover to bring down a notorious vampire mob boss. What he doesn’t tell her is why. Soon enough she’s tutoring a child criminal with an angelic voice, dodging vampires high on a new blood-based street drug, and trying to determine the real reason behind Amir’s request—not to mention attempting to resist his dark, inhuman charm.

About the Author

ALAYA JOHNSON is a recent Columbia graduate, and denizen of New York City.

http://www.alayadawnjohnson.com/

Moonshine Tour Stops

Monday, May 24 Books And... Chat

Tuesday, May 25 Parajunkee

Wednesday, May 26 Fang-tastic Books

Thursday, May 27 BrownGirl BookSpeak

Friday, May 28 Not Really Southern Vamp Chick