Four Facts about Creating My Hero
by Christy Carlyle
- One of the hottest actors around right now inspired my mental image of him. I like to have images handy to inspire me as I write. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I use it both to find images during my initial research stage and later to save them on a board devoted to my story. When I was first envisioning my hero, Lucius, Viscount Grimsby, two men dominated my mental image of him: English actor, Richard Armitage, and Irish actor, Aidan Turner (aka Ross Poldark).
I actually included this image of Aidan Turner with Photoshopped clear blue eyes when I sent cover suggestions to my publisher to indicate how I envisioned Lucius.
- His title name was inspired by a character in a Sherlock Holmes story. I don’t know about other writers, but I have a heck of a time coming up with character names. If I’m setting a story in Britain, I want the name to sound authentic, and yet be memorable. One of the most memorable Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories I’ve ever read, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, features a character named Grimesby Roylott.You know how names get stuck in your head? That one got stuck in mine, and since he was such an awful man in the Sherlock Holmes story, I decided to redeem the name with Lucius as Viscount Grimsby. It also lent to my hero’s nickname: Lord Grim.
- His habit of gesticulating while he’s talking to himself, though not when he’s speaking to others in a public setting, is borrowed from someone I once knew. I don’t think it’s a big secret that writers draw on aspects of people they know to build their characters. In a fun scene in One Scandalous Kiss, my heroine, Jess, comes across Lucius as he’s out for a walk. He’s having an animated conversation, seemingly with the air. Readers later learn that isn’t quite true, but his habit of waving his hands, especially when he didn’t think anyone else could see him, is a habit borrowed from a former coworker of mine.
- His first name led to the Roman-style names of other characters in the story. Writers truly are like magpies, collecting shiny objects along the way. I remember hearing the name Lucius in the film Gladiator many years ago, and always knew I wanted to give a hero that name. It only made sense to give his father, Maxim, and sister, Julia, names evocative of Ancient Rome too.
If you’re a writer, tell me one fun fact about creating your hero. If you’re a reader, what is one quality you always love to see in a hero?
One Scandalous Kiss
When a scheming marquess’s daughter offers her one hundred pounds to publicly kiss a nobleman, a desperate Jessamin Wright agrees. She believes the money will save her failing bookstore and finally free her from her father’s debts. But when Jess bursts into an aristocratic party and shocks the entire ton, she never expects to enjoy the outrageous embrace she shares with a grim viscount.
Lucius Crawford, Viscount Grimsby, has never met, or kissed, anyone like the beautiful suffragette who unsettles him with a single touch. He has always strived for control and avoided passion at all costs. Lucius is determined to protect his title and restore the estate he’s unexpectedly inherited, but Jess’s appearance in his life poses a threat to his plans and his heart. After a country house party brings them together once more, neither can resist temptation, and both find that one scandalous kiss just isn’t enough.
Excerpt
Marcus stood close to Lucius and leaned in to speak confidentially. “There are some lovely young women in attendance tonight. Don’t you agree, Grimsby? Surely one of them must strike your fancy.”
His sister and her husband were unaware of Aunt Augusta’s matchmaking efforts.
“Yes and no.” Lucius lifted the flute of champagne to his mouth and sipped.
Marcus quirked a brow at him, begging explanation.
“Yes, there are lovely women in attendance. No, none of them strikes my fancy.”
The women in the crush of attendees were stunning in their finery. Every color and shape one could desire. But none of them stirred him.
Marcus wouldn’t be deterred. “Are you never lonely, old chap?” His brother-in-law turned his eyes to Julia as he spoke.
Lucius caught the look, and an ember of loneliness kindled in his chest. He didn’t desire any of the women before him, yet he did envy the easy companionship that his sister and brother-in-law shared. He could envy it but never imagine it for himself. Even if Aunt Augusta’s scheme was successful, it wouldn’t be a love match. He’d seen the results of what such an attachment had done to his father, a man whose adoration for his wife became a destructive obsession, sparking jealous rages that drove her—and Lucius—from their home.
He wouldn’t lose himself in that kind of passion. Now, with the responsibility of Hartwell laid on his shoulders, he couldn’t spare the time for it. Let his father indulge in maudlin sentimentality; Lucius had an estate to run.
“I haven’t the time for loneliness.” He lied easily and ignored the look Marcus shot him, fearing he’d read pity there.
A fracas near the gallery’s entrance offered a welcome distraction. Turning away from Marcus, Lucius craned his neck to spot the cause of the ruckus. The room was so full of bodies it was difficult to see the front of the building, despite his height. But whatever the commotion, it caused a few shouts mingled with cries of outrage.
Then he saw the trouble. A woman. A bluestocking, more precisely, wearing a prim black skirt and plain white shirtwaist, spectacles perched high on her nose, pushed her way through the throng of ladies in colorful evening gowns and men in black tails. She looked like a magpie wreaking havoc among the canaries, though her hair was as striking a shade as any of the finery around her. The rich auburn hue shone in the gaslight, and though she’d pinned her hair back in a severe style, several rebellious curls had escaped and hung down around her shoulders.
As he watched the woman’s progress, a gentleman grasped her arm roughly, and an uncommon surge of chivalry made Lucius consider interceding. But in the next moment the woman proved she needed no rescuer. Stomping on the man’s foot, she moved easily out of his grasp and continued on her path—a path that led directly to Lucius.
Fueled by Pacific Northwest coffee and inspired by multiple viewings of every British costume drama she can get her hands on, Christy Carlyle writes sensual historical romance set in the Victorian era. She loves heroes who struggle against all odds and heroines who are ahead of their time. A former teacher with a degree in history, she finds there’s nothing better than being able to combine her love of the past with a die-hard belief in happy endings.
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Did you say anything after Aidan Turner? Just kidding. loved the facts and excerpt!
Denise
LOL! That’s kind of my attitude too, Denise. He’s dreamy. Sigh. 🙂
I just finished this book last night, Christy, and really enjoyed it! Now I have to say, I didn’t see Aidan Turner in Lucius. He was more of a Daniel Day-Lewis to me! But both actors make very compelling heroes.
A fun fact about the hero in my upcoming novella, Liliana’s Letter: he’s the uncle of the hero in Bella’s Band. He’s my first “older” hero (isn’t that a relative term!) and it was great fun developing his character from his brief role in the prior novel.
Oh, Alina, thank you reading my book! You know, I am totally fine with Daniel Day-Lewis! I adore him. Another great, inspiration-worthy actor. Your hero sounds intriguing! Isn’t it fun to develop characters beyond the glimpses readers get of them as secondary characters in a book?
He looks good with blue eyes! Brown, too. I loved him in the Hobbit.
Doesn’t he? I loved him in The Hobbit too! I’ve actually loved him since I first saw him in the British version of Being Human, where he played a vampire living in a flat with a ghost and a werewolf. A very intriguing scenario, eh? Though, I must say, I am thrilled to see him getting the attention he deserves as Ross Poldark.