How to Write Believable Male Characters - Part II

Great feedback yesterday! I never thought of a male character crying at a death. Ok fine. I'll make allowance for those tears.

I sat in on a class once led by Randy Ingermanson about the Male POV. It was enlightening to be sure. The class came with warnings about content, but I wasn't offended in the slightest. Randy had so much great stuff to think about and let's face it, men and women's POV's are different. (Which is why we make such amazing teams! - trust me. I've managed people for ten years now and if I had a choice, my team would be primarily male - simply because they compliment a female leader well and give a different, typically, non-emotional, reaction). That was a really long parenthesis.

A few things to make a better male lead:

1. Think black and white. Sure. You have your occasional super emotional guy, but then, no offense, men, they don't typically make for strong male leads. In the real world, we can see through the emotion to the strength beneath, but overly sensitive and reactive men in a story tend to be the milksops (in historical terms). By black and white, we mean: decisive. opinionated. unafraid. strong. confident. charming. Think black and white adjectives where you don't need another adjective to describe the adjective. 
2. Think cracked. Take the ever-popular Mr. Darcy from P&P. He was the embodiment of male aloofness. Superior. Even arrogant. But there was a crack. It was tiny, but Lizzie fit right through it. Every good male lead needs to be a bit cracked. Something that he needs to overcome.  A weakness. A fear? A struggle. This makes them human and frankly, likable to a female reader. 
3. Think physical. Okay. Here it comes. Men are men. (This is Randy had too much fun going on about :) When they look at a woman, they don't notice the taper of their blouse. They notice that the taper enhances their upper torso, or their curves. Who cares about the blouse! When they see a woman's lips, it's not to admire Maybelline shade #23 Rosemary Mint. They're trying to figure out what it would be like to consume the lips in a long, drawn out lip sucking moment. And within the confines of writing for a CBA market, we as writers have to get especially creative. We don't want lewd, sexual paragraphs of lust. However, we do need to be realistic. When his fingers brush her cheeks, she feels a deep sigh of tenderness and he wants t to release his pent up energy and dig his fingers into her hair hauling her to him in a caveman-like crush. Are there acceptable variances to this? Yes. But, simply stated, don't forget a guy is a guy. Or go for the dichotomy. He's totally oblivious to her. Anything physical for your heroine hasn't been awakened yet. Maybe he's simply appalled by her outspoken nature. That can kill a desire to eat those lips, I tell ya.

OK! I have a chiropractor appt.! This is such a fun post for me. Leave a comment as to what makes a great hero. We'll continue our chat later ...