Tuesday, April 18, 2006

On heroes

Trish Wylie and Ally Blake are having a slight fight about who gets to use a certain very handsome man as thier hero. It is all in good fun, but it got me to thinking.
I subscribe to the Kate Walker musing that if you gave 10 different authors the same premise, you would end up with 10 very different stories.
I think that is true with the photo. It is up to the indivdual author to breathe life into the character. The two heroes may be doppelgangers but underneath the way they react will be different. Each author will describe her hero in her own unique voice.
At the moment, I know the slight inspiration of A Noble Captive --Eric Banna is inspiring Julie Cohen. I suspect he will be a different sort of character than the man I described. For one thing, we are talking different millenia here.
My next edge of the mind inspiration, James Purefoy was shared with Anna Lucia. Again, I am certain the heroes are very different. One is a Roman pirate sort and the other a Frenchman. I was sort of surprised when Anna siad -- oh but I am using him...It also means I can;t wait to read her book and see her interpretation.
My current hero has been inspired in part by Christain Bales. You have to love his voice. Quiet, calm and oh so sexy. See Howl's Moving Castle or Batman Begins. I fully expect/hope others out there feel the same way.
Besides after I have finished with my heroes, hopefully they go on to become someone else's crush...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I liked him in Batman Begins. Great movie! I listen to the soundtrack when I write.

Donna Alward said...

Best Batman ever, hands down.

Anne McAllister said...

You're right, Michelle. Give each of us the same hero and we don't do anything the same with him really. Kate and I are a case in point. We've both had Hugh Jackman in our heads -- you should have seen us wrestling over his picture which she brought along to Australia two years ago (is this like bringing coals to Newcastle?) -- but we don't write AT ALL the same sorts of books. And our heroes aren't at all alike, for all that they are tough, honorable men who look like Hugh!

Natasha Oakley said...

I love the image of Kate Walker and Anne McAllister fighting over a Hugh Jackman picture. And I've thoroughly enjoyed being on MSN with Trish and Ally competing to find the best picture of Nathan Fillion.

Ally Blake said...

I remember that fight Anne! It was quite public in the end with eah of you giving your case in front of the RWA audience!

But I'm totally with you, Michelle. On some level I've actually used Christian Bale a number of times. He's my very fave actor in the whole world - has been since I was thirteen and he made 'Empire of the Sun'. And see, I'm not here being at all protective - the way I figure it the more heroes out there with his essence the better. But try telling Trish that!

Though knowing as I do that Trish not only wishes to use Nathan Fillion as inspiration for a hero she wishes to run away with him in real life too, I felt it only fair to give her a chance to try to sway me away from him.

So far no swaying has been done! but there is still time...

Trish Wylie said...

Aha... now having heard about Anne and Kate in such a public forum *wrestling*... I don't actually feel so bad...

And Ally is right... there's no persuading me to let go...

Let the games continue....

Amanda Ashby said...

Hmmmm, not sure I like all this sharing business. Especially when it comes to Nathan Fillion (funny, but the Firefly DVD where he is naked seems to have become a bit stuck...)

Anonymous said...

I absolutely agree. I can't imagine two authors creating the same character just because they base him or her on the same picture or have a particular celebrity in mind. If that were the case then surely, every time a screenwriter wrote a part with a specific actor/actress in mind, the parts would always be the same? In some cases they're similar (think Joan Collins) but with others they can be very, very different. And of course, novelists are in the lucky position that even if the person we're basing a character around has been typecast for screen, we can bend and mould him exactly as we please.

Still, a little squabbling gives the rest of us something to talk about :-)

Anne McAllister said...

Well, for those of you who want Hugh in the towel, he's on my blog and you're welcome to a share. See, Kate and I know how to share!

Ally Blake said...

Amanda, thank-you ever so for sharing your feelings for Nathan too. Trish Wylie seems to think she's the only one who's allowed. Check out her blog to see her rantings on the subject:

http://trishwylie.blogspot.com

I keep hearing all these Nathan naked stories. We never got "Firefly" down here in Aus, so I'm feeling liked I'm terribly left out.

Thanks for that Anne! Much appreciated. More piccies of Hugh please!

Amanda Ashby said...

Ally,

Am off to check out Trish's site now, hope it doesn't get messy. We never got Firefly in the UK either but I did what any sensible writer would do and spent some of my advance on buying the boxed set. It's all about priorities!

Ally Blake said...

See you're too clever Amanda! We've done that with things like 'Arrested Development' and 'The West Wing' but not as yet 'Firefly.'

My hubby loves sci fi stuff too, and he's the DVD buyer in the household - I should give him a nudge, no?