Recently I saw on Twitter someone complaining about reading books that utilize a popular actor/singer/famous person and the same day, unrelated to the tweets, I saw an author advertising her hero as inspired by Dean Winchester. I have to admit, I enjoy if there's an "inspired by" type of character in a book. I don't want a full-on knock-off of Taylor Swift as my heroine, but if there's a pop music superstar in a book, I'm not mad about it.
But the Dean Winchester thing got me thinking. I love Supernatural. The acting is fantastic, the characters are amazing, and the series has been around for so long, that obviously I'm not the only one! If you haven't seen the show, basically two brothers take over the family business after their dad goes missing. The family business? It's hunting monsters.
I am a huge sucker for good Paranormal Romance (PNR). I love the monsters, the monster hunters, and everything in between! So if I see a book advertised as loosely based off of a show I like, it's not a turn off, and I'm apparently the target audience! (I will say that I don't mean fan fiction, no shade, but that's not what I'm talking about here). I want all the Sam and Dean Winchesters of the Paranormal Romance world, and I'm definitely going to one click that book if it's advertised as such.
So as a reader, if you were to read a story where the hero is loosely inspired by an actor, or a TV or movie character, would that bother you? And if it does, what is it that bugs you? Is it that you don't want a pre-conceived image of the character in your head? Or is it that you may not like the character on the show/movie?
Also, I'm sharing this image in case you don't know who the Winchesters are. And if you already know, just enjoy how beautiful they are, and how cool the Impala is.
In my Fatal Instincts series, while it isn't paranormal, there are monster hunters. My heroes are feds who hunt the human kind of evil. And if you want to read my latest, Dangerous Past, it's coming out soon! Jay Sutherland hunts monsters, they just aren't paranormal. And Lark is the daughter of a serial killer. Does that make her a monster too?
She’s running from her past…
Lark Seawell is the daughter of a serial killer. His reputation has long been a shadow looming over her since his arrest when she was a child. Especially since she’s the one who called the police. She has spent her entire life trying to live as anonymously and quietly as possible. She is not her father’s legacy.
He wants to be her future...
FBI agent Jay Sutherland is visiting a friend in a small mountain town when free spirit Lark asks for help with her injured dog. He is instantly enamored with her, and their one night stand stays with him far into the next morning, though Lark is long gone. When his partner realizes that she is the daughter of The Highwayman, Jay refuses to believe Lark is anything like her father.
What happens when she stops running…
When a trail of dead bodies follows Lark on her cross-country drive, the FBI believes she’s the killer. How can the sweet woman who rescues injured animals and makes him feel things he hasn’t felt in years be a murderer? The bodies don’t lie. Jay knows there’s more at play. If he’s wrong, and Lark is as much a monster as her father, he may be the next target…
Sunshiney heroine, gruff hero, one night stand leads to more…
I plead guilty to using Sam Elliott's voice more than once, and I might have mentioned Denzel Washington's looks, but, like you, I don't want to see "a full-on knock-off" of anyone. As a reader, I want to decide what the MCs look like, and as a writer, I only want to present suggestions of what I'm seeing when I write. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI can get on board with Sam Elliot's voice. Any time! I know Sarah MacLean has mentioned a hero inspired by Tom Hardy, and I like that because he can look however he looks in my head, but Tom Hardy's voice and real life personality are amazing!
DeleteAs a writer, I might have a picture of my hero based on someone I've encountered or who is famous. But as a reader, I want no reference to anyone. I want to conjure the MC up in my mind from the dialogue and writer's descriptions.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found funny about the Dean Winchester nod was that I'd read the book before and never picked up on it! So this author definitely did a great job at the subtlety of using a famous actor but not making it obvious or heavy-handed. But yeah, as a reader I want to imagine every single hero how I think he looks, or as Henry Cavill, oh wait, did I say that out loud? ;)
DeleteI’m a huge Supernatural gal, too, so the question has to be asked, Team Dean or Team Sam? Or Castiel? Or, heck, Team Papa Winchester? I love Mark Pellegrino as Lucifer and the casting for Rowena and Crowley was inspired! I’m not quite sure where I stand on your question. It’s kind of ironic that I read this today, though, as I was cleaning up my files last night and ran across a story loosely based on Supernatural. I had to scrap it, though as my notes weren’t jogging my memory enough to make sense of it! (I’m Team Dean, by the way. I don’t usually go with a guy with such polished good looks as Jensen, but I’m a voice person and he’s right there with Liam Neesen for me!)
ReplyDeleteHis voice is definitely something else! I wish he'd do an audiobook lol I would listen to that all the time!
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