What would we Harlequin Presents readers do without our Alpha heroes? We all have our personal all-time favourites, the memorable men who’ve made us go weak at the knees from the moment we’ve met them.

But how, as a writer, do you create a successful Alpha hero? We editors read many manuscripts in our search for new talent to publish in Harlequin Presents and too many times we meet heroes who just aren’t Alpha enough! They just don’t live up to their heroic status and they certainly don’t engage our emotions and our imaginations. We realise that in these days it’s not always easy to create an Alpha hero. We live in an age where equality is (quite rightly) the aim and male strength can be seen as oppressive. Our cultural male heroes are more likely peacemakers, environmentalists and family men. But the success of Harlequin Presents proves that many women still fantasize about strong men – not macho brutes, I hasten to add, but guys who use their power for good. So let’s go to the heart of the Presents male and analyze what makes him tick! The Alpha Male does two crucial things:

• He takes control and drives the story; he has the power to make things happen!
• He is the key driver of the romance – he is the aspiration of the story’s heroine (and the reader).

The Alpha Male is a celebration of strength!
How do you create a successful alpha hero?

Recognise that he is the ultimate nurturer and build his character around this trait. He acts for the welfare of others and he is the one who recognises the heroine’s true goodness and worth

Build a list of his strengths and reveal them as his character develops in your story

Keep him focused. This is what he has done to become such a success in his life, so he will always follow through to the end – unless he sees the sense of changing course

Show his passion – for his work, his life and in the bedroom!

Know his flaws and have the heroine, and the storyline, challenge them – so that he has to contemplate changing himself and his behaviour. Though changing will always remain his choice!

Be clear about the heroine’s emotional and sexual needs. It is through her journey of fulfilment via the hero that the reader gains insight into his character

Use writing technique to create a more complex rendering of his character, such as male point of view, and semi-climax when crisis occurs as a result of the hero’s flaws

Be sure by the last chapter that your hero has experienced his own emotional journey ad he’s ready to settle down to a hppy ending

Above all, remember that he is the man whom every woman wants. If you are in love with your hero, then the reader will be too!