by Sarah Morgan, author of Powerful Greek, Unworldly Wife (Harlequin Presents Extra, December 2009)
I’m always fascinated by man’s ability to say the wrong thing (of course they often say the right thing, too, but that would make for a very boring blog). A quick survey amongst my friends has revealed such gems as ‘I slept really well last night, how about you?’ when you’ve been up all night with a bawling baby, or ‘For your birthday I’ve bought you two season tickets to the football’, or, my personal favourite, ‘would you like a new washing machine for Christmas, darling? (answer: only if you want to wake up to a boxed set of chick flicks and a pair of pink fluffy socks). Apparently we can put a man on the moon, but we can’t teach him that offering his partner a domestic appliance as a gift is the eighth deadly sin.
When I’m writing for Harlequin Presents, my heroes often start out saying the wrong thing and that, for me, is part of the fun of creating the character. He says things that you and I wouldn’t say in a million years and there are occasions when I actually find my fingers hovering nervously over the keyboard and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t say this’. That’s when I have to remind myself that I’m not the one saying it, he is. The dialogue is his, and it should reflect his personality. If I catch my Presents hero saying, ‘sit down my little hunnybunny and tell me everything you’re thinking while I make you a nice cup of tea and load the washing machine,’ I know I haven’t got to grips with his character (or his lifestyle – a Presents man shouldn’t be emptying his own washing machine or where is the fantasy?!). And how boring would that be to read. When I pick up a Presents I want the dialogue to reflect their conflict – I turn the pages to find out how these two people are ever going to resolve their differences.
My hero is a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. That means that sometimes he is going to say really outrageous things – things that in real life might result in a black eye, a burnt dinner or a toy rat in his sock drawer (ask me about that one later – it was my youngest son who put it there, honestly.) Men usually stick to the facts, whereas women fill their communications with emotions and feelings.
In my December release for Presents Extra, Powerful Greek, Unworldly Wife, the heroine Millie accuses Greek tycoon Leandro of being horribly insensitive and maybe he is – at least at the beginning of the book. Millie left their marriage and her actions hurt him badly. When he sees her again he throws some of that hurt right back at her. He’s telling the truth as he sees it and he doesn’t dress it up in flowery language. But as the story develops and he grows to understand the depth of Millie’s insecurity, Leandro uses words and actions to give her the confidence she’s never had. He’s on her side, right behind her all the way and that’s a powerful force. I fell in love with my hero as I wrote this book and I hope readers will fall in love with him, too.
Do you have a favourite line of male dialogue, fictitious or otherwise? Maybe it’s Rhett Butler saying, ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ I like the scene from Star Wars where Princess Leia tells Han Solo that she loves him and he says, ‘I know.’ Post a comment here and let me know your favourites, or drop by my website at www.sarahmorgan.com and tell me privately!
And yes, despite what men sometimes say, we love them just the way they are. If men thought the way we do there would be no Harlequin Presents and I’d have nothing to read while I’m lying in a bubble bath, eating chocolate….
Suzzi, presumably he realised his mistake when you threw him into the wok and stir fried him with ginger and lots of chilli
So pleased you loved Powerful Greek, Unworldly Wife. And yes, that Jerry Maguire line is lovely. A shining example of man saying the RIGHT thing.
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Sarah,
You put a totally different spin on that first chapter. i definitely need to go and re-read the book.
Yes, it is a very interesting topic and I will send you an email!
Not to be greedy or anything but when is your next book coming out?
Lidia, my next book for Harlequin Presents is Bought: Destitute yet Defiant, and it’s out in the US in March. It’s a Knight in shining armour story
Oh cool about the new book, Sarah. If it’s out in the US in March then I should be getting it in my next subscription package! And I love the title too!
Maya
Sarah,
What a fabulous title! I am very glad that the new titles are “different.” It was about time for a change from all of the “billionaire” titles.
You’ve got mail!
*sigh swoon* Knight in shining armor…can’t wait to check it out! It will be here in time for my Birthday!
I’ll buy it for me. Or maybe hubby will forgo the Hoover and buy me romance novels instead! LOL.
Security Words: Drovers Housewife. Makes me think of Hugh Jackman in Australia…and that is never a bad thing.
Maya and Lidia, the title is really appropriate because my heroine in that book is both destitute and defiant!
Maisey I’m laughing at the Hoover – and my security words are Mr jambs. I don’t know who he is but he doesn’t sound very sexy and he’s not starring in my next book. With a name like that he would certainly say the wrong thing
Mmm, interesting discussion.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Sean Connery as James Bond! He’s always saying the wrong thing!
“Ah, your hair’s changed colour again. I don’t mind, so long as collars and cuffs match!”
and
“Ooh, you’re all wet!”
to which Bond replies: “But my Martini is dry!”
Lauren, you’re so right – how could we have forgotten? I think we’ve all been distracted by Harrison Ford
One of my favourite James Bond lines is in Goldeneye when he and the female psychiatrist sent to assess him are in the car and she says (as he is driving like a maniac) ‘I love a spirited ride as much as the next girl’ and then ‘Who’s that?’ as the gorgeous Xenia (or whatever her name was) zooms past in her red, Harlequin Presents hero car, to which Bond replies ‘the next girl.’ Brilliant.
Pierce Brosnan was definitely the best Bond, IMO!
Fab discussion and sounds like a must-read book, Sarah.
You can never go wrong with Bond – there are so many on liners and yet I cannot think of one! However, I’ve always liked the last couple of lines of Bridget Jones’s Diary when she says something along the lines of : “Hang on nice boys don’t kiss like that” to which Mark Darcy replies: “Oh yes they f*****g do.”
Mulberry, I agree that Pierce Brosnan was a gorgeous Bond and he delivered humour so well. Goldeneye is one of my favourite Bond films, but I have to confess to being a Daniel Craig fan. I think he’s a tougher character and Quantum of Solace definitely provided some small inspiration for my next book, Bought: Destitute Yet Defiant which is a Knight in shining armour story (just posted an excerpt on my website!).
Janette, that one line from Bridget Jones’s Diary is so sexy isn’t it, particularly the way it is delivered by Colin Firth. I love that part where she’s standing in the snow in her knickers
Hi,
First one to come to mind is a sweet honest one said by Jonas Armstrong as Robin Hood – “I should never have left you, i should never have gone to war it was a mistake.”
I kind of found that one to be really meaningful.
And then there’s one by my own character who said to his heroin: ‘Even the complicated deserve the chance to be loved.”
Sorry i can’t come up with any more, I’m off to bed its late here.
Great topic, wish i could contribute more,
Kara
Hi,
First one to come to mind is a sweet honest one said by Jonas Armstrong as Robin Hood – “I should never have left you, i should never have gone to war it was a mistake.”
I kind of found that one to be really meaningful.
And then there’s one by my own character who said to his heroin: ‘Even the complicated deserve the chance to be loved.”
Sorry i can’t come up with any more, I’m off to bed its late here.
Great topic, wish i could contribute more,
Kara
Kara, thanks for stopping by – Jonas Armstrong is definitely yummy and that’s a great line you’ve written! I couldn’t agree more – the complicated definitely deserve a chance to be loved, or so I keep telling my long suffering husband
My security words are quickly vampire – (??!!) clearly someone has been watching Twilight and is living in hope
I think JR Ward had a line in one of her books where Vishous was making a commentary to the effect that nothing said love like giving his woman a high-tech security system.
I laughed out loud, because that’s exactly the way my husband thinks. For Mother’s Day, he gave me a backup hard drive. Um….what? Seriously??
For our tenth anniversary, he tried to give me a bike. I said NO and made him take me out to an expensive dinner.
Sometimes, I think you have to tell them what you want.
A backup hard drive??? I rest my case Michelle.
Mind you, if you lost all your work you’d go demented so the gift was probably a sanity saver for him.
And I agree – you have to say what you want in this life, or how are they going to know?
Thanks for sharing that – made me smile.
Oh, oh! I got a bike too one year when I admitted to my husband I didn’t know how to ride one. It’s still in the shed. He pumps the tires once a year and hopes for the best, LOL!
Maya
Pumping the tyres is good exercise Maya – for him
Hi,
Wow, hopeful of Edward well I guess your husband has a lot to compete with
Hope you find it funny.
My mind drew a blank last night only this morning did I realised how many lines are out there that men say, a particular fav of mine and a defiant compliment I hope that I won’t get in trouble for saying this but it was a typical male thing to say.
And to top it off it was said by as a real live guy, my older brother.
I gave him a portion of my book to read one night and when he had finished reading it I nervously asked his opinion, and he turned to his wife before leaving the room, ‘Honey I’m going for a cold shower.’ both his wife and I were gob founded then we bust out laughing it is outlandish but I must say no compliment has beaten it since.
I guess I can write
Kara.C
Very funny Kara, thanks for sharing
It’s become a cliche these days, but Tom Cruise in Jerry McGuire…’you had me from hello’. Meltingly romantic, makes me go soft every time.
Joanne, that’s definitely an example of man saying the right thing!