We are all the heroes of our stories

Hi everyone! I am YA author B A Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

I found three definitions for Hero in the dictionary –

1. A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. 
2. One who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal. 
3. The principal male character in a story.

Only that last definition requires a specific gender.

I know, this is "Romancing the Genres" so we should be about the romance conventions so definition number three should take precedence. And yet, maybe it's because I primarily write YA and things are a little looser in that genre, I prefer definitions 1 and 2. Those do not require a different word to distinguish between the male and female. In the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is the hero, no feminization of the word is required. Peeta and Gale are love interests or sidekicks, she is the HERO saving the districts from the capital.

Actor Asia Kate Dillon, who plays a gender non-binary character, Taylor Mason on the Showtime series Billions - http://www.sho.com/billions, (and who personally identifies as non-binary) is uncertain whether to be nominated in the Emmy category of Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress. Dillon wrote a letter to the Television Academy, stating, in part,

"I’d like to know if in your eyes 'actor' and 'actress' denote anatomy or identity and why it is necessary to denote either in the first place?" and that "...if the categories of 'actor' and 'actress' are meant to denote assigned sex I ask, respectfully, why is that necessary?"

Why indeed?

It is worth noting that the Academy's answer was that any performer could submit under any category for any reason.

I know, romance needs a male and female love story and we do need to tell which is which. But not really.

M/M and F/F are both compelling sub-genres of romance. One of my favorite M/M romances, Mexican Heat, has two luscious male leads, Antonio and Gabriel. I assure you, neither played the part of the female in their growing relationship. Both the men in this 2009 Lambda finalist book are heroes in their own right. I found both so compelling I have never forgiven the author for never presenting readers with the promised sequel.

I'm not doing a treatise on gender conformity. But I am asking why we feel the need to make the distinction? Especially because years ago, the romantic heroine was not the one who was "courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities." She was the motive for the male to perform his heroic deeds, possibly functioning as a sidekick, but basically arm candy. Yes, that has changed, and in the 21st century, most books feature "kickass" female protagonists. Since her role in the story has changed, why do we still need to differentiate by gender identity?

For me, a hero, no matter what the archetype, is the protagonist who goes through an emotional inner arc, and who pushes past obstacles to get the job done. Alpha or beta, any archetype and, yes, any gender, if they see what needs to be accomplished and do not shirk the task but see it through to completion is a hero. Maybe that makes me more of a Woman's Fiction that a Romance aficionado, as you will see by my favorite book hero and series of all time..

Anne Golon

My  #1 hero(ine if you insist) is Angelique from the book series of the same name. And, by extension, the series author, Anne Golon (see http://www.jannaludlow.co.uk/Angelique/Anne_Golon.html). She is a nonagenarian who has faced some of the worst indignities the publishing industry has to offer, including not being allowed to use her own name when her first novels were published in the nineteen-fifties, because of fears no one would buy from a female author all the way to an attempt to seize her rights following her husband’s death that left her unable to publish new books for decades. The resulting lawsuit was settled only a few years ago, and now she is back to writing and publishing.

A brief selection of some of the 13 Angelique books

Her series of historical books begins when the title character is a typical seventeenth century adolescent member of the  noble class in rural France, far from court.  By the end of the series, Angelique is a mature woman with grown children, living in North America and negotiating treaties with both Native Americans and the British. In between she serves as a French ambassador to the Middle East, escapes from the harem of sultan Moulay Ismaiel, leads a rebellion against Louis IV, the "Sun King," and joins a group of Huguenots as they flee religious persecution for the new world. Many of the characters involved are real life historic figures.

There are men in her life, many of who would be considered the hero in another book with a different heroine. But Angelique is always the hero of her own  story. The men she encounters may be handsome, strong, smart and capable (she deserves no less). In the end, most are little more than her love interests, like Peeta and Gale are to Katniss.

Except for Angelique in Love which turns out to be a larger than life romance between Angelique and Rescator, the pirate who has been after her ever since she left the harem in Book 3. He emerges as a true hero for Angelique, possible the only man in history strong enough to be her match.

See, even I can have have one traditional hero on my list.

If you have any heros (male or female, or other) that you would like to discuss, and books to recommend, I'd love to hear about them. Drop a comment and share the particulars.

Heroines Through History

Hi everyone! I am YA author B A Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

I've heard suggestions that we need a Woman's History Month.  Too few people know the important "her-stories," tales of the heroines that are just s important, if not more important that the male-dominated history. And while I write fiction instead of non-fiction, I love and appreciate a good heroine. I also study them, and, when appropriate, grab one's history or personality to help make my own characters more complex, interesting, and...well, more heroic.

I begin with  Fatima Al-Fihri, a Muslim woman who established the world's first University in the 9th century.  She turned her grief over the deaths of her father, brother and husband, into community work, using her personal wealth to found the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University in Fes, Morocco, a country in Africa. Muslim and non-Muslim alike have studied and received degrees at this school, including the man who later became Pope Sylvester II. To this day, the school continues to educate and graduate students. This princess whose dedication to education has shaped so many lives in the past deserves to be remembered.

Because I also love anti-heroes, my next heroine is Ching Shih, a nineteenth century female pirate who was more feared by her enemies (and her men) than the more well-known but less successful Anne Bonny. Ching Shih took control of her pirate husband's fleet after his untimely demise and went on to ravage shipping lanes in the early nineteenth century. 

She established strict rules for her the crews of her ships (yes, she led hundreds of pirates, called the Red Flag fleet) including rules prohibiting the rape of female prisoners. Men who disobeyed that rule ended up headless. And the former prostitute did not accept claims that the sex was consensual. This crafty woman even knew when it was time to retire. After negotiating a deal with the Chinese government that included amnesty and a nice chunk of cash, she lived to the age of 69.

One of my American heroines is Clara Belle Williams. Mrs. Williams had to earn her graduate degree in education from the University of New Mexico by taking classes during the summer because she taught elementary school the remainder of the year. She also had to attend many of those classes standing in the hall because many of her instructors would not allow the first black student at the University to enter their classrooms. Nor was she allowed to attend her graduation ceremony to pick up her diploma with fellow  students. But she went on to educate children at the Booker T Washington elementary school in New Mexico and raise three sons. Her sons all became doctors and founded the William's Clinic in Chicago.

I use Mrs. Williams as an inspiration to the kids in my current WIP who attend the made-up Clara Belle Williams school in a Chicago suburb. The teens in my book will learn the privilege of attending a school named after her, including one who looks at her picture in shock, telling readers that "she looks so young to have accomplished so much with her life." Truth is, she lived to be over 100, dying in 1994, but don't tell my character that. I want him to be inspired by her in spite of his youth.

My final heroine is alive and well and occupying the White House: FLOTUS, aka the elegant Michelle Obama. She is going to be a hard act to follow, no matter who occupies the White House next. She is appropriate for a romance blog because its obvious how close she and POTUS are (I just love those acronyms).

Recently her  Let's Move! campaign took her on field trips. Let's Move is an initiative designed to raise a healthier generation of kids. The video below shows her stopping at three sites to offer encouragement to kids and adults.

Her first stop in the video is at Watkins Elementary School, home to a schoolyard garden and students who grow, harvest, cook, and prepare nutritious foods. The First Lady join them in the school's demonstration kitchen and help make corn tortillas from scratch for tacos, along with a salad using kale harvested from their garden.

Next came John Burroughs Elementary School which has a vegetable garden and a newly planted fruit orchard. The final stop was a community garden cared for by Eriks Brolis and Linda Bilsens in the Brookland neighborhood of DC. Their garden fills an entire backyard and is used to help feed family, relatives, and neighbors.

Michelle Obama is at home at a state dinner and when encouraging the next generation.  And I'm sorry Romance Authors, but she's more fun than any story book heroine I've ever read. I guarantee she will someday make an appearance in one of my books. At least her personality and joie de vivre will land on the pages. Even if I have to package her under another name I will continue to utilize the stories of real heroines to enhance my characters.

Heroes and Heroines in History

Hi everyone!
I am YA author B. A. Binns. How can it possibly be August already? But then any time is a good time to talk about heroes and heroines, real and fictional.

I began thinking about this post, I realized every book/hero/heroine that came to mind were historical novels I read during my college years and never forgot.

 I loved Désirée, by Annemarie Selinko. This book made a history hater (myself) actually do independent research on the material it contains. Because most of this unbeleivable story happens to be true. Désirée Clary, a merchants daughter, joins Napoleon's court when her sister marries Napoleon's brother. She is briefly engaged to Napoleon before marrying Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte the son of a tailor who rose throught the army from the rank of private to Marshall of France. Jean-Baptiste eventually became  Charles XIV John, King of Sweden and Norway (no war necessary, he is rich and the country is bankrupt so he buys the throne) then spends years living in fear of a revolution against him (it did happen in France, after all) becoming so paranoid the country does want to force him to abdicate--in favor of his son. Meanwhile Desiree remains in France and they live apart for years before she returns to Sweden to rule at his side.

Seriously, reality is stranger than fiction. 

This book inspired me to do something I never had before, study history of my own free will. The book was filled with real characters,including the title heroine. Maybe it was the idea of real people rising from common society into royalty, fighting real wars and having real loves, successes and sometimes failures, pulled me in.  Where are the Jean-Baptiste's of today?

The French husband and wife team Sergeanne Golon penned the Angelique series, the Harry Potter of my college years. The books followed the fictional Angelique from her childhood to her arranged marriage with Count Joffrey de Peyrac when she was seventeen. They quickly fell deeply in love and had two children before he was unjustly accused of a crime and burned at the stake.  In her twenties, the newly widowed Angelique did whatever it took to protect her children.  From one book to the next we watched her mature, refuse the advances of the king she relt responsible for Joffrey's death, become a diplomat, fight a rebellion, and join forces with a group of religious outcasts.

Then came Book 5, Angelique in Love, where she is reunited with Joffrey.  He had escaped execution, and built a new life as a pirate.  Embittered by his travails,  he wants nothing to do with her or his former life. And yet, once reunited, he can't stay away from her, and in the end love does conquer all. Joffrey is one of my heros because of the way he handled everything life had thrown at him from a childhood that left him with a crippled leg, to his efforts at acquiring knowledge of science and math that served to bring him power and alliances after his excape, to his undying love for Angelique.

The last two books in the series were never translated into English, largely over a disagreement between the author and publisher and the death of Serge Golon, Anne's husband.  I joined a Friends of Angelique fan club, and we kept in contact with Anne, hoping she would complete the series (she has even more adventures inside her head) and arrange for publication in English. A few years ago, after the club president died without ever learning what heppened next, I began learning French.

It was painful, but I completed the series with the now mature Angelique and her two grown sons, settled in Canada and helping Joffrey carve out his own empire with the help of local Indian tribes.  And she now has a set of twins to deal with in her mid-forties. Life goes on. That was the real joy of this hero and heroine, watching them grow up and grow old together, dealing with problems, falling apart and then coming together again, with a love that endured over decades.

Are there any special historical figures (real or fictional) that you have read about? Please comment and share, I'd love to hear ideas for new books.

Heroes and Heroines, Fictional or Real?

by Diana McCollum

There are so many heroes and heroines it’s hard for me to choose just one. 

On that note, I’m picking my little sister

We were not “girlfriend close” when we were young, because of a seven year age difference.  We always shared a bedroom  and by the time I was fourteen years old, she was seven years old and in my “stuff”.

After we grew up, married, and had children we became friends.  Over the years we sometimes lived close to each other, and sometimes thousands of miles apart.  No internet or cell phones back then so communication was letters and Christmas cards

What I admire her for are the things she’s overcome in her life.  I’m not going to touch on all those things as they are personal and medical diagnosis etc. 

I will tell you she is legally blind in one eye a complication of one of the medical conditions she has experienced.  In spite of that she is a dedicated writer.  I admire that.

Now my sister and I are pursuing the same dream, becoming published authors.  She and our friend, Judith, and I are collaborating on an Anthology to be published in January 2014. 

Sister dearest is one of my critique partners.  Believe me she doesn’t sugar coat anything!  We brainstorm well together, we bolster each other up when we’re down, and we listen to each other.

In my personal life she is my savior, my sounding board, and my shoulder to unload on.  Her advice is always sound and on spot.  My life would be so empty if she wasn’t in it.  She is my best friend, and I love her dearly.

I am popping a virtual bottle of Champagne and toasting you, little sister, for all you are and all you do.  

Oh, yeah, here’s some virtual chocolate too!!  There’s enough for everyone!!

Here’s to you Sister extraordinaire, confidant, best friend, and one of our Blog Queens, Sarah Raplee(McDermed)