EREC: erotic romance
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Alpha-Male
One of the things that I found interesting at Authorfest was that, on the Romance panel, none of the speakers said the alpha male was a requirement for romance. Not that the wooing/seducing male is unpopular, quite the reverse, but he is not compulsory. In fact, I think for the first time I heard several speakers use the term 'alpha male' as an implicitly derogatory term roughly synonymous with 'thug'.
To me the alpha male is a male character who exerts a level of control over the heroine, either physically or through some level of deceit or manipulation--through use of power. This can be as explicit as a pirate abducting the damsel or more subtle such as pursuing a seduction despite being told not to (gotta love those stalkers). I think this sort of pursuit can make for an interesting story, it just isn't to my taste, as a reader or a writer.
I get that a strong, sweep-you-off-your-feet hero is still the predominant fantasy figure in romance. But I am thrilled to see a panel of authors from a diversity of genres, writing for a range of publishers, quite firmly behind the idea that romance in a much broader genre that can use other dynamics in the central relationship(s). Of course alpha female, MF hold the BDSM, is still a little hard to find....
p.s. scamwatch: "SFWA" contest is not legit, avoid.
p.p.s Cum Hither can now be found at Pickled Cupid
One of the things that I found interesting at Authorfest was that, on the Romance panel, none of the speakers said the alpha male was a requirement for romance. Not that the wooing/seducing male is unpopular, quite the reverse, but he is not compulsory. In fact, I think for the first time I heard several speakers use the term 'alpha male' as an implicitly derogatory term roughly synonymous with 'thug'.To me the alpha male is a male character who exerts a level of control over the heroine, either physically or through some level of deceit or manipulation--through use of power. This can be as explicit as a pirate abducting the damsel or more subtle such as pursuing a seduction despite being told not to (gotta love those stalkers). I think this sort of pursuit can make for an interesting story, it just isn't to my taste, as a reader or a writer.
I get that a strong, sweep-you-off-your-feet hero is still the predominant fantasy figure in romance. But I am thrilled to see a panel of authors from a diversity of genres, writing for a range of publishers, quite firmly behind the idea that romance in a much broader genre that can use other dynamics in the central relationship(s). Of course alpha female, MF hold the BDSM, is still a little hard to find....
p.s. scamwatch: "SFWA" contest is not legit, avoid.
p.p.s Cum Hither can now be found at Pickled Cupid
Labels: AlphaFem
¶ posted at 12:57 PM by Emily Veinglory 1 Comments
Monday, February 26, 2007
Help Me Come up With a Name!
If you have been checking this blog you may know by now that I have an interest in romance where the woman (by a small or large margin) is more dominant than her partner. I started a yahoogroup for writers in this area called Hear Me Roar. With Laura Bacchi's help we will soon have a reading list online and I really want to help develop this area as a recognised sub-genre.
But for this to happen I think the sub-genre needs a name, some less BDSM-specific than Femdom. Suggestions that we have floated include: Fem-strong, AlphaFem, Alphem, Female-Alpha.... I want the name to immediately conjur or the image of a woman in charge, but not immediately leap as far as a dominatrix with a boot-licking slave. So if you have any ideas for a catchy and immediately understandable name for romance about dominant women please, please share it!
[28 Feb] Perhaps I could give up on the name and just use a symbol :)
If you have been checking this blog you may know by now that I have an interest in romance where the woman (by a small or large margin) is more dominant than her partner. I started a yahoogroup for writers in this area called Hear Me Roar. With Laura Bacchi's help we will soon have a reading list online and I really want to help develop this area as a recognised sub-genre.But for this to happen I think the sub-genre needs a name, some less BDSM-specific than Femdom. Suggestions that we have floated include: Fem-strong, AlphaFem, Alphem, Female-Alpha.... I want the name to immediately conjur or the image of a woman in charge, but not immediately leap as far as a dominatrix with a boot-licking slave. So if you have any ideas for a catchy and immediately understandable name for romance about dominant women please, please share it!
[28 Feb] Perhaps I could give up on the name and just use a symbol :)Labels: AlphaFem, hear me roar
¶ posted at 10:31 AM by Emily Veinglory 8 Comments