Look. Maybe I’m a minority (certainly feels like it on the app sometimes) but… I hate bad boys, and I hardly ever write them into my stories. I know they sell, and they sell well, but personally, they suck.
It’s easy enough to not write bad boy characters, however- it’s less easy to make sure they don’t look the part, either. Glasses, sweater vests and knit turtlenecks can only do so much for my humble private-eye MC who would rather blend in the background than have all the women in a 30 mile radius fawning over him for wearing a leather jacket or a fashionable button-up that exposes his chest without seeming repetitive. We need something more diverse!
For example, what about a reserved English professor fascinated with teaching his students about undiscovered classics like The Secret History or Black Chalk, or the boy interested less in the world around him and more in the haunting literature genre known as dark academia?
What about a kind man who lives alone in the woods in his small cottage, surrounded by a lush garden full of herbs, vegetables or a wise wanderer who would rather write a poem of something beautiful he finds than take it with him?
What about the man with golden eyes from a claustrophobic small town where everyone knows you the moment you move in, who warns you to never let your dog out at night without a tether? Who joins you when untouched forests whisper your name, daring you to get lost in them? The personification of southern goth?
We’ve done so much to create diverse clothing from all sorts of time periods to reflect so many different personalities for female characters. It’s already been started for male characters; now it’s time to finish the job! Who’s with me?
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