How Can Something So Good...Be So Bad?

Our heroes and heroines all have them: a weakness or fatal flaw. An Achilles heel. A failing in their character that takes an otherwise mighty character to their knees. With Achilles, it was literally his heel. (though he had some significant personality flaws as well.) With Oedipus, it was his pride. In my new book 'Toxic,' chocolate is the culprit. My heroine Briony Theale has an overwhelming love for chocolate. In fact, her weakness kicks off the major events in the story and nearly undoes her romance before it truly begins. Unfortunately, her hero Rico Montgomery also has a weakness: her beloved chocolate is a toxin to him. So when Rico's wolf comes across Briony's chocolate....yeah. Not good.

However, Briony is not a tragic heroine and all is well in the end. I promise.

There is often a temptation for an author to make a a lead character too perfect. I want to make my heroes the most wonderful, flawless characters ever to grace the pages of a book. They never lose their tempers, make a poor judgement call or lose a fight. During sex, they are always in perfect control, knowing what their partner wants. Heck, they probably never fart in bed either.

And heroines, well, I want to be my heroines. Seriously, I've never written a heroine without projecting myself into her life. Growing up, I wanted to be a vet. Like Briony, I have a real weakness for chocolate. Unlike Briony, one of my many flaws is a crippling weakness in math. I never had the chops for the hard science major it would have taken to be accepted into vet school.  Briony lives where I want to live, and she even looks like I wish I looked.

But you know, perfection is boring. Yes, Rico is a big, buff werewolf. He's her dominant, but he's many steps down the ladder from Chase, the Pack's alpha. He questions his journey in life; as a child he was removed from the Pack and grew up far away. As an adult, he's returned to find a new power structure and he's not sure where he fits. He's not completely comfortable as a wolf. And face it...the only reason he stumbles across her chocolate is because he dumped her trashcan. Yeesh.

Briony is self-confident and talented, but she's sure the extra weight she carries keeps her from standing a chance with Rico, even after he kisses her. She's not as competent as her mother or as brilliant as her brother. She's beautiful, but even misses that because she compares herself to others.

In Toxic, Briony and Rico share a weakness for chocolate. They both exhibit rather poor impulse control which creates the initial conflict that kicks off the story. If they'd been perfect people, none of the story would have happened. They'd have experienced a calm, dignified and very boring courtship that wouldn't have made for much of a story. Even the supporting characters have their fatal flaws...Chase is judgmental, Sage has a violent temper and Dionne is a bit too ready to go on the offensive. So while a character's strengths bring them up above the norm, often it's their flaws that throw them into conflict.

And that's when things get interesting.

Truckee Wolves: Toxic is related to Educating Evangeline and Hunting Holly from the Doms of Dark Haven anthologies. It was previously released elsewhere and has been greatly revised and expanded. 


Belinda is an award-winning author who writes in multiple genres...sometimes at the same time! She lives in far Northern California with her family and a motley pack of Siberian Huskies who provide her with unending sources of story ideas.

You can find Belinda's Loose Id books (including Toxic) here:
 http://www.loose-id.com/authors/a-f/belinda-mcbride.html

Please visit Belinda's webpage at: http://www.belindamcbride.com