When Characters Won't Cooperate... by Anna Campbell

I don't think it's any secret that I have a soft spot for big, bad alpha heroes. The Duke of Kylemore in my first Avon Romantic Treasure definitely falls into that long, proud tradition of Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester and numerous heroes of historical romance ever since.

I love seeing these moody, magnificent monsters meet the woman of their dreams and suffer a major collision with fate, a collision that leaves them better men at the end. It's a story arc I never get tired of, whether it's in an old gothic or a literary classic or a Harlequin Presents or a great Avon historical romance.

So when, still unpublished, I sat down to write the story after CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, I set out to create another dominant, alpha male. Matthew Lansdowne, Marquess of Sheene, the hero of UNTOUCHED, has every reason to be angry at life. He's unjustly imprisoned as a madman while his evil uncle plunders his estates for his own greedy pleasure. He's all on his own apart from his faithful hound Wolfram (actually, I loved writing Wolfram!) and his last escape attempt led to the people who helped him being transported to Australia as criminals. Mind you, given the English weather, perhaps a trip to Australia isn't such a bad fate.

Well, that is he's all on his own until his uncle arranges to have Grace Paget kidnapped to keep Matthew ‘amused’.

I'm sure you know where I saw this story going. A tortured and tormented man gradually overcomes his anger and bitterness as he reluctantly falls in love with the heroine. It's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with the ‘beastly’ hero transformed into a prince at the end.

Except, sadly, Matthew wouldn't cooperate with my plans for his story.

Every time I tried to make him angry and bitter and twisted, he just dug his heels in and wouldn't move, even so far as a short sentence. And I needed more than a sentence if I wanted to finish the book!

Matthew turns up at the start of UNTOUCHED as a knight in shining armor and he's still a knight in shining armor at the end. I don't know where he came from, this deeply honorable man who would do anything for the sake of the woman he falls in love with at first sight. He sure wasn't the guy I invited to this particular party!

But when I finished the book, I wasn't actually that sorry. Personally, I think he's a lovely hero. I hope you agree with me. Lovely, but stubborn, that is!

If you'd like to hear more about UNTOUCHED and the obstinate Matthew, I'm talking about both on Romance Novel TV.