Thursday, August 13, 2009

hair color on your hero--and a contest!


So, I've been reading Lora Leigh's Wizard Twins. They're older books, I know, but there are several of her older Ellora's Cave books that I don't have yet. Working my way through her backlist has been such fun. I'm going to hate when I'm caught up and will have to wait for each new release! LOL

Anyway, in "When Wizards Rule" the twins have blond hair. I'm finding as I read that I'm changing their hair to dark in my mind. LOL It got me curious if others do that as well. I don't know what it is, I just like dark hair on my heroes. In real life it doesn't matter. In fact, my husband has closely cropped gray hair and I love it. I can't imagine him with dark hair now. It'd seem too strange. Still, when I read, those sexy alpha males have jet black hair. Usually a little messy, not too long, just about collar length. It matters little what the author actually wrote, I just make up my own hair color as I read. LOL

Am I the only one who does this? Does it matter what color hair the hero has or do you just go with the flow? How big a deal is it to you, the reader? And what about red hair? Have you ever read a sexy hero with red hair? I really don't think I have. Why is that? And as for my own writing. I can't really recall ALL of my heroes at the moment, but they don't all have dark hair. In fact, in the WIP I recently finished the hero is bald.

Today only I'm running a contest. Why? Just because I felt like it. *grin* Answer the question below in the comments section and you're entered to win an ebook. The winner will get to choose from my list of current releases, which you can see here. The winner will be announced tomorrow right here!

Does it matter to you what color hair your heroes have?

45 comments:

Kelley Nyrae said...

I hear ya! I love dark haired heroes and find I almost always imagine them that way and I have to remind myself NOT to make all the heroes I write dark haired. LOL

Jeff said...

I prefer not being told the hair color at all--I form my own images in my head based on how the characters act. So, nope, hair color doesn't matter to me one bit.

Nancy G said...

I do that, because I love those dark, sexy heros, and you can't be that way and be blond. Yes, I have read a sexy red haired hunk, it was in a book by Dee Carney-The second of her Craft of the Wise books. But most of the heroes I read become black haired dark eyed hunks in my mind-or black hair and electric blue eyes.

Anonymous said...

I do. Now that you mention it. I didn't even think about it. LOL I definitely go dark haired!

Regina Carlysle said...

I've always written dark haired heroes but lately I've been trying to shake it up a little bit. My newest WOLF has long dark blond hair and it honestly seems to fit him. No, if a writer has the hero blond and I prefer dark, I still imagine him as blond.

The only thing I seem to mentally change in my mind while reading are CLOTHES. If the heroine is wearing something totally goofy and straight from the eighties, I change her into something else. HA. Same for the heroines hair style.

Molly Daniels said...

I'm also trying to mix it up a little; I have too many dark haired heroes. Unfortunately, my red-haired hero is refusing to cooperate with me:) I have a few blondes in there too.

I think it's something we equate with authority and strength. Cliche, yes, but my ideal man has always had dark hair.

kerribookwriter said...

In keeping with your trio theme I have thrice the comments today...

First of all, I just found this blog and I have to say "how friggin adorable is this blog?!" I adore that header and please consider me a new fan! Who on earth designed it?

Second of all, hey Anne! I'm from the Manic Readers loop and saw your post. Had to come by and give you a shout out! Woot!

Third...when you mentioned hair color I thought about my own hair. I've always been brunette but have had a secret desire to try other colors. My hubby always discourages me as he "loves" my hair. Of course now that I have all these children (and #3 on the way) I'm getting more gray hair by the minute. Eeek! I have to get it colored just to keep my original color. Isn't that the pits?

Anyway, my heroes vary in hair color but for the most part they are tall, dark, and handsome. However, my real life hero (the aforementioned hubby) is my blondie bear! So, I guess a hero's hair color doesn't really matter to me. Although, to answer your question...I do not find a red headed man attractive but I think a red headed woman can be totally hot as the heroine! Go figure!

Raonaid Luckwell said...

Though I prefer either black hair or red hair, I generally just go with the flow with reading books and don't snub chars for their coloring.

I don't switch their hair colors in my mind, but try to visual the person in my head as the author describes. I like when the authors give a lot of visionary words to paint that picture so clearly in my mind

Jennifer August said...

Hey Anne,
I don't usually change the hair color when I'm reading a hero, but if he's got facial hair, I shave it!!

Beth Ann Miller said...

I prefer hard haired heroes.

mamasand2 said...

Anne, I prefer dark hair too, but the hero's behavior is more important for me.

Sandie

Anonymous said...

The hero's hair color doesn't matter to me. I just go with what the writer wrote.

I have read some redheaded heroes but not many.

Jake - but not the one said...

Hair? Who needs hair?

Anne Rainey said...

Kelley--you and I have similar taste in heroes for sure! LOL

Jeff--That's interesting. What about the length of the hair? Do you have certain preferences there as well?

Nancy G--Love the dark hair and electric blue eyes! SO hot!

Anne Rainey said...

Natasha A--I JUST this morning realized I did it, lol! How funny that I never noticed before!

Regina--I don't usually change the clothes. Well, there was one book where the hero wore leather pants and for some reason he didn't seem the type to me, so I admit, I changed him so he wore jeans. Tight jeans. *grin*

Anne Rainey said...

Molly--I guess it goes back to the days when I had a crush on Matt Dillon from The Outsiders. Some things never change!

Kerri--Glad to have you here! As to the design. That would be thanks to the awesome Scott Carpenter (Samhain Publishing Art Director and a friend of mine). He designed our header and icons and then I took it from there. I'll tell him you like it! :)

Anne Rainey said...

Raonaid--I love when the author gives lots of details too! I NEED to 'see' them!

Jennifer--LOL on the facial hair. That's too cute! I think the only hero I wrote w/ facial hair was Blade from Tasting Candy. He had a mustache. :)

Anne Rainey said...

Thanks for chimming in Beth Ann and Sandie!

JRobe--Now that I'm thinking about it, I WANT to read a red-headed hero. It's like a thing now. LOL Any titles/authors you can think of?

Jake--LOL! Well, my last hero didn't, considering he shaved his head. And the heroine found it quite sexy, of course. ;-)

Debbie Tsikuris said...

Yes, to me it matters a lot. Sometimes I'll read the description and then look at the cover only to realize they don't match up. That's upsetting to me. They should at least be close. I have read of a red headed hero, just can't think of his name right now, need sleep to recharge brain cells.
debbie (dat)

Dianna C said...

To me it does not matter what color their hair is, or even if they have hair...my boyfriend just turned 30 and he is already going grey has been since he was like 17 or so...he looks cute with the hair he has...I just want my hero's to be true alpha males...yummiee

Kelly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kelly said...

I do the same thing. If the main male character is blonde or something I make them dark haired. :) I can't help it. I guess I fall into that cliche category thinking that blonde isn't macho enough for me. Reminds me of the show Xena. They had Lucy Lawless dye her hair dark brown (at the time she was a blond) because they were of the mind that the audience wouldn't take her character seriously as a blonde. I've gotten better at it lately though so no it doesn't make a difference. Though,I don't think i could handle a hero with a carrot top. Auburn yes, red gold yes, but carrot top...NO

Cathy M said...

My favorite are dark haired men, and hair to their shoulders is even better.

Pat said...

I always thought I saw the heroes with dark hair because my DH has dark,curly sort of longish hair.
Now he's gray and balding and I still see him that way too. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What ever floats your boat is what you are going to see. I do believe I read a romance once where the Scottish Laird hero had read hair.

Anne Rainey said...

debbie--I HATE when the cover doesn't match the characters. Grr! Pet peeve of mine, both as a writer and a reader. However, with some publishers the author has zero say in cover art, which sucks.

dianna--LOL, I'm with you on the alpha guys! Yum!

sheridan--I'm with you on the carrot top. :-/

Anne Rainey said...

Cathy--Some of Feehan's Dark series heroes have the dark longish hair. Very sexy!

Pat--I was sitting her trying to remember if I ever dated a blond when I was younger. I was thinking all my past boyfriends had been dark-haired, but no, there were two who weren't. So, I guess I'm not as picky as I thought.

Fedora said...

I definitely prefer dark-haired heroes, but I'm not sure if I mentally change their hair-color mid-read... I think if I don't like their hair color or other characteristics, I tend to just *zap* tune it out!

Unknown said...

I don't mind, but same as you i tend to sometimes see them in my mind with Dark Hair, i think this is because i myself prefer guys with dark hair.
Depending what character i'm reading they either stay the same hair colour they have or it changes in my head. Though i have to admit sometimes i am partial to a blonde :)

Love the blog, it looks cool and it rocks!!!!

LottieP said...

I'd much rather be given the length of the hero's hair than the colour unless it is a central part of what attracts the heroine/hero to that character. I love the blog and am so glad I read your post and so found you.
Charlotte

lrhubble said...

I am pretty much okay with the way a character is described in a story but every so often I will find I will change a character in the way I picture them even knowing what they are supposed to look like. I guess it has something to do with the personality of the character or something.

Larena

Anne Rainey said...

thanks for chimming in, folks! It's great to see some new faces around here! :)

Paris said...

I've always loved dark hair and a five o'clock shadow, just spells sexy to me. Of course I think Yul Bryner will always be one of the sexiest men, ever;-)Go figure, I'm fickle!

Wendi Zwaduk and Megan Slayer said...

I needed to chime in here. I'm not one for red headed heroes... I guess I go back to how can David Caruso be sexy? But that's me. I'm partial to TDH. I'm a sucker for a guy with a bedhead look too... a la Jeremy Sisto from Law and Order.

Probably why I write dark haired heroes. : )

Unknown said...

Anne, I don't think I change the hero's hair color but I may change to heroine's color to mine. GRIN
I do believe I read one book with a redheaded cowboy hero.

My imagination is probably more likely to change clothing style if it changes anything.

I may think something should be different but I rarely find things changing in my head.

LORETTA CANTON said...

No, it doesn't matter what color the hero hair is. It something that I never thought about but thinking about it. dark haired.

loretta,
lbcanton@verizon.net

Asylumgirl said...

Hmmm....not really. I've always loved long hair though.

Deidre
deidre_durance at hotmail dot com

Pamk said...

I love dark haired heroes and I change them in my mind too. I prefer them to dark haired men.

annalisa said...

I like my heroes with any color hair - just as long as they have hair! :)

Dani said...

I find that I change my hero's hair color too. Especially if they are blonde. I don't know why but the darker the better.


And yes, I have read about red-headed heros in Hannah howell's Highlander Series. And they were just too sexy to imagine them with anything other than their red hair.

Well, even bald can be sexy but sometimes it helps if you have something to latch on to other than..... ;o)

Dani

lindseye said...

I do not usually care about the hair color as long as the author is consistent. I have found with non-standard names I make up the pronounciation and somtimes add or subtract vowels.

Cynthya said...

I'm partial to blonde hair, always have been. Good thing my husband had blonde hair (it's grey now--grey can be sexy, too.) I don't change the color in my mind, though, I go with whatever the author wants.

I know I've read some books with red-headed heroes, but can't recall titles. Did Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon's series have red hair?

Anonymous said...

I have to admmit I have a thing for black haired men (like yummy Nick Alegresa in Truly Madly Yours by R Gibson).
But I've already fallen for red haired heros (Jamie Fraser anyone ??) or blond haired ones (Sebastian in Devil in Winter).
So basicaly I'd say a good author can ñake ñe love any kind of hair on a guy...sigh, I'm so eqsy...;-)

Shannon Leigh said...

I don't really care what color their hair is, however I tend to be more attracted to dark haired heros. Guess it's the whole "bad boy" image thing.

Anne Rainey said...

CONTEST WINNER IS...

DANI...

you WON! Write me a note at anne@annerainey.com to collect your prize.

Thanks to ALL for commenting!! :)

Bekki Lynn said...

I make up my own mind as I read and get a feel for the characters.

I'd prefer the author not even bother telling me. I'm not crazy about a lot of descriptive in the stories.

I only write minimal in to make others happy. And then they often miss it and complain.

So, I mix it up. I have a hero with unruly red hair, one who shaves his head, sandy blonds, brown hair, black hair.