Lately, I feel like I’m reading the same story over and over again — a smart woman who might be a scientist or librarian meets a tall dark stranger with supernatural strength and military expertise and with an unlimited bank account; together, they save the world and may or may not have a romantic relationship (although very likely they do). Sounds familiar? It’s a very popular storyline; perhaps I should write something like that! But let me give you a few examples of these types of stories. These are all the books I’ve read. And don’t get me wrong, they are a fun ride…but it does get a bit repetitive.
Vampires are some of the more popular strong, dark, handsome, and rich types. Augmented humans are another set that fit that bill — they have been made to be stronger and more intelligent than normal men. Then there are demons and an endless variation of humanoid mythical creatures (werewolves, angels, gods, mages and witches, etc.), aliens, cyborgs, and other superhero types. Immortality (or very long life span) helps with wisdom (they can speak any language), martial arts and military strategy training, and especially wealth. It is certainly easier to write a story where the main heroes never have to worry about getting any type of resources they need.
Word of caution: some spoilers ahead. But given how famous most of these stories are, I don’t think I’m doing more than distilling down to the bone the basic dynamic between the characters. And obviously I liked these stories to read all of them!
The Augmented Human
Lindsay Buroker is an Indie writer like me…but a lot more successful! She writes fun fantasy and science fiction although her books tend to fall on the “soft” side of fantasy and scifi. Her focus is on characters and situations, the “how of it all” is not all that important. In her Star Kingdom series, she has a plucky starship captain who is a single mom, trying to find her young daughter. She is smart and capable. One of her passengers is a discarded military augmented human. He is big, strong, brooding type. He’s very useful in a fight or any dangerous situation. He is also smart and emotionally wounded, hinting at a deep emotional trauma. Obviously, they become friends and lovers as they adventure through the Solar System in the search for the little girl.
Shockwave is the first book in the Star Kingdom series and it’s free on Amazon!
Vampire
An unsuspecting witch (yes, she doesn’t know she’s a witch) meets a tall, dark, handsome, all-powerful, very old, and obscenely rich vampire. She is a professor, a book worm, and all around a nerd…a very beautiful nerd. Obviously, they fall in love and have adventures, not necessarily in that order, all the while traveling first class and living in various ancestral castles of the vampire’s family. This is the basic outline of The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. There are more books out with the same characters, but this is a good start.
With lot’s of twists and turns, it’s a fun ride for a reader. Although with unlimited resources and super human capabilities, the outcome is sort of predictable, isn’t it?
Phenix
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is a more mellow take on the super human versus a nerd gay romance. The story takes place in an orphanage for the strangely “gifted” children. One of the children is the son of Satan. The orphanage is ran by a fellow super human, phenix. The nerd is a low level government orphanage inspector. Sure he might not really know what the government does with the information he provides in his reports, but his heart is in the right place. Unlike the female nerds in the other books, the nerd in this one is middle aged, with thinning hair and a bulging mid-section. Yes, women are treated to a higher visual standard even in books.
The story is sweet, but it still has that character dynamic that becomes obvious as soon as you become aware of it.
Cyborg
I just finished The Clockwork Dynasty by Danial H. Wilson. Again, this is a nerdy ancient artifact professor meets a super strong, super tall, super rich, super old, not quite human being — an ancient cyborg. There was no romance — the cyborg might not really have the right equipment for that, but there is always a sequel possibility (cyborgs can be augmented) — but the rest of the elements of save the world, save the empire, save the race, save the nerd and the super hero with lots of power and money was all there. I had a good few days of entertainment when I could sneak away and read.
More Vampires
I read the Twilight Saga series when I noticed a girl in one of my 6th grade classes reading the book. The child was not a reader and this was the first book I noticed her reading for pleasure (as opposed to for a school assignment). I wanted to understand what were the elements that drew that kid in. It was a chaste romance — the boy was the one who continued to refuse taking things to the next level. Given the pressure to have sex early, I saw that as one of the elements that made that story attractive to that age group (and older!). But it had all the rest of the elements too — a pretty loner girl meets a boy who is super strong, super old, super rich. And yes, of course he is a vampire. In the next book in the series, the author even adds a werewolf to create a love triangle — two super powerful beings with huge emotional baggage sets each…
Beast
Illustration by Gabriel Pacheco.
Beauty and the Beast is the ultimate strong-brooding-rich & powerful with emotional baggage character meets bookish nerd who happens to be gorgeous narrative. In all of these tales, the main heroes save each other in the end after endless misunderstandings. The emotional baggage varies and there are endless variations on the types of misunderstandings that lead to conflict between the heroes. But if the writer is good, the story can be fresh even as the trope is old. Even Tarzan falls into this category of stories.
This is not a narrative structure that I’ve mined often if ever. Perhaps Suddenly, Paris might be a variation on these theme, but it would be a stretch. Still, this is a very popular category of stories that I also enjoy on occasion, so perhaps it’s worth a future exploration in my own writings.
Have fun reading!