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Tag: gundam seed

Writing the Perfect M/M Romance Hero – Can It Be Done?

Christie Gordon 2 Comments

Perfect Hero for M/M RomanceHot guys come in all flavors and sizes. So as a writer of M/M romance books, I’m always striving to make the perfect hero. Of course, this means the perfect hero as I see the perfect hero, because, after all, I only have my own perception to rely on. And what is the perfect hero in my view? Usually a hero that’s not so perfect, if that makes any sense:)

To me, the perfect hero is a dichotomy – a man that’s strong and protective and yet flawed, sensitive and vulnerable. Yep, I said all those things in one sentence. It seems I’m always drawn to heroes I see in anime – Vincent Law of Ergo Proxy (do I talk enough about this dude, or what?), Kira Yamato in Gundam Seed, Cashhern in Casshern Sins. These guys are the best when it comes to fighting, killing, maiming, what have you. Hell, they aren’t even human, LOL. But they all possess a sort of humility about themselves and their abilities, a deep remorse from their wrong-doings or perceived wrong-doings and the ability to love deeply and give of themselves completely. Note I’m talking about Kira Yamato here and not Athrun Zala – get my drift?

And so as a writer of M/M romance, I draw upon what I see appealing in these characters in order to morph certain traits into my own, perfect-yet-flawed heroes. I strive to make a character that I find approachable, but not the type of guy you’d think was approachable if you met him in person. You know, the lonely guy in the corner of the bar who might look like he’s all that, but deep down he’s just the average Joe in his own mind.

I think women (and gay men) in general do dream of guys like this and so like to read about them in their M/M romances. At least I hope so since that’s what I try to write;) On the other hand, it’s a hard job. I’m always asking myself – is this guy too tough? Is he being too sensitive for this scene? Can I get the humanity out of this character and onto the page while he’s being a real asshole? Or the classic – did I just turn this dude into a lady? LOL

Yes, all of these things cross my mind and in the end, I find I just have to be true to myself and the story I’m writing. You can’t write a story everyone will like or a perfect hero everyone finds perfect, because he’s a moving target in the perception of everyone’s mind. Did that make sense? I hope so. Tell me, what is your perfect hero and why? And fellow authors, how the heck do you get that onto the written page?

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Hot Anime Men in the Spotlight

Christie Gordon 2 Comments

Okay, so the question today is, who is your favorite hot anime guy and why?

Off the top of my head I’m thinking about all the Gundam series, starting with Wing and ending with 00, just because I have yet to find a place that is streaming Gundam Unicorn online (but if I find one, I’ll let y’all know.). In Wing, we have Duo, Heero, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei. I think I like Due and Heero most, of course the dude with the long hair and the silent strong type;) I believe they are my favorite yaoi pairing from this series, too. As far as the Gundam Seeds go, I love Kira and Athrun. Kira is just so… well angsty and Athrun is the sensitive type that I wish more dudes had in them. And then of Gundam 00, my favorites are Neil Dylandy (first only to his twin brother Lyle) and Allelujah Haptism. Setsuna, though very angsty, just seems too young to me and I’m sorry, Tieria is really a girl with a male voice, isn’t he? LOL

         

This... is Hugue. O.O

I could name so many, like Kira and L from Death Note, Ichigo and Renji from Bleach(I just recorded the Bleach movies they showed on Adult Swim last night), Cain, Able and Hugue from Trinity Blood(love, love, Hugue), Hagi from Blood +, Amon from Witch Hunter Robin, Cloud and Vincent from Final Fantasy and Edward Elric and Roy Mustang from FMA (you didn’t think I’d forget them, did you?)  and so on.

Let’s get on to why these characters appeal to us. First and foremost for me, artwork in the anime is of utmost importance. I’m thinking Death Note, Blood Trinity, Final Fantasy and Gundam 00 here. I think everything in these series is beautifully drawn, let alone the characters. And they always have cool hair. What’s up withe free flowing, long and gorgeous hair in anime guys? Why can’t real guys look like that? Oh wait, JRockers pretty much do;) I’ve always liked dudes with long hair and I don’t know why. Maybe someday I’ll have to examine this more with a therapist, LOL. But even when I was a teenager, I always went for the dude with the longest hair and bonus if he had dark hair (black preferable). Of course, I dated a lot of musicians (and still do). Hair is my favorite part to draw when I do my own artwork and notice, not many dudes with short hair.

Moving on, how about how these guy’s bodies are drawn? Even the supposed high schoolers have a body to die for. We’re talking muscled hairless chests, six pack abs and long and lean. This is just my type as well. Not only do I like my men to have long hair, but I prefer them to have more of a lean body – none of this muscle bound, I can’t put my arms all the way down, types. And no, I do not like facial hair or a whole lot of chest hair and too bad. I like what I like and it happens to be just what anime dudes look like. Maybe this is why manga and anime appeal much more to me than Marvel Comics and  American cartoons (that was a whole other blog – “What’s up with American Animation?”)

With all the short haired, muscled dudes you see on romance novels and such and the types of guys my friends date (uh, that type), it makes me think that my taste is a little, well, eccentric. Or maybe I’m just out of the closet and there are legions of women who don’t really like the culture-driven, spoon-fed types of guys that are on television and romance novel book covers. Maybe there are hordes of us who really, secretly long for dudes who look like Lockon Stratos and Hugue. I mean, Fabio was pretty popular at one point, right? What happened to all those women? Did they all just go back in their closets?

What do you like and why?

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Who’s Your Favorite Yaoi Pairing?

Christie Gordon 9 Comments
Most of us who love Yaoi love fanfiction. Am I right? I know I found out about Yaoi through such websites as Fanfiction.net, Adult Fanfiction.net and Deviant Art. The first time I read a fanfic, I think it was about Inuyasha and Koga and I was…intrigued. I thought to myself, am I not the only woman on the face of the Earth who found Brokeback Mountain to be about the hottest movie I ever saw (besides Interview with the Vampire)?
And low and behold, I am not! I’ve even found some of my friends who thought they’d never like this sort of thing actually loved it when they read some of my work (not to toot my own horn here).
So the question for today is: Who’s your favorite Yaoi pairing? Personally, my first was Roy Mustang and Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. I’ve written countless fanfictions about these two, some of which are really bad because, well, I was just getting started and had no idea how to write fiction (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!). If you really care to read these, you can find them here: Animegeik on Fanfiction.net
I have to say, RoyxEd is still my favorite. There’s just something about the dynamic of these two that’s just plain hot – is it the older/younger thing or the calm/hot-headed thing? Or how about the master/servant thing (*.*)?

But then I started watching Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny and Gundam 00. All those hot dudes, lots of angst and always a pair of friends on either side of the war. Perfect for getting the Yaoi fanfiction juices flowing, so to speak. Out of those series, I think my favorites are: DuoxHiro, KiraxAthrun, and LockonxAllelujah. Too bad I can’t seem to find too much of the latter:(

Of course, Death Note is infamously popular with the LxLight(Kira) pair. Again, something about the two heros being on opposing sides makes it that much more hot. I wonder, did the makers of Death Note know that fangirls and boys would forever swoon and write fics about L and Light being handcuffed together? I bet they did and I bet they wrote the story that way for that very fact!

So the question remains: who is your favorite Yaoi pairing?

Regards,

Christie

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