My Most Recent Inspiration: Bailey Chase

I admit it, I like men. My choice is tall blonde athletic looking guys which is funny because my husband is under six feet and had dark hair. (he is athletic though which is a definite prerequiste if you knew me) But even if my husband is not my "type" I think he's hot none the less. He's at the top of my "to do" list.

And then there is Bailey Chase.

He used to be on my soap opera "As The World Turns" playing a young Dr. Hughes. I think he is a pretty good actor, although most of his air time I was too busy fantasizing if he were my doctor and I needed a VERY IN-DEPTH physical. He's been in other stuff too, TV movies and I think Buffy fans might recognize him from a few late series episodes. Even in Vampire garb he was pretty good looking. He could bite me anytime.

Okay so my point: Hotness aside, when I write a male character (a hero as the lingo goes) I have a few consistencies. A sense of humor, and some sort of Achilles heel that has to do with something the heroine possesses. I like Bailey because he looks tough but he has a vulnerability. Not so much that he writes poetry and collects ceramic cats, but like a thoughtful place inside him. A sensitivity that isn't sappy and emasculating.

Making sense?

That said, I think its funny that Bailey now plays Becks, Daniel's womanizing, party-boy friend on Ugly Betty. A totally shallow guy that I find sexy as hell, too. But just as actors can be versatile, I think characters in book should be too. People don't believe me when I say I learn more from watching TV than I do from reading books. But TV characters offer a study in arc and growth, something essential in books and something I think movies lack at least for my purposes.

TV, movies, whatever. I would watch Bailey read the phone book.