Men Are From Mars...

I was writing a scene the other day where my hero got himself into a bit of a pickle, and the line I wrote was: "Dear heavens, what had he gotten himself into?"

I looked at that sucker and knew, right off, that no manly-man (and he is that) would speak in such a way.

So what would he say? I stared and agonized and tried out various things and finally settle on: "What the hell had he gotten himself into?"

Men are incredibly different from women (aside from the fact that they have dangly bits and we don't). They scratch in public. Burp and fart there, too. They have far less disregard for the more ... sensitive things.

My hero doesn't go to the powder room, or even the restroom. He "takes a leak" or "hits the head".

He's seldom going to make flowery speeches or monologue about his feelings, but when he DOES say something about his heart, it'll be something he means and you'd better listen, because he might not say it again any time soon. Remember Patrick Swayze's character in "Ghost" with his way of saying I love you? "Ditto."

What do you think? When you read a book and the "Tim the Tooltime" alpha male suddenly spouts out flowery prose, do you believe it?