In which I give equal time to Leo and Aries

It has been brought to my attention that in lauding the many lovely qualities of Scorpio and Taurus men, I left a few fellows out, namely 5/6 of the zodiac. A few readers have made cases for Leo and Aries, and I promised to address the omission. Here goes: for purposes of fiction, I need very strong, dynamic male characters. Leo and Aries certainly fit the bill. Just think of their totemic animals, a sleek, roaring lion, and a tough, aggressive ram. From totems alone, you can guess why most of the other signs don't end up being quite suitable for my needs. But Leo and Aries should be natural choices, right?

Not quite. The difficulty in choosing a character's astrology is that I'm looking for the archetype of the sign, a sign that is not easily tempered by its rising sign, or other circumstances. (Honestly, if I started working up rising signs and moon signs, I'd never get any writing done. It's bad enough that I also draw maps of their towns and blueprints of their houses.) So, I'm looking for signs that are by nature confident, assertive, and secure. I am not looking for the light, easy charm of a Sagittarius or the deep, Neptune-based emotional core of a Pisces. I need rugged and authoritative. Leo and Aries are both champions at this. They are both extremely competitive and passionate, and you will not find an athletic match for Aries, while Leo offers warmth and security.

For me though, Leo also comes laden with baggage. I had a Leo grandfather and saw firsthand that the Lion's generosity and a general grumpiness can go hand-in-hand. Leos have always been problematic for me to negotiate, and dealing with a Leo character would just be too much. (I'm sure there are loads of extremely lovely Leo men. I'm speaking strictly of my own personal experiences.)

Aries, on the other hand, is very nearly perfect for fiction. They are compelling and sensual, yet there is always the slightest edge of a temper to make things interesting. They can also be tremendous motivators. My Arian editor is capable of pushing me quite successfully to do things I never imagined possible, and she does it all with a quietly confident air of a woman who knows precisely what she's doing. She is glamorous and witty, also Arian characteristics, and I'm pretty sure I want to be her when I grow up, except I am entirely too Geminian to make that work. I console myself with the thought that we always have amazing conversation, which brings me to the only reason I don't write Aries men: they talk.

I don't mean that as a criticism; it's actually one of the qualities I like best about them. In person, they are fabulous conversationalists and are more willing than most men to open up about themselves, wonderful qualities in a friend or lover, disastrous in a character. I need my male characters to offer up as little as possible. You simply cannot beat a Scorpio for an air of mystery, and Taurus gives him a run for his money. This keeps my female characters on their toes and provides for some very interesting conflict. It also just occurs to me that having written a Scorpio male for so long in Brisbane, it will be tremendous fun to change things up a bit in the next book. The story is darker, so Scorpio is the obvious choice for my new male lead as well. Because of that, I feel compelled to avoid it altogether and put in a nice, juicy Taurus. If Aries wasn't so boyishly sunny, it would have worked quite well in this case.

In any event, working out the astrology is a pleasurable pre-writing exercise for me, just like planning their homes or creating a collage board of images related to the story. I worried once that what seemed like idle play was indulgent and frivolous, and that "serious" writers wouldn't engage in such silliness. And what I found was that I very nearly crippled myself in the writing process. I am much more visual than I suspected, and having the collage board hanging at eye level gives me constant visual cues about faces, landscapes, animals, and settings. I find I am more descriptive in my writing when I can actually SEE it.

In the same way, I find I understand the conflicts of my characters much better when I can boil them down to the usual conflicts between certain opposing signs. (Another good reason for me not to use Aries or Leo men. My females are often Geminis, a superb match for either sign. Too much heated attraction, not enough direct conflict.) Honestly, any other system of determining personal conflict would work. Myers-Briggs tests, Chinese astrology, literary archetypes--whatever system sorts people into opposing categories can help you get a handle on how to work dissension into fiction. It can help you to understand why your character would do something or why they would refuse. And if, God forbid, you're completely blocked on where to go next, a systematic understanding of your characters can help nudge you along. (Got a Taurus girl? Take her shopping. Got a Monkey boy? Throw him a party.) In any event, writing should be pleasurable, and exploring the astrology of a character is FUN. If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to collect books on relationship astrology. I'm at 19 and counting.