Bad boys are my specialty. Whether they’re contemporary, historical, gothic, or paranormal, I love my heroes when they’re strong, occasionally stubborn, and undeniably sexy. But writing a sexy hero isn’t just about the looks. Sometimes it’s how a hero handles himself in situation that makes him sexy. In my historical League of Rogues series, I set out to challenge myself with the hero in my third book. Where the series premise has always centered around the sexy English lords who were all strong, powerful men physically and mentally, I crippled one of them at the end of the second book by making him blind during an accident when saving his sister.

That was the start of my journey with learning how to write an Alpha with a disabilities. In order to write about a blind hero, I researched what it was like to be blind physically from scrolling through online blogs, to reading medical journals. Losing your sight does more than just hurt your ability to see, it can disrupt your sleep cycle which can in turn affect your brain and body health. I also practiced walking around the house and trying to complete chores during the day with my eyes closed. It was a lot harder than I expected.

Counting steps on the stairs, using my hands to grope about in the gray sightless world, I had to adapt quickly to not having my eyes to help me. It was a lot easier to imagine how a strong, virile man would be affected if he had to endure this. Cedric, Viscount Sheridan, my historical alpha male hero who lost his sight, now held a new hope for me when it came to viewing his strength in a new way.

Cedric’s character emerged fully formed now as I wrote scene after heart-breaking scene of him praying every morning to get his sight back, his deep grief over the loss of what he used to do like hunting, riding his horse, watching the horse races. He was a lover of the outdoors and couldn’t do anything like that. But when he meets Anne the heroine, a woman he’d always been intrigued with, and she asks him to marry her to save her from fortune hunters when she becomes a wealthy heiress, I had a lot of rewarding fun giving Cedric his life back.

Writing the love scenes and all of the scenes where Cedric couldn’t use his sight, I had to dig deep as a writer and explore all of my other senses to give readers an unforgettable experience. It was a great challenge and a very pleasing one to give Cedric as an alpha hero his power back even though he was blind.

Amazon Best Selling author, Lauren Smith is an attorney by day, author by night, who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives with her three pets: a feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little schnauzer. She’s won multiple awards in several romance subgenres including being an Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award.

Lauren Smith can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and LaurenSmithBooks.com.