Who is the Bad Boy in a cliché romance? 

💪🏻 Perfect

💪🏻 64-pack abs

💪🏻 Large "hands" and "feet" 

💪🏻 Long eyelashes

💪🏻 Tall, over 6 ft. 

💪🏻 Curses a lot

💪🏻 Thinks about sex a lot when the story is in his POV.

💪🏻 Cocky, with a tendency to sling some charming and arrogant banter when needed (romantic comedies)

💪🏻 Has Anger Management/Possessive/Jealousies and Insecurities issues - beats up at least 3 guys (romance and/or dark romance)

💪🏻 Melts and tears panties into shreds

💪🏻 Has eyes that seem to be the color of sin

💪🏻 (Not that) intelligent

💪🏻 Very popular, wealthy, successful

💪🏻 A jock or at least someone who's very athletic

💪🏻 Has a dark secret justifying his anger issues... even though he's perfect. 

Bad Boy Character Arc

The bad boy character arc tends to be pretty short and requires the least amount of effort. 

(He's perfect, right? So why's he gotta change at all?)

Anyway, maybe the dude reveals some deep dark secret, he opens up to the ingenue in a way he's never opened up to anyone before. And that single therapy session is enough to make him a better man... even though he's still possessive and jealous, and quick to anger. In fact, the ingenue does all of the heavy lifting. She uproots her life. She stops hanging out with her friends. She becomes everything that he wants her to be, to the point where she loses her ambitions, her identity, and sometimes even her life.

Why?

Why does this character get a pass? He gets to say all the most unconscionable things. He gets to beat the crap out of anyone he doesn't remotely like without being held accountable. He gets to ride around in the fanciest cars and wear the best clothes and has the best love of his life who gives him unconditional love. This dude is living the high life just for being brutally hot. It's a kind of privilege that boggles the mind, especially since he's often pretty shallow and the most cliché character in the cast... next to the MC of course. Sure, there are times when an author writes a lead female character who doesn't take crap from the male lead. In the end though, who's life is completely uprooted for the whims of the lover? It sure as hell isn't this dude:

Next up: The Virgin MC