Ass-Kicking Female or Sweet & Low Maintenance?
Every time us romance readers pick up a book, aside from the story, we’re most interested in the lead characters. We’re looking for a certain kind of hero and heroine. We want to be taken into the story, but the characters are who make the story. We look forward to learning about them as much as we look forward to reading their love story, whether its harrowing, a fast paste thrill ride, or a slow burn. We fall in love with the characters just as much as we do the story. That’s why it’s so important that as romance writers, our heroines have to be interesting, charming, ass-kicking, fun-loving, funny, hip, and a combination all their own.
Have you ever read a book and started giving the character attributes that aren’t there? It’s not because the writer didn’t do her job. It’s because you see the character differently than the writer wrote her. Maybe she’s written as flighty and you wish she was more grounded. Maybe she’s a hard ass and you wish she was just a little sweeter. Or, maybe she’s bland and you wish she was far more interesting than she appears to you. The writer has done his or her job, you’ve just chosen a book with a heroine you can’t seem to gel with. No problem, keep reading, the character will change over time and maybe what you’re thinking you’d like to see will come through in the end. Just like humans, characters develop over the course of a novel.
A heroine that starts out doubting her every move like Jude in Nora Roberts Jewels of the Sun ends up fierce and fighting for her own ideas and rights as a woman and a person. She finds herself over the course of the novel and refuses to allow anyone to make decisions for her ever again. Or, maybe the heroine starts out closed off to the world like Angie in Lorenth Ann White’s The Drowned Girls. Throughout the novel, she’s so strong. She appears to not need anyone, but over the course of the novel, she gives into a carnal need that turns from lust to something more. Little by little, we see Angie change. Oh, she’s still a ball buster, but she’s calmed down. Her reactions to anger are still there, but there is a softening to her that helps the reader start to appreciate her character and eventually come to actually like her.
The thing of it is that female characters run the gambit from too stupid to live to entirely too smart for her own good; from the virgin queen to the whore of Babylon. We have seen women exploited, murdered, accepted, evil, vengeful, and so many other characteristics. Protagonists all have one thing in common. We want our readers to at least accept her if not love her. Take Katniss Everdeen. As a heroine, she has a lot of attributes. She’s brave, loving, selfless, and protective. She also has several interesting and not so endearing flaws. She’s stubborn, a little snobbish, irritable, and indecisive. While she has all these flaws that may not be flattering, the audience of the Hunting Game novels are first confronted with her bravery, selflessness, and protective nature. We are captivated by this side of her, and these are attributes the author plays on throughout the novels. Katniss shows us this side of her nature with Pita and the little African American character who she tries to save. It’s a part of her nature that never wavers throughout the three novels. She continues to be brave, selfless, and protective even when she falls into black or dark moments of the novels. Suzanne Collins does and excellent job of building a well-rounded heroine that we can not only relate to, but route for. We want to see her win and get the boy of her dreams. We’re not really sure who she’ll choose, but we’re willing to accept her choice because by the time it’s all said and done, she’s literally won the right to her choice.
It’s the same in a romance novel. The heroine of the novel needs to be well-rounded. She’s someone who has flaws but they’re acceptable because her attributes are identifiably honorable. We want to root for her even though she’s done one of the stupidest things in the world. We want her to get out of the mess she’s in, so she can have the guy at the end. We’re looking for that happy ending for her and not only hoping she’ll get it but trying to predict the way she will.
So, who’s one of your favorite heroines from literature or romance. My favorite literary heroine from Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility is Elenore. My favorite romance heroine is Cleo Toliver from Nora Roberts’ Three Fates. Even if your heroine isn’t from a romance novel, let us know who she is. Maybe we’ll get to read the novel and compare notes.
Till next we meet, stay well & keep creating.
CSA
Nell Anthony 