Heroine Love
It’s a rare thing. Really. I mean, I’ve devoted several posts to The Hero, The Alpha, that gorgeous, brooding, powerful enigma that, when handled well, is oh so delicious. But what about the heroine? She’s an important part of the equation. She is, after all, the other half to our leading man. That’s why, today, I’m showing love to the heroine.
A heroine can be a tricky thing, why? Because for the most part, your book will be read by women, and no one is more critical of women than other women. And this woman is snagging the Hero. It’s a tough road our heroine must walk.
Just like with the hero, because there is a general ‘archetype’ (speaking of most M&B romances, of course) that he’s the Alpha Male, the heroine has some ‘archetypes’ of her own. But also, like with the hero, it’s important she be her own person and not based on the heroines that have been written before her.
A great example of this is with Elaine, the heroine of His Virgin Acquisition. She’s assertive, she’s smart, she’s confident, she’s extremely self-contained. Yet when the hero kissed her at one point in the MS, she drew back and ‘gave a cry’.
Why?? Because that’s what heroines do, right? “Oh, have mercy!! You beast you kissed me!” *swoon*. Well…that might work for another heroine in another MS, but it wasn’t right for mine. And my editor called me on it. She said, don’t fall back on cliches you’ve read. And she’s right! Elaine wouldn’t really cry out in distress, she’d give him stony silence, a look that could kill, but she wouldn’t betray any kind of distress, not at that point in the book.
I think the temptation can be to make heroines paragons. They resist advances, they won’t accept his credit card (which, BTW, I totally would. Go ‘head Italian Billionaires of the world…hand me your credit cards. I dare you.) She’s raising her siblings, she’s pure as the driven snow. Nothing wrong with any of those things. Nothing at all! But if those traits are present she still has to have flaws and conflict. She needs to be her own person. She needs to be able to say, ‘heck, yeah, give me your credit card because I have nothing to wear to your fancy charity dinner and I’m not wearing this old thing,’ If it’s something she would say!
This brings me back to book #2 (A Mistake, A Prince And A Pregnancy) where we had the heroine blithely following the hero onto his plane…because…I needed her to. And other heroines had done it, would do. And in those cases, it would have been fine. But Alison, my heroine, wouldn’t have done it. A huge part of her conflict is her reluctance to trust. That’s what made it ring false.
I also think the heroine should have some conflict beyond ‘I’m poor and destitute’ or whatever. She should be able to grow and change too. She should have her own realizations and resolutions and revelations. Like everyone, she should have some things in her that aren’t totally worked out or perfected. This gives her credibility and an identity.
Being aware of who she is, rather than using her as a pawn, is what keeps her from drifting into TSTL (too stupid to live) territory. The TSTL heroine is just sort of bouncing around the book like a ping-pong creating Incidents for the hero to sort out. She comes off as stupid because her actions aren’t just something NOBODY would do, but really, not what she would do either.
So let your heroine be free to be her. Let her be her own woman, woman enough to get the man, and to grow and learn and have her own journey. That makes for a satisfying read.
Show her some love.
Comments
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Very good post, Maisey! I totally agree. This is relevant for all types of heroines, not just the romantic ones. I hate it when a heroine walks alone into obvious danger (although men do that too). Keeping her real can be hard, but its what makes the story. Good catch by your editor. I’m still dying to find out what Alison did to stop getting on that plane…
It was totally reworked, Sally, but you can see how it all unfolds Oct 2010!! (LOL)
My heroine has just taken advantage of the hero’s credit card!! At least, the hero *thinks* that’s what she’s gone out to do. Totally blast his card on herself. But, actually, she’s not like that. As he will see. But not yet, because that would be no fun 🙂
I must admit, just because I would defo jump into bed with any of my heroes, it doesn’t mean my heroines ought to, especially since my stories are set in the Regency. But at the same time, my heroines tend to be quite fiery and independent (coz they’re just like me, natch), and yet … one kiss and they go all tame and quiet. What’s that about?
Now I’m worried an editor will circle those bits in red pen and tsk tsk violently. Thanks for flagging up this lamentable tendency, but oh, the work involved in turning Little Miss Muffet into Miss Rather More Credible!
It is hard to keep the character consistent, because yeah, while we all say ‘kiss him you fool!!’ she has all kinds of reasons not to! (at least she should!) And it’s certainly been my tendency to create a fiery, independent type who falls back into the stereotype as soon as the hero touched her. But the heroine’s character has to carry through…fighting and kissing and…love scenes! Oh my!
And, just as a footnote. There’s nothing wrong with a heroine who resists, won’t accept his credit card, is raising her siblings and is a virgin. But the reasons need to come from her, and not just because they’re heroine type things to do. 🙂
Heroines have been my achilles heel. I have to confess to being way more interested in how the hero works than the heroine! My poor heroines. Oddly enough, now that I actually spend time on building their charactes, I like them a whole lot more. 😉 My favourite is still my geeky heroine from my sadly rejected full. I’ve now got rid of the ‘geek’ stereotype and have given her some lovely conflict – she’s going to get the HEA she should have had the first time round. Lucky thing!
Jackie, I tend to get in my hero’s heads a little easier too. When the heroine is refusing him, I’m right there with him throwing my hands in the air and shouting ‘Women!!’
But I do love my heroines, bless them. And the more I write, the more I love creating them.
Maisey, you are so right, having the character move the plot is a tough thing to do but so important rather than having the author force her to do things she wouldn’t do just to keep the plot moving in a predetermined direction.
Very early on an editor told me to watch the cliches and I’ve always tried to keep that in mind. Sometimes I’m more successful than others.
That’s how it goes…it’s seems like it’s easy to repeat the same mistakes sometimes! And some MSs come easier than others. But the good thing is, it gets easier to fix!