Into the Fire

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Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

Heroine types . . .

           Group-of-women

So what is it you like in a leading lady? Beauty? Brawn? Maturity? Innocence? Street-smartness? Sensitivity? Independence? Spirituality?

I like a variety of characters, but I've grown weary of female protagonists who are emotionally demanding and who fail to communicate what they really want. So I tend to write characters with a little sass and boldness. The exception to that is my heroine in Breath of Life (Shaylen Price aka Cabin LuCaine). She's fragile but independent, tender but with an innocent boldness. I like my leading ladies to be spiritually aware – even if they're in hard places or don't yet have faith. Two dimensional characters aren't enough and become predictable. Stereotypical behavior is borne from predictability and there is much of it in the romance genre.

How about you? What do you want from your fictional heroines?

 

Father, thank you for every breath of inspiration, touch of reality, compelling character. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

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3 responses to “Heroine types . . .”

  1. BK Jackson Avatar
    BK Jackson

    I’m typically always zeroed in on the male characters so don’t tend to give female characters much thought. But looking across the spectrum not just at books but more so at television and a few standout female characters, I’d say what I look for in a female is:
    They’re excellent at what they do, whatever that profession is.
    They’re smart and funny
    They know how to be feminine and use it at the right time
    They’re tough but not a female rambo
    They have integrity and class
    They have values I also treasure.
    In other words, except for the “they know how to be feminine & use it at the right time” part, I’m looking for the exact same thing in a female character that I’m looking for in a man.

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  2. Brenda S. Anderson Avatar
    Brenda S. Anderson

    Intelligence is very important to me. Heroines are allowed to make stupid decisions, but when that’s the norm for the character, it turns me off fast.
    They have to come across as authentic to me. If the character doesn’t come across as real-life to me, even if they’re spec characters, I find myself rolling my eyes.
    As you said, they have to be multi-dimensional.
    I don’t have to like them at first, but if I see growth, and if the author shows why the heroine behaves as they do, the character will grow on me.
    I’m sure there are more, but that’s what I can think of right now.

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  3. Nicole Petrino-Salter Avatar
    Nicole Petrino-Salter

    Brenda, excellent points all. Makes good sense to me too that you gave the caveat of having basically the same qualities as you look for in a male character.
    Bren, yes: too many stupid decisions make me want to tear the book up. 😉 I don’t have to like them at first either, but they do have to produce some endearing qualities sooner or later or it kind of ruins the story for me.

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