I want to begin this post with a question to you: Do you, as romance readers in today’s society, only want to read about plucky, spirited heroines? Women whose attributes of courage and positive self-worth are established from page 1 and do not waver throughout the novel? Or does this not get old after a while? I have noticed this trend in the books I read and it has given me some concerns.
I am planning to revise a WIP this summer, set in medieval England and France, where the heroine is young (another drawback I’ve been told) and begins as a very traditional woman for the time period. Not exactly meek, but certainly not a sword-wielding Amazon either. But by the end of the novel her character arc has taken her from young and passive to mature, strong, and fearless.
I’ve been told women do not want to read about this type of heroine. I wonder, however, how true that statement is. My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that it is just as interesting to see the journey from weakness to strength as to see the journey from strength to…well, strength. More interesting, in fact, to see the heroine truly grow into the character she is meant to be. Of course the seeds of the end product must be sown in the first chapters—the potential for change must be there. But having set that up, I would hope that readers would be excited to see how the heroine makes that transition.
One book that uses this trope is Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower.
When the book opens Heather, the heroine, is a veritable dishrag of a 17 year old girl, but by the end she is the competent and adored mistress of a huge plantation, with her volatile but devastatingly gorgeous husband wrapped around her finger. How did she do that? Read the book to find out.
Two movie examples also come readily to mind: The Terminator and Romancing the Stone.
In the first Terminator movie, Sarah Connor starts out as a soft-spoken sort of party-girl type—rather milque-toast in my opinion.
Yet by the end of the movie she is tough as nails and ready to take on the world. In Terminator 2 she’s become capable of doing just that—a force to be reckoned with.
In Romancing the Stone, Joan Wilder, romance novelist (!), starts out as a woman scared of her own shadow. Through the trials of her adventure in the South American jungle, she gains the confidence to believe in herself and becomes the feisty heroine she’s always written about. Her transformation is visually stunning: after Joan’s identity as a romance novelist saves the day for her and her hero, she blossoms from the repressed-looking spinster into the vibrant adventuress.
These three examples, all from the 1970s and 80s, make me wonder if this scenario was popular then because the second wave of feminism was sweeping the country at that time and women were fascinated by the prospect of becoming more than they ever dreamed possible. Today’s romance readers have grown up in the post-second wave era with the idea that women are strong, are the equal of men, and can do anything they set their minds to. Does that sensibility, then, preclude them from identifying with a woman who is not any of those things, but who has the potential to be? Would you not want to cheer her on to her ultimate destiny?
What is your preference? The strong, plucky heroine who is a steadfast character throughout with minimal change, or the shy, meek mouse who turns into the lion? Would you read both?
Jenna Jaxon Romance--because passion is timeless. 
Jenna,
I have to say I am for the softer heroine who in the end surprises herself and the readers when she becomes stronger and stands up for herself or protects/helps the hero out. The tough strong heroine from beginning to end is not personally my reading pleasure. To me it is a VERY fine line to having the hero, who we all read romance for, become the “heroine” in the story. In a romance, there is a hero and a heroine and someone has to play each role. If the heroine is too testosterone drive and has no feminie trait except her chromosome, then the male comes out too femine. There reader can see that his characteristics make him appear “girlie man”. So, if an author writes a strong heroine she better still be female that means she has to show her softer side. If we take your example of the heroine in terminator. Love was not her end goal. She “happened” into bed with the hero, but she remained strong and tough and became more masculine as the movie and series continued. I am sure if the writers could have figured out another way for her to get pregnant with out sleeping with the man from the future, they would have. There are a few authors that can pull this off very well, the balance of strong heroine and still having the soft center of a female. Most can’t though. As for what I love…I am more for the Romancing the Stone kind of heroine.
Just my two cents…
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Books have trends, just like any other pop-culture media. Acquisition editors have to guess at what will be popular two or more years out. Feminism is the predominant mode with women readers these days, and the books the AcEds are picking reflect that. Now, I’m not a feminist–I’m a dinosaur in terms of women’s rights–so I don’t generally get much out of a heroine that is kick-ass right from the beginning. I think a heroine has to have vulnerabilities and insecurities, a whole lot like real women. Besides, the contrast between an uber-heroine and a sensitive hero is just too disconcerting. Gimme a guy who knows what he wants and makes a beeline for it and a heroine who learns what she wants along the way. Great post, Jenna!
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Your comment about the uber-heroine and the sensitive hero really resonated with me, Patricia. It simply does not work on so many levels. If the guy’s too nice, and the girl too aggressive he ends up coming off as weak in my opinion, not hero material at all. And while it may be fun to see the heroine kicking butt, I think most readers of romance want the guy out there kicking butt as well and mabe a little bit more. It becomes a delicate balance of strengths and weaknesses. They couple should compliment each other, become a yin and yang so to speak, what he lacks she provides and vice versa. Thanks for your response, Patricia. More great food for thought.
Saw your post down below. 🙂 Wolf and the Dove was my very first romance novel and I ate it up. I’m on my second paperback copy. It’s set during my favorite period–medieval–and the H/H are so right for each other it makes you want to cry. I even adapted a scene out of it, using some of the dialogue, for a stage combat scene during grad school. That was long ago, but I remember it vividly because I got to be Aislynn for a day!
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I like all sorts of heroines. Everyone is different and our heroines should reflect that. People need to be able to identify with the heroine. Is she you, who you wish you were, who you really are deep inside? Is she your sis or your best friend?
My first River City romance book WANTING is due out in August. The heroine seems to be a very meek person. When the hero gets to know her he realizes her inner strength and fortitude. She is anything but meek.
Often our situation forces us to be perceived as something we are not. People are chameleons. It is how we survive at work and in various social situations, but when that outer layer is removed the real person is under there.
I think a good heroine is someone who is well-written. If we can identify with her and her feelings then we like her. Do we root for her because she’s the underdog or do we admire her for her accomplishments? As authors, that’s our jobs. No one is all one thing or the other. The tough as nails lawyer comes home and fixes dinner for her three boys and tenderly rocks the youngest to sleep each night. Deep inside she wants a hero who can put his arms around her and make her problems as a single mom melt away. Maybe she’s tired of being perceived as a power hungry witch. All she’s trying to do is survive the only way she knows how. Can she/will she drop her guard long enough to allow the hero into her life? Or will she continue to build that wall around herself and her three boys because she doesn’t want any of them hurt again?
Is that heroine strong or weak? I think she’s both. She’s protecting her weaknesses by covering them. And she’s probably the one curling up with your novel after the children are in bed.
Seriously, I’m tired of the super-heroine. I tried playing super-mom and it worked for a while until I fell flat on my face from exhaustion. It was not a pretty sight. LOL Then I re-grouped and realized that I couldn’t do everything. Now I view the super-heroine and realize she’s not very realistic. It doesn’t matter if the year is 2390, 2011, 1850, or 1380. We all face tough choices and so should our heroines, bu no one is perfect.
E.
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Great response! Thanks E. I think you are correct. If the heroine is well-written then she will find an audience that identifies with her. I’ve made an effort in the series I’m writing to have a variety of both hero and heroine types. It takes all kinds of people, different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses, to find that “one and only” and make that HEA happen.
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I personally like to read both transformative or strong heroines as long as I see the building tension for change or a reason why she is so strong. I had one book I listened to (was an audio book) while on a road trip and the heroine was such a dud and kept messing up without any apparent light at the end of the tunnel. Drove me so nuts I threw the CD out the window. I think a tranformative heroine is great. One without plain common sense and who never changes… well that’ s just bad altogether. Thanks for the post Jenna
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Thanks, Toni. You actually threw it out the window! LOL But I understand that frustration as well. After re-reading Flame and the Flower years after my first reading of it I was not happy with the very slow journey of the heroine, but she did change, she did defy the husband, she did earn my respect in the end. I much preferred Woodiwiss’s second novel The Wolf and the Dove–strong heroine you fell in love with immediately, but she had vulnerabilities even though she didn’t grow very much as a character. She was strong but it was a completely believable inner strength.
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The Wolf and the Dove is one of my favorite novels of all time. I’ve worn out two hardback copies over the years.
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Great post, Jenna! There are many different blends of personalities out there, and I like to see that reflected in romance. My heroine in Mists isn’t an overly spunky woman–that’s her friend Maggie. But I like to think Cal has her own quiet strength. I don’t want to read about cookie-cutter characters, so why should I write them? That’s precisely what plucky, spirited heroines would become if used by every author, every time, to the exclusion of all other types.
Variety is the spice of life, lol!
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Amen to that. Now the question is, are we in the minority or are there a lot more readers out there who also like variety? Or at least are willing to give a heroine room to grow. I’m just finding a lot of the books I pick up have these women who are strong from the get-go. And in historicals that’s not always easy to buy. Women were taught that if they were strong individuals they had better keep that light hidden until they were married and the man was stuck with her. Men didn’t want a wife who would challenge him or think they were equals until into the 20th century. So I have these “reality” issues where a lot of these books are concerned. Yes, there were exceptions, but are they the only stories that should be told?
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I like (and write) both. I will say my CPs and beta readers tend to not care for the milquetoast heroine (Claire), much seeming to prefer the strong, confident woman from the get-go. I personally think the heroine who finds herself and her strength during the course of the novel more intersting, though.
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I like and write both too it seems, D’Ann. It’s just a steady diet of the “Alpha” heroine can get a bit old for me. Stephanie Laurens’ latest quartet is an example. I like a variety. Unfortunately, it sounds like we may be in the minority. 😦
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Romancing The Stone is my favorite movie of all time. Thanks for the post, Jenna.
The Heroine of my WIP is a spoiled party girl not far from a Paris Hilton type who becomes a Great woman and a queen.
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Thanks, Kary. I’ve always loved that movie–especially because her transformation is so vivid. And the young Michael Douglas was very easy on the eyes. LOL Quite the romance hero/anti-hero. So you also have a transformative heroine; glad to know my Alyse isn’t alone out there.
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