How Do You Like Your Heroine?

Do heroines have to be at either of those two extremes? What's wrong with someone who has faults and foibles, but who also rises to the occasion when challenged? Not someone vulnerable or invincible, but somewhere in between.

I can't stand bitches or wet blankets in real life; I don't want to read about them either.

If it was a sliding scale between Kick Ass and Mary Sue I'd go more towards the Kick Ass side.

Uh, neither please. *sweatdrop* I don't like female action heroines and I don't like incompetent, clueless, and/or timid virgins. I like to see a woman with a wry sense of humor, aware of her flaws, maybe a little bitter from having been treated roughly by life, but basically likes herself and is ready to stand up for her own eccentricities or to protect someone else. Someone who can balance being careful, clever, creative, and playful.

Give me a tough-when-she-needs-to-be-tender-when-she-doesn't and I'm there. I'd rather her be real, rather than some ideal.

Some kind supermod edited the poll for you. *cough*

I like variety. I can enjoy a good kick ass heroine, but I don't mind a gentle soul either. I don't like TSTL in any incarnation. I've seen TSTL ass kickers and TSTL Pollyannas. I'm an equal opportunity TSTL hater.

i almost made SM's head explode with a TSTL scene in a book she beta'd for me. to this day, i apologize

Click to expand...

lol- Bet it made you super duper sensitive to reading about TSTL women in other people's books, hasn't it? I see TSTL now all over the place, it's like not knowing anyone with a blue car, then you buy one and you seem to notice them everywhere. I hope that makes sense to someone besides me.

I agree with Sunandshadow's heroine checklist. I can't stand doormat Pollyannas or emo whiners. They're a waste of bandwidth and print.

I don't have a problem with characters being Too Stupid To Live -- but they should be cannon fodder, not the heroine. Writers, please. Stop billing heroines as tough, clever, and resourceful, and then showing them as high-strung arrogant drama queens pitching temper tantrums every other page.

I grew up in the seventies and eighties around genuine Vietnam War veterans, and the posers who liked to hang around in bars and claim it. You could always tell the fake vets because they were too loud and boastful about their kills. I knew eight or nine of the real guys, friends of my veteran brother -- and they all had a certain core wariness, a quiet that masked some truly frightening skills and psychological issues.

More than a few of the modern UF and PR heroines come across as nothing more than frightened little girls hiding their fear of the world behind bluster. They're not sexy, they're pathetic.

I like to read about wonen who can kick some serious ass (Laurell K Hamilton's - Anita Blake type), but to write about, I like a woman who is strong and sure of herself, i like her to know what she wants and go for it, but to know that she is has limitations when dealing with violance.

I like her to be whitty and stubborn.

I like all kinds of heroines, but I think my favourite is actually what I call "the teabag". That is, you only know how strong she is once you get her in hot water. The story of course is the hot water.

An example teabag is Sarah Connor in the Terminator movies. Okay, she's not a romance heroine, but she is a perfect teabag illustration. She starts out as just an ordinary woman, entirely unprepared for having a cyborg from the future coming to kill her. If the other guy from the future hadn't shown up she'd have been dead and the movie would be very short. But she doesn't just keep on being the damsel in distress. As the story goes on she finds the strength within her to deal with the situation and at the end, once she's alone, she can defeat the Terminator. Not at this point with any special kick-ass skills, but with courage and the determination not to give up. And a metal press.

She's kind of an extreme example. The tests a heroine faces don't have to be quite that scary. In a romance they're probably more emotional tests, tests of character. If she finds strength she never knew she had to deal with those I like that best of all.

I have one sweet and loving, one strong and fighting, with a tender edge under the armour, next one is broken and will absolutely need the help of the hero to go though, so it really depends. I am not sure they have anything in common, but they probably do, except for their looks loll.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a female heroine that I stuck with til the end of the book. LK Hamilton's Anita Blake had a decent heroine until she lost a lot of cred with me for needing a d*ck fix every three pages.

Oh, you know what, I like Phillippa Gregory's heroines. I think I like them because I understand what they're fighting for, what they're so angry about, etc. Most other books I've read have females just being angry to be angry, or overinflated to "hide an insecure side." Don't even get me started about the Twilight chick...

I understand TSTL. I understand that there are moments where people lose all logic, and act in the worst way possible. Those moments often make really good stories to tell grandkids. I totally get it, because I do it too. I panic.

When I'm watching a horror movie, I'm yelling right along with the audience: "Don't go up the f*cking stairs, go outside!" Or whatever seems to be the more logical choice. 9 times out of 10, I'll probably do the logical choice IRL. But yeah, I'll do that TSTL moment too. I think it makes for an interesting character. An honest to goodness average or better than average Mary Sue who has one or two TSTL moments would be a readable story for me. What I'd be skeptical of is a heroine who is *always* put together and *never* had a TSTL moment.

Lastly, I don't like it when an author has to dress the heroine in sexy clothes to make her sexy. I think the sexiness and beauty should come from what she does and what she thinks. Not how she looks, or (lord help me) flirty things she says.

My humble 2 coppers,
J