Female Characters: Tips for Writing Romance Novels with Strong Heroines

Imagine yourself, trying to describe remarkable female characters without video, sound, color, or imagery. Your only tool is black lettering on a white page.

Now try to create a female protagonist that modern-day readers can relate to — even if that character lives in a Viking longhouse, hunts vampires, or captains a spaceship.

Congratulations! You’ve just accepted the challenge of writing a Romance-novel heroine!

If you find the task daunting, you’re not alone. Heroines are the life-blood of your story. They can make — or break — an author’s career. That’s why I’m sharing a few industry insights that helped me write bestselling, award-winning Romance novels.

Introduction & Outline

In this article, you will discover:

• Why Romance novels appeal to your target audience

• How female characters gained a foothold in the male-dominated world of fiction

• The unique challenge of developing protagonists for the Romance genre

• Tips for writing female characters that appeal to 21st Century women

Why Do Romance Novels Appeal to Women?

To answer that question, let’s consider our roots.

In Medieval times, if a woman dared to write her opinions for public consumption, she was shunned. She was considered lower than a whore. Even if the writer desperately needed the few pennies she earned from her manuscript to feed her child, her contemporaries treated her with contempt.

Following the Renaissance, attitudes about a woman’s value to society improved at a snail’s pace. In the 19th Century, the prevailing belief in Western Europe was that any woman who tried to solve a complex math equation would go insane from the mental strain.

In the United States, where we like to pretend we’re forward-thinking, classic literature betrays the truth. Up until 1950, American fiction was dominated by male protagonists. If a secondary character was female, she was typically painted in an unflattering light. She was cast as a Femme Fatale, Black Widow, Gold Digger, obedient Girl Friday, subservient wife, manipulative (crazy?) relative, or helpless dependent.

Springing from this latter category was the rare female, who got her chance at stardom. Invariably, however, she had to be rescued by a more powerful (wiser?) leading man, who saved her from poverty, physical danger, or the “foolish choices” that she had made.

Before 1950 in American fiction, if a leading female had some aspiration other than marriage (Translation: making a man happy,) then the plot shamed her. To further discourage female equality, authors would punish their outspoken, willful (ie, “evil”) female characters at the book’s end.

As a result, American fiction taught readers that nonconformity doomed a woman to loneliness, alcoholism, prison, insanity — or worse.

The Emergence of Strong Female Characters

“Well-behaved women rarely make history.”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Needless to say, women started hunting for more appealing role models in literature. The rise of strong, female characters sprang from the ever-growing demand to let women’s voices be heard. 

Today, the world’s fiction market is dominated by Romance novels, which account for approximately 50 percent of all mass market sales. Romance’s closest competitor is the Mystery genre, which accounts for roughly 18 percent.

Commercial Romance readers (80% of whom are female) want novels that focus on the adventures of women. As a result, Romance novels elevate female leads to the larger-than-life status, traditionally enjoyed by male protagonists. A female Romance protagonist might solve crimes, discover medical cures, topple corrupt governments, manage multi-billion-dollar corporations, colonize alien worlds…

In short, female characters buck the status quo. For this reason, they have earned the right to be called “heroines.”  The term was coined in commercial Romance to convey that female protagonists are worthy leaders — just like their male counterparts, who have always been called “heroes” in other genres. 

The Unique Challenge of Characterizing a Romance

The Romance genre is the only form of commercial fiction that features two protagonists. This convention makes Romance novels much harder to characterize than Mysteries and Fantasies.

As an aspiring Romance author, you must accept that the heroine is the primary character. Your story is about her quest for true love. Therefore, the heroine’s ever-evolving feelings for the hero (and his ever-evolving feelings for her) must dominate every chapter.

If you let a subplot, like a murder investigation or a ghost hunt, overshadow the love story, then you are no longer writing a commercial Romance. You are writing a Mystery or Fantasy, neither of which attracts the whopping readership, currently enjoyed by the Romance industry.

(Hint: The previous paragraph is so important to your success, I suggest that you read it again.)

Even though the Romance hero is not considered equal to the heroine, his characterization is a vital component of your success. He serves as the catalyst that forces her to grow. He becomes her reward when she proves herself worthy of a happy ending.

Frankly, most fans read Romance novels to experience the vicarious thrill of falling in love. (Translation: you’d better be writing a hero, who’s memorable and exciting!)

However, a reader’s vehicle for experiencing that thrill is the heroine. Whether a reader purchases a Contemporary, Historical, or Paranormal Romance, she expects to live under the skin of the heroine.

Thus, readers demand heroines, whom they can admire, respect, and understand. 

Tips for Writing Memorable Female Characters

Personally, I love to read and write about female rebels.

However, any female persona can become a successful Romance heroine — even a wallflower. (The trick, of course, is to write a wallflower who’s sympathetic, not pathetic.)

Throughout my career, my heroines have earned awards and accolades. They achieved these recognitions because I forced them to grow, facing obstacles that allowed readers to identify with them and cheer them on.

In the spirit of helping you create your own, remarkable heroines, I’ll share a couple of lessons that I’ve learned along my Writer’s Journey.

Tip #1: Understand the audience that reads your subgenre.

Before you spend months, developing your heroine, do your market research. Learn what’s trending in your subgenre. To this end, I strongly recommend that you read at least 30 new books by different new authors. Make sure you choose commercial Romance novels (in other words, don’t choose Mysteries or Fantasies with a “romantic subplot.”) When in doubt, focus on authors, whose debut novels were published by traditional Romance houses within the last 2 years.

Tip #2: Write relatable heroines.

Regardless of age, color, or historical era, your heroine needs to be written so that Romance readers can understand her.

For example, 21st Century women haven’t faced the threat of being scalped by a Sioux war party. However, modern readers can relate to the terror of having their homes burglarized, or the desperate need to protect their children.

To help your readers understand your heroine’s dilemma, you must make them feel what your heroine feels. This wisdom is especially true, if you want readers to buy your next book.

Tip #3: You may not like your heroine when the story opens.

A protagonist must grow in any work of fiction. Your heroine can’t appear in Chapter One as a wholly evolved, shining example of womanhood. (Yes, I know. You’re that shining example, but your heroine isn’t you, remember?)

The truth is, you may not like your heroine at the beginning of the book. That’s okay. Let her stumble. Make her acknowledge her mistakes. Show how she strives to do better.

Your plot is her journey, so let her reach for the stars. In the process, she’ll win your heart, along with your hero’s.  

Tip #4: Ignore the literary trolls: writing with emotion *IS* the key to your success.

Over the years, many aspiring authors have come to me — in tears — because some clueless windbag denounced their Romance writing as Purple Prose.

Want my advice?

Laugh all the way to the bank.

Our audience wants feel-good entertainment. They want to be inspired, uplifted, and reassured by a boy-meets-girl story. They urgently want to know that Love has a real and measurable power, and that it’s available to all people, regardless of age, race, physical beauty, or past mistakes.

The best way to help a Romance reader connect with “Love Feelings” is to drop her into the head of your heroine and write luscious, evocative prose. This prose should be designed to stimulate visceral emotion.

Tip #5: Nobody likes stupid, cowardly heroines.

Let me be clear. By “stupid,” I mean a heroine that is so short-sighted, or unrealistically optimistic, that she becomes a victim of her own ignorance.

For example, a certain Romance author has lost me forever as a paying customer. She plots contrived rescue scenes, which make her heroines look like idiots.

For instance, in one such book, the heroine flees at night from a medieval castle during a blizzard. She has NO cloak, NO horse, NO weapon, NO provisions, NO light source, and NO hope of shelter for hundreds of miles.

The next, wholly predictable scene shows the hero, using his body heat to revive her (which, by the way, is the oldest, sexual-tension cliché in literature.)

Sadly, this book could have been saved by a simple plot adjustment, made by a developmental editor, who knows how to apply the Romance-writing formula.

(Learn how a developmental editor can help you plot a love story that readers want to buy!)

Tip #6: Your heroine must help readers fall in love — with the correct heartthrob.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

But many aspiring authors grow bored with their hero. To fix the sizzle in their love story, these authors ramp up the sexual tension between the sidekick and the heroine.

Warning! You’re killing your sales!

Readers of commercial Romance want a story that assures them that fidelity is alive and well. They want the satisfaction of watching the heroine get the hero (aka, the man of her dreams) at the novel’s end.

If readers wanted to see the heroine hop into bed with multiple partners, they would NOT be reading commercial Romance.

Therefore, if you’ve grown bored with your hero, you need to do your job as a Romance writer. Deepen the development of his character.

Ironically, as you improve your characterization skills, one of your male sidekicks may become dangerously appealing. He may start to clamor for your attention and demand more “scene time.”

However, no secondary male should ever eclipse the hero. If a sidekick is truly a heartthrob, then he can be elevated to the starring-role in your next book.

In the meantime, make your hero a worthy mate. Show readers why the heroine is falling in love with him. If she can’t accept some tiny flaw in his character, perhaps she needs to develop compassion. (Or perhaps he needs to behave like a responsible adult!) Either way, personality flaws open the door to a character’s growth and a reader’s empathy.

Remember: Your audience will fall happily for your hero as long as your heroine demonstrates credible reasons to love him.

Happy writing!

Hugs,