Creating Romantic Characters
Bringing Life to
Your Romance Novel
by Leigh Michaels
Smashwords Edition
http://www.leighmichaels.com
Copyright 2002, 2011 Leigh Michaels
First published 2002
All rights reserved
Cover illustration copyright 2002 Michael W. Lemberger
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Table of Contents
The definition of the romance novel
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Naming the Baby (and Everyone Else, Too)
The characterization worksheet
Sample characterization worksheet
Presenting characters to the reader
I’ve written and studied writing all my life, and I can’t begin to count the times when I’ve stopped dead in the middle of reading a story and said, “That’s fantastic! I wonder what inspired the author to do it that way.” What I would give, for instance, to sit down for half an hour (though a week would be better) and talk to J.R.R. Tolkien about exactly how he traveled from the random sentence “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” which he scrawled on an exam paper he was grading, to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I say that because it feels pretty egotistical to be writing a how-to-write book using examples from my own work. I hope that when you finish reading this book, you’ll be pleased to have had the opportunity to look over the author’s shoulder, as it were, as we share the process of creating and showing characters.
*****
This book is dedicated to the memory of Jacqui Bianchi, editorial director of Mills & Boon and my first editor, who gently taught me much of what I know about characters.
My most sincere thanks go to my husband, who figuratively held my hand and literally kept my coffee cup filled while I wrote; to Andre Becker and Alex Steele of Gotham Writers’ Workshop, who facilitated the process; to Elaine Orr, who provided a much needed distance and perspective; and to my students, who inspired this effort.
Thank you all. I hope you will enjoy the result.
Love and romance have always been just as much in demand in the literary world as in real life, but the romance novel as we know it today originated in the early twentieth century in England. The publishing firm of Mills & Boon, established in about 1910, brought out the work of such authors as Agatha Christie and Jack London – and also published romantic fiction.. Soon the firm realized that its hardcover romances, sold mostly to libraries, were in more demand than many of its regular titles were. As the years passed, romantic fiction outstripped other sales, and eventually the firm dropped most other types of books in order to concentrate on publishing romance novels.
In the 1950s the success of Mills & Boon romances was noted by a Canadian publisher, Harlequin Books. The two firms began to cooperate, with Harlequin publishing in North America many of the titles Mills & Boon was releasing in the United Kingdom. The two firms merged in the early 1970s, with Mills & Boon becoming a branch office of Harlequin (itself a division of the Torstar corporation). For a number of years Mills & Boon continued to be the acquiring editorial office, buying books mostly from British authors. Though they published American author Janet Dailey, it wasn’t until the early 1980s that the market truly opened to other Americans.
For many years there was only one brand of romance novel, known almost generically in the United Kingdom as a “Mills & Boon” and in North America as a “Harlequin.” Despite the lack of brand-name variety, however, the stories were already widely divergent – contemporary, medical, and historical romances were all published under the same imprint.
But readers who gobbled up those original romances wanted even more variety, and authors wanted to stretch their wings with different kinds of stories–longer, spicier, more sensual, including elements that just didn’t fit in the short, sweet, traditional package.
(When the boundaries began to expand, no one was quite certain about where they were going to end up. My first editor told me about sitting down to lunch at the Ritz Hotel in London with a well-established author. As the waiters set their appetizers in front of them, the middle-aged female author leaned over to the very young female editor and boomed, “Now tell me, dear, just how much sex can I have?”)
In the 1970s, individual types of romances began to split off from the long-established core. Radically different cover designs and distinctive brand names made the various styles of stories more easily distinguished at the point of purchase.
At about the same time, other publishers picked up on the success of the Harlequin/Mills & Boon machine, and new lines, styles, and types of romance novels began to appear in the marketplace.
Not long afterward, some of those lines began to disappear again, as publishers discovered that a successful romance novel required more than simply handsome boy meets cute girl. Since then the romance market has been an ever-changing kaleidoscope.
Some memorable (though now defunct) lines included Silhouette Shadows, which featured paranormal plots verging on soft-core horror; Lucky In Love, which required a main character to have suddenly struck it rich; and Second Chance at Love, which starred older heroes or heroines who had been widowed or divorced.
At any given time there are at least twenty “lines” or “series” or “categories” of romance novels. Category romances are books which have certain elements in common (for instance, they all involve a mystery as well as the romance, or they all are romantic comedy). Category books are packaged in similar covers and marketed as a group rather than individually, and they generally stay on the shelf for a month, sometimes less, before being replaced with the next group of titles.
In addition to the series romances, however, each month brings a bookcase full of new single-title romances– books which stand alone, are marketed individually, and stay on the bookstore rack longer than series titles.
Focus on love
The one thing all of those books have in common is that no matter what else is going on in the story, the main focus is on the hero and heroine and their growing love for each other.
Beyond that, almost anything goes. Romances come in as many types as there are kinds of readers. There are sensual romances and even-more-sensual romances. There are romances which include mystery, suspense, even espionage. There are romances which verge on mainstream in length and subject matter. There are romances which tackle difficult social issues. There are historical romances, both long and short, and inspirational (sometimes referred to as Christian) romances. In all cases, however, the key is that the love story– not the mystery or the sexual details or the social issues– is the most important part of the book.
The definition of the romance novel
What is a romance novel, and what makes it different from other novels which include a romantic relationship? The distinction lies in which part of the story is emphasized. In a romance novel, the core story is the developing relationship between a man and a woman. The other events in the storyline, though very important, are secondary to the love story. In many other kinds of books which contain romantic elements, the romance is not the main story. In fact, in many cases the romantic interest could be removed without destroying the story. In the romance novel, that just isn’t possible.
Is there a formula for the romance novel? Well– yes. And no. There’s a basic structure common to all romances, but there’s no step-by-step recipe to follow.
A romance novel is the story of a man and a woman who, as they confront and solve a problem, realize that the love they share is the sort that comes along only once in a lifetime, and then commit themselves to each other forever.
Man. Woman. Problem. Lifelong love. Happy ending. That’s the formula–the basic structure.
By that definition, of course, mysteries also have a formula. If you wrote a mystery in which a crime was never committed, or the suspected murder turned out on the last page to have been death by natural causes, or the investigator declared the problem unsolvable and went off on vacation instead of telling the reader what really happened, you’d soon hear about the importance of a basic structure.
Within the broad range of romance novels, there are certain kinds of stories which crop up regularly. Some pay tribute to archetypal stories of the past, such as fairy tales. Others have come into existence more recently but have become traditions. Some books combine elements from several story types, while others belong to no particular classification.
The fact that two stories may belong to the same broad category does not make them alike. They simply have a common theme. Each of these story types has become a standard because it is a common fantasy among readers.
Here are ten of the most common story types:
1. Cinderella– Is there a woman anywhere who hasn’t occasionally (even if fleetingly) wished that Prince Charming would come and whisk her off to a life of ease and privilege? In the Cinderella romance, the heroine is swept away from her normal circumstances into a glamorous world she had never imagined. But she isn’t necessarily a kitchen drudge to start out, and she may initially see Prince Charming’s help not as a rescue but as a complication to her already-difficult circumstances.
Cinderella stories are great fun because the sky is the limit. That can also be their weak spot, because the more extravagant the surroundings are, the more difficult it can be to make the story logical and believable.
2. Beauty and the Beast– One character (generally the hero) is physically, mentally, or emotionally scarred, but the heroine is able to see past his flaws and deficiencies to fall in love with the sterling character underneath.
The more handicapped the character, the more difficult it is to create a fantasy happy ending for the couple. But though it’s tempting to wipe out the handicap with a miraculous last-minute cure, it may be more satisfying for the reader to see the couple adjusting to reality rather than being rescued by a benevolent Fate.
3. Sleeping Beauty– The heroine is “awakened” to a realization of her worth, her beauty, her talents, and her sexual nature by her relationship with the hero. She may be young, inexperienced, and innocent, or she may be an older woman whose self-esteem has been damaged, perhaps by involvement with an abusive man.
The tough thing with Sleeping Beauty stories is to create a heroine who has legitimate reason to doubt her worth. The heroine who believes she’s ugly even though everyone else finds her gorgeous is a cliché. Yet our heroine’s wounds can’t be so deep that it’s hard to believe they can ever be healed.
4. Bad Boy– The hero has a tarnished reputation, sometimes for very good reason– but despite his past, he redeems himself and wins the love of the heroine. The frontier story of the schoolmarm and the outlaw fits this pattern. Occasionally the bad boy story features a bad girl instead, teaming her with an upstanding hero.
The challenge is to keep our bad boy from appearing to be a hardened criminal, an abuser, or a positively unredeemable soul.
5. Family Ties– Hero and heroine may have been raised together (perhaps as step-brother and step-sister), or they are related (perhaps as closely as second cousins). Incest taboos are at war with their physical attraction, creating tension in the story.
Family stories can go awry if the relationship is too close, which tends to create discomfort in the reader, or too distant for the incest taboo to be believable. Stories about step-siblings are more believable if the two of them weren’t raised together from early childhood.
6. Friends Forever– Hero and heroine have a long-standing platonic friendship, or perhaps they’re business partners who work together amicably but with no romantic involvement. When one of them realizes that he or she has fallen in love with the friend or partner, pressure builds on both.
The danger in stories about friends is that the characters often become so cozy and comfortable with each other that suspense goes down the drain.
7. Marriage of Convenience– The hero and heroine enter into a marriage not because they love– or are even necessarily attracted to– each other, but for reasons of business, money, protection of a child, reputation, etc. A variation is the engagement of convenience, where the couple has no real intention of marrying but finds it handy to have a fiancé hanging around.
This is probably the oldest of the archetypes, because the first telling of a marriage of convenience story actually predates the biblical account of Adam and Eve.
The difficulty of contemporary marriage of convenience stories lies in finding a sensible reason for two people who don’t love each other to marry. Getting married simply to please an elderly relative or because the characters have been caught in a compromising position worked well in the romances of years gone by, but it’s just too hard to believe that today’s young people would go to that length to placate a grandparent or to avoid embarrassment.
Authors of historical romances have it slightly easier, since past generations enforced different standards of behavior, but the reason must still convince today’s reader.
8. Reunited Lovers– Two people who once had (and ended) a romantic relationship come together once more and try a second time to make their attraction work.
The challenge is to create a problem which could believably separate the lovers and yet be solvable in the end. The interference of other characters (withholding letters, etc.) was a standard ploy in stories published in the past, but it isn’t as convincing in books being written today.
Again, authors of historical novels have a little more leeway in choosing reasons for the couple’s breakup, since society followed much different rules at various eras.
Reunited Lovers come in several varieties, some of which are story types all by themselves.
9. Secret Baby– The couple’s earlier relationship resulted in a child being born, but because of their breakup the hero has never been told he’s a father. In the current story, the heroine may admit the truth, or she may continue to try to cover it up. The hero may be delighted to find he’s a father or hesitant to become involved. In either case he’s likely to be angry over the deception.
It’s possible to argue that The Scarlet Letter is a secret-baby story, though it hardly meets the definition of a romance in other ways.
The challenges of a secret baby story include explaining why the mother concealed the truth, why the father didn’t suspect, and how the couple can overcome such a tremendous barrier and learn to trust.
10. Marriage Gone Awry– Though the couple’s marriage ended with a divorce or separation in the past, they come together for another stab at making their relationship work. Sometimes they make the effort in order to provide a stable family for their child, or to prevent a custody dispute which would harm the child. Or they may come together again for reasons as diverse as a family funeral or a suspicion that there was something wrong with their divorce and they (surprise!) might still be married.
The obstacle to a believable marriage-gone-awry story is to create an obstacle large enough to believably end a marriage without making either party look petty or difficult, but not so large that it can’t be solved in the end.
Teaser
1. Each story type listed here has many variations, and there are many story types not included in this list. How many more story types and variations can you think of?
2. Does one story type appeal to you more than others? If so, why?
No matter how exciting the action is, it’s not the plot that we remember when we think back on the books we’ve enjoyed the most. It’s the characters who stay in our hearts long after the book is stored on the shelf.
The plot is what happens during the book. The action sequences are how it happens. The conflict is why it happens. But it’s the characters who make all those other elements– the plot, the action, and the conflict– both important and memorable.
A story can’t hold the reader’s attention for long if the events in it happen to a person whom the reader finds tedious or uninteresting.
The challenge for the author is to create characters that the reader will care about. Whether the character is a hero or a villain, we want our reader to be emotionally involved with him– enthusiastically pulling for the hero to win, but also cheering madly when the villain is vanquished.
In order for the reader to truly care about the character, the person we’re creating has to be believable. That means the character must be both realistic, so the reader can relate to him on a personal level, and sympathetic, so we feel the time spent reading his story has been well invested.
Making a character realistic means creating an individual who is a mixture of good features and bad, of strengths and flaws. And making a character sympathetic means that no matter what he does– whether it’s good or bad– the reader can understand why he did it. It’s not necessary to approve of an action in order to empathize with it. But if the reader can empathize with the character’s reasons, even if he doesn’t agree with them, the reader will be much more emotionally involved with the characters and the story.
The main characters in romance novels should behave in heroic ways. That doesn’t mean they jump out of helicopters to rescue fallen mountain climbers, though taking that leap would certainly be heroic. We’re talking about heroic in the sense of being just a bit larger than life, just a little better than most real human beings.
Standards of heroic behavior vary by line and type of romance, of course. The characters in a mainstream romance can get by with a great many things that the ones in a sweet traditional wouldn’t dream of doing.
Teaser
1. Think about a character in a book you’ve recently read. How was that character heroic, in the sense of being larger than life?
2. Was the character realistic? Sympathetic?
Heroes and heroines are the kind of people we’d like to be, if only our tongues didn’t get the better of us now and then. If only we didn’t do stupid things or fall down in public or embarrass ourselves. If only we were considerate and tactful all–well, maybe most–of the time. If only we could think of the right thing to say at exactly the right moment instead of three days later.
Heroes and heroines are allowed their petty moments– particularly when they’re dealing with each other– but in important matters they generally take the moral high ground.
Kind and gentle
Heroes and heroines are unfailingly kind to those who are less powerful then they are– for instance, children, animals, and the elderly. They are gentle; even if Aunt Agnes incessantly talks about her health, they don’t snap at her or treat her like a nuisance. Heroes and heroines don’t kick the dog no matter how angry they are. And every last one of them has an honorary degree in how to get along with a kid while raising him to be a genius.
Heroes and heroines don’t gossip, and they don’t generally take delight in the troubles of others, even when it’s the Other Woman and she deserves it.
Unless provoked, they aren’t even rude–except to each other. Even then, they’re not hateful or vicious.
Wisecracks and smart remarks are acceptable; cruel taunts are another thing entirely.
Heroes and heroines don’t lie
But “the hero can be economical with the truth,” to quote jay (sic) Dixon in The Romance Fiction of Mills & Boon, particularly if his motive is to protect the heroine. To illustrate her point, she quotes the hero of my 1985 book, Leaving Home:
“I told [the other man]... that your father didn’t leave you a cent. Which is literally true. He didn’t ask me if my father had done anything for you, so I didn’t tell him.”
The heroine can be equally careful with her level of frankness, sometimes telling the literal truth in a way that is misleading.
Partners and relationships
Heroes and heroines don’t commit adultery. While they may have divorced, they do not enter into a new love relationship while there is still a legal or moral commitment to a previous partner.
This restriction is largely a matter of common sense. If a person has so little respect for a spouse that he or she has an affair– whether it’s physical or emotional– with someone new, then it’s difficult to believe that he or she would be any more faithful to the new love.
To a lesser degree, the same rule applies to other emotional commitments. A hero or heroine who is engaged is most likeable if, as soon as he or she recognizes the attraction to the new partner, the engagement is broken off.
Time to mourn
Whether the previous relationship was ended by a divorce, a broken engagement, a jilting, or a partner’s death, the character does not enter a new relationship until there has been adequate time to heal. Rebound relationships often don’t last in real life, and they’re not convincing in fiction. The length of time needed to recover will of course depend on the nature of the relationship. It will take much longer to grieve the death of a partner in a solid marriage than it will to get over a steady date who suddenly decided he wanted to see other women.
Motives and opportunity
While heroes and heroines have almost certainly created some of their own problems, they have not done so out of stupidity or short-sightedness. The character’s father may have lost all his money in a stock scam, but it isn’t likely our hero or heroine was fool enough to make the same mistake.
If our main character has caused his or her own troubles, it’s generally for a worthy purpose–perhaps even a noble cause. Conversely, if the reason is good enough, we can have our hero or heroine do nearly anything, even if that conduct would normally be considered indefensible. (Breaking and entering? Sure, if it means saving a child from freezing to death.)
Like and dislike
Heroes and heroines must have logical, believable reasons to oppose each other. Neither of them tries to keep the other from achieving a goal just to be unpleasant. They’re in opposition because the result if one of them wins will be that the other loses something very important.
Growth and change
Heroes and heroines should grow and change during the course of the story. They are intelligent people facing serious problems. Meeting the challenges will force them to look at life differently and often change their long-standing attitudes.
Heroes and heroines can’t be perfect, or they won’t be believable. But even in their imperfections they must remain likeable, even admirable, in order to be worth the reader’s time to share their story.
Teaser
1. Make a list of character traits or habits that draw you to a person, making you want to be his or her friend.
2. Make a list of character traits or habits that turn you off and make you not want to know a person better.
In this selection from Backwards Honeymoon, Kathryn Campbell, having discovered that her would-be husband is marrying her only for her money, runs away from her wedding just a few minutes before the ceremony is to begin. She literally falls over the hero in her efforts to escape from her father’s estate before anyone realizes that she’s disappeared.
Kathryn paused for a moment outside the back door, then headed for cover behind the nearest large tree and started to work her way across the garden trunk by trunk. Her plan was so simple it could be summed up in two words: Get away. She didn’t care where, and she didn’t care how.
Her heartbeat slowed a bit as she increased her distance from the house, and with the first hurdle behind her, she turned her attention to figuring out how to get off the estate. Jock Campbell’s big Georgian-style house didn’t look a bit like a moated castle, but with its high brick walls and iron gates it was nearly as impregnable.
And getting out wasn’t much easier than getting in–especially today, when the guards would be extra alert in order to secure all the wedding gifts on the premises, to say nothing of protecting five hundred guests who were all wearing their best jewelry. And in a very few minutes, as soon as Jock discovered her abandoned wedding gown, it would become even more difficult to circumvent the security arrangements.
She was chewing on that, trying to figure out the weak spot in her father’s defenses, when she popped out from behind a hedge into the narrow driveway beside the gardener’s cottage and tripped over a pair of legs sticking out from under an old car.
A growl came from underneath, and a body, lying on a rolling board, slid into sight. “What the hell–“
Kathryn’s gaze slid slowly from the man’s dirt-splotched sneakers past a pair of jeans so worn that they were barely blue and across a grease-smeared t-shirt. She focused on a pair of broad shoulders, a tanned, rugged-looking face, a thatch of unruly dark hair, and a pair of deep brown eyes that snapped with aggravation.
“Can’t you watch where you’re walking?” he grumbled.
“Sorry. I was thinking.”
“Oh, you’re one of those people who can’t walk and think at the same time.” He sat up, and suddenly his gaze sharpened. “You’re supposed to be getting married just about now.”
Kathryn looked through him. “You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
“Really? Then what’s that bit of orange blossom doing stuck in your hair?”
Her fingers found the stray petals and plucked them loose, then began to seek out hairpins, destroying the formal hairstyle Antoine had worked so hard to produce.
“Katie Mae Campbell in the flesh,” the man mused.
Kathryn bristled. “Nobody has called me that since I was six years old, and I do not plan to make an exception anytime soon. Miss Campbell will do. Or, if you insist, you can call me Miss Kathryn.”
“And as I’m saying it, I should pull my forelock respectfully like a good peasant, I suppose.” He rose slowly, with a panther’s grace, and reached for a rag lying on the car’s fender to wipe his hands.
He was taller than she’d thought; Kathryn found herself looking a long way up. “Who are you, anyway?”
“Jonah Clarke. My father is your gardener, in case you don’t know.”
“Of course I know his name. That explains why you recognized orange blossom from seeing a single petal.”
“He’d be proud of me. Also he’d be charmed that you came to visit, only he’s not here. He’s over at the big house to attend your wedding. Which sort of brings us back to where we started.”
It was none of his business, of course. “Why aren’t you with him?” The question wasn’t entirely a delaying tactic; Kathryn was honestly curious.
“I wasn’t invited. I’m only here to visit him for the day.” He tossed the rag aside. “So tell me, Miss Kathryn– what gives?”
“I’m not getting married.”
“I gathered that much,” he said dryly. “So what are you going to do instead?”
“I’m... leaving.”
“I see. Well, if you’re looking for your Porsche, I think the garage is still on the other side of the property.”
She bit her lip and looked at him, debating. She was down to minutes, if even that long, before the alarm went up, and standing here talking was getting her nowhere at all.
“Jonah,” she began. “You know perfectly well that I–“
”Mr. Clarke will do.” He mimicked her tone. “Or, if you insist, you can call me... well, let’s stick to Mr. Clarke. It’s much tidier.”
“Mr. Clarke,” she said firmly. “You grew up here on the estate, am I right?”
He nodded. He looked wary, she thought.
“Then you must know if there’s any way out of this place other than through the front gates.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even know me, but you’re assuming that I was the sort who would go sneaking out over the walls at night.”
“Well, didn’t you?”
He grinned. “Of course I did.”
“How?”
“Oh, no. I’m not telling you.”
She caught at his sleeve. “Please,” she said. “I’m desperate, here. I have to get outside these walls, right now. Will you help me?”
His eyes narrowed. “Tell me exactly what’s in it for me–besides a whole lot of grief when your dad catches up with me–and I’ll consider it.”
She looked up at him and let her voice go sultry. “What do you want?”
“What are you offer–“ He broke off and shrugged. “Oh, forget it. Katie Mae, you are too dangerous to be let loose on the world.”
“I told you not to call me–“ She paused. “Come to think of it, you can call me anything you want to if you’ll just help me get over the wall.”
“Will going through it be good enough?” He pushed open the side door of the garage and leaned into the dark interior. Then he dangled a large, old-fashioned key in front of her.
In a rush of gratitude, Kathryn said, “I’ll give you anything you want.”
“I’ll think it over and let you know. Come on.”
His loose-limbed stride ate up the ground; Kathryn had trouble keeping up with him as he plunged deeper into the woods which filled a good part of the Campbell estate.
“So where are you headed?” he asked over his shoulder.
“You don’t think I’d tell you, surely.”
“That probably means you don’t know.”
“No, it means I expect you’d turn around and sell the information to my father.”
“Sure I will. I’ll march right up to him and said, ‘Jock, old buddy, I can tell you where your daughter went, and I know because she confided in me while I was hoisting her over the wall.’ I’m sure he’d reward me, probably right after he slugged me in the face.”
“What about the key? I thought that meant there was a door or something.”
“You don’t think I’d tell him all my secrets, do you? He’d have it sealed up in a minute, and who knows– I might want it again someday.”
“Thinking of moving back in with your father, are you?” she asked sweetly.
“It wouldn’t be my first choice, but you never know what might come up.” He stopped abruptly. “Here.”
Kathryn could see the vine-shrouded wall beyond the last row of trees, but she couldn’t see anything that resembled a gate or a door. “Where?”
“Good disguise, isn’t it?” he said cheerfully. “The vines were here when I found this place, but it took me a couple of years to train them just right so they’d hide the door without breaking when it was opened. Let’s see if they still do.” He pulled back a curtaining vine to reveal an arch-topped door built of heavy planks.
The key slid silently into place and the lock opened with a discreet click. On the other side of the thick wall hung another curtain of vines. Kathryn ducked underneath it and looked out across an expanse of pine woods that spread downhill as far as she could see, full of undergrowth and brambles. She looked uncertainly out across the dappled hillside. “Um... where am I?”
“Some Boy Scout you’d make. About five hundred yards through there is the state highway.”
She bit her lip. “I suppose once I get there I could hitchhike.”
“I’d suggest you hurry, or you’ll probably be trying to thumb a ride with some of your own wedding guests.”
She looked up at him through her lashes. “Maybe you should come with me.”
He said something under his breath. She was rather glad she hadn’t heard it clearly.
“Jonah... I mean, Mr. Clarke... you won’t ever be able to collect whatever I owe you for helping me escape, if you don’t know where I went.”
The silence stretched out endlessly.
“One thing’s certain,” he muttered. “It’s becoming obvious that I like pain. All right, I’m in for the adventure.”
She smiled in triumph. “Then let’s lock the gate and get going.”
Jonah shook his head. “Not so fast. I may be a masochist, but I’m not an idiot. I was checked into the estate on the guards’ list this morning. If I’m not checked out the same way, all hell will break loose and they’ll be looking for both of us.”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Along with half a million other things you haven’t considered, I’ll bet. Anyway, I don’t fancy being shot at by the FBI because they think I’m holding you hostage.”
“Why would they think that?”
“Did anyone see you leaving?”
She shook her head.
“Did you tell anybody you were going?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then they have no way of knowing if this stunt was your idea or someone else’s. Look, we haven’t got time to argue. You take off through the trees–just walk toward the sunset and you’ll come out near a little roadside park. I’m going to go back in, get my car, and leave just as I normally would. I’ll probably beat you to the park, but if I’m not there, hang around back in the trees till I show up.” He pulled the vines back and stepped into the wall.
“Jonah,” she said softly, and he turned. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me till we’ve gotten somewhere.” A moment later the door closed with a creak and he was gone.
Copyright 2002 by Leigh Michaels
Teaser
1. What traits do Kathryn and Jonah exhibit which make them likeable? Admirable? Less than perfect?
2. What did you learn about the characters from their actions rather than their words?
3. Which character do you know more about? What kinds of things don’t you know about the other character?
4. Consider the interactions between Kathryn and Jonah. How do they talk to each other? Treat each other?
5. Considering that they’ve just met for the first time, how do you think they feel about each other?
Though there are always two main characters in the romance novel, in most books the major focus remains on the heroine, and the story is primarily her story. Though the hero’s point of view and thoughts are usually included, the heroine’s point of view and her thoughts usually comprise a larger portion of the book.
If the reader spends several hours reading the story, most of that time will be in the company of the heroine. So our heroine must be someone the reader can understand, like and respect– someone she wants to hang around with. Someone who seems like a real person.
That means the heroine should have a balance of good and bad characteristics, as all humans do. She should be pretty much like the people we run into every day at the office water cooler or at the supermarket.
Unsuccessful heroines
Many new romance writers create heroines who are perfect. They’re not only shaped like Barbie dolls, but they never have to break a sweat at the gym to keep that perfect figure. They’re smart and witty and run a multimillion-dollar business in their spare time. They’ve never cracked a fingernail and they can wear white shorts to a picnic and not get a single grass stain.
Or the new writer goes the other direction and creates a hapless, helpless heroine. This woman can’t get herself across a room without help. She gets mixed up in one bad relationship after another, she’ll believe any fool story she’s told without ever stopping to consider the source, and she’s wildly inconsistent in the ways she reacts to people and events. She’s still gorgeous, but she doesn’t believe for a moment that she’s the least bit attractive. Because this woman doesn’t respect herself, she commands no respect from others– including the reader.
Perfect Priscilla and Helpless Hannah
Neither Perfect Priscilla nor Helpless Hannah, in their real-life versions, are the sort of woman who makes a good friend. Priscilla, having never faced a problem she couldn’t solve with the snap of her fingers, has no sympathy for someone facing real difficulty. (This is the woman who’ll tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong in raising your kids, even though she doesn’t have any of her own.) Hannah is too busy bemoaning her own sad state to have time or energy for a friend–much less for doing something to improve her own situation. (It’s such bad luck, she groans, that the last seven guys she dated were all users, abusers, or con artists...)
Women are unlikely to seek out either of these personality types to be a friend, and they’re not apt to enjoy reading about them, either.
Disasters and crises
Readers quickly grow impatient with the heroine who stumbles into one disaster after another and has to be rescued. The heroine who has stupidly created her own problems– by making bad decisions or trusting and believing the wrong people– is much less able to command the reader’s empathy than one whose troubles have come at least partly from outside. The heroine who walks into an obvious trap often doesn’t win sympathy from the reader but inspires something closer to disgust. The heroine who believes a tale when it’s perfectly apparent to the reader that the person telling it has a personal interest or an axe to grind is often not sympathetic but annoying.
The heroine with a past
A satisfying, sympathetic heroine is a woman with a past. That doesn’t mean she necessarily has dark, deep secrets (though indeed she may have). It doesn’t mean she’s been a stripper or is on the lam because she’s facing criminal charges.
Having a past simply means that our heroine, like all human beings, has been shaped by her experiences, and her reactions to what has happened to her make her a person distinct from every other individual on the planet.
Was she raised in an orphanage? Or did she grow up with a stern and critical father? Or was she the much-pampered only girl in a family of five boys? Those three women will have entirely different feelings about families.
The heroine’s past experiences affect everything she does and every decision she makes. But it isn’t necessary for the reader to know all of that history right away. In fact, one of the bigger mistakes made by most new romance writers is to pour all the information about the heroine’s past into the first chapter. It’s much better to wait until later in the book, when the reader must know about the heroine’s past in order to understand her, to share that information.
Convincingly attractive
Physical attractiveness is one of the areas in which romance heroines are a little different from real women. (When romance heroines are desperately unhappy, they always stop eating and lose weight. Now– honestly– how many real women do you know who do that?)
Though there have been stories and even romance lines which featured larger-sized heroines, these stories have generally been less successful than others in the marketplace. To some extent, this depends on the quality of the story. A wonderful story will be successful no matter what dress size the heroine wears, but a same-old, same-old tale won’t sell off the shelves solely because the heroine is big as well as beautiful.
But readers’ apathy about plus-sized heroines also reflects their desire for a heroine who respects herself. Our heroine does not need to look like a model or be shaped like one, but we like her better if she takes care of her body and looks just as good as she possibly can.
However, there is another aspect to attractiveness which goes well beyond good looks. The heroine must be convincingly attractive to the hero, and that’s much more than having pretty hair, wide eyes, and a symmetrical body.
What is it about this woman that makes him want to spend the rest of his life with her? If she’s a snot and a snip with nothing more than a gorgeous figure to make her attractive, our heroine is inadequate and dissatisfying, and the hero looks like a fool for not being able to see past the pretty face to the personality underneath.
The contemporary heroine
Today’s heroine is independent, self-supporting, mature, and often career-oriented. She has problems – including some of her own making – but in general she’s competent at running her own life. She may have had a bad relationship or even a bad marriage, but she’s grown from the experience and our reader is confident that she’s learned her lesson and won’t repeat her mistake.
The heroine isn’t desperate to find a man. She has interests enough to occupy her, even if she spends her entire life alone. She doesn’t need a man in order to be happy or successful, and sometimes she thinks she doesn’t even want one. She’s definitely not going to settle for a man who treats her badly. She’s able to adequately support herself both financially and emotionally, and she could keep right on doing so.
But when she finds the right guy, she realizes that the pretty-good life she’s had can be a whole lot better if he’s in it. He rounds out her emotional chemistry. Together, they’re an unbeatable combination.
The historical heroine
The heroine of a novel set in a historical period shares many characteristics with her sister, the contemporary heroine – including a strong streak of independence and some feminist leanings.
This woman may have fewer choices because of society’s restrictions, but she’s determined to take advantage of every opportunity which is offered. She probably can’t have a career, but she’s not going to be sitting on a sofa for the rest of her life – she’ll find work which is worthwhile to her and useful to others, even if her options are limited.
If she’s had a bad marriage, it has ended with the death of her husband. Like her contemporary sister, she’s willing to live independently for the rest of her life, though the realities of society may force her to consider a marriage of convenience.
The ideal heroine
My ideal heroine is a woman who could be my best friend. She has troubles but doesn’t allow herself to be beaten down by them. She has a sense of humor. She listens, thinks deeply, and respects the opinions of others even though she doesn’t always take their advice. She takes responsibility for herself. She’s not necessarily beautiful, but she’s attractive because she makes the most of her good features and she faces the world with a smile.
Teaser
1. What qualities does your ideal heroine possess?
2. What qualities would a heroine have which would make you want to be friends with her?
3. Do you think any careers are off-limits for a likeable and sympathetic heroine?
In this flashback selection from His Trophy Wife, Sloan Montgomery has come to see Morganna Ashworth after the death of her father. But Sloan has more than condolences on his mind– and Morganna has some choices to make which will affect not only her but her mother, who has been left in a difficult position because of her husband’s death.
It had been several days after Burke Ashworth’s fatal car accident before Morganna began to realize the perilous situation her father had left them in. But as soon as she started to absorb the facts, confirmation crept in from every side. The banker calling to demand payment on the mortgage, the stock broker announcing with regret that the value in Burke’s portfolio was not adequate to cover his margin calls–those things were only the beginning of a downhill slide that seemed to have no bottom.
That was probably why, when Sloan Montgomery had shown up at the house, Morganna had agreed to see him–even though she barely knew him. Because, she thought, talking to him couldn’t possibly make things worse.
The memories of that day were carved into the very cells of her brain. She’d been sitting with her mother in the drawing room, receiving callers. A horrifying percentage of them had turned out to be her father’s creditors, and though she had tried to convince her mother that there was no need to see each and every one, Abigail insisted. Morganna could only watch with helpless anxiety as Abigail’s exhaustion reached crushing proportions. It wasn’t until the stream of creditors had ended that Abigail finally agreed to go and rest.