When creating your very own Mills & Boon romance novel the author is best served beginning with the most basic element, their protagonist. The story's driving force, the warm and fuzzy emotional centre of the plot machinations and the reader's window into the world of the book. This character is the heroine. However, when searching for hints on how to invent such a lady, an author is more likely to find pages and pages explaining how to create the hero.
Well, search no more people who are searching for this information who aren't me, because I have decided it is time we explore this problem ourselves. Go, Bewildered Heart! This blog is named Bewildered Heart.
The truth is, of course, that Mills & Boon readers are predominantly female, and Mills & Boon writers are predominantly female too. Therefore, the female of the story becomes a challenge of credibility and likeability, someone we can relate to and don't mind living through. While the hero can be an idealistic creation of feminine fantasy, without a strong and interesting lead the book won't stand up and will fall under the death knell of being published by Mills & Boon and read by millions.
According to Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies, readers want to see themselves reflected in their reading choices, or as they describe it women who are 'accessible, real, interesting and emotionally complex.' Readers see themselves as being these things. They seek something aspirational and yet familiar, an escapist world they can become absorbed by while still seeing themselves represented, if only as stunningly attractive twenty-seven virginal types with successful and glamorous careers and lifestyles, who by the end of the book are happily contented.
Here we are then, as the Dummies sets forth the five rules for creating a believable heroine.
#1 Realistic Responses. Good spot. Believability just wouldn't be believable without realism. “She's certainly going to experience things in the course of the book that most women never experience in real life,” says Dummies, providing clear evidence as to why their novel was repeatedly rejected. “Make her respond as the reader would. If a woman would be scared or shocked in real life, let your heroine feel that way, too. Her realistic response to an unrealistic situation will make sense to the reader and keep her caught up in your story.”
Sound advice. While unexpected reactions might be narratively compelling they're just so much more tricky to rationalise. We have to make the world around our girl larger than life and have her as the wide-eyed ingénue struggling to comprehend the sudden and unpredictable changes in life a new romantic interlude can bring. We fall in love through our protagonist and because of her, her attraction made all the more empathetic because we understand her thought processes, or in the case of Mills & Boon, the lack of them.
#2 Conflict Seeds. Ah, yes. Planting those seeds of conflict and watching conflict grow, with the occasional watering of communication breakdown. “The sparks of all conflict come from your characters, and the best conflict is emotional. Your heroine's the key character, so root the novel's conflict in your heroine's emotions. When the heroine's emotions feel real, her emotional conflict also feels real.” This is more related to plot, but it's certainly worth bearing in mind as we create our fair lady. Make sure what happens has an emotional effect on her.
#3 Identifiable Traits. “Give your heroine character traits that feel real. She often has a job or lifestyle that your reader will never have.” This is where all that reading Mills & Boon's came in handy. We've read of a Chef, office worker, public relations girl, nurse, unemployed, student, vague but possibly admin related and an actress... But in all these cases these women had character traits, they were feisty, virginal, strong-willed, innocent, free-spirited, sensitive, emotionally-retarded and sometimes a combination of two of those. “On the surface, she may seem too far outside the reader's realm of experience for that crucial sense of identification to occur, but a few well-chosen character traits can change that. Maybe she likes to drive too fast or is always playing with her hair. Maybe she has a soft spot for stray dogs or coos at babies in the supermarket.”
Oh, I see. You mean quirks that identify her as reckless, fidgety, maternal or dog-liking. Sorry. Go on, “Something small and human can resonate with the reader and make her realize that, for all their differences, she and the heroine aren't so dissimilar after all.” There is nothing objectionable about that statement, and while people do like dogs, cats are probably better when you consider the target readership.
#4 Complexity. Because character traits can feel gimmicky and meaningless, an author is well-advised to make her heroine interesting and human. Too many boring protagonists have only “whatever character traits the author decided were necessary for the plot — curious, lonely, and intelligent, for example — but that was it. They don't seem like real people who have quirks, contradictions, and layers worth uncovering.”
Seeing as how a book and its hero need something to do for the 55,000 word count stipulated in the contract, some uncovering of emotional issues is useful once you've used up 10,000 or so words on the uncovering of her clothes. However, Dummies is quick to suggest that, “a mass of tics, insecurities, and disconnected enthusiasms” would be a mistake. Remember, the heroine must remain, “strong, admirable and intelligent.” So there you have it, strong, admirable, intelligent and coos at babies at the supermarket. Your heroine is born.
#5 No Mirrors! Whenever I read a guide on creating female characters one thing is usually stressed time and time again. While men constantly check themselves out in mirrors and windows and shiny pieces of metallic plating women are neurotic creatures who only see flaws in their reflection. Even the beautiful ones, and so, “Don't let your heroine realize she's beautiful.” That may sound cruel, but she won't know unless you tell her. Beauty should be seen only through the eyes of the hero. “Giving her a flaw or two doesn't hurt, either. Maybe her hair has a tendency to frizz in the humidity, or maybe she needs glasses to read. Little touches like these make her more human and easier for the reader to empathize with.”
Glasses to read? What a freak! No one who requires reading aids can possibly be considered physically alluring. Suddenly our hero has gone from dream hunk to weirdo with a spectacle fetish.
Imperfection is important and that brings us nicely onto the next section of this article, imperfection. “An imperfect heroine makes a perfect heroine,” says Dummies. “So if you make your heroine perfect, without flaws, fears, or vulnerabilities, your reader won't feel the bond that keeps her inside the heroine's head and turning the pages. By introducing weaknesses and vulnerabilities, you let the reader create that all-important bond with the heroine.”
This seems to be less of a necessary element, but imperfection also allows for growth and character development. The love between the leads should feel life-changing and not just because the two characters will soon have to find a new place to live. Love should embolden a character and help them overcome their fears and vulnerabilities by having someone else love them completely and for all they are. Self-confident leads meeting and falling in love makes for demoralising reading. The only thing worse, passivity. “As the plot progresses, you need to make your heroine develop, change, grow, and discover things about herself and her abilities — especially how to love and live with her hero.”
“Part of what makes a couple right for each other is that they complement each other; they need each other, and bring out the best in each other. The same must be true of your hero and heroine, so the reader believes they belong together.” Yeah, Dummies. Yeah. If a book written to help 'representations of human figures for the displaying of clothes in store windows' can come to this conclusion then why can't more romance writers?
Most of these pointers aren't particularly helpful, with the general consensus being fanciful, and yet realistic, but there is no roadmap for the ideal romance novel. All heroines are basically the same in the world of Mills & Boon and originality is not the vital ingredient for success. Culmination is the key. The pieces must come together for maximum fulfilment with your heroine's journey emotionally tumultuous and ultimately rewarding. You'd be wise to base her on yourself, and then exaggerate all the elements for dramatic effect, and then in my case, also make her a woman.
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