Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Emotional reactions in the heroine are best illustrated by their physical effects. These effects should be added in small increments as one or two line descriptions of stress movements, or responses following dialogue and in dialogue tags themselves. An accumulation of small reactions has greater impact than a large section of exposition about the heroine's emotional state.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The success of a romance novel often depends on reader empathy with the emotional reactions of the heroine. These should be shown at all appropriate points, and allowed to escalate in complexity and depth in tandem with the rising tension of the story.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Avoid the heroine who flares into temper for no reason except to display her "feisty" nature. This taps too easily into the stereotype of the over-emotional female. A truly tempestuous heroine should be given distinct and meaningful motivation for her attitude.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The TSTL (Too Stupid to Live) heroine is one who acts in ways no rational female would consider. If your heroine must go into danger, her motive should be concrete and the situation unavoidable.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

To create a fully developed heroine, you must write the character as if she were an extension of your personality. Allow her to think, act and react as you would if you were in her shoes. No two heroines will be precisely the same because authors have a variety of personalities at their disposal, just as actors are able to play different roles.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The virginal heroine, once the mainstay of romance novels, has become outdated--though she still has a place in romances set in historical time periods where early marriage was the norm. Beware of the ultra-experienced heroine, however, as she can seem lacking in discrimination and judgment. The heroine who has good reason for her failed past relationships plays the best.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Female archetypes with their varied attributes can be useful for the creation of heroines. These archetypes have been labeled as: Boss, Survivor, Spunky Kid, Free Spirit, Waif, Librarian, Crusader and Nurturer. An explanation of female archetypes can be found at: www.likesbooks.com. Other sources are: "Type Talk" by Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen, and "45 Master Characters, Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters" by Victoria Lynn Schmidt.

Writiing Tip of the Day-Characters

Compassion for others, particularly children, animals, the disabled and the elderly, is a stellar trait in a heroine.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The backstory of the heroine should not be mere window dressing. The events from her past should add depth to her personality. They should also have direct bearing on both her motivation and her ability to gain her heart's desire.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A heroine should be a person the reader can identify with and care about, a warm and human personality with a sense of life and adventure. This is true even when she starts out as less than perfect and must change to become worthy of love and her HEA (Happy Every After).

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A heroine's actions should always be logical within the framework of the story. If she will use extraordinary strength, intuition, knowledge or other advantages to shape events, then these qualities must be revealed and explained in advance.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

The willingness to sacrifice her time, her comfort and her own desires for the sake of others can be admirable in a heroine--as long as it isn't carried to extremes. She should never appear to be a martyr.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A heroine can and should have flaws. She can be klutzy, scarred or handicapped, have issues from previous trauma; be timid, abrasive, cynical or afraid to trust; be too self-protective, too quick to act, too ready to condemn and a thousand other things. Her given flaw should serve a purpose in the story, however, usually one which interferes with the attainment of her goal. Change in it can illustrate the evolution of her character.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

Wit in a heroine is appreciated by the reader. The lively exchange of ideas and opinions between the heroine and hero, or between the heroine and other characters, helps make a book more memorable.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A romance novel heroine, as the protagonist of your story, should have the same courage, honorable intentions and strength of character as the male protagonists of other commercial fiction genres.

Writing Tip of the Day-Characters

A romance heroine doesn't have to be drop-dead-gorgeous, but should be attractive in her own offbeat or non-trendy fashion. She is the stand-in character for the (predominantly) female reader, the one with whom she must identify, and few women consider themselves completely unattractive.

January Newsletter

January 1, 2010
Greetings!

This morning, I'm cooking the traditional black-eyed peas and ham hock (read the bone and chunks of meat left from my spiral-sliced, honey cured Christmas ham) for good luck in the coming year, along with cabbage for prosperity. These are Southern traditions, I think, since dried "cow peas" are a Southern delicacy. And the need to have them is so strong here that grocery stores were mobbed yesterday afternoon as people sought to help ensure better times ahead. What do people cook in other parts of the country, I wonder? Do they have similar superstitions… er, I mean traditions?

I'll be starting the New Year right by beginning a new book. This will be book 2 in my medieval Three Graces series, with a working title of BY GRACE POSSESSED. I'm ready to get started, can feel the story forming in my mind, see the characters moving and speaking. It must be time.

Only a month left before TRIUMPH IN ARMS starts showing up on the shelves on its "pub date" of February 1. The little brown truck should deliver my 50 author's copies any day now. Reviews are beginning to trickle in. This past week, the book received a much appreciated Best-of-the- Best "Top Pick! 4 ½ star" designation from Romantic Times BookReview Magazine. The reviewer commented: "Blake's last Maîtres d'Armes book is an absolute joy. With a sharp eye for detail and dialogue, she serves up murder, secrets, retribution and the return of the members of the Brotherhood in an intensely passionate and emotion-filled romance." Currently, the prologue for TRIUMPH IN ARMS is available as an excerpt on my web site (www.jenniferblake. com) under the heading "Next Book". And several pages of Chapter 1 are also available as an excerpt on Amazon.com. Check out both, and you'll have the first 15 pages or so of the book!

In other news, my 2009 title, GALLANT MATCH, book 5 of the Masters at Arms series, has been issued in hardcover as a large print library edition. The cover is entirely different from the mass market (paperback) version of this antebellum Louisiana story. In fact, it shows a castle that's more suited to the medieval series I'm writing now. Ah, well, who can figure publishers? I gave up trying long ago.

Also on GALLANT MATCH, Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine has nominated the book's hero, Kerr Wallace, as Best Historical Romance Hero of the Year, 2009. A number of other heroes were nominated, including that of a friend, Bertrice Small. My title won out over hers for Best Historical last year; this year may be her turn. The award will be presented at the RT BookReviews convention, April 28-May 3, in Columbus, Ohio.

My resolutions for this year are to finish some of my many needlework projects lying around the house (knitting, embroidery, crochet and quilting) and to work more in my yard for exercise and the benefit of my flowers. Will I actually do these things? My track record isn't so great, especially when I have a deadline looming, yet hope springs eternal!

It's time to go check the peas and cabbage. I leave you, then, with my fondest wishes for hope, happiness and all things grand and glorious in the New Year. You're the greatest for staying with me here and reading my books which give me the excuse to keep writing, so deserve only the best.

Warmest,
Jennifer