Columns: Tag – Heroine
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Watch a novel grow
The birth of my heroine
I start in this blog to build my heroine, Juliette Irving. I want her to be energetic, intelligent and likeable (and sexy, of course). But I need to know a fair number of things about her background that I’ll never reveal in the novel… Secrets, even lies, and reasons for pride and doubt.
Watch a novel grow
Delving deeper into my heroine
So far I know only the bare bones of my heroine, Juliette. Here I take one more step into exploring who she really is what she does in her spare time, what her relationships with her friends and family are - above all, what her strengths and weaknesses are…
Watch a novel grow
A letter to my heroine
Writing Quips and Tips
Likeable doesn’t mean passive
Characters in romances must be likeable. I think we all accept that. Hard to pull off an insufferable character in such a character-based novel.
Your reader must be drawn to read on by caring what happens to your characters. Your plot depends more on changes of attitude between your two lovers than on great sweeping events. But Richard and I have been mentoring a new romance writer and it struck me that, in making characters nice, it’s easy to be tempted into creating a heroine who is too passive.