The Problem With Heroines
I’m over at Access Romance talking about romance heroine names and an excerpt I read on the dummies.com site.
Specifically, I was looking at an excerpt from the Writing A Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger. In addition to the heroine name thing that’s the subejct of my AR blog, another statement from the book grabbed my attention:
Don’t let your heroine realize she’s beautiful. This tip may seem like a small point, but especially in our visually driven society, it’s actually an important one. Most women are very critical of their own appearances.
I see Wainger’s point on the self-esteem thing, but I must admit this idea doesn’t always work for me. Yeah, Wainger is brilliant and runs Harlequin and is an expert. I know that. I’m not doubting her authority to speak on the subject of romance novels. I would just respectfully disagree on this general premise. See, in my view, to read romance novels you’d think there were hordes of stunning women walking around out there and blinding society with their overwhelming beauty all while somehow remaining oblivious to the drooling men falling down in their paths. I don’t think so. I think most objectively and outwardly attractive women know they are outwardly attractive on some level. Sure, they find faults with their hips or legs or whatever, but that’s not the same as being unable to see any attractiveness. I’d actually prefer to see a romance heroine or two recognize their attractiveness. Let their insecurities come from something else.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:48 am
I totally agree! I think every woman alive has a fair idea of how attractive she is, and how she can best play down her faults and play up her good features. I can see how it’s not a good idea to have a heroine come across as vain, but I think she’s more human if she can say ‘hey, looking good, girlfriend’ to herself occasionally.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I also agree with your viewpoint. And there’s nothing wrong if a woman is aware of her attractiveness, as long as she’s not a total beeyotch about it. There’s a sexiness, a strength about knowing you look good, and people respond to that. Doesn’t mean the woman is or has to be stuck-up, it just means she knows she takes care of herself and is appealing to the opposite sex. I find it unrealistic to find that every heroine is unaware of their looks, seems almost silly. Being good-looking is not a bad thing.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I do think it’s pretty ridiculous in this day and age to think that she’d be completely oblivious to her looks and their impact. On the other hand, I do think that some women aren’t confident, no matter what they look like, so it may be realistic to say that some women don’t quite believe how lovely they may be. And I completely agree that being vain is very unattractive!
November 27th, 2007 at 10:48 am
I think modern women have their ups and downs with their looks, so it seems only appropriate that in a book, the heroine will at times feel downright gorgeous and other times feel like a fat cow. I know I have my feeling fab days and feeling fat and gross days. It’s human. And having heroines the reader can relate to is of the upmost importance, in my opinion.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I read Wainger’s book and I think she gives good advice, especially for beginners. I can always relate to a character who is self-conscious about her flaws. How sympathetic is a woman who knows how beautiful she is?
November 27th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I can see both sides to it. Even when a heroine doesn’t think she’s beautiful, the hero does, which I think changes the way she feels about herself regardless of if she is descirbed as beautiful or not. Does that make sense? There’s a lot more to a character to make them sympathetic than appearance.
November 27th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I agree with you HelenKay!
November 29th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Agreed!
I think just about every woman is able to see the good AND the bad in herself, despite what she might say out loud. In a romance novel, we’re in her head a lot of the time, and most women *know* when they look good.
That doesn’t, of course, prevent them from sweating the second handful of french fries that will land on their hips, but they can acknowledge when they have nice hair or a pretty face.
November 29th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Agreed!
I think just about every woman is able to see the good AND the bad in herself, despite what she might say out loud. In a romance novel, we’re in her head a lot of the time, and most women *know* when they look good.
That doesn’t, of course, prevent them from sweating the second handful of french fries that will land on their hips, but they can acknowledge when they have nice hair or a pretty face.
November 29th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Sorry for the duplicate post…my very attractive index finger (NOT–I’m a nail biter–) obviously held the mouse key down too long.