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Female Archetypes
© Suzanne James
Jul 1, 2003
This month I will spend more time studying characters.
The heroine is the heartbeat of a romance novel. Her goals, desires, dreams, troubles, and strengths drive the story forward. Her motives give the story strength, and her weaknesses cause us to cheer for her.
The author promises the reader they will read about two people who are made for each other. These people will fall in-love, but not all women have the temperament to love deeply, express themselves passionately. Not all women enjoy to lose themselves reading a romance novel. A good romance author knows what types of women fit into a romance novel, and what types don't.
You, the author, needs to understand the market, and why certain readers are drawn to a particular story before you can pick the perfect heroine. Let's say you write about a woman whose nurturing side enables her to defeat a large corporation that wants to take over her hometown. At first glance the heroine should fit the Amazon archetype. However, the Amazon may be willing to die before she surrenders her independence, but will not risk everything to save others.
You also need to ask yourself if the Amazon personality is the type of woman who reads stories like the one you are writing. Problems are created when the author puts her wants and desires before the reader's. The romance reader wants a story that touches her heart. But, to do this she must bond, and relate to the heroine. When the reader, the main character, and the story are all focused on the same things, the author has written a balanced novel. When this doesn't happen, the reader feels let down. The nurturing woman, who wants to read about a woman who takes care of the entire town, won't understand the Amazon's motives and goals. Readers want to read about someone like them.
This doesn't mean the Amazon character can't fit into this story, with some small changes. If the company is a foreign one, that is exploiting our natural resources, and dumping toxic waste, and the heroine is a federal agent, you've created a balanced concept. This book won't appeal to the first reader mentioned in this article, but words like federal agent, conglomerate, and exploiting will work like bait to attract a reader who understands and admires the Amazon personality.
In the last article we mentioned making the character for the story, or plot. This article is going to take that one step further and suggest that you make both fit the reader's desires. Every time you read a book you should ask yourself why you liked it, or don't like it. Authors study character archetypes and human personalities soon find a link between the reader and the books they like best.
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The copyright of the article Female Archetypes in Write a Romance Novel is owned by Suzanne James. Permission to republish Female Archetypes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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