Rock 'em Sock 'em Heroines

​Sweetheart, meet Sassy. I love assertive heroines striding confidently through their own stories. It's great to see women with backbone and a saucy little swagger when the hero's gaze is locked on them.

Simply by revamping the heroine—or vamping her up, depending on what you're reading or writing—you change the flavor of romance. These ladies are more likely to go toe-to-toe with the hero rather than stomp their foot like a petulant child and storm off to do something rash as soon as his back is turned. Arguments can still be heated, but they're more productive and rational.

It's that independent spirit I find so appealing. She doesn't necessarily need the hero, but she wants him. That alone levels the playing field and changes the dynamic of the central relationship. It's less about pursuit and more about the seductive dance between the sexes; the toying, the teasing, advance, retreat, and finally, the inevitable satisfying surrender of both.

The heroine is in a power position. She isn't passive, but rather, provocative. Oh, she'll probably drive the hero crazy sometimes. He's going to drive her nuts too. Are there any relationships out there where this isn't the case? But those rubs make the modern romance feel so familiar. We recognize aspects of ourselves in these characters and that's what makes us warm to them.

I find there's more balance in modern love stories. We didn't take anything from the hero by eliminating the heroine's dependence on him. What we did is give him a woman fit to stand beside him and worthy of his love. 

Maturity is bliss.

Read Shadows and Doubts and understand exactly what I'm talking about. 

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