Tuesday, June 21, 2005
What Is A Kick-Ass Heroine?Earlier today, this question was asked on one of the romance reader boards that I read and I think it’s an interesting question and I’ve been ruminating over it all day. Well, to be truthful, this is an issue I think about quite frequently as an author as well as a woman and a reader.
For me, it’s more than just physical although that’s certainly where I think the phrase originated. Laurell K. Hamilton’s, Anita Blake is a kick ass heroine. She’s strong and can shoot you in the head without blinking if you threaten her or those she’s sworn to protect. Anya writes heroines who will kick your ass if you get in their way – Tiya in Blood of An Angel is a great example. Shiloh Walker’s Tori from her Hunter books is another.
The warrior kick ass heroine is strong and won’t wait to be saved. She may carry a gun or a knife or hawthorne stake. She’ll do a backflip and kick you in the junk if you get too close. Oftentimes though, the warrior has some deep emotional or personality flaws and the hero often has to overcome them and get past her defenses and earn her trust.
The conflict moment often comes from her reluctance to open up and share with the hero.
And while it’s nice to see a woman doing the kicking butt and taking names, it’s not the only thing that makes a heroine a kick ass heroine in my book.
A heroine is kick ass if she’s strong and smart. She doesn’t wait to be saved but she also doesn’t walk through that door that you scream at other women not to because you know the killer is waiting there for her with a knife. She uses her brain. If the hero knows more than she does about something, she doesn’t ignore his advice but there are things she knows about too.
There was a comment made that it wasn’t a romance if the hero didn’t save her and I don’t think that’s the point of romance. Or not a romance I write anyway. It isn’t about getting saved by the man at all! It’s about meeting your match, an equal, someone who fits. I don’t want to write women who aren’t fit to carry the word heroine! Whiny, clinging vines who constantly do the stupid thing and make you so mad that you wonder what the hell he’s doing with her at all.
So to me – the kick ass heroine is all about being a strong woman. She doesn’t have to be a black belt or carry a Glock or be super assertive or anything other than competent and expecting that she has to use her brain and whatever other talents she has to take care of herself and those she’s got responsibilities to – be she a homemaker in pearls or a vampire slayer in leather.
