Thursday, February 26, 2015

Strong Heroines


“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” ―Nora Ephron

I decided to write on heroines this week, so I searched the internet for the top heroines people loved.

Here’s some from http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleyperez/strongest-female-characters-in-literature#.cyXOk7knN Some surprised me, but I smiled as I read through the list, because I can relate to reading about all all these women, and admiring them..

Lizzie Bennett, Pride & Prejudice
Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew Mystery Stories (I admit to reading all her books)
Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables
Jo March, Little Women
Elphaba, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Lisbeth Salander, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hellen Keller, The Story of My Life
Laura Ingalls, Little House on the Prairie

What made these women great heroines?

They are strong, smart, confident, and know what they want. They were imaginative, ambitious and competitive. They can also be impulsive, argumentative, and willing to do anything for their family or friends.
Strong heroines can also be opinionated, but stand up for what they thinks is right.

Lisbeth from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has a fierce moral codes. She lives by her own rules and sticks to what she believes in. She’s flawed but uses it to push herself to be who she wants to be. She understands herself in a way very few do. I have to admit, I loved Lisbeth. 

I’m thinking I need to go back and look at my heroine’s again. Do they have these characteristics?
Are there others they need - a sense of humor; persistence?

Who would you have on your strong heroines list? What characteristics do your heroine's have?
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11 comments:

  1. Rose AndersonFebruary 27, 2015 at 7:12 AM

    Great list. I'd add to this list Clare Beauchamp from Outlander and Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series.

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  2. UnknownFebruary 27, 2015 at 7:51 AM

    Hi Beverley, nice article. I always liked the rags to riches gal. Like Selena Gomez, who gave hope to millions of woman and not just in the Hispanic world. Her early death was truely a senseless tragedy. All the best.

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    1. darkwriterFebruary 27, 2015 at 11:18 PM

      Hi JoAnne,
      That's a great point. I like those too.

      Delete
  3. Kathy L WheelerFebruary 27, 2015 at 8:43 AM

    That's a great list, Beverly. I think it's funny because I see a pattern in all of my books with the heroines. Even my braniac Genna in Quotable manages to escape a lunatic in which the hero shows just as she escapes all by herself!

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    1. darkwriterFebruary 27, 2015 at 11:16 PM

      That's so cool you can see a pattern for your own heroine.

      Delete
  4. Vicki Batman, sassy writerFebruary 27, 2015 at 10:10 AM

    Hi, Beverley! We can write them strong, but not super strong. They have something that has or had changed them. Even wishy-washy can evolve into something strong.

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    Replies
    1. darkwriterFebruary 27, 2015 at 11:28 PM

      Good point, Vicki. That's something I hadn't considered.

      Delete
  5. Melissa KeirFebruary 27, 2015 at 4:59 PM

    I love Eve Dallas because she stands for the dead when no one else can. She doesn't let her own issues get in the way of solving the case.

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    1. darkwriterFebruary 27, 2015 at 11:25 PM

      I totally agree. I love Eve. I should have added her to the list.

      Delete
  6. James DMarch 3, 2015 at 6:06 AM

    I think the key to a strong heroine is making her real; they have to have flaws, and make mistakes, because they're human (unless they're a vampire/shifter/etc, of course!).

    It's in overcoming the flaws and fixing the mistakes that they really shine as heroines.

    ReplyDelete

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