Okay, this may or may not be helpful, but I’m gonna go for it. I don’t have a checklist of “this is what she should be”, but I do have ideas and thoughts about how I want my heroines to be.
My heroine lives authentically. She accepts what life is and knows who she is, at the core. If she’s not yet clear on something, she’ll do the work to figure it out. Life sometimes throws a curve ball. She doesn’t mope about. Oh she has a few moments, at times. At one point my heroine even says “she’s just a little girl”, but she doesn’t stay wallowing in self pity. It’s a weak moment. She picks herself back up. She doesn’t yell at the rain for falling or the wind for blowing, she doesn’t waste time lamenting what has happened in the past. Instead, she uses it as the platform from which she moves forward. She may not look for the good and the fun in every situation, but she tries to keep humor in perspective.
Fun is not defined as the absence of challenging circumstances, but as the absence of anger about them. That’s what my heroine keeps in mind. She asks herself: how can I move forward from this place? What is the next step?
She faces her fears by acknowledging them and working through them. She doesn’t stick her head in the sand, nor does she blow her fears out of proportion. She asks: what’s the worst that can happen? How likely is it? What would happen to me if the worst occurred? She doesn’t waste energy on resisting the tossing about of life. By refusing to spend energy in anger and resistance, she creates a huge reserve from which to move forward. Not that she doesn’t lose her temper. It’s just not her life philosophy
A heroine is/should be resourceful. She looks at problems and opportunities from every angle, to see them more clearly. She doesn’t make up stories and get stuck in drama, but clearly assesses each situation. Then she makes her plan. Plans that don’t always work or go according to… plan.
She is adaptable. Just because something’s always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it can’t be done differently. And, if something doesn’t work, she’s willing to listen and find a way to make it work.
She never loses hope. It dims from time to time, but she nurses that little flame at all times. She has a deep reservoir of faith and trust, built one brick at a time at the beginning, and then ultimately emerging fully formed from both past experiences and an inner knowing.
She understands that life is about the journey
and the destination.
I’m not sure that was helpful at all, but this is how I view a heroine. Someone who is flawed, but goes after a goal, in the right way. Maybe you can pull something out of all of that rambled mess.
