To ensure your readers identify with the heroine, you need to make her feel real. This doesn’t necessarily require her to be someone your reader could be or knows. What matters is that you give her reference points that your readers can appreciate, slipping smoothly into her role and internalizing her feelings and thoughts. In this article, we will discuss the five rules of creating a believable romance heroine.

Realistic Responses

A realistic heroine possesses authentic emotional responses. She is not going to be like every woman in many ways. Her pedigree, predicaments, love interest, residence, and lifestyle may not be things your readers are familiar with or have experienced. She may be the secretary of a young billionaire inventor and the love interest of her handsome, successful boss. Or she is in the strong, protective arms of a werewolf who is trying to keep her safe from a pack of vampires. How do your readers tag along in these scenarios? It is simple. Make her respond as the reader would. What would any woman do if she finds herself in the position of your heroine? Would she be scared, shocked, or thrilled? The similarity of her response to the less similar situations will make sense to readers and keep them caught up in your story.

Realistic Emotional Conflict

Characters present the ignition for conflict, the best of which is emotional. Your heroine and her emotions should be the bedrock of the conflict in your romance. If her emotions are authentic, so will be the emotional conflict of your narrative. The occurrences may be unrealistic — like the previous example of a werewolf and a pack of vampires — but readers can still identify with her conflict. She could be uncertain of her ability to attract and sustain a man's attention. And she is afraid that the hero might find this true about her and lose interest in her. This emotionally based conflict is one your reader can relate to.

Realistic Traits

The heroine's character traits need to feel authentic as well. Having a career or lifestyle that your readers may never have, she needs to have something that resonates with them. She could be a spy, a queen, a billionaire, a pastor, or the president's daughter with secret service security details. But with a few well-chosen character traits, she won't be farfetched for your readers. She could be an introvert who loves to be alone and has an affinity for romance novels or loves gardening and finds it therapeutic. These traits — mentioned briefly — can resonate with readers and make them realize how similar they are to your heroine after all. But try to make these traits look natural by not mentioning them too much.

Realistic Complexities

A compelling heroine is a complex human being. This should be obvious, but it is very possible to overlook it. Try to create a less bland heroine by giving her quirks, contradictions, layers worth uncovering and a real human personality. Your readers are pretty fascinating and complex women, or at least, they esteem themselves as such. So, to identify with a heroine, she needs to be intriguing and complicated, as well. Now, this doesn’t mean you should dump a load of quirks and insecurities on your heroine. She still needs to be vigorous, respected, and brilliant with a healthy degree of self-confidence.

Realistic Self-image

Most women are very critical of their appearances. They look in the mirror and see flaw after flaw, even when they know they have some flawless body features. Your romance heroine can be gorgeous, but if all she does is gawk at her beauty, she will put readers off. The best way to portray her incredible beauty is through the hero's perspective. No one would object if her gorgeousness smites him. She, on the other hand, should be self-aware of her imperfections, so give her a physical flaw or two to worry about. She could have a pretty noticeable scar or birthmark on her back or need glasses to read. Slight blemishes like these make her more human and easier for readers to identify with her.