The ideal heroine is one that embodies the concept of perfect imperfection. The best heroine is one that is strong but with flaws. No one wants a perfect heroine or a perfect character of any form for that matter. A flawless character is seen as too good to be true and hence not believable. Once your character is not believable, your readers will not be able to relate to her or her story. To make your heroine come to life, allow her to be as close to real as possible and that means having some flaws.

Readers Identify With Flaws And Imperfections: There is no such thing as a perfect human being and there should be no such thing as a perfect character. Your heroine should mimic reality as much as possible and that means having flaws. She must have some insecurities, fears, flaws, and other vulnerabilities. This makes the heroine believable and relatable. Flaws make your heroine more human to readers, allowing them to form that important connection that keeps them turning the pages. A perfect heroine feels aloof and unreal. If your readers cannot imagine her as being real, then they will never connect with her, and imagining her in the real world comes with imperfections.

Imperfections Can Be Complemented With Strengths: Allowing your heroine to have flaws means you will need strengths to complement those flaws. The strengths can come from the heroine herself or from other characters in the story, like a romantic partner, a friend or any other person in her life.

A Flawless Heroine Does Not Need Anyone: She is good on her own. This often does not go down well with readers. The imperfections create a need for someone else to play a role in her life. Go ahead and make her strong, independent, beautiful and all-round mighty; just make sure she has some vulnerabilities and at one point or another needs someone.

Static is Boring: If your heroine is perfect, you leave no room for growth, hence the character ends up appearing static over the course of the story. Your characters need to grow with your story. You need to develop your heroine in such a way that she reflects the impact of the different situations she has had to deal with and the different life experiences she has gone through. Therefore, if your heroine is already perfect, there will be nothing to improve. As your heroine interacts with your hero, for example, that should have an effect on her character, one way or another. Be sure to leave room for growth and improvement. By allowing her to have past mistakes, imperfections, insecurities, and other such flaws, you leave room for her to grow with the plot. Your readers will be eager to see how the different circumstances in the story affect the heroine, so be sure not to disappoint by making her perfect from the beginning.

These flaws and imperfection do not just apply to heroines, they can easily be applied to heroes and any other type of characters to make them more relatable to your readers.