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and is a whiz at plumbing

Of course, there is more to humanizing a character than showing her at the mercy of everyday life. Before you can even begin to tell the story of how this woman meets the love of her life, you should feel as if you know her completely, as well as you know yourself. She should be conceptualized as a distinct personality, one with bad habits as well as good, favorite foods, and special fantasies. Her secret ambition has always been to travel in a hot-air balloon. You know that she has a terrible singing voice and is a disaster in the kitchen. You also know that she enjoys puttering around the house with minor repairs and is a whiz at plumbing. Since your story is told through her perspective, through her thoughts and sensations, the narrative is filtered through her personality, and for better or worse, her outlook and sensitivities will establish the tone of your book.
      The best way to acquaint your heroine and your reader is through scenes of action and dialogue, not through lengthy pages of internal monologues. The presentation of the heroine's character should be simultaneous with the developing story line, which should be set in motion from page one. Your reader should not have to wade through a chapter or two reading about your heroine’s past before the love story begins. After all, your aim is not to show her personal growth, though that may in fact be part of your story. Your object is to show how this woman falls in love.

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ex Anne Gisonny on “A ‘Real’ Heroine,” in chapter “Category Romance Mini-Course,” in Kathryn Falk, ed., How to Write a Romance and Get It Published : With intimate advice from the world’s most popular romantic writers (1983; Signet revised edition 1990) : 182-196 (191)
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14 May 2026