Yesterday, we talked about how to make the plot personal for your heroine so that she’ll leave her life and jump into the world of the suspense. 

 

That personal element is what will keep your heroine running forward, despite  the looming fears before her. 

 

Case in point – I hate caves, especially a submerged cave. Never would I ever enter a cave under water.  However, if my child was trapped inside, you betchya.  Just a simple illustration, but if you were using me as your suspense heroine, this would be a great fear to dangle before me to ramp up the stakes. 

 

I’d have to reach deep inside and find the courage to fit myself through one of those dark, slimy crevasses. 

 

Which leads me to the other element of a suspense must possess:  Courage.

 

We don’t think of a woman needing courage, because frankly most women we know are courageous.  However, often it’s because they’ve had to face something about themselves, come to a new belief and hold onto it.  Courage doesn’t come from a knowledge of yourself but of knowledge of who you want to be. 

 

I jumped out of a plane a few years ago.  I never thought I’d have the courage to skydive.  But, oh! I wanted to.  It wasn’t what was inside me that caused me to do it – it was what I knew I wanted.

 

A heroine has to want to be a heroine.  Whether it’s because she is tired of her failures, or because she has to overcome them to save the day, she has to increasingly see the need for her to have courage, begin to believe in the person she could be, and reach for it. 

 

In Eagle Eye, our heroine, Rachel, is just a mom, not Sydney Bristow. She doesn’t’ have a roundhouse kick, or stealth skills, nothing to beef up her courage.  Yet, as the movie progresses, she runs from the police through crazy thick traffic, she holds up an armored car, dodges bullets, shoots herself with a drug that may or may not save her life, climbs into a box loaded into the cargo hold of an airplane, and nearly pulls the trigger to take out someone standing in the way of her son’s rescue.

 

One could say that her desperation pushes her into the final act…but her courage enables her to accomplish it.  She has finally believed that she is a good mother.

 

The key to developing courage in your heroine is two fold. 

 

First, you need to give her Vulnerabilities. 

 

So, you’ve made the suspense personal, and you’ve made your heroine increasingly courageous.  What’s going to slow her down? Unlike our hero, whose competence, or abilities will be attacked, your heroine has something else that you use to make her stumble on her quest….

 

See, a woman is rarely deterred from her goal unless you hurt her where it counts. 

 

What are some of Rachel’s vulnerabilities? 

 

Her deadbeat husband that causes her not to trust people, especially men, as evidenced by her reaction to a man who wants to buy her a drink.

 

Her fear of not being a good mom.  She is worried about her son travelling alone, and is sad by the choices she’s forced to make.

 

In a very poignant moment, Jerry tells her that she’s a great mom, and proves it to her.  She tells him a story that voices her courage:  I can do this (be his mom), no matter what it takes.  She can be the mom she longs to be. 

 

As the story progresses, the plot continues to put pressures on these vulnerabilities to press her forward.  Often, these vulnerabilities can cause more conflict in the plot. 

 

Then, you must give her Victories.

 

Involve her in increasingly difficult, terrifying situations, only to overcome them.  Your heroine must begin to believe in herself, or at least in the person she sees in front of her.  And, as she casts a vision for the woman she wants to be, and pursues it, you as the author must make it come true. 

 

You cement that courageous moment by asking a two part question: What do you fear the most?  Who do you admire the most (and why?)  Now, ask – if you were faced with your fear, what would you need in order to become the person you admire? 

 

In The Bourne Identity, Marie is clearly alone, and has left a trail of broken relationships behind.  She wants to be a woman who had a future, has people, and thus when Jason needs help getting the name of a lead at a bank, she goes in his place and gets the name to protect him.  In the end, it takes more courage to leave him when she has fallen for him.    

 

In Expect the Sunrise, my heroine Andee wants to be like her mother – a woman who achieved her medical degree on her own, a woman who lives without regrets.  Andee desperately fears making the wrong decision that will cost lives – something that has happened in the past.  (at the beginning of the book).   When she is faced with having to leave someone she loves, she realizes that the only way she can live without regrets is knowing that God loves her, and has her life in His hands.  This knowledge propels her to become the person she wants to be. 

 

Who does your heroine want to be?  What fear stands in front of her?  What will it take for her to overcome this fear and be the woman who completes her journey?  These questions will help you create not just that climatic moment, but the courageous piece she needs to become a heroine that inspires us all.

 

If you have questions on how to create or apply these elements to your Hero, got to the hero and Heroine discussion at www.mybooktherapy.ning.com. 

 

Next week we’ll talk about creating the atmosphere of suspense in your book.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Susie May