First, I want to apologize to everyone. I don’t know what I thought but for some reason I didn’t realize my post wasn’t showing up. Sigh. Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right. Must have started at 1 am when the dog decided that the bedspread needed some of his special kind of love. And on the husband’s feet too. Thank goodness he’s still a puppy as I’m sure his life might have literally been in the dog house for a while. LOL!
So, by now, I know you’re wondering about the title. We’re always talking about the naughty boys, those alpha males we love so much but what about the naughty girls? Kitty Katt in Gini’s Alien series is the quintessential naughty girl. She is the superhero I want to be when I grow up. Sort of. Mine is more of an elemental nature but none-the-less a kick-ass geek-girl from another world.
In my book, the naughty girls have to be more likeable than the guys because we have to be able to identify with them. The guys we can empathize with but we can never exactly think like them because we aren’t guys. With girls, we’re at least on an even playing field but we can be much more picky about what we do or don’t like about them.
When I was younger, I loved the sweet heroine. The one who let the guy sweep her off her feet and off to a life of wonderful, wealthy bliss. Right. If you believe that, I have a bridge for you. By the time I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I noticed that I really loved strong heroines like the kind in gothic novels who stood up to and for their man. They took no crap but did it in a much more elegant way that I could have ever hoped for at all.
Then I saw Sigourney Weaver in Alien and I wanted to be her. Heck, I’ve wanted to be every kick-ass women I’ve ever seen in some way or another. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t like reading about those other women, I do to a point. The one thing I absolutely need to know about them is that they can take care of themselves with or without a man.
This leads me to the current Urban Fantasy phase that we all seem to be in right now. Well, to be honest, there are some heroines in those books that I just want to throw off a bridge. How can they be so whiney yet somehow save the world? That brings me to today’s question: What makes a kick-ass, totally together and competent heroine in your book?
I can’t wait to see your answers!
Don’t forget to look at yesterday’s blog entry and visit some of the other kick-ass blogs on the list. Our prizes are simple this week. Every day I will be giving one ebook away from my backlist, which will be posted on its own tab by tomorrow afternoon. At the end of the blog, I’ll be giving one lucky person a $25 gift certificate to Amazon or ARe. Today’s winner is BJ (beejee77) and I’ll be tracking her down sometime today in a non-stalker like manner. :-)
Again, I’d also like to thank these two ladies for sponsoring another great blog hop! Please stop by and show them some love!
Nikki http://closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com/ and
Natasha Blackthorne http://natashablackthorneblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for stopping by!
Lynn
Reel in being naughty, i try to be the boy who rescues the lady in distress to now i want to fight along side her then hop into bed for physical fun distractions. Age may dilute body but mind still is too young
ReplyDeleteOoh, good question, Lynn--I do like a strong, competent heroine, but I also like one who doesn't have a chip on her shoulder about being super independent and needing to take care of everything/one herself. So I guess a great heroine is one who is smart and willing to do what it takes, but also one who is smart enough to accept help and reinforcements when those are available!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why you think Kitty is a naughty girl. She works for the government kicking bad guy ass, that makes her a good girl in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI like smart, confident (because she's well trained and worked at her skills), she does what needs to be done no matter how tired she or hurt she gets. She's also smart enough to surround herself with a competent team.
acm05atjuno.com
I don't consider a smart, competent heroine like Kitty to be a naughty girl, she works for the government kicking bad guy ass making her a good girl in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI like heroines who know what they're doing, getting proper training and practice at it then doing what needs to be done no matter how hard. They're also smart enough to get a good team around them to help.
acm05atjuno.com
I agree with you Lynn! Nothing irritates me more than a whiny immature heroine who is described as a kickass one, when we see on her behaviour she is so far away from that. So what makes her kickass: that she is not afraid to take charge, is responsible, courageous even when she is scared, she doesn't sit around waiting for a guy to come to the rescue, she charges ahead and hopes she'll come out the winner.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great giveaway! :-)
stella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com
A good heroine must be intelligent, self sufficient and strong enough to ask for help. I hate weak heroines. Even worse, too stupid to live heroines. I know that's real life but Yucko! I guess what really makes a heroine stick with me is that she deals with the problems placed in her way and if she can't she finds a way to work around it!
ReplyDelete