No simpering heroines need apply by Peggy Jaeger

 The theme this month is STRONG WOMAN. Kinda serendipitous for me, since my tagline is I write about STRONG WOMEN, the families who support them and the men who can't live without them.

I couldn't write about a weak woman if my writing career depended on it. Well...maybe if it was that serious. But still...

A strong woman character in fiction is integral to any plotline or story arc, especially if her strength is wrapped around, and steeped in,  her vulnerability. 

Some of my favorites are the following.

Eve Dallas of J.D. Robb's IN DEATH SERIES. 

Eve is a homicide cop in the year 2060 with a dark, tortured past. Born to two parents who used her as a way to make them money, she winds up killing her father when she is about 5 years old. She's rescued, taken into foster care, and when she reaches maturity becomes a police officer. She works her way up the ranks to Lieutenant, never losing the desire to stand for the dead and bring justice to silent victims like she was. Eve is a badass in the true sense of the word, but she is so completely vulnerable when it comes to emotions that sometimes the reader can't help but laugh at how uncomfortable she is with them. This dichotomy is the bedrock of her fabulousness as a character.

Hester Pryne from The Scarlet Letter. 

Scorned for the emotion of passion and vilified for living out her sexuality, Hester is a woman I would like to have on my girl squad. She is loyal, true to herself and those she loves, and doesn't suffer fools. Many may think this choice is a poor one for me because Hester was first and foremost a shunned woman in the society she lived in. But...I'm sure as women we've all done something in our lives we wouldn't want to be made public to keep ourselves out of ridicule and scorn equations. Luckily, many of us did those things before social media ruled the world.

My girl Lizzy Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. In an era when a woman's only option was a successful marriage, Lizzy, who is no spring chicken, refuses two men in the course of a few chapters. One because he's a fool and she could never love him. The second is because she's mad at him and thinks him arrogant. The truth of her character comes when she realizes her mistake at thinking Darcy arrogant in a negative way. Once she discovers who and what he truly is, her heart opens and she confesses her mistake - something only a strong woman can even think of doing. Because in so doing, she is opening herself to potential scorn and ridicle.

Jo March in Little Women. Selfless to a fault - hey, she cut off her hair to make money for the family - witty, and snide in the best girlfriend way, and loyal to no end, Jo epitomizes the girl we'd all like to be when as teens.

I'm going to add one of my heroines from my Will Cook for Love series, Gemma Laine from A Shot at love. 

As a child, Gemma's father left the family to be a free man without responsibility or care. Gemma as an adult has grown to be uber-responsible and knows she will never abandon her family for any reason. She is wary of men due to the poor example she was shown as a child and vows to never let a man have control over her like her father did to her mother. Gemma is a fifth-degree black belt, can shoot like a sharpshooter, and can take a man twice her size down with one punch. With all that she still feels, deep in her soul, she is unworthy of love and is filled with personal angst. I think she deserves the title Alpha female. When she meets FBI agent Kyros Papandreous, it is a true battle of alpha dominance between them. Who compromises is the fun part!!

There's this meme that I love that makes its way around the Internet every now and again

Amen!

Peggy Jaeger writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who simply can't live without them. Follow her on social media: