There is a misconception when it comes to Romance Novels. The misconception is that weak women fall in love with men who do nice things for them and the woman essentially has no opinion or no ability to make decisions for herself. This is simply not true, as many strong female characters are able to make decisions on their own. Simply because a few innocent and naive female characters have been presented in romantic literature writings over the years, does not mean that all female leads have to have this quality. Instead, make sure your female characters have a storyline outside of the Hero.
While it may be somewhat new to see strong female characters in romance novels, it is definitely something that you should explore. Women are not defined by their relationships and it would be odd to have a naive and weak female character in your novel, who cannot do things without the hero of the story. You should aim to make your male and female leads equal in some capacity, making sure that they both have something to lose and something to gain.
Has her own story
It's also important to point out that women have lives, curiosities, passions, and goals prior to meeting the men in their life. You should not downplay this in your novel, revealing that women have absolutely no ambition in life other than to find love, get married, start a family, and live happily ever after.
In modern-day romances, some women are business people, they're entrepreneurs, they're artists, and some may be your traditional housewife with kids. Don't underestimate the power of the woman and her story.
Remember, it's important that you develop your characters in your romance novels and you want your female leads to have a story.
You want her to have ambition, motivation, and goals. There has to be a reason why she makes the decisions she does. You want your readers to have someone they can relate to - not someone who doesn't have dreams and ambitions.
Use this as fuel for your obstacles
If you struggle to find some good obstacles or problems for your story, you can use these growing ambitions and dreams as part of your storyline.
Sometimes, a woman's goals and dreams get in the way of starting a family especially if these ambitions are career-related. Perhaps she has no time for relationships, or perhaps the hero can't understand her decision to focus on work. Some of the troubles could case the hero to lose his love interest.
What do you think about having a strong Female Lead in your romance novel? Have you ever written a novel where the female lead calls all the shots?
