Many readers may think that the male lead character’s image is the most important in a romance story. He must be handsome, sexy, powerful and righteous, a perfect saviour to the vulnerable and helpless female lead character who will be always on her side and saving her out of her shit world. And that seems like all the women and girls’ dreams.

But here is an interesting thing: many romance authors are unconsciously paying more attention to building up the image of the female lead character. They are projecting the dream version of themselves in their stories, and helping her match a guy who really deserves her.

Neener Beener is an example that the Writers Academy has observed. Her fabulous work of “Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future” offers a most admirable, adorable and lovable female lead character, Kas, in the romance world.

Her Kindness “Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future”

Kindness seems to be a necessary virtue for all the heroines in romance stories, so common that it can almost be ignored when portraying the heroine's image, like a default setting. But in “Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future”, this is the heroine's greatest characteristic, and the most powerful weapon to capture the readers, for the reason that her kindness is so real.

In her past life before she met her hero, she was nice to everyone, even including those bad guys. It is not a weakness, but more like a principle of doing no harm. Because hatred and resentment can unleash tremendous dark forces, driving people to take revenge or attack. But Kas had never thought about that.

Even in her worst situations, she still gives best wishes to anyone she likes, not only silently in her mind, but also acts out by preparing gifts or offering services. She is that kind of human who really knows how to love, and this is the source of her kindness. Because of this, she finally attracts friends who will treat her as a treasure.

Her Toughness “Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future”

As all the heroines at the beginning of the story, she keeps a low profile for being wrongly treated and terribly hurt. But the rare thing is that she never gives up on herself, but tries to do her job well, no matter whether her work is too heavy and unfair, she never shirks her responsibility. Such spiritual power, in her poor situation and weak appearance, appears to be firm and persevere.

She also has an amazing sense of humour. At the time of being injured, facing strangers she couldn’t fully trust, she was still able to play funny gestures or jokes to amuse them, only because they had once helped her. What a powerful and righteous girl, just like a hero! And in fact, this is an important factor later making her match her hero from inside out so much.

Her Guts “Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future”

There is a huge misunderstanding among romance readers, even authors: the female lead in a love story does not need to grow, but only wait for the male lead’s rescue and protection. So we have seen so many truly weak girls in romance novels.

But in “Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future”, Kas also gets her man’s rescue and protection, but she never stops growing. At first, she was unaware of it because she didn’t find her innate gift. And when she acknowledged it, she stepped forward to use her gift as self-protection. It tells that growth needs some conditions, as well as guts.

Kas’s kindness, toughness, and guts push her to grow more and more powerful in the story, not only in her hero’s arms, but also in the readers’ eyes. It is her growth that makes her story full of twists and turns, much more intriguing than other romance stories.

And, it is an author’s hard mission to draw a sharply and smoothly up-and-down growth curve for his/her lead character. “Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future” is a classic model for this mission.

If you want to know how to draw a character’s growth curve as wonderfully as Neener Beener did, please pay attention to our writing course at the Writers Academy.