Q&A Friday!
We've spent a month exploring the many facets of sisterhood, biological as well as sisters of the heart. Many of us write about sisters. Many of us give our heroines best friends.
What are the pitfalls in giving your heroine a best friend? What are the advantages?
Labels: characters with best friends
posted by Mo H @ 8:59 AM
6 Comments:
The BF might be more engaging, sympathetic, fun. It might be tempting to include too much of her presence rather than focus on the heroine.
The BF could interfere with heroine's relationship with hero (although that's another sort of conflict that would have to be addressed in the storyline).
BF relationships are similar to sisters, but different. You choose your BF, not your sister. Which means you can also choose to end the BF relationship.
Patricia,
You're right about the BF suddenly becoming the focus. If that happens, maybe she should have her own story!
Good points, Patricia!
One of the advantages of giving the heroine is a best friend is getting to see the heroine through the friend's eyes...
Good points all around. I think the BF can definitely work for a heroine so long as the writer is aware of the pitfalls and reads and writes to avoid them.
I love stories where the heroine is ALWAYS getting into trouble and her best friend is right there with her for the ride.
Also the best friend can be an ally to the hero if the heroine is being stubborn about giving him the time of day!
If I like the hero/heroine, then it follows that one would like the BF and hope for the best for them as well. Good idea, Mo! I've seen a lot of stories where BFs end up with their own story. Louisa, I've really enjoyed it when the BF helps the romance along. :-) I don't care for it when the BF becomes a source of conflict. It feels wrong somehow.
Pitfalls: she might take over the story. She might also take off some of the emotional heat (I had my heroine's BF running interference for her and comforting her... then I realized that my heroine needed to squirm a bit more on her own).
Plusses: she gives us insight into the heroine (why is THIS PERSON the heroine's best friend?) and she can apply pressure as needed. I'm also just a big fan of gal pal scenes in books!
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