Bet you're thinking...hmmm! Who died? Well, let me tell you that blondes seem to have died as far as romance novels go. Let me clarify a bit. I started reading romances in the early 80's when it was the norm to find the heroine was an ultra gorgeous woman with long blonde locks. But as time went on, it seemed brunettes and redheads got moved to the forefront. And heroines were no longer gorgeous, as a rule, but average looking. That's okay. There's not a thing wrong with average. In fact, I'm fairly average, too. Most of us are.Even I jumped on the anti-blonde bandwagon writing heroines who were luscious brunettes and staggering redheads. Thing is. I'm blonde. I mean...naturally blonde. Eyebrows, eyelashes and fair skin and hair. Did I have something against writing a heroine who is blonde? I didn't realize I'd fallen into step with the current trend of dissing blondes as heroines. And HEY...I love being a yellow haired southern gal. I've always had fun, too!!! hehe. Seriously, I didn't realize that I seemed to craft every heroine as a polar oposite of myself until my daughter (also blonde) started reading romances. One day she goes...hey, Mom, why aren't the heroines ever blonde? I had to stop and think and came to the shocking realization she was right. Maybe writers and readers just got sick of every heroine being blonde and did a complete turn in the other direction. Blondes had gone the way of the dinosaur.
Awful.
Okay. Backtracking a bit, let me say there are plenty of sexy blonde heroines out there but there are far more brunettes and redheads. Soooo...call me a rebel but I purposely started to craft more sexy, out there, outrageous blonde heroines. It became a mission to show the world...hey! We're here. We're blonde and proud of it. Since my epiphany, I've written one brunette heroine, pretty Miss Gina Ballew from Hot Night at the Blue Bug Saloon. Yeah, more than likely, I'll diversify and do more brunettes and redheads, but for now I'm thinking Blonde is pretty damn beautiful. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
On an aside, please help me celebrate the upcoming release of Tempting Tess from Ellora's Cave. This is a Regina Carlysle title, very, very hot and makes it's debut on May 8!!!!
17 comments:
Hey, Rita! Interesting topic...I'd never really given it much thought, but I believe you're right. At least in the contemporaries I read, I don't come across many blond heroines.
I do have a couple of blond heroines in my books, but I usually write brunettes. I'm a heavily highlighted brunette myself. So by the time summer rolls around every year, I'm blond. Then by Christmas, my hairstylists has worked in enough lowlights to get me a little closer to my roots. :)
BTW, a reader threw a fit the other day on the dearauthor blog because a book had a redheaded heroine in it. She claims to be sick of redheads in romance novels. I'm surprised haircolor in a novel can bother someone that much, but what do I know?
I also read a discussion recently, perhaps on that same blog, that discussed the lack of blond heroes.
Maybe it's time to give our characters a good peroxide rinse!
Wendi Darlin
Yeah. That's what I've been thinking. I do a bit of highlighting but fairly light...just to brighten my look a bit but I'd never really thought about the lack of blonde heroines lately until my daughter brought it up. Don't you just love the thing with the sisters/friends/whatever who are one blonde, one brunette and one redhead???? Talk about overdone. ACK. But we're seeing it all the time these days.
I've been writing a lot of redheaded heroines lately, but have to since they're from red werewolf packs. :) But I'd noticed that blonde is out and finding blonde-haired heroines is pretty hard! I'm a blonde and I love writing every hair color for my heroines in the stories...but lately I've noticed no blondes in mine either. So my latest, both the hero and heroine are blondes. :) And I never write them that way--they're always a contrast! Nope, not this time. :)
Hi Rita,
The majority of my heroines are blond. I was tired of all the brunettes in my reading. Blonds can be sexy, smart and fun, too.
I was a real blond until I hit -- well, that's a secret -- but the sun does lighten some. ;)
I also have a few heros who have light brown hair and one with red, unruly hair due to a natural curl; only one heroine with red hair.
Bekki
OMGosh, you're so right! I never thought about it... I'm reading a Brockmann with a blonde heroine. But, honestly, even with the author's description, I often catch myself picturing her with black hair...then I'll read another description blip and be like... oh, that's right! she's blonde. LOL
Yeah, it kind of sneaked up on most of us, I think. Sooo...I'm trying to make a real effort to keep it blonde and beautiful. Like everyone here, I love brunettes and redheads. I think they're gorgeous, too, but COME ON to ignore an entire hair color population just for the sake of a trend and I think that's what it is. Everybody's thinking...I'm gonna do something DIFFERENT and have a brunette or redhead. NOW the blondes are just rare. Great comments, ladies!!!
Hugs!
I'm blonde! Well, I used to be blonde now I'm blonde with a litle help. Almost all my heroines have blonde or red hair. I only have a couple with dark hair. Now, the opposite is true of my heroes, most of them have dark hair.
Congrats on the upcoming release! Can't wait to read it...and you and I differ on this one. You write the polar opposite and I always write my own brunette self into the pages. lol
Why should my characters have all the fun??!! I do have a few that are dark auburn haired vixens. But that's because occasionally I've been known to color my hair dark auburn.
But I see your point about blondes, and I can tell you this too...when I look for pics on photobucket, etc. the blonde bombshells are plentiful, but the brunettes are harder to find. So romance writers may have left them by the side of the road, but blondes are still here as calendar girls!
Have all the fun you want you blonde bombshell you! lol
Too true! Back when you first started on romances, many of us were still reeling from the Farrah Fawcett/Heather Locklear/Cheryl Tiegs era. Now as a blonde at heart (twice removed),I have no problem with a heroine having blonde or any other color hair. Hopefully readers realize we hapless authors only have a few basic shades to work with, so those who read a lot are bound to run into the sames ones over and over! LOL
One of my heriones in my book Jade was a blonde. That was published by Twilight. I had another character that was blonde, but they are now mainly brunette and redheds. Don't ask me why. I guess just following the trend today.
Mary Suzanne
I recently went from blonde to black within the last two months. It's funny, because most people say I look very good like this, but I've had a few who say they liked me better as a blonde. I do think that I had more guys look at me as a blonde, then now, but that could just be my imagination.
I am naturally dirty blonde- some say witches hair, all different colors. I had a story I called "Blonde bombshell" a while back but changed the title and the hair color. Hmmm, why did I do that? Now I'll have to write one specifically for a blonde!
Kissa Starling
Yeah, do it, Kissa!!!! Why did you stop??? I agree with Tess on the number of blonde models in lots of the pics but in fiction? It's just sad.
Hugs!
Rita/Regina
Love it, Rita! Hmm. I used to be a dark brunette, but lately I've added blonde highlights to my hair, love how the mix looks!
We try to keep changing up our heroines so we have a balanced mix. We've just written a really hot heroine with a halo of fluffy pale blonde hair - hardly angelic, tho! I'll let you know when she's ready to appear in public.
Congrats on the upcoming release at EC!!
Adriana
http://www.adrianakraft.com
Ah thanks for the congrats, Ms. A!!! Did you ever read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Night Play..the dark hunter story about Bride and Vane (a were)??? GAWD...he was soooo hot and had hair (long) that was a mix of many colors. Verrrrry sexy.
HUGS!!!
Good timing, actually, as I've been a blonde all my life up until today! My hair's been slowly darkening until it was sort of a dark, ashy kind of blonde. I decided recently I was tired of treading the blonde/brown line, and as of today I'm a brunette! :)
Since I write m/m, I never have heroines with any color of hair, ;), but I notice I rarely write about light-haired men. I guess it's because I've always liked dark-haired guys? Who knows. Maybe I should try to change it up a bit with the hair colors of my characters...
I love my redheads ;) Curvy, luscious and attitude laden (unlike Tessie!) they're gorgeous and nail me every time...
Great post!
Sascha
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