What do you want out of OC heroines?

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Damselbinder

As you might know this is a subject quite dear to my heart. What I want to know is, what kind of thing do you want to see out of your OC heroines? Do you want:

- Big badasses who get built up over a story, only to have the rug pulled out from under their feet and getting captured once their power has been established?
- Jobbers who are out of their depth and get easily, humiliatingly defeated and snatched right from the get go?
GeekyPornCritic

This topic is also dear to my heart. I prefer reading stories about original heroines. I prefer stories to start at the beginning of the heroine's story. I want the story to reveal how she gets her powers, tell her adventures of accomplishes, and reveal her early defeats. I always prefer original heroines to be young women either in college or just starting life after college.

I prefer an original heroine who is competent, but not unbeatable. She's not a badass or a jobber. She's more of a Wonder Girl type. Strong and smart, but she is beatable. The best example from SHIP is Victory from Lady Jane's series about the character.
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DrDominator9
Emissary
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To me, an Original Character from an author is all about creative thinking that brings new ideas to the SHIP genre. Different powers that we haven't seen before would be great, even if only matched with some traditional ones.

Personality is also key for me. I need to care about an original heroine -- so her dialogue and manners need to be fresh and unique. Again, extra points given for creativity in how she expresses herself and relates to others.

A fun costume that is revealing but not slutty is a bonus.
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CJS
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To focus on Damselbinder’s initial question, I prefer the heroine to be a badass, rather than someone who can’t hold her own. It takes away any drama if she’s a punching bag. I like her to be tough, but also to have challenges. When she does get in a pickle, it's more interesting and dramatic if she's powerful, instead of it happening all the time.

Interpreting the question in a broader sense (i.e., what interests me in original heroines), I feel this is a tough one, and I almost hate to think about particular interests, because I hate to think (or admit to myself) that I might be missing out on great stories just because they aren’t in my wheelhouse. It kind of reminds me of the great “tights/bare legs” debate, where some people won’t watch a movie if a certain checkbox isn’t ticked off (but I’m not judging - I get that people have specific interests).

That being said, I don’t have too many “almost must haves” in reading a story, but they include a cool non-slutty costume, a virtuous heroine, and a unique heroine. By unique I don’t even mean new and original, but rather that she is special, and doesn’t live in a world filled with other super beings. I get how a superhero-filled world can be appealing, but for some reason it’s never done it for me. That’s one of my turn-offs with the Supergirl TV show- from a power perspective, we’ve seen how the world is filled with other beings who are just as strong or stronger than she is. I prefer for the heroine to be special in that regard. But that’s just me.

On a side note, I swear I didn’t trade notes with GeekyPornCritic, since my first story started at the beginning of the heroine’s story, revealed how she got her powers, told of her early accoomplishments and defeats, etc., and she was a young woman a few months away from graduating college.
Sapphire Angel - Superheroine
Book 1 — Superheroine (complete)
Book 2 — Power Play (complete)
Book 3 — Deconstruction (complete)
Book 4 — Savage Dawn (complete)
Book 5 — Savage Vengeance (coming January 2024)
arkane
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Damselbinder wrote:
4 years ago
.............Do you want:

- Big badasses who get built up over a story, only to have the rug pulled out from under their feet and getting captured once their power has been established?
- Jobbers who are out of their depth and get easily, humiliatingly defeated and snatched right from the get go?
A superheroine must have some extraordinary quality (not necessarily "real" superpowers) so she can be a competent adversary for villains. This does not exclude:
- naive or inexperienced heroines being easily tricked (but I don't mean completely silly and incompetent here)
- reckless or too confident heroines, who try to overdo it and fail.

While I prefer to watch/read the part where the heroines are defeated, the story needs to present them as strong characters, so the villains should be wary to confront them, or sometimes defeated by them.
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