It’s no secret that I love
Wonder Woman. She’s a kickass warrior princess goddess Amazon superhero--need I
go on? She isn’t a damsel in distress, and she holds her own among all the
dudes in Justice League. What makes her really strong, though, is her depth of
compassion for humanity. She feels, deeply. Wonder Woman shows us there’s power
in vulnerability, and being a woman is not a weakness.
A few years ago, I read Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes
in Women's Lives by Jean Shinoda Bolen. It discusses female archetypes
using Greek mythology, and talks about how women embody these archetypes at
different points in their lives. I’ve been interested in mythology since I was
a kid, so this was fascinating stuff.
When I sat down to outline
a trilogy of books based on Greek goddess archetypes, I had to go deeper. I
studied the Athena archetype--not just her strengths, but her weaknesses, too.
Athena, goddess of wisdom, craft, and war, was a Strong Female Character™, but she also supported the patriarchy.
Unlike Wonder Woman, Athena didn’t understand or value feelings. If I was going
to write a character derived from the Athena archetype, this journey had to be
part of her arc. She was going to have to learn to feel, to empathize, to be
compassionate. She was going to have to remove her armor, open up, and let
herself be seen.
This character, Min (short
for Minerva, Athena’s Roman name), isn’t Wonder Woman. Not yet, anyway. She
hasn’t done the work to open up. Her armor is her cold demeanor, her sword is
her intelligence and willingness to work for her cause, and her shield is her
defensive manner and sharp tongue. I had to pair her with a man who was strong,
but sensitive. Braydon’s divorced, and he comes from a big family--he’s felt
the full gamut of emotions, and he helps Min experience it for herself.
Eventually, Min forms deep connections not only with Braydon, but with the
other two female protagonists in the trilogy, Venus and Diana. The ability to
feel deeply and be vulnerable is a superpower in and of itself, regardless of
whether one has flight, bullet-proof gauntlets, or a lasso of truth. My hope is
that through these stories, readers will also recognize and value their own
superpowers, and expand the female archetypes society has defined for us.♥
Golden
Heart® finalist Alexis Daria’s debut contemporary romance will be released in
2017 from SMP Swerve. On Sunday evenings, Alexis co-hosts #RWchat, a weekly
Twitter chat for romance writers. She also serves as PRO Liaison for the New
York City chapter of RWA, and Municipal Liaison for the NYC region of National
Novel Writing Month. You can find her on Twitter at @alexisdaria, and follow
her blog creativestaycation.com.
READ ROMANCE
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