Advent Heroines

Hi - The Pocketeers have decided to create a special Advent calender devoted to all those inspirational, beautiful, tragic, brave, captivating, love-lorn, stoic, whatever.... heroines. They can be fictional or real, historical or from the present. They are the women who inspire our novels and have qualities that we can point to and say, 'she's heroic.' I find it's always useful when creating a character to look at real life examples for inspiration. So, here goes. For our first heroine I've chosen Kelly Holmes. A girl from a council estate who knew from the age of 14 that she wanted two things. Firstly to join the army, secondly to be an Olympic champion. She's achieved both through sheer hard work and determination. Being awarded an MBE for her work as a sergeant, she has achieved success in a man's world, letting nothing stop her. She now runs a charity to help young disadvantaged women overcome difficulties and triumph. Add to that her gentle beauty, whippet-like figure and glamorous outfits at many award ceremonies and I think she's a fitting heroine for today. I always think back to scriptwriting advisor, Michael Hague's useful advice on creating heroes and heroines. Two of the things he says we can look for is that the person is an expert because we all find people who are excellent at what they do intriguing. Secondly, that they are likeable. I think Dame Kelly scores on both counts. Watch out tomorrow for our second Advent heroine...... Bye for now! Cara