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Step 1
Think of elements that will make your heroine believable. However fantastic the plot, your reader must be convinced that the heroine's actions make sense in the context of the story. She should act in a natural way that feels realistic. Therefore, even if you want your heroine to be wealthy for the sake of the plot, you should not make her the richest woman in the world. A more believable heroine is one who has achieved realistic success or has inherited a substantial, but not outrageous, amount of money.
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Step 2
Make sure your heroine has some flaws. This also helps her seem real to your readers.
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Step 3
Give your heroine qualities that make her likable, such as plenty of courage, maturity, intelligence, self-confidence, sociability and happiness.
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Step 4
Incorporate qualities your reader will identify with. Rather than placing your heroine in an exotic location, you may have her living in a city apartment with a dog and a favorite diner she always goes to. That doesn't that mean exotic settings can't work; you can still get your readers to identify with your heroine, even if she is a princess in a faraway land. Try subjecting your princess to a bad hair day or an argument with her mother.
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Step 5
Make your heroine, well, heroic. Never forget that she is larger than life. Because you have endowed her with believable and likable traits and given your reader reason to identify with her, that reader will buy into her being brave, strong, virtuous, desirable and everything a woman should be.
