Action Heroine Fans discussion

I'm inclined to think that creating an action heroine (or hero) who's essentially a loner, orphaned or estranged from family, and carrying some deep psychological scar, is not necessarily lazy writing. Such characters may fascinate both writers and readers, more so than characters who've always had loving families and easy circumstances, because how they cope with this kind of adversity and manage to carve out some kind of psychological health and normality for themselves, and how they form human relationships instead of family, can be inherently interesting. And this kind of background may believably explain why a character has had to develop self-reliance, and perhaps fighting skills. Yes, a woman can have other motivations for that than these. But these shouldn't be ignored by writers as realistic motivations. And that isn't necessarily a case of plot driving character, IMO; a character's backstory and formative experiences are a crucial part of who she essentially is as a person.

For most of us, our experience of family comes in two stages: the one we're born into, and the one we form through marriage. It's less common for action heroines to be depicted at the latter stage, partly just because modern literature tends to prefer characters who are single, and partly because (especially in romances), a major part of the story the writer wants to tell may be about how the protagonist finds her true love and establishes her marriage. If she's already married to start with, writer and readers don't get the privilege of showing and seeing how that all began.

As E. G. noted, if an action-oriented character has a family (birth family and/or spouse/kids) the author has to deal with how the family comes to terms with the danger and inconveniences a lifestyle of physical action entails. (Obviously, most realistic families would probably prefer that their loved one --male or female-- NOT be involved in life-threatening danger!) That can complicate a writer's task, but I think it actually also has the possibility of a lot of inherently interesting family dynamics that you wouldn't have if the lady was, say, a clerk at Dairy Queen.

There are actually a number of fictional fighting ladies who have at least one living parent (and possibly siblings), and who have strong ties to their birth families, even if they don't live at home. Julienne Lloyd's Elizabeth Ashton (Operation Angelica), David Weber's Honor Harrington, Billy Wong's Iron Rose, and the title character of Clive Lee's Coral Hare: Atomic Agent come to mind. Seeley James' Pia Sabel has a close relationship to her dad (the founder of Sabel Security). Suzanne Arruda's Jade del Cameron is closer to her dad than to her mom (who'd like her to be much more "proper" in her behavior), but her strained though loving relationship with the latter is actually at center stage in The Serpent's Daughter. And though she's an orphan (and an "emancipated minor" at 17), K. W. Jeter's Kim Oh is the loving and committed caregiver for her wheelchair-bound younger brother; her caring Big Sister relationship to Donnie, for me, is one the most winsome things about her.

Though I've tried, I can't think of any action heroine novels that I've personally read where the leading lady was married to start with. However, a few writers follow their heroine on into marriage and show her continuing to operate on the butt-kicking level after she has a spouse (and in some cases kids). That's true in Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos, for instance, and in Mark Cooper's "How I Met Your Mother" story cycle. I know that the Iron Rose marries and has at least one child in the later books of that series (though I haven't read that far myself). And all three of the deadly ladies of Eric Flint's 1632 are married or engaged by the time the book ends (and one is pregnant); two of them actually do all or most of their mayhem-inflicting after they've tied the knot.

* post transferred from Currently reading a book with an action heroine? thread*

Werner makes several interesting points.

The 'lone gunslinger' (male or female) is a powerful and enduring archetype for many reasons. Acquiring a family is often part of the journey - the reward of enduring isolation and danger with courage and honor.

I do like the stories that change up the archetype - Werner mentions many who have families - I don't know all the references but Honor Harrington has the benefit of being a spaceship captain. A lone gunslinger with a family far far away.

Also, as Werner points out, while the lone gunslinger/action heroine doesn't start out married, it does happen that she finds love and marries while retaining her action heroine status. One of my favorite action heroines in the lone gunslinger mold is Eve Dallas in the In Death series who meets and marries Roarke as part of the series.

For Mike's point, it's hard to have a 'long gunslinger' in her 30s or 40s who is not married without some kind of explanation. Divorce is common in romance novels, but its trickier in action stories - the the pesky ex is floating around.

Here's Mike the Paladin's post from the other discussion, which E. G. was referring to above (I've moved it here so readers can understand her reference to "Mike's point").

Mike wrote: I've read several books devolving around an agent of some agency (FBI usually it seems) who's a single mother. She generally struggles with guilt over her lack of time with her kids. She usually has lost her husband (in a couple of books the husband had also been an agent and been killed). Usually at some point her children come under threat because of her job.

For a while I began to think that like 95% of FBI Special Agents were single mothers...

This is an interesting discussion! I'm a strong believer in the value of family, and think that literature should affirm that; but at the same time, I can see reasons why the "lone gunslinger" model can be necessary for certain storylines and characters.

In my girls-with-guns story collection (and I don't mention it to try to sneak in a plug for it, but because I think it furnishes some germane examples --and they're the only ones I have to work with, since I don't mention my other reading when I'm posting under this pen name!), out of nine heroines, only one is married. But she and her husband have a strong, loving marriage (he worries about her dangerous occupation, but accepts it). I wanted at least one of the stories to demonstrate that this is possible. Two others get engaged in their stories (and in one of these cases, we glimpse the couple's future with two kids). In two other stories, the lady finds a romantic interest, and the heroine of another story is dating a guy; so for all these women, their single status may only be temporary. Two more protagonists are loners mostly by force of circumstances; and in the remaining story, I don't go into the lady's dating life one way or another, because I had no reason to. (In a novel, one couldn't do that; but in a short story every word needs to serve the intended effect, so some areas can go unexplored.)

The latter factor also operates where the women's birth families are concerned; all are grown and no longer living with parents, so I usually didn't have reason to explore those family relationships. Two women lost their birth families at the hands of murderers (under different circumstances), and a quest for revenge/justice is an important motivation for both. Only one had a really horrible childhood (never knew her dad and mom was an uncaring alcoholic with a string of boyfriends); I didn't want to overuse that trope --but I also wanted to take account of the fact that it represents reality for a lot of people. Though her birth family relationships are in the past, I did explore them for one character through memories, and that plays a part in her character development. Finally, in "Cops and Robbers," where three women try to rob a bank (it doesn't go as planned), protagonist Lizzie is a very devoted divorced single mom with two kids; providing food for them is her key motivation. Family needs, rather than selfish ones, are the motivators for her two partners as well --I wasn't trying to justify bank robbing (quite the opposite!) but I did want to indicate that the moral factors in life aren't always clear-cut. Love of family, in different ways, can be a powerful motivation for female characters (and males too,, of course) --even, at times, a motive to pick up a gun. Again, I didn't want to overuse the single-mom theme, as Mike suggested it sometimes gets over-used; but if we represent today's world realistically, single moms ARE going to be in it.

All of the stories, I hope, testify to the value and need for caring and connection between human beings, be it in the form of birth family, romantic love, or friendship (or just being there for someone who needs you). Even when some family relationships are shown in a negative light, the negative example is meant to underscore the need for the positive. And there's a suggestion that you can find family in other ways than birth ("You're just as much my sister as if my mom had had you," one woman says to another at one point, and means it).

Hopefully some or all of these examples illustrate ways that action-heroine fiction can treat (and promote) the role of family, of one kind or another. It's worth doing, and I think it lends depth and dimension to action characters to see them in these connections.

Just want to reiterate that this is a fantastic topic! Really interesting, and here's my 2 cents on the topic of a love interest.

I think the reason most protagonists start out single and then fall in love later on is because love is essentially another battlefield. When falling in love, there's passion, intensity, drama; it appeals to our basic needs just as fighting for one's life does, too. Starting a story with a protagonist who is already married and through the "falling in love" stage can make the reader feel like they were robbed of that story. It'd be like if you began an action story after the big-bad-guy was killed. Unthinkable, right?

But then on the other hand, it's not as important when romance takes a backseat. As Mike the Paladin pointed out, a story from the perspective of a married or single mom can be done successfully and quite well, but it usually requires an older character.

And most action woman are on the young side.

Most adult people are married. Many married people have children. The complications of a real life in an imaginary setting in which an action heroine acts are the stuff of many non-trope books I'd like to read.

Where is the Queen who teaches her daughters, and maybe a son or two, to use weapons and defend the realm, while the King does the diplomacy and tends to the realm's commerce? Where are more Ms. Pollifaxes?

The Lt. Commander who ships out for six months (on sea or stars) while the kids stay home with Da? Or whose oldest child dies while Mom is away?

Do heroines get endometriosis? or breast cancer? Are any of them alcoholics?

@Thad, no problem drawing on your experience. My action heroine has a family dependent on her and it drives a lot of the dynamic.

Recently I've been reading Bran Gustafon's 'Coyote'. (Bran's another AHF author) and at the 35% point its clear that whatever is driving Mai (lone gunslinger) is rooted in her deep love of her father. (who is possibly dead). So family can drive stories, it doesn't seem to get much of an active role.

Which is okay - although as a writer and reader, I find the convenient 'orphan' gets old.

I've taken a different line on this. My Jane Gould was growing up in a caring family when she was kidnapped and taken off to be sold to the Khan. When I started I'd intended this to be a sort of police procedural with spaceships- space fleet rescues her.

Once I started looking at the numbers it became painfully obvious that space is so big that she'd have been a grandmother long before space fleet got close.

So she rescued herself. Her very strong moral compass derived from her original home life meant that once the kidnappers had her, the gloves were off. She was entitled to make absolutely any move she chose to ensure her survival.

Two written-off spaceships and two dead kidnappers later space fleet find her. Her rather nice plum-coloured velvet jumpsuit is covered in blood (remains of one kidnapper) and soot (the other had a misunderstanding with the 11kV bus).

This was the moment of transition, she decided not to go home, ever and instead join space fleet, because she felt she could do a lot of good.

However she is still a bubbly, very attractive young woman, who loves to dance and flirts unmercifully.

This is where it all goes wrong. Operating undercover trying to locate a terrorist cell she lets a young engineer take her out a few times, partly to strengthen the cover story, partly because she enjoys it.

She moves on to her next assignment in an active war zone, he follows and the end is tragedy. He's hit by a delayed action explosive projectile and takes almost half an hour to die.

It's only then that Jane realises the full significance of what she is doing. People she likes can get killed. All right, she knew it could happen, but it's only when Alan dies in her arms that it really hits her.

She moves on. She's still a lovely, warm person to know. But underneath there's that streak of cold pain which means she dare not get too close to anyone:

Minutes later she was back, wearing a shimmering pale blue dress that fell to her knees, and a tiny heart-shaped locket at her throat.
Luke gasped. ‘Jane that’s- You’re looking lovely.’
A faint smile came to her lips, ‘Thank you.’ She paused. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Luke,’ she said, ‘there's one thing I've got to show you, right now.’ She held out her left hand.’
‘A wedding ring? You're married?’
‘If only.’ For a moment there was intense, bottomless pain in her eyes. ‘It's an Arcturian widow's ring. I don't want to load my problems on you, but it's easier if you know. Alan came fifty light years to find me and ask me to marry him. He turned up in the middle of a very messy operation. There was a sniper looking for me, but in the dark he hit Alan instead. I killed the sniper, and tried to patch Alan up, but he died in my arms twenty-five minutes later.’
‘So--What about the ring?’
‘Arcturian tradition. One black band means I'm widowed and looking for a new partner, two I might be interested if the right person comes along.’
‘But that's got three.’
‘I don’t think I have to tell you, do I?’
‘Three bands. Does it mean you’re telling me to keep my distance?’
‘Yes, I’m sorry but it does. We can eat together, work together and be friends, but that's as far as it goes. I don't want what happened to Alan to happen to anyone else, ever.’

Oooh, I like this topic!

I'm the author of two action-heroine books. My protagonist at first glance may be a bit of a trope: alcoholic mother, father MIA, step-father who tried to sexually abuse her. Was this background just convenient or a true reflection on current reality? In my work it is merely a basis of explanation for a multitude of things that come later. It is the impetus for the life path that she takes, though it is not a direct one to killing bad guys. My gal's sad beginnings direct how she views herself, sex, relationships, success and any myriad of other things I may choose to explore. As a result she became delightfully complex; horribly flawed but with a core persona that a reader will want to root for. At least, that is my intent.

Certainly there are some examples of 'normal' people becoming heroines in the action genre. Helen Tasker in 'True Lies' is a boring housewife who gets caught up in her husband's heretofore unknown spy life. 'The Silence Of The Lambs' takes a weak character and pushes her to be strong (though admittedly she is now an 'orphan' since her father, a policeman, was killed). But I will agree that they are few and far between.

Some of it probably has to do with readers. Do we want to spend our fantasy time reading about people like ourselves or do we want to spend time living in a world that is foreign to us? I write what I'd like to read: pretty, young, single gals vanquishing big bad guys and using equal parts smarts and weapons. A 45 year old married mother of two won't have the flexibility to run, hide or vanish as may be necessary for most action stories to take place.

I think there are two sides to this question: why authors write the characters they do, and why readers gravitate to certain characters.

Have you guys read this article that was going around the other day?
An Open Letter To Supergirl Stars Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh, From An Adoptive Mom

It's about how the show's portrayal of an adoptive family has affected this writer's daughters. It's a beautiful story that will likely end up for you in tears. (of happiness)

I'm also an adoptee. Nothing will have me screaming at a TV faster than a less-than-positive depiction of adoption. What a nice thing to read.

No one can truly understand what an adopted child feels like except another adoptee. Undertaking a character who is adopted will probably work fine for most readers but if you don't know what you're doing it will really piss off a few of us. This is why research is so important when writing from a perspective you may be unfamiliar with.

Adoptive families, adopted children, come from, come into and live through, many experiences, most of which are not congruent. Research, as David says, is vital, no matter what end of the happiness, fulfillment or success spectrum the author's character inhabits.

David wrote: "Oooh, I like this topic!

Some of it probably has to do with readers. Do we want to spend our fantasy time reading about people like ourselves or do we want to spend time living in a world that is foreign to us? I write what I'd like to read..."

You make a good point. I love my large, extended family. I also fantasize (a lot lately) about been an only child orphan - an the implied freedom from family responsibility.

That said - fantasies that include those responsibility are rare, but I'd like to read one - Where is the Queen who teaches her daughters, and maybe a son or two, to use weapons and defend the realm, while the King does the diplomacy and tends to the realm's commerce? Where are more Ms. Pollifaxes?

Skipping the adoptee conversation until I have something useful to contribute.

Loving this topic, because I took the 'less-done' route with 2 of my heroines in my Corpus Brides trilogy.

In Book2, , the heroine has a big, loving family, and at the start of the book, she is coming off her life as a clandestine agent. Meeting her childhood best friend, the man she never stopped loving, is the catalyst that propels her away from the Corpus agency, and early into the book, she and that man get married in Vegas, and they then have to travel home to Hastings in England where her sister is marrying his brother - they'll be attending that wedding as husband and wife, and the first time she will be back home after 17 years.

I loved to play with the family dynamic, because Rayne, the heroine, at one point states that she'd take a practice session of waterboarding over having to be in a room full of women from her family. Being around these 'normal' people makes her break out in cold sweat, she who's an assassin who's never had any problem killing her targets. And amid it all, neither her husband nor her family know what she has been doing in the past 17 years - they all think she was an aid worker in Africa.

It was a lot of fun to use the element of relationships to take this confident woman out of her usual setting and have seemingly mundane things like bridesmaids fittings be things she totally dreads. Then danger was woven through, because a rogue faction inside the agency doesn't want her to leave - they want her to become a mercenary for them.

Book3, , has a heroine who is a single mother, and this one is more of a love story as she reunites with the father of her child...who doesn't even know he fathered that baby. They're both on the run from the agency, until everything catches up with them and she has to step into the same shoes she never wanted to wear.

I like to think the family dynamic in those stories gave it another layer and took both away from the regular tropes of romantic suspense/espionage. For example, Book2 started with the trope of 'Best friends to lovers', which is something mainly associated with contemporary, light, funny romance, and not espionage. Book3 is a kinda Cinderella story but much darker, as there are killers, criminals, and death targets involved.

I think romantic tension is just another element of tension to add to stories of action and thrills. Provided it is believable, the more conflict the better.

I introduced a character in my second book of a series that my main gal will be equal parts drawn to and annoyed by. He will become her main romantic interest while having dalliances with others. Readers will know the others are wrong for her but will also not be convinced her nemesis is the right answer either. This interplay will run in the background of their adventures and it will be a challenge for me to weave it all together without it appearing fake and manipulated. Time will tell if I succeed.

Romantic hurdles assist in showing the human side of characters that might otherwise come across as cold, robotic killers. Those unfeeling murderers have their place but usually as villains. Readers want a reason to connect and empathize with protagonists and romance is a good way to achieve that.

David wrote: "I think romantic tension is just another element of tension to add to stories of action and thrills. Provided it is believable, the more conflict the better.

I introduced a character in my second ..."

I'm a little more complex here. I have a character (Ian) who rather likes Jane, but because they are both space fleet officers their professionalism will not allow either of them to mention the fact that they are attracted.

This can cause some very complex plot tensions.

Noetic_Hatter wrote: "Have you guys read this article that was going around the other day?
An Open Letter To Supergirl Stars Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh, From An Adoptive Mom

It's about how the show's portrayal of..."

N.H., that's a beautiful article! Thanks for sharing it.

It may have been mentioned on the thread this discussion started on: Real Dangerous Girl features a heroine (named Kim!) who has a brother she plays parent for who is in a wheelchair. While family responsibilities play a role in what I've read so far, Ms. Kim isn't immune to making bad decisions (if one is a parent) when the world crashes down around her. She buys a (view spoiler)[motorcycle with the rent money (hide spoiler)]. In other words, she has the same humanity all of us parents share.

Jon wrote: "It may have been mentioned on the thread this discussion started on: Real Dangerous Girl features a heroine (named Kim!) who has a brother s..."

These are on my TBR. I love the whole 'trying to be parent' and action heroine bit.

*as soon as I can afford to upgrade my 1st gen ipad to a newer model that can handle the kindle app, I'm on this*

I think that taking away familial connections destabilizes a person and adds trauma and gives the character an edge. That's probably why it's done so much with action heroes(ines). However, in The Last Kiss Goodnight, I loved how as lethal as Charley Baltimore was as a lone gun assassin, she was a wolverine as a mother. I think that is pretty cool when you see a tough heroine who is protecting her family. I would like to see more of those kinds of heroines.

I guess my answer is, I like it both ways when done well.

Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja) wrote: "I think that taking away familial connections destabilizes a person and adds trauma and gives the character an edge. That's probably why it's done so much with action heroes(ines). However, in The ..."

I love that movie, for all its over-the-top, gruesome violence. (I really think significant bits could have been left on the cutting room floor).

Great discussion. I had written a book about two women where one starts out as an apple of eye of her family and the other who elopes with a lover against her family's wishes, sees her lover butchered and flees to a foreign land.

Call it fate or the macro plot, but when their trajectories went for a sudden reversal, it was interesting for me to explore how the first woman copes up with losing her loving her family and the other deals with an unexpected pedestal of a goddess given to her. The former is battered but has not lost her faith in the world. Latter wishes to teach this world a lesson.

I personally felt that honest storytelling explores a variety of perspectives, making it tough to the reader to take sides. This variety hooks the reader and not the monotonous plotline where it is one woman against the bad world. (The world isn't totally bad and no woman is that unfortunate)

Werner, I notice you recently reviewed one of the Amelia Peabody books. I read the whole series and I tend to classify Amelia as an action heroine. She carries a gun, wields that umbrella like a sword, and routinely triumphs over violent and dangerous villians (mostly men).

The thing I found interest is that she becomes more dangerous once she has a child.

What's your take? Action heroine with a family or not?

A check makes me this that you are referring to a series by Ellis Peters that begins with Crocodile on the Sandbank, ?

Beyond begin an action heroine, are the books worth precious reading time, E.G.?

Crocodile on the Sandbank is right. But the author is Elizabeth Peters

It's been years, but I really enjoyed them. Amelia is an unconventional Victorian woman. Well educated, she always wanted to travel, but instead stays home and takes care of her aging father. When he dies, she takes her inheritance and travels Europe and then to the pyramids where she discovers a love a pyramids and a man she can love. No explicit sex, but lots of passion and Amelia has a wonderfully dry wit. Crocodile on the Sandbank is good, the next five or six are excellent. Around book 10, the narrative focuses to the younger generation (now adults) and I kind of lost interest.

On my TBR list E.G with my appreciation. At $9.99 on Kindle I'll find a good old used or library copy.

E. G., I didn't personally classify Amelia as an action heroine, but there are arguments for doing so, and one might say she's borderline. Unlike some female sleuths, she's never had to use lethal force (at least, in the only two series books I've read so far); she's only fired her gun, which she acquired in the second book, into the air, and a parasol isn't exactly a formidable weapon. :-) But lethal force is no prerequisite for action heroine status; and on one occasion so far, she certainly does physically overpower and subdue a murderer.

Jon wrote: "On my TBR list E.G with my appreciation. At $9.99 on Kindle I'll find a good old used or library copy."

Yikes! I think my old mass-market paperback has $6.99 price. I'm pretty sure that all volumes are available in the library system.

Werner wrote: "E. G., I didn't personally classify Amelia as an action heroine, but there are arguments for doing so, and one might say she's borderline. Unlike some female sleuths, she's never had to use lethal ..."

It's either book 3 or 4 where her son is threatened and Amelia goes all berserker with the umbrella. I think that's the bit that makes me think 'action heroine', but it probably is a stretch.

As I mentioned somewhere else - strong female characters are plentiful in fiction, true action heroines are a little harder to find.

David wrote: "Oooh, I like this topic!

I'm the author of two action-heroine books. My protagonist at first glance may be a bit of a trope: alcoholic mother, father MIA, step-father who tried to sexually abuse h..."

This statement touches on a (to me) Cosmic Issue: Do authors write to a pre-conceived notion of who their characters are, or does the action of the story line begin to dictate who they become. I started Staff Sergeant Belinda Watt with the vague idea that she should be an Amazon plain and simple. But while she learns (and exercises) Amazonian might, in fact emotionally she never loses her little girl attitude to life. When she handily dispatches a thug who clapped his hands over her breasts, she is filled with remorse how this will appear to her step daughter.

This depiction runs counter to the Alpha Female playbook and has been the source of some criticism.

I don't write to playbooks. When I began writing my action heroine character I did not try to fit her into a preconceived mold. I wasn't interested in writing 'pulp' fiction, so to speak. My overall concept was to create a female who didn't think much of herself but through traumatic experiences finds strength, talent and a sense of purpose. She veered into a different place than I originally intended but my main intent for her (that the reader wants to root for her, the underdog) does come through.

I believe writing to a specific market is a mistake. I write the kinds of books I would like to read. Hopefully there are others out there like me. In great numbers. With money. But if the audience is small and I wind up only making twenty bucks, that's okay too.

I rather take this the other way. Where did the AH come from, what was her home life and schooling like, why did she become what she is?

For example my Jane grew up on a farm on a newly colonised planet, so she is practical, good with animals, and not upset by body fluids. Her family was close-knit with a strong moral sense, so she knows what she believes in and is prepared to defend it.

However that closeness means that she is not hard or an amazon, and her emotions can get the better of her.

This discussion has been quiet for awhile! Since my last post, my wife and I have discovered the Western novels of Mary Connealy. So far, we've read her Sophie's Daughters trilogy, and are currently reading the third novel (yes, that's out of order --long story!) of her Montana Marriages series, Wildflower Bride. (The two series' characters interact with each other; and as the former series' title suggests, Sophie and her generation are the protagonists of an earlier trilogy, Lassoed in Texas.)

As a Christian writer, Connealy views marriage and family life as positive (provided that they're based on genuine love and respect --she depicts some dysfunctional and abusive marriages and families as well, which serves to underscore the difference). She also characteristically depicts strong, tough heroines, who don't have any qualms about packing weapons and defending themselves or others. Because she writes "romances," her plots involve ladies finding their marriage partners; but the McClellan sisters are part of a close-knit family, and female characters with spouses and kids continue to play active --and action-- roles in more than one novel (often several of them) of the various trilogies.

Hmmm! When I posted the previous comment, this discussion had been dormant for about two years. Since then, it's been dormant for another four and a half. That would seem to indicate that action heroines with family ties aren't very numerous, at least in the books group members have been reading lately.

I can give a shout-out to another fictional member of this sorority, though: swordswoman Kayl in Caught in Crystal, a fantasy novel by Patricia C. Wrede. Kay's a single mom (widowed for five years) to two kids, and has been retired from the warrior life for 15 years; but circumstances force her back into it, and balancing her parental role with her vocation is a significant part of her story. (Not sure why I didn't mention her before; Barb and i originally read this book back in the early 90s.)

Well... some time has gone by since this thread was brought up, and so, there may have been some that have appeared since then.

Most recently, I watched the Viking's which has Lagertha, and some others, who are wives and mothers and pretty actiony, so there is one. And Xena did have a relationship with both her parents in the show (Ares and her mother, whose name I forget).

In written form, I dont know, but I suspect some super-heroines meet this bill as well.

I think it is easy to assume why this does not happen too often. Family ties bind one up. Mom cant go saving the world if she has to get the laundry done and get the kids to school. Plus, that young age is when everything new is happening. Action, adventure, love and taking risks. I can see why many choose to go the route of having characters that are less tied down by the responsibilities of life.

Not to be taken as look how special I am, but I have a lot of characters in action roles in my story, and many of them are female. The MC has a sister and a child, both of which affect the story. She also adopts a child in the third book. The second MC has many siblings, and a father that affect her. As the books progress, the many women that enter the story are seldom single and have no family ties of any sort.

In the most recent book (the one I am writing now), two sisters are sent away by their father to avoid the danger of the war, but the danger finds them anyway. Their father is still alive, and they have each other to protect.

I also have a character (male) who has to tell his spouse he is leaving her to go be in the war.

I say all that, and it sounds like I am saying, There...I did that, but not really... The relationships matter, but they are not the main thrust of the tale and most of the relationships dont impede the tale. For example, when I say the MC has a child, well...she does, but it was taken from her, and she does not now anything about it. She thinks it was killed shortly after birth...so technically, she is a mother, practically, she's not aware that she should be acting like one. When she adopts a child on book 3, she plays more of a motherly role.

Anyway....

A good show I am watching now that has this dynamic is called Spy Family. Its animated, but its all about being action heroes (or spies) while trying to be a convincing family. I like it.

I suppose that's why I write sapphic romance (In addition to the other genres), One of my earliest works involved a woman who had been thrown out of her home by her father after she came out as gay.

One of the nice aspects of Science Fiction is the ability to craft a universe where the rules are what I make them. Lilian, the action heroine in The Twelve Systems Chronicles is taught to fight by her mother and then teaches her younger sister. Being defenseless is not an option. Saving the galaxy was a bonus.

:D