The synopsis (the description on the back cover) mentions "suitors." Well, yes, she gets a lot of suitors; and a lot of these suitors, of course, are duds, because many of them don't stop to ask Silhouette "How would you feel about (so-and-so)?" or "What are your thoughts on [this or that]?" If these men fail to ask her any of those questions, then there goes getting to know her (just like we, the audience/readers, are), there goes having an emotional investment in her. But then again, Silhouette's adopted parents, the Lofts, are trying to mold her into a spoiled individual who values nothing more than the spoils of their time (in this story's case: the 1920s, or the Roaring Twenties--you know, the time set of The Great Gatsby).
And then there's the villain: Ivor. Though, I wouldn't quite call him "one-sided," because there's a reason to his madness--in other words, he has a backstory (No villain should exist without some kind of backstory, or a legit reason why they are what they are). Nonetheless, Silhouette won't see eye-to-eye with him either, because he's the big threat in her story.
Now, when I had first came up with the character of Silhouette, I had originally thought of her to be this shy, timid young woman with long brown hair; and I had originally had her living in the modern times where her supposed father was head of a bottled water company--and it would lead to a racket about saving the environment, and all that. (Trust me, I even had concept sketches and notes to go along with these original ideas.) However, as I thought about it more, I decided not to use any of that, because one: It was too cliché--the saving-the-environment plot. And two: I didn't want to make Silhouette into a Veronica Gonzalez 2.0; she had resembled too much of me. So, I had to go back and change the character.
Eventually, Silhouette would start off with short hair (to meet the 1920s-era style that women had back in the day), and she would be adopted by a rich couple that was selfish in their own right (because back in the 1920s--the Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, or whatever you want to call that era, a lot of people were living lavish lifestyles).
And then, as the story progresses, and she finds out her true dolphin identity, Silhouette will become a much stronger character, and be able to do things that she would normally be held back from doing--things that she wouldn't normally think to do.
I remember learning over and over in countless writing workshops that a main character (or protagonist) has to come full-circle. He/She must come full-circle in the following ways:
a. Learn something from his/her situation/adventure,
b. Experience some kind of change, OR
c. both A and B
If you didn't do any of these, then your character is incomplete--they won't come full-circle. And I kept this in mind, when creating Silhouette. I had to ask myself: Who is she? Why should the readers care about her? What would she do to stop her enemy? What risks will she take to get to a goal? I had to find the answers to a lot of these questions when creating my character.
So now, I would describe the character Silhouette as a free-spirited individual who had to break the bonds of her selfish adopted parents, and face her underwater enemy despite his powers. Now, she wouldn't be free-spirited, if she had stayed with the Lofts and lived her life the way they wanted it. If she didn't defy her adopted parents, then she wouldn't have learned the truth about herself, she wouldn't have faced her fears, and more importantly... she wouldn't have came full-circle (she wouldn't have been a well-rounded character).
TO BUY MY BOOK: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dolphin-princess-veronica-gonzalez/1129202183
Veronica Gonzalez
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