Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 23:26 Written by Becca Monday, 27 July 2009 17:12
I'm a woman. And a writer. A woman writer is not that much different than a male writer, but the differences between us can be very obvious. We each write a certain way that makes our "writing voices" particularly male or particularly female in nature. It's difficult for people who don't read a lot or write a lot to understand that sometimes; everyone's "voice" is different in literature.
In any case, I stumbled across something on DA the other day where someone had commented how difficult is to find a strong female lead in books/movies/etc.. I agree. A lot of the time, "strong female leads" are either women who have to pretend to be guys to get something done...or they're whimpy (and occasionally slutty) "role models" who have to depend on the guys when things get really tough. Also, leading women often get turned into sex objects instead of becoming strong idols for younger women to follow or look up to.
It's hard to come up with good female characters sometimes. The same thing could be said of guys, true, but guys are kind of lucky with that. They are stereotyped like women in literature/movies, but those stereotypes are rarely shown as negative ones. They're either tough guys, nerds, evil geniuses or selfless heroes. Women are subjected to a lot more negative stereotypes, like the slut, the bimbo or the stuck-up hardass who eventually messes up and needs to be saved. I'm not a feminist, really. I'm a realist. Women aren't generally like that in real life. I love realism in my writing, so coming up with a believable, interesting female lead can be tricky. Because some people like their women characters helpless, or pure sex, or even women-in-male-clothing types. That's the norm people expect, too. Attracting an audience to an average woman/girl with admirable or less-than admirable traits that don't fall into those categories is difficult. You need a balance between awesome and average, which could be said for all characters, but with women characters, you have to really watch what you write with them.
Most of my leading characters are female, because I am female. I know what goes on in a woman's mind better than I know what goes on in a guy's mind. I don't want a mary-sue character, but I don't want Plain-Jane characters either. I want someone who's real--and someone that elicits emotion from my readers. Mafdet Mubarak, the lead and title character from my fantasy series The Mafdet Prophecy, is tough, unforgiving and still has a feminine grace to her. But there's a reason for her strength and hardness. She isn't all rock; she has a real personality that is crafted, by what I hope, are realistic circumstances in such a fantasy-like environment (not to mention she's not human and her inhuman nature is because of that little fact). The same could be said of Miranda Jackman, from The Manigoldo, who is a genius and strong in her own right. But she has faults--lots of them. She becomes the villain, forsaking morality and becoming something she's always hated. There is a moral lesson to be learnt from her. Yeah, there's some romance in both stories but that isn't the focus. The focus is the characters being real, being emotionally connected to the reader. I personally think the real talent within writers is making your reader sympathize and understand your characters, even if they're evil or full of faults.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that creating a believable character, especially a woman lead, is a trial-and-error process. I've had terrible female leads that fall right into the damsel-in-distress or the mary-sue categories. But they've grown, just as much as I have and my writing style has, through practice and recreation, over and over again. I think writers should take care in how they create because someday, somewhere, someone will read that story and hopefully sympathize your character. The question we must ask ourselves is...do we really want someone to idolize that character? Are they worth idolizing, or are they a faceless, amoral, sex-centered doll?
Write with a purpose. Create with caution.
...I think that'll be my new motto. :P
/ramble
Last Updated on Monday, 08 June 2009 02:17 Written by Becky Sunday, 25 January 2009 19:16
I've been having a long period of on-and-off writing streaks. I mean, I could be writing for a whole week non-stop and then run into a writer's block. It's irritating, especially when I've been working a lot on my main novel project, The Manigoldo, and I wanted to finish it within a year's time. I know I can't push creativity, so I'm stuck whenever I get this way.
A couple of weeks ago, however, I discovered a neat trick I never considered before doing. I'm calling it...the Crack Story.
(I bet you're already intrigued by this.)
Basically, I couldn't bring myself to work on The Manigoldo, but I wanted to write. So, I took a really ridiculous idea and started to just...write. There is no real plot (or at least one that's been outlined) and it stars my friends and I in it. I would never, EVER consider showing it to the public nor put any real effort in making it public-acceptable. Why bother writing it?
To write. It's a silly story, but perfect for its purpose. It lets me just throw ideas around and I don't need to worry about loop holes, continuality errors or even common sense. :) Just pointless fun. And surprisingly, it works.
After a day or two of writing The BCESA (or The Big, Collossal and Epic Space Adventure if you will), I go back to The Manigoldo or whatever story I was aiming to work on originally...and suddenly, the writer's block is gone. I couldn't believe it. Writing for the sake of writing makes it easier for me to write a story that I have to truly focus on. It was definitely a welcome revelation.
I highly recommend any author who suffers from writer's blocks to take up a "Crack" story. Go ahead and write about fairies or aliens or how you're truly a superhero in disguise. Its just fun, but it also helps to get yourself prepped for the actual work you have to do. XD Or at least it does for me.
Written by Becky Saturday, 13 December 2008 23:29
One of my newest issues I have discovered in my writing is points of view. It's interesting. I never used to have problems with it.
My main problem is Hero, a science fiction story of mine that is centered around an average young woman who accidentally saves the world from an alien invasion. The rest of the world rejoices, but she suffers. Why? Because saving the world isn't like it is in fiction. It's a fascinating idea, if I do say so myself. The main character is practically insane by the end of the story, suffering from guilt over what happened and what didn't happen the day she saved humanity. It explores not just human nature, but the nature of all sentient creatures. It's not a everyone-gets-a-happy-ending story. It's a story that makes you think.
All that aside, I'm still having a major issue with it. I can't decide what format I want it in!
It was originally supposed to be a graphic novel, or a really fancy comic book. The pros about that would that I could explain action that happen in much greater detail than in book format. I could jump around POV constantly, unrestrained by syntax or dialogue. The cons about this would be that it would be a) more difficult and time consuming and b) I would miss out on a lot of internal dialogues that the characters would have, limiting the character development to an extent. The characters in the story are very complex and I want them to be fleshed out as much as possible.
My other option is to write the story in a traditional novel format. The pros about this would be that I could easily get into the heads and complex situations that confront the characters. It would be easier to explain long winded things, like politics, military and personal dilemmas. The cons would be that I'd have to be very careful about action sequences, since there are quite a few. It's easier to draw a battle scene than it is to write it, at least for me.
Also, if I decide to write it, I'd face one more issue: POV! Oh, how this is bothing me. If I write it in third-person, I'd be able to jump around as in the comic and focus on the three most important characters very easily. I could cover more ground and not skip out on important events if the main character is not present to witness it. Unfortunately, the first-person would also work. The main character is psychologically disturbed through the majority of the story and to fully understand her, it would work better to be first-person. The reader would be able to really get into who she is and what she's really thinking. Her fall into insanity would also be able to be followed more clearly this way. That's a double edged sword, though. If the character's insane, it might be hard to follow what is going on in the rest of the story. The mind of a crazy person, is, well, chaotic. The story is a bit too complex to have that happen, you see. Also, the ending would be very awkward if it were first-person.
This is all driving me crazy! I usually write in third, but recently, I've moved into first. The Manigoldo is a prime example. It works wonderfully as first; I could never begin to write it any other way. Some stories just work one way or the other. Some can be written either way. But for Hero, I can't begin to decide which would be better. I reallllly don't want to write the story twice. I'm considering making the graphic novel as well as writing it, but I'm still unsure...
It's such a lovely story. I want to write/draw it one day. I just wish I could make up my mind. What do you think?
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-Becky