Just a second, everyone put away the
pitchforks and stop brandishing those Gertrude Stein books at me as if they can
compel the misogynistic demon from my flesh. This isn’t a diatribe on feminism
in literature–I wouldn’t dare to touch such a heavy subject without an array of
facts at my disposal. As a fantasy writer, I don’t really deal in facts, as
much as possibilities. What I would like to discuss is the
portrayal of women in fantasy, what I like, and what I don’t like, what I think
needs changing. I’d like to keep this dialog as uncontroversial as possible,
and focus on how these characters are written, more than diving into the
societal influences that make writers craft women in this manner. That’s
psychology, and I’m not a psychologist. Okay, moving on, I’ll start with the
stuff I can’t stand–expect hyperbole and potential cussing.
Women who are powerless. To me, nothing is more irritating than watching a female lead take
a backseat to the action. I understand that characters need time to “grow” into
their heroism, however, the foundations for that backbone should have been laid
prior to that mettle being tested in a life-or-death situation. Otherwise, my
suspension of disbelief is being tested. Even if a heroine is in a situation from
which she cannot escape, she should always be thinking of escape, and not
complacent with her miserable existence. At least that spark of free-will can
be convincing impetus for a future act of daring. In the event that your
heroine ends up chained in a basement, and awaiting the most wretched fate
imaginable, she should be testing her chains, wondering who she can pounce on
when they enter her cell, or looking for a rat bone to pick her irons.
Whatever. She should be doing something, or sure that she will
somehow live. That fire for life is what keeps me, as a reader hooked. When
characters give up, so do I.
Women who are overly negative. As a man who writes some pretty snappy ladies, this can be a
delicate act to balance. Cynicism is fine, particularly if that character has
endured hardships. But when all she does is harp, or whine, or question her
strength, that character becomes as unpleasant as the people in real life who
do that. You know that friend that you have who calls you up to complain
about her weight/ marriage/ job? Negative Nancy the sorceress, can have the
same tone and repellence. Negativity can serve a purpose, and a hero
should always suffer moments of doubt. But the strongest people do so silently,
or among their closest allies, and never often or vocally (unless they are
giving a rousing speech against their injustice). Finding a balance with humor,
can help to offset a character with a naturally acerbic demeanor. At least it
gives the reader something else to focus on.
Women who need to be constantly saved
(usually by an all-powerful figure). Similar to the
first point, although I believe it deserves its own mention. Getting
saved once by your beau, assuming our heroine
has exhausted all of her resourcefulness, and is really, truly, screwed, is
fine. Sometimes, despite everything, we just cannot extricate ourselves from a
mess. We need help. Alright. Help arrives. Then, she trips and falls down a
well in another ten pages. Shortly after calling for help and being rescued,
she decides to go for a walk in the Forest of Ultimate Evil. Probably a bad
idea, given the name, but this girl (I’ve demoted her from womanhood for her naiveté),
doesn’t have the good sense God gave a toothpick. Don’t worry, here comes
Damien Glorylocks–knight, and secret royal blood of a long forgotten dynasty–to
save Clueless. From now on, we’ll just refer to my sample heroine by that name,
as it tends to sum up a lot of decisions that writers place in the minds of
their female leads.
Stupidity.
Coming off that last point. How stupid can one character be? Okay, we all make
dumb decisions. In fact, it’s necessary for characters to do one or two things
in error, and thereafter grow from that experience. The key here is grow. Grow.
As in, not do that stupid thing, or comparable act of stupidity again. If
you’re on the 3rd arc of your trilogy and your character is still figuring out
the fundamentals of how to control her dragonblood, faery-magic, or whatever,
then you have a problem. Similarly, if you’re deep into your story and Clueless
still can’t figure out why the Dark Elves want her dead so badly, then you
probably haven’t done a good enough job as a writer giving the reader–and
potentially Clueless–information. Readers like to be in the know, and if your
character is being kept in the dark, often treating your audience the same
risks aliening them. So if these scenarios are occurring in your books, then
your character (and audience) is not learning, they are not growing. And if
you’ve watched one season of Honey Boo Boo, you’ve watched them all.
The only thrill in that entertainment
is in watching the mediocrity unfold. We do not want our stories to be
banal, we want them to be inspiring, and teaching of greatness. Mediocrity is
for the real world, it has no place in fantasy.
Things I like. Here, we have a shorter
list, as most of these things are self-explanatory.
Normal characters. By this I mean, they have no supreme, miracle, magic. No great
hidden power. These women are just tough as nails, and have learned how to kick
life in the balls. Almost universally, readers like these sorts of characters.
Sure, later on in the story-line, that character may struggle to hang with
their mystical friends, and as end-of-the-world events unfold, it takes a deft
narrative hand to weave them through those troubles unscathed. Still, the value
of a normal character in an otherwise epic fantasy cannot be understated, for
they create a bridge between our world and the fantasy.
Women who make their own choices. Decisiveness. I love this trait in characters. As a storyteller,
characters who do not waver with indecision, move the story forward at a steady
pace. Otherwise, you can end up wasting pages on internal dialog, which can
make a character seem weak, which then threatens to lose the reader.
Women who fight. I’m not saying that every heroine has to be a martial expert, but
even a princess can have lessons in fencing, and if you make the heroine a
blacksmith’s daughter, she would surely know how to swing a blade. Again, this
cycles back to women being helpless, which I personally hate to read.
Witty, curious women. Witty, is not the same as bitchy–another fine line that can be
crossed. And curiosity may have killed the cat, but it shouldn’t kill the
heroine. A sense for questioning order, a rebellious spirit, and someone who
can take the slings-and-arrows of life with the occasional laugh, all make for
engaging characters.
I have another 90 pages of editing to do on
my second MS, so I must bid adieu to deal with that duty. I hope that my
ramblings have been thought, and not anger, provoking. Do keep in mind that the
above represents only my opinions, and there are as many ways to write
characters as there are writers in the world. These are just my pet-peeves, and
the pitfalls that I try to avoid.
Feast of Dreams
Four Feasts Till Darkness
Book Two
Christian A. Brown
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Book Description:
As King Brutus licks his wounds and gathers new strength, two rival queens vow to destroy each other’s nations.
Lila of Eod, sliding into madness, risks everything in the search for a powerful relic, while Queen Gloriatrix threatens Eod with military might—including three monstrous technomagikal warships.
Far from this clash of queens, Morigan and the Wolf scour Alabion, hunting for the mad king’s hidden weakness. Their quest brings them face to face with their own pasts, their dark futures…and the Sisters Three themselves.
Unbeknownst to all, a third thread in Geadhain’s tapestry begins to move in the wastes of Mor’Khul. There, a father and son scavenge to survive as they travel south toward a new chapter in Geadhain history.
Bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Feast of Fates, Christian A. Brown received a Kirkus star in 2014 for the first novel in his genre-changing Four Feasts Till Darkness series. He has appeared on Newstalk 1010, AM640, Daytime Rogers, and Get Bold Today with LeGrande Green. He actively writes a blog about his mother’s journey with cancer and on gender issues in the media. A lover of the weird and wonderful, Brown considers himself an eccentric with a talent for cat-whispering.
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