Female Characters

[polymath]

I strongly suggest reading Robin Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place, 1975, with a more comprehensive, revised, updated contemporary 2004 edition. It's not a writing topic, per se, linguistics to a great extent, yes. It delves deeply into gendered identity. Sex, ethnicity, status, lifestyle, etc., and personality, behavior, traits, and so on. It's not just about womankind's place. I think it's about the best insight into character personas there is.

[sierramcconnell]

I have the same problem. I have a lot of male characters, all richly developed, and maybe one or two girls who rarely get a scene.

You would think a female writer would have more girls! But I understand guys more than girls. I think it's a common problem.

I can't offer help, just a comparative shoulder to bump?

[Beethovenfan]

Give her a HUGE character flaw. Something that can't be simply overlooked. We all have flaws, and the interesting stuff in writing happens when we see how the characters live life with these flaws. What choices (good or bad) will the character make because of her flaws? And, will she triumph over her flaws or will they drag her down?

[Watcher55]

Pretend you're a guy when you write them, or at least try to see your female characters through a guys eyes.

[sierramcconnell]

Pretend you're a guy when you write them, or at least try to see your female characters through a guys eyes.

I did that with Bradley and he ended up gawking at his wife's chest. XD

[Watcher55]

Pretend you're a guy when you write them, or at least try to see your female characters through a guys eyes.

I did that with Bradley and he ended up gawking at his wife's chest. XD

This was even funnier by the cute doll av.

[medussa74]

Really? I'm always paranoid about my male characters being too one-dimensional.

[Leonidas]

Just start making more female characters. Write them into short stories. I don't treat my female characters any different than I treat my male ones, though I have more guy characters than I have girl characters. I think I have more male characters than I have female is partially because I've gone to an all-girls' school for all of my life, so I have so many female friends that it's sometimes difficult to write a female character that I feel isn't based completely off of someone I know. Naming female characters is also difficult for me because of this -- I can't give a character the first name of a person that I know in real life.

Take those reasons and add in that when I started writing roleplaying on Neopets, don't judge me. I was eleven. most people played girls. There always was a need for guy characters, so I just started making them.

While I generally default to male characters now out of habit, I do really enjoy female characters, particularly ones who are strong, like Katniss from The Hunger Games or Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series.

Characters are characters, no matter their gender. They all need to be developed to the same extent, if in different ways, to be successful.

Good luck!

[sierramcconnell]

I think my biggest problem is I deal with homosexual relationships. So technically I have girls? But not really. >_>

I just wrote a little with Adelaide, and really, she's an idiot. But I love her, because that's part of her character. To be bubble-headed.

I mean, I just blinked at the book and went, "But...if that's your only reason...then why not...you know what. You're Adelaide. That makes perfect logical sense for you."

(To not have sex with someone, not because they're your half-brother, but because they're gay. "Well, obviously the only way I can get an heir with him is through in-vitro, because he wouldn't sleep with me because he's gay." So you're forgetting the half-brother part?! If the in-vitro is there, CAN WE NOT USE THAT?!)

My characters. I love them. But sometimes I want to hit them with a spatula.

[medussa74]

Really? I'm always paranoid about my male characters being too one-dimensional.

My males characters are always flawed and funny, females are the opposite. Why is that? I have no idea, I guess I'm just odd.

You probably aren't. Let's face it, male characters dominate much of literature. Up until more recently, you might chalk that up to society being male-dominated. I mean, Mary Shelley's book probably wouldn't have been taken as seriously in that time period if her main character was Victoria Frankenstein (though that would make an awesome spoof...filing it away for later). But why would JK Rowling create Harry Potter, and not Harriet Potter? I seriously doubt this was some calculated scheme on her part; I'm sure this is just how she saw her character.

I know you mean characters in general, and not the protagonist, but I point these examples out merely to show that a lot of authors seem to have a preference for their male characters.

[Watcher55]

Well, what flaws would some of you suggest for a character in general? My book is for children so nothing too inappropriate.

The bad gift-giver – “I know you like dogs dear, so I got you this bone.”
The constantly late scheduler
Vanity surrounding a beauty mark that looks more like a wart (or even a beauty mark that’s actually a beauty mark).
Overly competitive – “My day was much worse/better”

[polymath]

Turkey City Lexicon lists Funny-Hat Characterization as a vice of writing. A character who has a single identifying tag such as a funny hat, and the funny hat is solely for the purpose of identifying a character. Real world people do wear funny hats. More often that not, they don't think they're funny hats, unless they wear them for context appropriate occasions. Personality and behavior trait quirks are the same.

Writers ought best keep readers from disruption, keep them engaged in the participation mystique of a narrative. Quirky characterization is more apt to do the opposite. And worse, readers who self-identify with any of a narrative's central characters might find a funny hat guy one a turn off. He's not them no more. He or she's an embarrassing stranger with whom they won't want to personally associate or self-identify.

Questions to ask of a characterizing characteristic: How will it make readers feel? Will it turn them off? Will they find it endearing? Is it intended to demonize a villain? Intended to show a protagonist's empathy? Is it just quirky for identifying tag purposes or is it for versimilitude or is it a prepositioned (foreshadowed) characteristic? Does it have thematic relevance? For that matter Setting, Plot, Idea, Character, Event, and Discourse relevance? SPICED.

Things to keep in mind are whether it's a credible quirk, whether it's something the character has control over or is oblivious to, whether it characterizes the funny hat guy only or whether it also characterizes a narrator and other characters who observe and express commentary about funny hat guy. Whether it symbolizes an intangible. Whether it's subject to change or transformation.

[medussa74]

Well, what flaws would some of you suggest for a character in general? My book is for children so nothing too inappropriate.

Well...what flaws are you using for your male characters? Why couldn't you use those same flaws for your female characters?

[medussa74]

Well, what flaws would some of you suggest for a character in general? My book is for children so nothing too inappropriate.

The bad gift-giver – “I know you like dogs dear, so I got you this bone.”
The constantly late scheduler
Vanity surrounding a beauty mark that looks more like a wart (or even a beauty mark that’s actually a beauty mark).
Overly competitive – “My day was much worse/better”

I'm lovin' the bad gift-giver idea...that is a flaw that can go a long comedic way.

[Watcher55]

Well, what flaws would some of you suggest for a character in general? My book is for children so nothing too inappropriate.

The bad gift-giver – “I know you like dogs dear, so I got you this bone.”
The constantly late scheduler
Vanity surrounding a beauty mark that looks more like a wart (or even a beauty mark that’s actually a beauty mark).
Overly competitive – “My day was much worse/better”

I'm lovin' the bad gift-giver idea...that is a flaw that can go a long comedic way.

Actually based on someone I know (it wouldn't do for me to develop this one).