tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post9072090390698450859..comments2023-08-10T03:35:55.682-07:00Comments on The Prosers: Strong Female Characters or Strong Characters that are FemaleSheena Boekweghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227547053651725634noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-37407769118578519162012-04-03T11:10:49.794-07:002012-04-03T11:10:49.794-07:00Great post Maryann. I love strong female characte...Great post Maryann. I love strong female characters more then strong men. I don't really care if they can beat up men or not. I more care about someone who stands up for what she believes in and questions the world around her. I love that Scout and Francis was mentioned as strong characters. Scout I believe is only seven-years-old. I hate females that sell sex while shooting a gun. Seriously who thinks about being provakative while shooting a gun.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-81549706322943869962012-03-31T12:42:26.227-07:002012-03-31T12:42:26.227-07:00@Sarah, that is a very good point about Buffy. I l...@Sarah, that is a very good point about Buffy. I love her, and think she is an amazing character. <br /><br />Her very strengths are tied into her weakness. Being the Slayer makes her strong, but it also isolates her and makes her different, which was tough for someone like Buffy who really wanted to fit in. I think it is why she couldn't handle a normal relationship with a nice guy like Riley, and was a little self-destructive in her romantic relationships. Anyway, that balance between strength and weakness is hard to get right.<br /><br />@Adam, Thanks. I really appreciate the link to my post. I have to agree with you that Francie is a great example of a strong yet vulnerable character. I loved that book. <br /><br />@Sheena, I meant to say earlier that I loved what you said about bringing emotion to the character. I think a lot of times writers think that emotion is weakness, so they make their characters emotionaless so that they will seem strong, but emotion is what makes us real and what makes a character feel real. And I think that is usually the goal in creating characters is to make them seem like living, breathing people. At least that is my goalMaryAnn Popehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08618345950149423623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-89599103150621010912012-03-30T07:16:20.830-07:002012-03-30T07:16:20.830-07:00Wonderful post! You make an excellent point and yo...Wonderful post! You make an excellent point and you say it so well. When I get my butt in gear for the morning, I'm going to throw a link of this post onto my blog.<br /><br />Oh, and as long as we're discussing female characters we love, since you already mentioned Ms. Bennet and Ripley (two of my favorites), I nominate Francie from "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" as a great example of strength and frailty bringing true depth to a character.Adam Gaylordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10776176053095754224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-6766378571211014622012-03-29T18:07:00.751-07:002012-03-29T18:07:00.751-07:00I've been thinking about why I love Buffy so m...I've been thinking about why I love Buffy so much. As much as I like a lot of the concepts of urban fantasy, I often get frustrated with characters who seem to be too Buffy-like. I've realized it's because some UF authors seem to be borrowing Buffy's strength without learning from her weaknesses. I think characters of either gender need to have some balance - if the character is very strong physically, then you have to create vulnerability other ways for them to be interesting and relatable. If they are very weak physically, then their psychological & emotional strengths can take center stage more.<br /><br />Romantic subplots can come in handy in rounding out a "strong" character, because no one is immune to heartbreak :) But I don't need my heroines to be able to fight off ten attackers at once. I just need to care about them.<br /><br />Great post!Sarah McCanlesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05692009969291537927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-87721167439210660382012-03-28T17:42:26.573-07:002012-03-28T17:42:26.573-07:00Sheena, that girl with the big gun is not a model....Sheena, that girl with the big gun is not a model. <br /><br />It is Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil playing Alice. But she does look like someone who is just posing and not a real character like the Sarah Connor and Ripley. It just goes to show you what a non-character Alice is. She is just someone who kicks butt without any real depth. Yeah, she's strong and she wins, but she's not an interesting character.<br /><br />I'd take a Blanche Dubois in Streetcar Named Desire (second picture) over an Alice any day. Blanche is weak person who can't even take care of herself nevertheless save the world, but she is real and tortured and interesting.MaryAnn Popehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08618345950149423623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-77598500895538043382012-03-28T08:14:00.353-07:002012-03-28T08:14:00.353-07:00I love this. One of my favorite pictures of all ti...I love this. One of my favorite pictures of all time is this photo of a female soldier on her knees at an airport hugging her daughter with tears running down her face. <br /><br />Being strong doesn't mean an absence of emotion. I think that's the hallmark of a male fantasy cardboard figure. Snow White doesn't feel much, other than fear and happiness, and neither does that model with a prop gun. But in real life, real honest characters, and people, feel everything.<br /><br />One of the reasons I read, is to connect emotionally to a character, male or female. When writers cheat their readers out of having an emotional connection with a character, because they want to treat the character, ( male or female) as a prize, and not a person, then they are missing out on a tool that will make their story memorable.<br /><br />I used to have trouble writing male characters, because I was treating them as my perception of men, and not as people. As human. All characters, male or female, have fears, doubts, grumpy times, happy times, needs, and things that will cause them to stand up and fight.<br /><br />As writers, we need to respect that, and show that, or else we aren't being honest.Sheena Boekweghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08227547053651725634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-19416095761670576542012-03-28T07:25:34.110-07:002012-03-28T07:25:34.110-07:00I like strong females too, but there are a lot of ...I like strong females too, but there are a lot of different kinds of strengths. Not everyone has to be a Kick-butt Buffy type.<br /><br />Scout is a great example of a strong girl with a different kind of strength. I love her too.<br /><br />Thanks for commenting. :)MaryAnn Popehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08618345950149423623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561827139818452407.post-91706154346195273422012-03-27T15:14:25.060-07:002012-03-27T15:14:25.060-07:00I love reading about strong females. As a dude, it...I love reading about strong females. As a dude, it's very attractive. Katniss is a great character - she's very flawed (especially in Catching Fire and Mockingjay), but you feel for her.<br /><br />My favorite strong female in literature: Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird.Jay Noelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04757777693161610861noreply@blogger.com