Creating Memorable Female Characters

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by EBohio, Apr 14, 2019.

  1. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Yeah, I think I was guilty of regarding this description as if it were, say, for a novel or something. I've got to say I know nothing whatever about scriptwriting or moviemaking. I feel I've learned a bit today.
     
  2. JessicaT

    JessicaT Member

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    Exactly, but that's typical Hollywood (and male dominated world in general).

    My drama teacher always taught us that the whole "actor/actress" thing was a Hollywood elite/Hollywood reporter thing (in theater, you're just an "actor" regardless of gender). In Hollywood, a female can not be an actor, just an actress (*wink*, "eye candy"). What if the AMA distinguished between genders with "doctor" and "doctress"? Or the ABA distinguished between genders with "lawyer" and "lawress"?

    I attended a rock and roll camp for girls a few years ago and one of the quest bands/speakers after lunch one day told a story about showing up and registering for a scheduled performance and they were promptly labeled a "girl band". "Why can't we just be a 'rock' band?" they asked.

    At least the athletic community gets it right. Regardless of gender, you're an "athlete" (though, sadly, sometimes females are referred to as "female" athletes).

    But, to get back on point, this is about memorable females characters, not memorable female bodies as Hollywood would have it.

    And to that point, what are some of your memorable female characters in literature and why? (Dibs on Katniss!)
     
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  3. JessicaT

    JessicaT Member

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    And even more to the point, how do you go about creating memorable female characters (MFCs)? And further, what distinctions, if any, do you apply to female characters that you don't to memorable male characters and/or vice-versa?
     
  4. Alan Aspie

    Alan Aspie Banned Contributor

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    - Granny Weatherwax, Magrat Garlic, Nanny Ogg, Cheery Littlebottom, Tiffany Achings, Susan Sto Helit, Angua... (No explaining needed.)
    - Mma Ramotswe & Grace Makutsi
    - Christiane F. (in book about her)
    - Emmanuelle Arsan (in her own books)
    - Hermione Granger
    - Temple Grandin (in her own books)
    - Irene Adler
    - Sabine Wurmbrand (in book by Richard Wurmbrand)
    - Malala Yousafzai (in her own book)
    - Pippi Longstockings
    - Modesty Blaise
    - Pohjan Akka (in Kalevala)
    - Annie Wilkes (in Misery by King)
    - Riitta- Stiina Päätalo (in Kalle Päätalos books)
    - Several characters in books of P.G. Vodehouse
    - ...
     
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  5. Alan Aspie

    Alan Aspie Banned Contributor

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    Or male. Or animal. Or...

    If you build a character to fit plot, social roles, expectatinons of audience... you make them responsive. They response to those expectations. That is passive even when it is active.

    If you build a character full of character, a character who might not fit plot, roles or expectations... and that character either takes his/her place in a story or creates a new place which fits him/her... Then you start to get memorable characters - and often also plots.

    If you build a character with strong and powerful identity & role, you got an half empty character.

    If you build a character with strong and powerful self, you get a strong, memorable character.

    Think about Hermione Granger, Mma Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi...

    They all have weak identities but strong selfs. And they build stories to fit them. They are not aggressive "male hero in a dress" -types or narcissistic me-me-me's. They are very human. They have very good real <==> unreal balances.

    And all they have something very authentic.

    In my own character building I try to pay a lot of attention to these:
    - Authenticity
    - Focus on self (essence, inner core) instead of identiities (social roles, stereotypes...)
    - Character of a character
    - real <==> unreal balance
    - value structures and they origins.
     
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  6. Just a cookiemunster

    Just a cookiemunster Active Member

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    I agree with the above post. From a lot of female based books I have read I didn't really enjoy them because I feel like they try too hard to make the female seem strong and it comes off as like the above poster said, a man in a dress. Often times the female is too agressive,has an attitude, rough tough and don't take no stuff kind of gal but that doesn't work for me. Females can be represented as strong and still have feminene qualities. I think Jane Eyre is a good example. I personally think she had an admirable inner strength that shined through her character yet she was in no way ill spoken or agressive. Definitely one of the most memorable female character for me.

    But most of all a memorable character has nothing to do with gender and I don't know why it's such a great debate when it comes to females. (I've had some deep debates with people I know) Some females are weak or what I would consider soft and gentle,some are strong, some are everything in between and the same goes for males.
     
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  7. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    What about the cases where the setting more or less demands the main character be exceptionally tough and emotionally unavailable - for instance, post apocalyptic worlds? Do those female character still not work for you?
     
  8. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Like Furiosa?

    But then again, Tank Girl is cheeky and fun....
     
  9. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    When you crank up the cheeky/fun/fanciful tone you usually affect all of the characters. For example, compare the differences between the mob meetings in Dick Tracey versus The Godfather.



     
  10. Just a cookiemunster

    Just a cookiemunster Active Member

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    In a case like that they may work for the story assuming this girl had to learn how to be tough to take care of herself and survive. Totally understable but they don't work for me! At that point it comes down to personal taste. I have seen and tried those type of books but now I just avoid them.
     
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  11. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    If you would clarify for me: the tough and emotionally unavailable female characters in those settings don't work for you, or are you unable to appreciate those types of settings & characters regardless of gender?
     
  12. Alan Aspie

    Alan Aspie Banned Contributor

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    Female characters are too often poorly developed. That is a good reason to pay attention to them.

    And there are many female character clichés. Like...
    - "Man in dress".
    - Aggressive "I don't take shit from anyone".
    - Sosially invisible ally.
    - Oversexual maneater.
    - All high school clichés.
    - "This character is political statement".
    - Mary Sue.

    Clichés may work - or not.

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. raine_d

    raine_d Active Member

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    But does the setting demand it? I know it's the convention... but even in a post-apocalyptic world, you are going to have people who are less physically strong but rely on their intellect/mental adaptability to survive (a Jessica Fletcher type in such a setting would be enormous fun, because she would have to come up with more creative solutions than physical strength - and she could). And people can be emotional and giving - even highly strung - and still be survivors, because they can form tighter emotional bonds with the folk around them and history does tend to show that that matters in rough times...

    I know heroic, superior loners are a staple part of the post-apocalypse genre and tend to be the MC of choice a lot of the time because writers and a lot of readers like them but me, I'm always more fascinated by the ordinary folk around them...
     
  14. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    It certainly can demand it. Surely you can imagine a setting, or a circumstance in a setting, where any display of a vulnerability (be it physical, mental, or emotional) acts as an invitation of attack from your enemies? I know I can. A dangerous post apocalyptic world just serves as one example in a sea of possible examples.

    That's fine, but that's merely your preference. And I don't have a desire to change your preference.

    Like whatever you like. I happen to like (love :agreed:) Vasquez...

     
  15. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    But Tank Girl works so I totally fail to understand the relevance of your examples.
     
  16. raine_d

    raine_d Active Member

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    Not really. Oh, I don't have to imagine a setting where this would be the default, either in fiction or in real life, but that doesn't mean it's the only option. There's actually no setting that demands it, just settings where it is probably the best - most pragmatic - even easiest - survival tactic.

    Again, someone who is less physically invulnerable but has other strengths can survive in such a world - it's harder, and they may have to be smarter, more creative etc, but there's a world of possibilities in a character who knows their own weaknesses and fights, not to lose their human frailties (or who can't lose them) but to survive and flourish with them.

    Please note, I'm not for one minute saying people shouldn't write the heroic, kickass, emotionally walled off loner. It's a character type which is clearly hugely popular with writers and with readers of popular fiction, and there are plenty of well-written examples that are dearly loved by their readers.

    What I was saying was it's never mandatory, there's no setting where that's the only way for a character to thrive.... or be the hero.
     
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  17. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    If your world's tone is cheeky/fanciful enough, any character concept can work. That's my point.
     
  18. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    I disagree.

    Edit: I changed my mind. You're likely correct that no setting, viewed in its entirety, demands it. I was being a bit loose with the word setting and also factoring in (smuggling in?) circumstance.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
  19. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Yeah, but your original point was about setting, not style. No setting demands a type of character, for exactly the reason I suggested and you ran with. It depends on more than just a setting.
     
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  20. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    Tone is a part of setting. The two can't be divorced.
     
  21. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Disagreed. Strongly. Won't go into details. Thought I'd just declare my position.
     
  22. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I am seriously hoping we can move on here, and this thread doesn't get derailed by a back-and-forth neverendum argument about who said what. Everybody has made their points and defended them. So let's just keep going? Much appreciated.
     
  23. Just a cookiemunster

    Just a cookiemunster Active Member

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    Well said :superyesh:. Also I actually really like to read about female (as well as male) characters who are gentle, weak, kind, vunerable or whatever you want to call it, yet they are in a dire setting or situation like the apocalypic setting just for example. I feel like it adds a challenge and it can make it seem more realistic actually because I know many family members in real life (male and female) that are very sensitive, easily frightened and kind hearted. Now I would love to read about how they would fair in that type of setting. Ordinary or gentle characters can be heros too IMO.
    But once again it's all just personal preference. Some like tough characters and others don't. All that matters is that they are well written. :superwink:
     
  24. Just a cookiemunster

    Just a cookiemunster Active Member

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    Being totally honest here I often find that it just doesn't work for female characters (most of the time) and only because it is my personal preference not because there is anything wrong with it per se. I was raised with certain beleifs of how males are rough and females are soft and gentle flowers to be handled with care. I tend to hold onto that because that is what I am comfortable with and I admire that gentle feminality in a female though she can still show her strength in other ways. I think it is very befitting and attractive. But for anyone who likes rough and tough females there is nothing wrong with that, and there are many real life females like that also.
     

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