Not here to make friends
Jan. 24th, 2014 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clarentine“Male writers, and their male protagonists, are expected to be flawed and complex, but reader expectations for women writers and their characters tend to be far more rigid. Women may stray, but only so far. If they go on deep, alcoholic benders, they best repent and sober up at the end. If they abandon their spouses and children, they best end tragically, or make good. Women must, above all, show kindness. Women may be strong – but they must also, importantly, be vulnerable. If they are not, readers are more likely to push back and label her unlikeable.”
(http://kateelliott.livejournal.com/235586.html, Kameron Hurley as guest post author)
"Well-behaved women seldom make history." (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich)
I write what I hope are realistic characters. Men and women, all of them real people, with real flaws, making decisions which span the range from inspired to really problematic but which are driven by their backgrounds and personalities and the intolerable situations in which they find themselves. Character, more even than plot, is what drives me to write about these people, and character is what makes me want to read someone else’s stories. I don’t want to read, or write, about characters whose edges are smooth and fit into society’s little boxes. What fun would that be?
(What's the worst thing someone can hope for you if you're female, IMO? "Stay out of trouble.")
So, am I going to be polishing off the edges on my "unlikeable" female characters? Hell no. They are who they are, just as is every flesh-and-blood woman not afraid of demonstrating independence from the expectations of others. I firmly believe we should all be who we are, and my characters stand in testimony to this belief.
Or, as Roxane Gay said in her article on BuzzFeed (http://www.buzzfeed.com/roxanegay/not-here-to-make-friends-unlikable), my protags are not here to make friends. They're here to live their lives, and I’m going to let them - just as I'm going to let myself.
(http://kateelliott.livejournal.com/235586.html, Kameron Hurley as guest post author)
"Well-behaved women seldom make history." (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich)
I write what I hope are realistic characters. Men and women, all of them real people, with real flaws, making decisions which span the range from inspired to really problematic but which are driven by their backgrounds and personalities and the intolerable situations in which they find themselves. Character, more even than plot, is what drives me to write about these people, and character is what makes me want to read someone else’s stories. I don’t want to read, or write, about characters whose edges are smooth and fit into society’s little boxes. What fun would that be?
(What's the worst thing someone can hope for you if you're female, IMO? "Stay out of trouble.")
So, am I going to be polishing off the edges on my "unlikeable" female characters? Hell no. They are who they are, just as is every flesh-and-blood woman not afraid of demonstrating independence from the expectations of others. I firmly believe we should all be who we are, and my characters stand in testimony to this belief.
Or, as Roxane Gay said in her article on BuzzFeed (http://www.buzzfeed.com/roxanegay/not-here-to-make-friends-unlikable), my protags are not here to make friends. They're here to live their lives, and I’m going to let them - just as I'm going to let myself.
