Female characters in fantasy???

[Darkranger85]

Keep in mind that you don't have to give a character big muscles to make her strong.

This is true. However, I enjoy using skill and agility over strength.It's nice to have a "weaker" person take down a "stronger" opponent.

 

[C. A. Mitchell]

To reiterate what ZombieWife said, it is fantasy, therefore it's up to you. If everyone must do things a certain way then we need to find a new word for the genre. Stories filled with inequality, written under the excuse of 'it was a different time back then' do little for me. Sometimes I can be quite suspicious of a writer's motives for emphasising inequality, especially when it adds nothing to a story. (Different when the story is about inequality, and an MC's struggle against it.)

IMO, it's not about strong/weak, it's about gender stereotyping. And it's everywhere - every nook and cranny of the world: real, portrayed and imagined. Art is the perfect vehicle to slowly change perceptions and shake things up.

Why don't you try changing the gender of your character once you've written a first draft? If something jars, then you've probably got some gender stereotypes in there (obvs some actions are inextricably tied to gender, like giving birth etc. Miiind you, you're writing fantasy, aren't you? )

Katniss Everdeen is a brilliant character, because she could be either man or woman. Similarly, in 'Frozen', Elsa and Ana could also be brothers, and the story or dynamics wouldn't change.

Good luck Let us know how she develops!

 

[ZombieWife]

To reiterate what ZombieWife said, it is fantasy, therefore it's up to you. If everyone must do things a certain way then we need to find a new word for the genre. Stories filled with inequality, written under the excuse of 'it was a different time back then' do little for me. Sometimes I can be quite suspicious of a writer's motives for emphasising inequality, especially when it adds nothing to a story. (Different when the story is about inequality, and an MC's struggle against it.)

IMO, it's not about strong/weak, it's about gender stereotyping. And it's everywhere - every nook and cranny of the world: real, portrayed and imagined. Art is the perfect vehicle to slowly change perceptions and shake things up.

Why don't you try changing the gender of your character once you've written a first draft? If something jars, then you've probably got some gender stereotypes in there (obvs some actions are inextricably tied to gender, like giving birth etc. Miiind you, you're writing fantasy, aren't you? )

Katniss Everdeen is a brilliant character, because she could be either man or woman. Similarly, in 'Frozen', Elsa and Ana could also be brothers, and the story or dynamics wouldn't change.

Good luck Let us know how she develops!

Kudos for this all around. I HATE male stereotypes, too. I'm so sick of seeing the commercial or sitcom with the inept father. Look, the baby needs a new diaper. Thankfully, there's some duct tape around because men are too stupid to figure out how those little sticky tabs work.

And zoinkz! He's gone and done it again. He put too much soap in the washing machine! Now there's a mess! Mom's going to be SO MAD when he gets home.

(Vomit noise)

 

[Vladd67]

Kudos for this all around. I HATE male stereotypes, too. I'm so sick of seeing the commercial or sitcom with the inept father. Look, the baby needs a new diaper. Thankfully, there's some duct tape around because men are too stupid to figure out how those little sticky tabs work.

And zoinkz! He's gone and done it again. He put too much soap in the washing machine! Now there's a mess! Mom's going to be SO MAD when he gets home.

(Vomit noise)

Don't forget how the put downs start young, how many kid's programmes these days seem to revolve around young girls with boys only there for slapstick comedy and someone for the girls to outwit and generally run rings round.

 

[Toby Frost]

Some of these short articles might be of interest or help. In fact, I'd recommend them to anyone.

Limyaael Rants | Curiosity Quills Press

Following on from the points raised by C A Mitchell, I'd say that inequality may not actually help the story much. One of the problems about women doing stuff in novels (by which I mean dynamic stuff that decides the plot) is that quite often this brings in the same sub-story: that of everyone saying "No you can't because you're a girl" and the heroine triumphing over that (or, rarely, dying and proving how awful they are). While this is a perfectly valid story - and one still very applicable in much of the real world - it does leave the female character stuck in a bit of a predictable rut. I suppose the obvious get-out is to have a societal reason why Ms X can do this stuff - and then let her get on with it.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

In my current fantasy epic I had three significant female characters - all quite different characters.
Clearly the historical world was not Equal Opportunity, but our perceptions may be skewed by the Christian and Muslim attitude to women. The Chinese had a female general and a female Emperor (I use the term deliberately). According to a Viking re-enactor I talked to, pre-Christian Viking women had considerable influence in their society, and could own property, divorce their partner, etc. So check out the Vikings.

 

[ZombieWife]

Lagertha FTW!

Cosmic Geoff, I think you touch on something important. Religion might have contributed to women being given a certain "place" within a household or a society. It might be something to consider playing with in a faux medieval fantasy story: how religions can shape gender roles. Hmmm.

 

[Nick B]

I find in fantasy and science fiction it is actually far easier to have males and females on much more equal terms than today's society does, because, well because its up to you how things work. For instance in my current wip the story starts off with an incredibly tough, incredibly violent woman, she is also very feminine. She is a good guy by the way though she has 'issues'. Her friend, also a woman, is kidnapped and that's where the story takes off, from there the rest of the characters come in at various stages, some women, some men, they each have their strengths and weaknesses and to be honest none of them are based on gender.

It is your world, your story. Women and men can be as strong, weak, intelligent or as dumb as you want them to be. Go crazy, write them how you want them to be.

 

[ZombieWife]

I find in fantasy and science fiction it is actually far easier to have males and females on much more equal terms than today's society does, because, well because its up to you how things work. For instance in my current wip the story starts off with an incredibly tough, incredibly violent woman, she is also very feminine. She is a good guy by the way though she has 'issues'. Her friend, also a woman, is kidnapped and that's where the story takes off, from there the rest of the characters come in at various stages, some women, some men, they each have their strengths and weaknesses and to be honest none of them are based on gender.

It is your world, your story. Women and men can be as strong, weak, intelligent or as dumb as you want them

(signs name to this)