A woman you can believe in

[Aidan of the tavern]

OK, so the other day after reading the book I was reading a review for Gardens of the Moon (I do that for some strange reason, read the book and then the reviews) and one reviewer criticised Erikson for "lack of believable female characters". Frankly I was slightly shocked as I had found Tattersail to be one of the most engaging and endearing female characters I had read for a while, but it got me wondering what chance I had in the murky writer's world. So, female Scribes especially, but perceptive males as well, when you're reading, what makes a female character believable for you? I've always tried to give even the warriors some level of emotional depth, but I'm not really the most qualified on the subject. Opinions?

[Kelise]

Hrm. I don't think I believe in making a character believably female, but simply make all characters believable in their own right, regardless of gender.

I can't really say that a female character is only believable if she has children or is emotional and so forth. As long as you set up reasons for their abilities and actions - she can be a fantastic fighter or a good cook as long as she has training/knack/some sort of magic, the same as a male character.

I can only suggest that some writers may seem to think female characters can be left how they are, rather than try to think of how to push and craft them to be far more. Female characters are easily sidelined to be the damsel in distress, worriers/fretting over every event, medics, love interest or something to chase... and that's all they have to be in the story. Then you're in danger of them not being believable, if they're there for the sake of easy plot and not a character of their own right.

[The Dark One]

There seems to be a bit of hysteria in recent times on this and (more so) another writing forum I occasionally visit regarding writing female characters. The instant you start to theorise about it you're going to upset god-knows-how-many people - even worse, if you write said characters trying to be believable or politically correct or even handed or whatever, you'll be constructing a manifesto instead of writing your story. People your story with whatever characters work for you and don't worry about trying to please the various factions. If you write genuine characters who have a real impact on the plot then readers will be too busy enjoying the story to bother criticising your socio-political faux pas.

[Aidan of the tavern]

There seems to be a bit of hysteria in recent times on this and (more so) another writing forum I occasionally visit regarding writing female characters. The instant you start to theorise about it you're going to upset god-knows-how-many people - even worse, if you write said characters trying to be believable or politically correct or even handed or whatever, you'll be constructing a manifesto instead of writing your story. People your story with whatever characters work for you and don't worry about trying to please the various factions. If you write genuine characters who have a real impact on the plot then readers will be too busy enjoying the story to bother criticising your socio-political faux pas.

Phew! Thank you!

I suppose my main fear is creating characters who seem like cardboard templates or something.

[The Dark One]

Everyone's different, so whatever works for you is the best way. When I'm constructing my story plan I sometimes write little character sketches about important characters. These sketches will never be used in the book, they just help me to get to know the characters in intimate detail and hopefully that comes out in the teling of the tale. The more real the characters are in your head, the better developed they will be on the page.

On another level - there is no point creating a character unless he or she actually matters. Every character of greater than cannon-fodder significance must have some real impact on the story. The more important the character, the greater impact they should have. A female (or male) sidekick/love interest who just tags along for the ride but who doesn't actually matter (ie wrest the story away from the main character from time to time) is not worth writing.

Every new character is a chance to twist the plot. Do so, and your characters will never be cardboard cut-outs. Or at least, if they are, no-one will notice.

[Aidan of the tavern]

Everyone's different, so whatever works for you is the best way. When I'm constructing my story plan I sometimes write little character sketches about important characters. These sketches will never be used in the book, they just help me to get to know the characters in intimate detail and hopefully that comes out in the teling of the tale. The more real the characters are in your head, the better developed they will be on the page.

On another level - there is no point creating a character unless he or she actually matters. Every character of greater than cannon-fodder significance must have some real impact on the story. The more important the character, the greater impact they should have. A female (or male) sidekick/love interest who just tags along for the ride but who doesn't actually matter (ie wrest the story away from the main character from time to time) is not worth writing.

Every new character is a chance to twist the plot. Do so, and your characters will never be cardboard cut-outs. Or at least, if they are, no-one will notice.

Yes, I write little page-long bios for my characters and it helps a lot, I think having the background info even if you don't use it is good for confidence when dealing with them.

[Amanita]

I’m more worried about my male characters offending someone.

But seriously, there are indeed a few issues especially concerning female characters:

The character’s behaviour should make sense in the context of her society. This applies to males as well, but in case of females, it’s more often ignored. Too many authors use patriarchal societies and female main characters who rebell against them, go out fighting despite of it and succed with no logical reason besides the writer’s own beliefs.
Everyone who wants to have prominent female characters or even a female main character should give these things a bit of thought beforehand.
He can have a strictly patriarchal society, but then his main character won’t be at the front line. There are plenty of interesting and plot-worthy things women in medieval Europe and other patriarchal cultures could do, but they usually aren’t battle. Magic might offer even more.
Nothing bad in my opinion, fantasy severely lacks plots which consist of something other than fighting the Dark Lord’s undead army with swords.
If you do want an accepted fighting heroine, the gender roles should be different. This implies a bit of extra work with world-building to explain it well enough that readers who suddenly care about „historical accuracy“ when it’s about women staying in their „proper place“ will be satisfied. (Other issues such as the strong religious beliefs of pre-modern societies matter far, far less.) If you want to satisfy those at all…
Special females acting against their gender roles can be done well too, of course, but in such cases, good research about similar real life cases is in order as well to stay away from cliche.

Authors (usually female) who want to get their personal revenge via their character, because they’re about discrimination in historical times or in their current life aren’t likely to write believable female character either.
This doesn’t work well at all, personal feelings about such issues shouldn’t harm the story telling. This goes for perfect matriarchies, nature loving and gentle women against evil men and anything like that too.
By the way, have the courage to make women evil as well. Being drawn to power and/or violence isn’t exclusively male, no matter how often this is claimed. And not every evil woman is driven by an evil man either.


Another issue ensues if an author wants two things at once, most often „feminist and equal“ fighting woman and damsell in distress. This (probably unintentionally in most cases) makes be believe as a reader that the author wants to claim that women might try to succed in tradionally male fields but are bound to fail.

Personally I like the approach of having different societies with different gender roles existing side by side. This way, fighting women and damsells in distress can both turn up in the story depending on the circumstances.
In this case, preaching about how one society is good and the other is evil should be avoided too however.

[Hans]

You have some good points, Amanita.
The character, both male and female should be believable within the borders of it's own culture. We as fantasy authors have the luxury of being able to define these borders.

When I read a critic like "A woman would never behave like that" I commonly replace that with "An American woman would not behave like that". Well, I am not writing about American woman. Honestly I do not know all that much about American culture. The last time I read someone going on about "our culture" it was not the culture I grew up in. Had to be American, because that was the nationality of the author. I do not know for sure.
Marco Polo also got some "women do not behave like that" regarding his travel reports. So I think whoever uses that argument lacks imagination or needs to broaden their horizon.

We have examples of fighting woman on earth. Even medieval individuals fit into that. So that is nothing strange or unbelievable.

Also, I do not like black and white settings with clear defined good and evil and nothing in between which you too say are too abundant. but that is a completely different topic.

[Aidan of the tavern]

I’m more worried about my male characters offending someone.

But seriously, there are indeed a few issues especially concerning female characters:

The character’s behaviour should make sense in the context of her society. This applies to males as well, but in case of females, it’s more often ignored. Too many authors use patriarchal societies and female main characters who rebell against them, go out fighting despite of it and succed with no logical reason besides the writer’s own beliefs.
Everyone who wants to have prominent female characters or even a female main character should give these things a bit of thought beforehand.
He can have a strictly patriarchal society, but then his main character won’t be at the front line. There are plenty of interesting and plot-worthy things women in medieval Europe and other patriarchal cultures could do, but they usually aren’t battle. Magic might offer even more.
Nothing bad in my opinion, fantasy severely lacks plots which consist of something other than fighting the Dark Lord’s undead army with swords.
If you do want an accepted fighting heroine, the gender roles should be different. This implies a bit of extra work with world-building to explain it well enough that readers who suddenly care about „historical accuracy“ when it’s about women staying in their „proper place“ will be satisfied. (Other issues such as the strong religious beliefs of pre-modern societies matter far, far less.) If you want to satisfy those at all…
Special females acting against their gender roles can be done well too, of course, but in such cases, good research about similar real life cases is in order as well to stay away from cliche.

Authors (usually female) who want to get their personal revenge via their character, because they’re about discrimination in historical times or in their current life aren’t likely to write believable female character either.
This doesn’t work well at all, personal feelings about such issues shouldn’t harm the story telling. This goes for perfect matriarchies, nature loving and gentle women against evil men and anything like that too.
By the way, have the courage to make women evil as well. Being drawn to power and/or violence isn’t exclusively male, no matter how often this is claimed. And not every evil woman is driven by an evil man either.


Another issue ensues if an author wants two things at once, most often „feminist and equal“ fighting woman and damsell in distress. This (probably unintentionally in most cases) makes be believe as a reader that the author wants to claim that women might try to succed in tradionally male fields but are bound to fail.

Personally I like the approach of having different societies with different gender roles existing side by side. This way, fighting women and damsells in distress can both turn up in the story depending on the circumstances.
In this case, preaching about how one society is good and the other is evil should be avoided too however.

Many thanks, your wise words are very helpful.

In my world human society is quite fragmented and varied, so gender roles are obviously varied as well. There are quite a few women in positions of power or going side by side with the men, such as nobles, political activists, tacticians and even some who chose to serve in the defense force. As a rule I try to avoid damsels in distress as a permanent role, and will only use it if it actually makes sense in the context of the story, or if they are strong characters anyway. I also try to get a balance, like how one of my female characters is a skilled archer and can certainly hold her own in a fight, but is also seen sympathising and caring for the male mentor figure.

[Steerpike]

Hrm. I don't think I believe in making a character believably female, but simply make all characters believable in their own right, regardless of gender.

Yes, this is exactly right. If the character is well-developed (and I think Tattersail was) and someone comes along and says it isn't a believable female, they have their own prejudices and stereotypes regarding what a female has to be like.