Guest Blog: Strong female characters by Susan Murray
The problem with a phrase like
‘strong female characters’ is it implies a default state where female
characters are inherently ‘unstrong’. By its very existence it risks
reinforcing stereotypical images as the norm: the silent movie heroine, tied to
the tracks, in floods of tears as she awaits rescue by the hero; or the
housekeeper in Tom and Jerry jumping on the table and screaming because she’s
seen a mouse. These examples are laughably old and outdated, as is – or should
be – the notion that ‘strong’ women are somehow unusual. Female characters
should every bit as able to get out there and make life happen as male
characters: the fictional world they inhabit may set constraints upon them, in
which case the author needs to decide if – and how – they accept these
constraints or resist them.
Strength isn’t just about bench
pressing your own body weight at the gym, either. Nor is it just about kickass
assassins protecting the world from supernatural evil. Strength can be about
having the courage to continue to do the thing you believe to be right when
peer pressure is against you. Or pausing to consider someone else’s feelings
above your own. It can simply be about doing something that makes a difference.
Displaying strength of this kind isn’t the prerogative of any particular
gender: it’s a thing people do all the time. Displaying weakness is another
thing people frequently do. Real people have good days and bad days, sometimes
they change their minds, or make bad decisions when they’re under pressure.
Sometimes they do something selfish, sometimes they regret it. People are
rarely all good or all evil and the best-rendered characters in fiction will
reflect this complexity, whether they’re female or male.
The most convincing characters
will bring with them a sense that they existed before the events captured in a
story, but that doesn’t mean their backstory needs to be detailed for the
reader – ideally it’ll be revealed through their actions giving the reader
hints as to why they behave in a particular way. Convincing characters will
have hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses, with resulting inner conflicts
that will help drive the plot. Hot-seating can be a useful exercise to deepen
understanding of characters, with the author responding in-character to questions
posed by members of a writing group – and it works equally well without a
group. Freewriting from a character’s point of view is great for digging around
in their mind. Often plot problems can be resolved by examining a character’s
motivation more closely.
It’s also worth remembering
that a character’s goals can change as events of the story impact upon them –
perhaps they’ve been thwarted and had to moderate their ambitions, or perhaps
the thing they thought they wanted wasn’t that important after all. Similarly,
the most convincing characters will change as the story progresses – the
changes may be slight, but they’ll be perceptible. Making them ‘strong’ perhaps
isn’t the most useful way to think of characters whatever their gender:
instead, I’d suggest making them real.
About the author:
Susan Murray is a graduate of the Open University, and describes herself as a “serial house renovator”.
She was recently longlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize.
Susan can be found online at her blog,trackingthechanges.
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